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OnePlus confirmed that the OnePlus 5T is a real phone and not the work of someone’s imagination. It is expected that the OnePlus 5T will have a new design and display with same hardware as the OnePlus 5. On the 3rd of November, OPPO, OnePlus’ parent company launched the OPPO R11s and R11s Plus with thin bezels and tall displays and 18:9 aspect ratio. The OnePlus 5, when it was launched in June 2017 looked almost identical to the OPPO R11. This means that it is fair to assume that the OnePlus 5T will take a lot of design cues from the OPPO R11s.
The rumours and the launch of the OPPO R11s falls in line as well. The OnePlus 5T is expected to be an incremental rather than a drastic upgrade over the OnePlus 5. The OnePlus 5T is expected to have a 6-inch AMOLED display with an 18:9 aspect ratio. A tall display means that the phone will be sleeker than the OnePlus 5 and have thinner bezels as well. The fingerprint sensor is expected to be relocated to the back of the phone just above the OnePlus logo. All of these design elements can be found on the OPPO R11s as well.
Apart from a design change, the OnePlus 5T is expected to have the same hardware as the OnePlus 5. When the OnePlus 3T was launched, it had the same design and hardware except for a bigger battery and a new chipset. In this case, since the OnePlus 5 already has the best flagship chipset, the OnePlus 5T will stick to the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 chipset with 6GB/8GB of RAM.
OnePlus has just confirmed that the upcoming OnePlus 5T will retain the 3.5mm headphone jack which is a good news for anyone waiting to upgrade to the OnePlus 5T. The speculated date of launch of the OnePlus 5T is the 20th of November and if that turns out to be true, then OnePlus should be sending out press invites soon.
The OnePlus 5T has been leaked in listings and renders for the past few weeks now. Ever since the first render we saw a few weeks ago, the OnePlus 5T’s possible launch seems more imminent with every passing day. In a post on the OnePlus forum, Pete, co-founder of OnePlus wrote about the importance of a headphone jack and titled it, ‘The OnePlus 5T – Let’s talk about the headphone jack’. This post all but confirms that Chinese smartphone maker will be launching the OnePlus 5T soon.
Pete talks about the importance of a 3.5mm headphone jack and why OnePlus, at least for the time being, won’t be getting rid of it even when most of the smartphone makers appear to have moved on from it.
That’s why we prioritize the user and make good technology accessible. Sometimes, industry trends go against our core beliefs. This is one of those times when we respectfully disagree on what it means to be courageous.
Over the course of past few weeks, apart from the usual leaks and renders we see of every phone, the OnePlus co-founders Carl Pei and Pete Lau have taken to Twitter to teasethe portrait mode of an upcoming phone. They posted portrait mode photos with cryptic captions and has intrigued consumers and the tech community alike.
The OnePlus social media team has also jumped the hype train. In a Twitter post, OnePlus shared an image of 5 cups of tea, which suggests ‘OnePlus 5T’. Till now, all of this seemed like speculation and hoping a OnePlus 5T launch because of such cryptic social media activity was highly optimistic. But, this new post on the OnePlus forum by a OnePlus employee all but confirms that the OnePlus 5T is real.
Just like the OnePlus 3T, the OnePlus 5T is expected to be an incremental update rather than a drastic new upgrade in terms of hardware. The OnePlus 5T is expected to have the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 chipset as it is the current flagship chipset. The dual cameras at the back are also expected to be the same as found on the OnePlus 5. The OnePlus 5T is expected to have a 6 inch AMOLED display with a 2160 x 1080 x resolution which translates to an 18:9 aspect ratio.
The smartphone is expected to run Android 7.1.1 Nougat with OnePlus’ Oxygen OS on top. The 2017 flagship will have the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 chipset with a combination of either 6GB RAM and 64GB of storage or a whopping 8GB RAM and 128 of storage which can not be expanded. The OnePlus 5T is also expected feature dual cameras on the back, one of the main cameras is a 20 MP sensor with an f/2.6 aperture, while the other is a 16 MP camera with an aperture of F/1.7 . The secondary telephoto lens is used for 2X lossless optical zoom and a ‘portrait mode’ for blurred background images.
The speculated date of launch of the OnePlus 5T is the 20th of November and if that turns out to be true, then OnePlus should be sending out press invites soon.
