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Apple iPhone X Pre-Order Page Goes Live In India

When the iPhone X was launched on the 12th of September, it was announced that the phone will go on sale on 3rd of November while the pre-orders will begin on the 27th of October. India is one of the select few countries to get the marquee smartphone along with the US and UK. Amazon India recently made the iPhone X pre-order page live.

The Apple iPhone X will be the most expensive iPhone in India and possibly the most expensive smartphone with the price of the 256GB variant expected to be around Rs 105,000. The 64GB variant will be priced at Rs 89000, which is about Rs 5000 more than the 256GB variant of the iPhone 8 Plus. The iPhone X has a new design and a few omissions which might not go down well for a lot of iPhone users. Due to the thin bezels, there is no home button and therefore, no TouchID. Apple has replaced it with FaceID, a facial recognition system which Apple claims is better and safer than TouchID. The 3.5mm headphone jack has started feeling like an anomaly and doesn’t feature in the new iPhone X.

The iPhone X has a 5.8-inch 2436 x 1125 px OLED True Tone Super Retina display with minimal bezels around it. The phone runs iOS 11 and is powered by a 3,000 mAh battery which charges through the Apple signature lightning port placed at the bottom of the phone. Because of the all-glass design, the iPhone X also has wireless charging like the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus. Under the hood, the smartphone has the Apple A11 Bionic chipset with a neural engine, a hexacore processor, 3GB of RAM and storage options of 64GB, and 256GB. As is with every iPhone, the onboard storage can not be expanded via a microSD card. The small bezels mean there is no physical home button, which is now replaced with gestures for navigation. Siri is activated by pressing the now larger lock/unlock button. The iPhone X is also IP67 certified for water and dust resistance, and wireless charging.

The iPhone X has vertically placed dual 12-megapixel rear cameras, and it’s equipped with dual optical image stabilisation. The sensors are both larger and faster, according to Apple, and the main camera is equipped with a wide angle lens and has an f/1.8 aperture while the secondary telephoto lens has an f/2.4 aperture. In between the two cameras is a quad-LED True Tone flash. Both the front and back cameras have the portrait mode. On the front is a 7MP camera with an f/2.2 aperture. Both the rear cameras and the front camera have the portrait lighting feature, just like the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus.

The iPhone X will be available thrugh online and offline channels. More launch offers will be announced at the time of the launch of the phone in the country.

Pre-Order the iPhone X here

October 23, 2017
Google Pixel 2 And Pixel 2 XL To Launch In India On 27th November – Everything You Need To Know

Google launched its second iteration of the Pixel lineup on the 4th of October. As was with the Pixel and Pixel XL, India is one of the first few countries to receive the Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL. On the 27th of October, the two new smartphones from Google will be available to buy in India. The Pixel 2 64GB is priced at Rs 61,000, the 128GB variant at Rs 70,000, the Pixel 2 XL 64GB is priced at Rs 73,000, and the 128GB at Rs 82,000. The Pixel 2 will be available for sale from 1st of November and the Pixel 2 XL from the 15th of November.

Google made sure that it revealed that the Pixel 2 smartphones have the best cameras according to DXOmark but, steered away from the conversation regarding the omission of the beloved 3.5mm headphone jack. This time around, Google has said that it will make sure that the Pixel 2 smartphones have a strong offline presence unlike the Pixel duo from 2016. The VP of Product Management at Google has said that the team has learned a lot since the 2016 Pixel phones were launched in India:

We learnt quite a bit with the first Pixel in India and one of the things we’re doing is increasing our marketing investment, really to explain the product. We’ve expanded the channel and from a go-to-market perspective, we’ll be much more present this year compared to last year.

Pixel 2

Following the design language of last year’s Pixel phones, the smartphone features a 5 inch 1920 x 1080 px OLED display with Corning Gorilla Glass 5 on top for protection. Powering the device is a 2700 mAh battery and it runs Android 8.0 Oreo out of the box. As is with with every Google phone, the new Pixel 2 will be first in line to receive Android P update in 2018. Under the hood, the device has typical 2017 flagship specifications. It has the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 chipset, 2.4GHz octa core processor, Adreno 540, 4GB RAM and 64GB/128GB onboard storage. The fingerprint sensor sits at the back of the device but, this time around the “glass window” is smaller. The two-tone colour of the phone is also reminiscent of the original Pixel from 2016. Google claims that the fingerprint sensor is the fastest on a smartphone. The Pixel 2 is water resistant as well.

Google has decided to go for a single camera setup similar to last year’s Pixel phones. The rear-facing camera is a 12.2 MP sensor with an f/1.8 aperture and 1.4 micron pixel size. On the front is an 8MP camera with an f/2.4 aperture. Google has introduced new features in the camera department like the addition of AR. You’ll be able to add 3D characters and emoji into photos and videos and see them move around as you’re capturing the scene. That includes things like a sleepy coffee cup, but also some recognisable characters. Google is going to be partnering with third parties to add in some famous faces. This year, the Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL use a technology called “dual-pixel” which divides every pixel into two. DXOmark has given the cameras of the Pixel 2 a score of 98, highest ever for a smartphone. Google says Pixel 2 has greater high dynamic range, optical image stabilisation, and a portrait mode that doesn’t use a second camera but dual-sensor image technology. The Pixel 2 XL uses both OIS and EIS simultaneously for better clarity and stable images and videos. The portrait mode works on both rear and font facing cameras, just like the new iPhones.

Pixel 2 XL

The Pixel 2 XL has a design similar to the Pixel 2 with a glass window at the back and the placement of the fingerprint sensor at the back is the same as well. The smartphone has a 6 inch 2880 x 1440 px POLED display which translates into an 18:9 aspect ratio. Protecting the display is Corning Gorilla Glass 5. Just like the Pixel 2, the device runs Android 8.0 Oreo out of the box and will receive the Android P update in 2018. Powering the device is a 3520 mAh battery which is larger than the one found in the Pixel 2. Under the hood, the Pixel 2 XL has the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 chipset, 2.4GHz octa core processor, Adreno 540, 4GB RAM and 64GB/128GB onboard storage. The fingerprint sensor sits at the back of the device but, this time around the “glass window” is smaller.

The Pixel 2 XL and Pixel 2 also have an always on display for better accessibility. Another feature is the Active Edge feature which lets you squeeze the frame of the phone to launch the Google Assistant. Google has also made some minor changes to the phone’s home screen. The most notable change is that there’s now a search box at the very bottom of the screen. Up top, there’s now an “at a glance” widget, which displays your upcoming meetings, as well as the date and temperature.

On the camera front, Google has decided to go for a single camera setup similar to last year’s Pixel phones. The rear-facing camera is a 12.2 MP sensor with an f/1.8 aperture and 1.4 micron pixel size. On the front is an 8MP camera with an f/2.4 aperture. Google has introduced new features in the camera department like the addition of AR. You’ll be able to add 3D characters and emoji into photos and videos and see them move around as you’re capturing the scene. That includes things like a sleepy coffee cup, but also some recognisable characters. Google is going to be partnering with third parties to add in some famous faces. DXOmark has given the cameras of the Pixel 2 XL a score of 98, highest ever for a smartphone. Google says Pixel 2 XL has greater high dynamic range, optical image stabilisation, and a portrait mode that doesn’t use a second camera but dual-sensor image technology. The Pixel 2 XL uses both OIS and EIS simultaneously for better clarity and stable images and videos.

October 23, 2017
Samsung And Apple To Face Retrial Over $400 Million Patent Damages

Apple has its hands full at the moment, as the sale of the iPhone X nears, the company finds itself in a yet another prolonged legal battle against Samsung. The patent battle between Apple and Samsung over who owns the concept of smartphones with round corners is back for another trial. Back in 2012, the case was settled and Samsung was ordered to pay over US $1 billion to Apple. That figure is currently US $400 million and a successful appeal for a retrial means that this amount might be reassessed again.

The judgement was made yesterday by Judge Lucy Koh of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, with the ruling spotted and shared by patent lawyer Florian Mueller. Apple and Samsung now have until the 25th of October to propose a date for the retrial, although Mueller has said that there is a high chance that the two companies will settle out-of-court instead. Although there’s still a lot of money on the table, both sides have proved their willingness to go to the mats on this issue. Moreover, Samsung and Apple cannot be distracted right now since both companies will be up against Qualcomm in a legal battle.