Xiaomi has launched a new lineup of Android powered smartphones in India. The new series, a part of the Redmi lineup will focus on the growing craze of selfies. The Redmi Y1 Lite and Redmi Y1 were launched as the first two smartphones in this lineup. The Redmi Y1 Lite will retail for a price of Rs 6999 and the Redmi Y1 is priced at Rs 8999 for the 3GB RAM/32GB storage variant and Rs 10999 for the 4GB RAM/64GB storage variant. The Redmi Y1 and Redmi Y1 Lite will go on sale on the 8th of November on Amazon exclusively. Let’s unbox the Redmi Y1 and see what we get inside the box:
Xiaomi Redmi Y1
Documentation
Micro USB cable for charging and data syncing
Wall charger
Sim ejector tool
The Redmi Y1 is built similar to a lot of other Redmi phones. A fingerprint sensor placed at the back with antenna lines on the top and bottom of the device and soft metal finish are reminiscent of a lot of other Redmi phones like the Redmi Note 4 for example.
The Redmi Y1 has a 5.5 inch IPS LCD display with a 1280 x 720 px resolution. The device also has a 2.5D curved Corning Gorilla Glass on top for protection.
The smartphone is powered by a 3080 mAh battery and runs Android 7.1 Nougat with MIUI 8.5 on top. Xiaomi has announced that MIUI 9 update will be rolled out for the Redmi Y1 in November. The Redmi Y1 has the Qualcomm Snapdragon 435 chipset, Adreno 505, 3GB or 4GB of RAM and 32GB or 64GB of onboard storage. The onboard storage can be expanded via a dedicated microSD card slot.
The Redmi Y1 has a front facing 16MP camera with an f/2.0 aperture and an LED flash. Xiaomi claims that the software processing and beautify mode will result “in your best selfie ever.” The rear-mounted 13MP camera with PDAF and LED flash.
HTC has launched the HTC U11 Life in two variants, one variant running Android 7.1 Nougat with Sense UI and an Android One variant running Android 8.0 Oreo. The HTC U11 Life is priced at US $349 (Rs 22500 approx.) for the unlocked version in the US. There is no official word on its availability in India as of now.
Following up the launch of the flagship phone, the HTC U11+, the HTC U11 Life will be a part of the ‘U’ lineup from HTC and pegged as a mid-range device. The HTC U11 Life will offer the consumers a choice between custom skin and pure stock Android OS without compromising on any other aspect. The HTC U11 Life has HTC’s new “liquid surface” design language with two glossy panels that meld into a metal frame.
The HTC U11 Life has a 5.2 inch IPS LCD display with a 1920 x 1080 px resolution which translates to a 16:9 aspect ratio. The HTC U11+ also has Corning Gorilla Glass on top of the display.
Under the hood, the device has the Qualcomm Snapdragon 630 chipset, 3GB or 4GB of RAM, 32GB or 64GB of onboard storage which can be expanded via microSD card. The fingerprint sensor is housed inside the home button that is placed below the 5.2 inch display. The 3.5mm headphone jack is missing on the U11 Life but, the box will include a pair of USB C earphones with active noise canceling. Powering the device is a small 2600 mAh battery.
The HTC U11 Life has a 16MP rear-mounted camera with an f/2.0 aperture and PDAF. Similar to the HTC U11+, the camera records 4K and slo-mo videos as well. On the front of the device is a 16 MP fixed focus sensor with an f/2.0 aperture which records 1080P videos.
The Edge Sense feature from the U11 retains its place with new features and more customisability. With the HTC U11 Life, you can assign a light squeeze to access Google Assistant, and a hard squeeze to access the Amazon Alexa and vice versa. The squeeze feature is now a remappable button and can perform specific tasks depending on which app you’re in. If you have the YouTube app, you can remap the squeeze to take you to the subscriptions window or if you are in Google Maps, you squeeze to zoom in or zoom out. HTC has also added a new radial menu which can be accessed with a squeeze. It is a round shaped menu which customises on the basis of your usage.
HTC has launched the HTC U11+ at a price of £699 (Rs 59800 approx.) in the UK. There is no official word on the phone’s availability in India as of now. There were multiple leaks leading up to the launch of the phone and most of them have turned out to be accurate. HTC U11+ will succeed the HTC U11 which was launched back in March 2017. Along with the HTC U11+, the HTC U11 Life was also launched, which is a mid-range device with design aesthetics similar to the HTC U11.