It is worth noting that the retrial isn’t to determine whether Samsung infringed the patents of Apple while making its smartphones. That bit is settled and Apple will receive the damages f0r it. This retrial is to see whether Samsung will pay the damages it pays based on the total profit it made from its handsets, or a percentage of that profit. Samsung argues that even if it copied certain aspects of Apple’s smartphones, these were only ever a part of the appeal of its own products. The Supreme Court Of America had already ruled that a judgement based on profit would be unfair.

October 23, 2017
HTC U11 Life To Be Launched On 2nd November

HTC sent out invites for an event to be held on the 2nd of November in Taiwan. The event indicates that a new smartphone will be announced as a part of the ‘U’ lineup.

It was speculated that two devices, a mid-range device, the U11 Life and a flagship smartphone, the U11 Plus will be announced at the event. However, it appears that just the budget oriented HTC U11 Life will be announced at the event.

https://twitter.com/evleaks/status/921835321167368192

The smartphone is expected to have a 5.2-inch display, a Snapdragon 630 chipset, and 16MP cameras on the front and back. It is expected to be launched in two variants, one with 3GB of RAM and 32GB of storage and another with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage. Leaked images suggest the smartphone will have a shiny blue back which has become a HTC signature. The price is expected to be around US$400 (Rs 26000 approx.), which will be on par with another Android One device, the Moto X4.

HTC announcing a new smartphone may come as a surprise to a few people after a co operative agreement between Google and HTC was announced in September. As per the agreement, HTC’s smartphone division personnel will work for Google and Google will also get its hands on a few patents albeit non-exclusively. But, the air of uncertainty around the future of HTC smartphones was cleared in the post-agreement statement, Google said:

This agreement also supports HTC’s continued branded smartphone strategy, enabling a more streamlined product portfolio, greater operational efficiency and financial flexibility. HTC will continue to have best-in-class engineering talent, which is currently working on the next flagship phone, following the successful launch of the HTC U11 earlier this year.

The event is scheduled for the 2nd of November and iGyaan will bring you all the news from the event.

October 23, 2017
The Essential Ph-1 Now Available For US $499 After US$200 Price Cut

The Ph-1 by Essential was announced in May 2017 and after months of anticipation, the smartphone went on sale in September. Priced at US$699, the smartphone was expected to compete with the likes of the Samsung Galaxy S8, Galaxy Note8 and the iPhone 8. The founder of Essential, Mr Andy Rubin is popularly known as the father of Android. With such a big name attached to the company, the Essential Ph-1 entered the market with heavy anticipation. However, popular opinion on the below average camera performance and a hefty price tag meant that the first ever Essential phone failed to have any sort of impact on the smartphone market. Now, the Essential Ph-one has received a US $200 price cut, bring the price down to US $499.

Essential has cited the desire to make its first phone more accessible as the primary reason for the price slash. In a blog post, the company stated:

We think making it easier for people to get their hands on our first products is a better way to get to know us.

At a price of US$499, the Essential phone becomes an interesting prospect, considering it is now competing with the OnePlus 5. Both the phones run pure Android OS with the OnePlus 5 running a bit more customisable skin on top. The 64GB storage and 6GB RAM variant of the OnePlus 5 is priced at US $479 while the higher end variant will cost you US $539. The Essential Phone on the other hand has 4GB of RAM and 128 GB of storage.

The Essential Ph-1 has a 5.71 inch IPS LCD display with a 2560 x 1312 px resolution and Corning Gorilla Glass 5 on top for protection. Under the hood, the smartphone has the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 chipset, 2.4GHz octa-core processor, 4GB RAM and 128GB onboard storage which can not be expanded. The smartphone runs Android 7.1 Nougat and is powered by a 3040 mAh battery. The fingerprint sensor is placed at the back of the device.

The Ph-one has a dual 19MP camera setup at the back. One of the cameras has TBG (colour) sensor while the other one is equipped with a monochrome (black and white) sensor, with an f/1.9 aperture. On the front is an 8MP camera with an f/2.2 aperture.

Now US$200 cheaper, the Essential Ph-one might make a few people’s holiday shopping list. Would you be interested in the phone after the price cut? Let us know in the comments below.

October 23, 2017
Unboxing The Sony Xperia XZ1
Sony launched the Xperia XZ1 in India on the 25th of September at a price of Rs 44990 and went on sale the same day through both offline and online channels. The smartphone is available only in Black colour in India unlike its global variant which is available in Snow Silver, Horizon Blue, and Twilight Pink as well. The highlights of the new flagship smartphone is that the phone runs Android 8.0 Oreo out of the box and the 3D scanning camera. Let’s unbox the new Sony Xperia XZ1 and see what we get inside the box:
- Sony Xperia XZ1
- Documentation
- Sim ejector tool
- USB Type C cable
- Wall charger
First look at the phone is enough to tell you that it is indeed a Sony smartphone. The rectangular build of the phone is reminiscent of the previous generation Sony Xperia smartphones. There is a thick forehead and chin on the phone which house the front firing stereo speakers which has become a rare right. The lock and unlock button also houses the fingerprint sensor.

The Sony Xperia XZ1 has a 5.2 inch 1920 x 1080 px display with Corning Gorilla Glass 5 on top for protection. The design of the phone is reminiscent of a lot of previous Sony flagships, dating back to 2013’s Xperia Z. The device runs Android 8.0 Oreo out of the box and is powered by a 2700 mAh battery, which is considerably smaller than a lot of smartphones in the market. Under the hood, the device has the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 chipset, similar to the one found in XZ Premium, 4GB RAM, and 64GB onboard storage which is expandable up to 256GB via microSD card.

Sony has used its “Motion Eye” camera system in the XZ1. According to Sony, “Motion Eye” system uses a 1GB memory-stacked camera which has five times faster image processing than other smartphones. Ditching the trend of the dual camera setup, Sony went with a single camera at the back with a 19MP 1/2.3? Sony IMX400 camera lens with an f/2.0 aperture. Sony has pointed out that the phone’s 3D scanning capability is one of its highlights. The camera app includes features like Predictive Capture which will click the picture seconds before you actually hit the shutter button. Sony has used SteadyShot electronic stabilization for video instead of optical image stabilization for images. The primary camera can also record super slow motion 720p video at 960fps in addition to recording 4K videos at 30fps. On the front, the XZ1 has a 13MP camera with an f/2.0 aperture and 22mm wide-angle lens.

For the launch offers, Sony is bundling a Quick Charge 3.0 charger in the box for a limited time while the buyers can purchase the Sony Style Stand Cover for Rs 2,490 which costs Rs 3490 originally along with the device. HDFC credit/debit card holders and ICICI credit card holders can also avail a 5 per cent cash back on purchase.
October 23, 2017
OnePlus 5T With Slim Bezels Leaked In Images Again

The OnePlus 5T has been leaked again on the Chinese social networking site, Weibo. There have been plenty of leaks and “credible sources” claiming that the OnePlus 5T will indeed be launched in November with a new design language. Unlike the incremental upgrade from the OnePlus 3 to 3T in 2016, this year’s OnePlus 5T might see a huge departure from the design language that OnePlus devices have followed. Releasing the OnePlus 5T will solidify OnePlus’ launch pattern that OnePlus is trying to set in the market, much like what the company did with the OnePlus 3 and OnePlus 3T.

The leak is in line with some of the previous renders and leaks. The phone in the image has a tall display with an 18:9 aspect ratio. The bezels are considerably thinner than the OnePlus 5. For the OnePlus 5T the fingerprint sensor is moved from the home button, as there is expected to be no home button, to a rear placed location above the OnePlus logo. The dual cameras are placed identically and the slate grey colour is the same found on the OnePlus 5.

When the OnePlus 5 was launched, one of the major criticisms it faced were the thick bezels around the display, especially after it was dubbed as the “flagship killer.” Launch of the OnePlus 5T will add the company to the list of Modern 2017 smartphone makers with a low bezel / bezel less design

There is no official word from the company and the social media handles of OnePlus have not dropped any hints about an event or a launch of a new phone. These leaks should be taken with a pinch of salt until there is an official announcement from the company.