HTC U11
HTC seems to have finally caught up with 2017 flagships by offering a phone with an 18:9 aspect ratio. The HTC U11+ has a new 6-inch IPS LCD display with a 2880 x 1440 px resolution and Corning Gorilla Glass 5 on top of the display and at the back. The tall display means the bezels on the HTC U11+ are thinner than the ones found on the HTC U11.
The smartphone is powered by a 3930 mAh battery with QuickCharge 3.0. Similar to the HTC U11, HTC U11+ has the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 chipset, an octa-core processor, and Adreno 540 GPU. The HTC u11+ further has 6GB of RAM and 128GB onboard storage which can be further expanded up to 2TB. The HTC U11+ is IP68 rated water and dust resistant and due to the thin bezels, the fingerprint sensor is now placed below the rear-mounted camera.
The HTC U11+ has a 12.2MP rear-mounted camera with an f/1.7 aperture with optical image stabilisation and electronic image stabilisation. The camera can record 4K videos at 30fps and slo-mo 1080P videos at 120fps. On the front of the phone is an 8MP camera with an f/2.0 aperture and fixed focus. The front-facing camera can record 1080P videos at 30fps.via microSD card.
The HTC U11+ runs Android 8.0 Oreo with HTC’s Sense UI on top.
The Edge Sense feature from the HTC U11 retains its place albeit new features and customisability. With AI’s gaining more prominence, HTC has provided both Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa to give people the flexibility and choose which AI assistant they prefer. You can assign a light squeeze to access Google Assistant, and a hard squeeze to access the Amazon Alexa and vice versa. The squeeze feature is now a remappable button and can perform specific tasks depending on which app you’re in. If you have the YouTube app, you can remap the squeeze to take you to the subscriptions window or if you are in Google Maps, you squeeze to zoom in or zoom out. HTC has also added a new radial menu which can be accessed with a squeeze. It is a round shaped menu which customises on the basis of your usage.
HTC cleared the air of scepticism surrounding its smartphone business after the co operative agreement with Google, which saw its smartphone division’s personnel moving to work with Google. HTC announced in the press release after the agreement that it will continue making smartphones and with the launch of two new smartphones, it appears that HTC still has the desire to compete for smartphone supremacy with the likes of Samsung, LG and Apple. How the phones perform in the market is yet to be seen but, on paper at least, the HTC U11+ has all the specifications of a successful 2017 flagship phone.
Xiaomi has launched its first ever selfie focussed Android phone lineup in India. The Redmi Y1 and the Redmi Y1 Lite are the first part of a new lineup of smartphones in India which will focus on selfies. Along with the new phone, Xiaomi also introduced MIUI 9 in India. Launched back in August in China, the MIUI 9 brings new features like split-screen and CPU acceleration and new themes.
Redmi Y1 Lite
The cheaper of the two phones, the Redmi Y1 Lite has a 5.5 inch IPS LCD display with a 1280 x 720 px resolution. The device also has a 2.5D curved Corning Gorilla Glass on top for protection. The smartphone is powered by a 3080 mAh battery and runs Android 7.1 Nougat with MIUI 8.5 on top. Xiaomi has announced that MIUI 9 update will be rolled out for the Redmi Y1 in November. Under the hood, the smartphone has the Qualcomm Snapdragon 425 chipset, 2GB of RAM and 16GB of onboard storage which can be expanded up to 128GB via a dedicated microSD card slot.
The Redmi Y1 Lite has a 13MP rear-mounted camera with PDAF. On the front is a 5MP camera with an f/2.0 aperture and pro beauty mode. The Redmi Y1 Lite is priced at Rs 6999.
Redmi Y1
The Xiaomi Redmi Y1 has a starting price tag of Rs 8999 for the 3GB RAM variant. The variant with 4GB of RAM and 64GB onboard storage is priced at Rs 10999. The Redmi Y1 also has a 5.5 inch IPS LCD display with a 1280 x 720 px resolution. The device also has a 2.5D curved Corning Gorilla Glass on top for protection. The smartphone is powered by a 3080 mAh battery and runs Android 7.1 Nougat with MIUI 8.5 on top. Xiaomi has announced that MIUI 9 update will be rolled out for the Redmi Y1 in November. The Redmi Y1 has the Qualcomm Snapdragon 435 chipset, Adreno 505, 3GB or 4GB of RAM and 32GB or 64GB of onboard storage. The onboard storage can be expanded via a dedicated microSD card slot.