October 23, 2017
Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 Leaked In Specifications

The Redmi Note 4 is one of the most popular Xiaomi phones in India as part of the highly successful Redmi Note series. A lot will be expected from the successor of the Redmi Note 4. Recently a few leaked images of the Redmi Note 5 gave us a glimpse of what it might look like, and now the smartphone was spotted on the certification website, TENNA.

The listing on TENNA falls in line with the previous renders suggesting an 18:9 aspect ratio. However, according to the leak, the device will have a single-camera setup at the back, contrary to previous leaks that suggested a dual-camera setup. There is a possibility that the dual camera version can be one of the variants of the new Redmi Note 5. Under the hood, Xiaomi could go for the newly launched Qualcomm Snapdragon 636 chipset which will enable mid-range devices to have bezel-less displays with FHD+ resolution. The smartphone will feature a 16MP rear camera with LED flash, while the front of the phone will sport a 5MP camera. The Redmi Note 5 is expected to be powered by a 4000 mAh battery.

Xiaomi has also launched the Redmi 5A in China and as was with the Redmi 4A, the Redmi 5A might make its way to the Indian market in early-2018.

The company had launched the Redmi Note 4 last year in August and has completed its update cycle. Xiaomi might launch the new Redmi Note 5 early next year. As far as pricing goes, the phone might be launched in the same price segment as the previous Redmi Note devices but, due to the bezel-less design and one of the variants might have dual cameras, the pricing could be similar to the Mi A1 or the Mi 5X around Rs 15000.

Leaked Specifications:

Display – 18:9 aspect ratio

Chipset – Qualcomm Snapdragon 636

Battery – 4000 mAh

OS – Android 7.1 Nougat with MIUI 9

October 23, 2017
Apple Sued By A Japanese Company Which Owns ‘Animoji’ Trademark

Legal battles just doesn’t seem to go away for Apple at the moment. The Tokyo-based company, Emonster, which owns the trademark for “Animoji” in the US, is suing Apple for using the word to name its iPhone X feature. Legal worries continue for Apple with an ongoing legal battle with Qualcomm and recently losing a lawsuit against VirnetX.

Emonster filed the suit on Wednesday in US federal court, saying,

Apple made the conscious decision to try to pilfer the name for itself.

Emonster owns an iOS app called Animoji that was launched in 2014, which lets people send emojis that are animated in a loop like GIFs. The app asks its users to compose the message in the lines of how you would format a line of code in Python or Javascript, with parentheses and brackets that separate the kinds of effects you want to add to text or emoji. The app costs US$0.99 on iTunes.

The iPhone X’s Animoji feature, meanwhile, lets people transform their face into customised moving emoji. This is done using Apple’s face recognition technology. Apple tried to put a “fun and quirky” twist on its new flagship smartphone but, this suit couls cause some troubles to the American tech giant. The lawsuit alleges that because both the Animoji app and the iPhone X feature are on Apple’s platforms, and because both involve motion animation, the court should rule one out.

According to the suit, Apple knew about Emonster’s ownership of the Animoji trademark since the app is in the Apple Store. Apple allegedly offered to buy the trademark, and when that didn’t work out, it kept using the name anyway. Emonster is seeking an undisclosed amount of money in damages and a court order to block Apple from continuing to use the name “Animoji” with immediate effect.

It is reported that Emonster has owned the trademark for Animoji since 2015, Apple filed a petition in September 2017 to cancel the trademark, so the registration is now under review. Apple said that because of a filing error, Emonster registered the trademark to a nonexistent business and therefore can’t actually own the trademark for ‘animoji’.

October 23, 2017
Lenovo Will Update the K8 , K8 Plus And K8 Note to Android Oreo

Lenovo K8 series owners will be happy to hear that Lenovo has officially announce update plans for the devices to receive Android 8.0 Oreo update. The excitement ends there as the timeline for these updates is a long time away.

The timeline has been announced by Lenovo, and the K8 series is expected to get the update June-July 2018 during which time Google should be announcing Android 9.0.

The K8 will be the first of the series to get Android Oreo according to the company’s post, which will roll out in June of 2018, while the K8 Note and K8 Plus are slated for an update in July of 2018.

The Lenovo K8 Note was launched in August for a price of Rs. 13999 while the K8 and K8 plus saw subsequent launches. The K8 Plus remains a flipkart exclusive while the other two handsets are on sale on Amazon.in

While most companies are pushing updates in a timely manner, and Xiaomi has set an end of the year timeline for their Mi A1 and Mi Mix 2, The company is yet to roll out any updates to the Mi Mix original which is still on MiUI 8.

The Update will be available as an OTA update to devices and will be rolled out across eligible Lenovo K8 / plus/ note devices at the same time.

October 18, 2017
WhatsApp Will Now Allow You to Share Your Location Live
What many will take as a safety solution, a location sharing feature that will share your location live with anyone you enable this feature with, hits the worlds most popular messaging application, WhatApp. With this new capability users can share their live location via a message help their friends/loved ones track them live.

Since all communicating between two parties is encrypted, WhatsApp claims this private location sharing will remain secure and encrypted for the privacy protection of the users.

The feature will go live across platforms whether iOS or Android and users will be able to initiate it though the location shirring menu in their apps. Whats even more interesting is that, if in a group chat, several members share their location, it will be seen in a common map.

How to Activate Live Location:

As an incremental update the feature will automatically show up within your app if your hardware ( smartphone) supports this feature.

How to Share Live Location:
- Open a chat with the person or group you want to share with.
- Under “Location” in the attach button, there’s a new option to “Share Live Location.”
- Choose for how long you want to share and tap send
- Each person in the chat will be able to see your real-time location on a map
- And if more than one person shares their Live Location in the group, all locations will be visible on the same map.
- Once done you can stop sharing the location by tapping the “Stop Sharing” button
Live Location is available on both Android and iPhone and will be rolling out in the app in the coming weeks.
October 18, 2017
Portrait Mode May Be Coming To Samsung Galaxy S8 With A Future Update

The portrait mode on smartphones is the new rage. Every new flagship phone is almost entirely judged by how good the camera is and how good the portrait mode is nowadays. Smartphone makers went the dual-camera route in order to create that bokeh effect but, Google showed that great software can do just the right amount of work in a camera with the Google Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL. Now, there are reports that Samsung wants to keep its flagship S8 and S8+ relevant, and a ‘portrait mode’ might be added with future updates.

When Samsung Galaxy S8 was launched in early 2017, the dual-camera craze was just starring to pick up and it as understandable why Samsung stuck to a single camera setup on it flagship smartphone. A customer inquired if such a feature is inbound and the response from Samsung Electronics support read: “there is no information yet, but we hope that you will get portrait mode update with the next SW”. The usual support responses would have only contained the first part, but this one not only suggested that the feature is a possibility, but also gave hope that it’s just around the corner.

Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8+ lack a telephoto lens but, can achieve this feature with software, just like the Pixel 2 smartphones. There are no details as to when the software update will come but, since the Android 8.0 Oreo update is around the corner, Samsung might just add this feature in the next big software update.

October 17, 2017
Moto X4 To Be Launched In India On November 13th

After unveiling the Moto X4globally during the IFA 2017, Motorola was all set to launch the smartphone in India on 3rd of October. That didn’t happen and no information was given regarding the delay. The Motorola India Twitter account has now announced that the Moto X4 is all set to be launched on 13th of November. More details about the launch will follow suit.

We agree! The #MotoX4 will be unveiled on the 13th of November. Stay tuned for all details!

— Motorola India (@motorolaindia) October 16, 2017

The Moto X4 has a 5.2 inch 1920 x 1080 px IPS LCD display with Corning Gorilla Glass on top for protection. The smartphone runs stock Android 7.1.1 Nougat and is powered by a 3,000 mAh battery with TurboCharge capabilities. Motorola recently announced that the Moto X4 will receive an update to Android 8.0 Oreo by the end of the year. The company claims that the 15 mins of charge can give up to 6 hours of talk time. The Moto X4 has the Qualcomm Snapdragon 630, 2.2 GHz octa-core processor and Adreno 508 GPU, along with 3GB RAM and 32GB onboard storage which can be expanded up to 2TB via microSD card. The phone has an IP68 rating for water and dust resistance.