The Redmi Y1 has a front facing 16MP camera with an f/2.0 aperture and an LED flash. Xiaomi claims that the software processing and beautify mode will result “in your best selfie ever.” The rear-mounted 13MP camera with PDAF and LED flash.
Both the phones will see their first sale on the 8th of November and will be sold online via Amazon Exclusively. The Redmi Y1 and Redmi Y1 Lite will also be sold offline in Mi Home, Big Bazaar, Reliance Digital and various offline partners. Idea is offering up to 280GB 4G data to existing Idea customers.
After weeks of speculation and leaks, Razer has launched the Razer Phone during an event in London. Launched as a gamer’s phone, the Razer Phone has flagship phone specifications. Razer poked fun at the price of its Razer products and announced that the phone will be priced at US $699 and ship it to the US and EU from the 17th of November.
The smartphone has a 5.72-inch IGZO display with 120Hz refresh rate which reinstates that the phone is targeted at gamers. Another interesting aspect here is the front-firing dual speakers. With bezels getting thinner, the trend of front-firing stereo speakers appears to be dying as well. The Pixel 2 XL managed to squeeze in stereo speakers with slightly larger bezels that its competitors. The Razer phone has bezels similar to a Sony smartphone with front-firing speakers with Dolby Atmos sound and amplifiers which are certified by THX. The device is powered by a 4000 mAh battery and runs Android 7.1 Nougat.
Under the hood, the Razer Phone has the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 chipset, 8GB of RAM and 64GB onboard storage which can be expanded up to 2TB via microSD card. The Razer Phone will come equipped with special games which are specifically reprogrammed with a 2K display and 120Hz refresh rate like Tekken, Legend Of Valor and more. According to Tom Moss, Razer was able to use the technical know-how accumulated over many years in heat dissipation for the Razer Phone. A heat pipe and two-layer heat spreader ensure that the smartphone does not overheat in continuous use and under full load. Bad news for fans of the good old headphone jack, because the Razer phone doesn’t have a 3.5mm jack on the phone itself. To connect analogue headphones, there is a USB type C dongle, which has a THX-certified DAC inside. The fingerprint sensor is housed inside the lock/unlock button.
Razer also introduced a “game booster” feature which refers to additional software functions that adjust the clock rate of the processor and the resolution of the display, depending on the app requirements. The user can define whether the four performance cores of the Snapdragon 835 SoC should perform their service at full or lower clock rate.
The Razer phone has a dua l12MP wide-angle lens + 12MP telephoto lens setup at the back. The wide angle lens is the full beam lens with an aperture of f/1.75 and the telephoto lens with an aperture of f/2.6. The telephoto lens allows for portrait mode images and also bokeh effect photos. On the front of the device is an 8MP camera with an f/2.0 aperture.
There is no official word on the availability of the Razer phone in other markets including India.
Apple and Google have been rivals in the world of tech for a long time now. For many years, Google was known for its software business but, it recently took control over its phones’ hardware as well with the rise of the Pixel lineup. In September, Apple launched the marquee iPhone X and Google launched the Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XLa month later. While the iPhone X takes a huge detour in terms of design from its predecessor, you can still see shades of the original Pixel devices in the new Pixel 2 smartphones. Both, the iPhone X and Google Pixel 2 went up for pre-orders in India on the 27th of October. Let’s stack up the Google Pixel 2 against the iPhone X and see who comes out on top.
Price
If you care about your budget and are okay with either Android or iOS, then the Pixel 2 should be your choice. The Pixel 2 starts at a price of Rs 63000 for the 64GB variant while the iPhone X costs Rs 89000 for the 64GB variant. Even the Pixel 2 XL will be cheaper than the iPhone X and fit better in your budget.
Design
There isn’t a competition here in the design department. Even if it were the Pixel 2 XL against the iPhone X, the latter would win on any day under the Sun. The iPhone X has minimal bezels around a 5.8-inch OLED display while Pixel 2 , even though has the front-firing stereo speakers, still possesses those big 2015 bezels. The iPhone X has a glass back which enables the much-awaited wireless charging feature, while it eludes the Google Pixel 2 owing to an aluminium body. The “glass window” from the 2016 Pixel smartphone retains its place albeit a smaller size which, some people like and other people find hideous. The glass back on the iPhone X however means that it is a fingerprint magnet but, a skin or a cover can negate that. The design department goes hands down, to the Apple iPhone X.