The new smartphone will also feature Alexa, the Amazon AI voice assistant. This isn’t the first time that Alexa has made its way onto a smartphone, the Huawei Mate 9 was the first smartphone to feature the voice assistant. Since then, we have also seen Alexa make its way to the HTC U11.The 4 in Moto X4 signifies that the new smartphone will be able to share the sound with up to 4 devices, thanks to the presence of Bluetooth 5.0.

The Moto X4 has a dual-camera setup at the back. The main camera is a 12MP sensor with an f/2.0 aperture, and the 8MP secondary camera with an f/2.2 aperture is equipped with a wide-angle lens. The dual-cameras allow users to have depth effect shots, bokeh effect shots, ultra-wide angle shots, and selective focus shots. On the front of the device is a 16MP camera with an f/2.0 aperture and an LED flash. The cameras record 4K videos at 30 FPS.

The Moto X4, is expected to be priced at around Rs 25000 even though its European price is higher. The promotional poster doesn’t give away any other information but, the smartphone is expected to go on sale on Amazon and Motorola’s recently launched Moto Hub retail stores.

October 17, 2017
All WiFi Devices Vulnerable To KRACK Attacks

Security researchers claimed to have found severe vulnerabilities in WPA2 ( WiFi Protected Access II). This is an extremely popular security protocol, so much so that it used by almost every WiFi device on the planet. The vulnerabilities can allow anyone near your your router to access the WiFi traffic being sent through it.

There is a dedicated website called krackattacks.com, named after the proof-of-concept attack called KRACK (Key Reinstallation Attacks). Researcher Mathy Vanhoef of imec-DistriNet, KU Leuven.

Concretely, attackers can use this novel [KRACK] attack technique to read information that was previously assumed to be safely encrypted. This can be abused to steal sensitive information such as credit card numbers, passwords, chat messages, emails, photos, and so on. The attack works against all modern protected Wi-Fi networks.

The attack targets WiFi clients using WPA2, and compromises the encryption protocol used for communicating with the router. Once this is done, any data or information that the victim transmits can be decrypted. He adds that the attack is exceptionally devastating against Linux and smartphones running Android 6.0 or higher, though devices running Apple’s mobile and desktop operating system, Windows, OpenBSD etc. are all vulnerable, too. To protect yourself against attacks, it’s Wi-Fi clients like laptops, smartphones, smart home devices, and the likes, will need to install security updates.

Our main attack is against the 4-way handshake, and does not exploit access points, but instead targets clients. So it might be that your router does not require security updates

The vulnerabilities have been assigned Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) identifiers: CVE-2017-13077, CVE-2017-13078, CVE-2017-13079, CVE-2017-13080, CVE-2017-13081, CVE-2017-13082, CVE-2017-13084, CVE-2017-13086,CVE-2017-13087, and CVE-2017-13088.

October 17, 2017
Apple Has To Pay US$439.7 Million For Patent Infringement

Apple has been dealt with a US$439.7 million fine for apparently infringing four patented technologies of VirnetX used in FaceTime and other iOS apps. While this is the final judgment from the US District Court, Apple has plans to appeal the ruling which will prolong the legal battle which began back in 2012.

Legal battles between these two companies has been a back and forth tennis match since 2010. VirnetX first filed suit against Apple in 2010, winning US$368 million two years later. It then sued Apple again in 2012, which is the suit that was being ruled on this time. Apple initially lost the suit, and then filed for a mistrial. It won a new trial, lost that trial, and was ordered to pay around US$300 million, then lost some more money and is now having that amount increased even further. This happened because a judge found Apple guilty of wilful infringement, bumping its payment amount from US$1.20 per infringing Apple device to US$1.80 per device. In response to the ruling, VirnetX has said that this was a “reasonable amount.”

US$440 million might not be a huge amount for Apple and the money involved is certainly not the reason behind Apple’s effort to appeal against the judgement. VirnetX has been known to make money out of filing patent infringement suits. The company’s SEC filing states, “Our portfolio of intellectual property is the foundation of our business model.”

Legal battles seem to be following Apple nowadays. Qualcomm recently filed a lawsuit against Apple in China in an attempt to stop manufacturing and sales of iPhones in China. China is the largest smartphone market in the world and this lawsuit has come at an extremely crucial time as the company gears up for the sales of the iPhone X.

October 17, 2017