Multimedia
With smartphones getting more expensive and people becoming more mobile, the media consumption has largely shifted from laptops and desktops to smartphones. When you buy thousand dollar, or a nearly thousand dollar smartphone, you better get excellent media consumption experience. Here’s where, again, the iPhone X trumps the Google Pixel 2. Despite the front-firing speakers on the Pixel 2, the speaker on the iPhone X is much louder and has a better sound stage than the Pixel 2. Pixel 2 is loud, no doubt, but when stacked up against the iPhone X, it falls short in quality and volume as well. The display on the iPhone X is an OLED panel with a 2436 x 1125 resolution in comparison to the 5 inch AMOLED 1920 x 1080 px on the Pixel 2. While watching videos, the notch on the iPhone X can be negated by pinching out of the video or, you can choose to embrace the notch. The viewing angles are much better on the iPhone X which translates to amazing video watching experience. Both the phones are missing the headphone jack so, if you are not willing to live the dongle-life, bluetooth headphones are the way to go. With a better display and speakers, the iPhone X beats the Google Pixel 2 in the multimedia department.
Software
Comparing iOS and Android is like comparing apples to oranges, you can do it, but, it doesn’t solve any purpose. The Google Pixel 2 runs pure Android 8.0 Oreo with some nifty features like ‘Now Playing’ and squeeze to launch the Google Assistant. On the iPhone X, you still have to long press the lock/unlock button to launch Siri. The iPhone X runs iOS 11 out of the box, and even though the latest version of iOS has run into some issues, it is a smooth experience over-all on the iPhone. With the riddance of the home button on the iPhone X, the navigation within the phone is replaced by gestures. Both the Google Pixel 2 and iPhone X will receive software updates for years to come, and in the end it is up to you to choose between Android and iOS.
Gaming Performance
If you are that person who swears by the benchmark scores, then the iPhone X scores a whopping 229507 on Antutu while the Pixel 2 scores 150957. Gaming on both the phones was a breeze and the Snapdragon 835 on the Pixel 2 and A11 Bionic chip on the iPhone X does not disappoint. Once you get used to the gestures on the iPhone X, you realise that multi-tasking and general usage is extremely smooth and same is the case with the Pixel 2. Android phones have been criticised for slowing down with time and it will be interesting to see how the two phones will perform in the coming months after extensive usage.
Camera
Both the iPhone X and Pixel 2 have great cameras. The 12.2MP camera on the Pixel 2 and the 12MP dual camera setup on the iPhone X perform great in low-light conditions and in brightly lit environments, there is barely anything to guess them apart. The difference comes in the video department, the iPhone X takes video recording a notch higher (no pun intended) with 4K videos at 60fps while the Pixel 2 still records 4K videos at 30fps.
HTC will be launching a new, or two new smartphones on the 2nd of November at an event in Taiwan. The main attraction will be the launch of the new flagship smartphone, the HTC U11 Plus. HTC has been hard at work on social media by teasing key components of the upcoming phone. New leaks reveal what the HTC U11 Plus what might look like when it is unveiled on the 2nd of November.
So far, from what HTC has revealed, we know that the U11 Plus will have thinner bezels than the U11 and a single camera at the back. The new leaked images reveal a design on the lines of the images that HTC put out on social media.
There isn’t much known about the U11 Plus yet. The device is expected have a 5.99-inch 2880 x 1440 px display translating to an 18:9 aspect ratio. The phone will have minimal bezels and a rear-mounted fingerprint sensor. Like the HTC U11, the Plus variant of the phone will be powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 chipset. The HTC U11 Plus is expected to come in two variants – one with 4GBR RAM/64GB storage and second variant which will be a top end version will come with 6GB RAM and 128GB of internal storage.
The smartphone is expected to have a 12MP rear-mounted camera. On the front, the U11 Plus is expected to have an 8MP sensor. HTC will not jump the dual-camera bandwagon just yet and continue with a single camera at the back just like the U11 (as is visible in the teaser). The U11 Plus is also expected to be IP68 certified water and dust resistant. It is also said to support Qualcomm QuickCharge 3.0 and also include the HTC U11 Active Edge feature.
With the launch just a few hours away, it is wise to take these leaks with a pinch of salt and wait till HTC officially launches the HTC U11 Plus.
The iPhone has been one of my two primary devices for many years. When Apple announced the iPhone X back in September the biggest concern as a potential iPhone X user was the lack of the two main things that had been engraved in my muscle memory; the home button and the Touch ID.
The iPhone X has a new modern edge to edge design, and with this the iPhone X also loses the home button, the most iconic iPhone feature since the launch of the first iPhone. Using an iPhone required a lot of interaction with the home button and Touch-ID sensor which was also placed in the home button since the iPhone 5s. And it was this high usage of the sensor and button , that made Apple change the fragile physical button with a press mechanism with a more long lasting pressure sensitive sensor with no physical movement. This potentially means that the home button on the iPhone 7 and iPhone 8 will last you as long as the phone is functional.
The Touch ID is also engraved into muscle memory, on an iPhone the Touch ID does a lot more than simply allow access to the phone, it allows access and security to auto-fill forms, logins for apps and passwords for the iCloud Keychain. TouchID is also fused with banking apps and security wallets to enable access. Apple Pay is one of the most common use case scenarios where the Touch ID is used frequently and it is pretty seamless as a payments system.
Being a fan of physical and tactile keys, I was already disappointed that Apple had removed the physical button with a seamless pressure sensitive glass on the iPhone 7. But, since Apple had added a Taptic Engine inside the iPhone 7 and iPhone 8 the feeling of pressing button does remain for each time you press the home button, at least when the phones are powered on.
With the iPhone X, I was pretty sure that getting used to an iPhone without Touch ID and more importantly without a home button would be rather disastrous, and time consuming. But, I couldn’t have been more wrong. The iPhone X has a natural feeling design, and even though that tiny bar at the bottom may appear to have no significance apart from being a design/visual cue, it seems to do a lot more. Only a few minutes into the usage of the iPhone X and the need of the home button seems to fade away. It also helps that apple has made the animations and the transitions very detailed and smooth. iOS 11 for the iPhone X is also designed to fully make use of the large screen real estate using the edges in different areas differently. In Apple’s words “It just works”.
Face ID on the other hand is something you will take some time with. The fact that you have to look at your phone before you unlock it means, that reaching the home screen from the lock-screen seems to take longer. Normally due to muscle memory you would place your thumb on the iPhone’s Touch ID before you even looked at the display, and would have found your phone already at the home screen by the time you glanced at the screen. This prior action would make the unlock process feel faster than the time it takes for Face ID to unlock, simply because now you have to stare at the phone while it unlocks.
Face ID is also surprisingly good, works in pitch darkness and even in bright light, in sunlight the phone does see IR interference from the sunlight and thus would require you to bring the phone closer to the face, but it works. It however is not ideal, not after how simple it was to unlock with Touch ID.
The home button, however, is something that I have happily forgotten, and only realised this when I picked up my iPhone 8 Plus and attempted to swipe up to reach the home screen. This just after spending 24 hours with the iPhone X .
TheApple iPhone X was out of stock within minutes of going up for pre-orders on Amazon and Flipkart. People who weren’t fast enough with the keys can breathe a sigh of relief, the iPhone X will go on sale on Airtel’s online store at 6pm on the 3rd of November.
As an introductory offer, Airtel is offering up to Rs 10000 cashback for people who pay using the Citibank credit card. This offer will be vail between 6pm 3rd November and 7am 4th November. Airtel Prepaid and non-Airtel customers can upgrade to Airtel postpaid to be eligible for the purchase and can choose from a plans that offer large bundles of high speed data and unlimited calling.
The iPhone X has a 5.8-inch 2436 x 1125 px OLED True Tone Super Retina display. The phone runs iOS 11.1 and is powered by a 3,000 mAh battery which charges through the Apple signature lightning port placed at the bottom of the phone or via wireless charging. Because of the all-glass design, the iPhone 8 also has wireless charging. 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. 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 dual 12-megapixel rear cameras, and it’s equipped with dual optical image stabilization. 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. The rear cameras have the portrait lighting feature, just like the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus.
The Apple iPhone X is the most expensive iPhone ever and is priced at Rs 89000 for the 64GB variant while the 256GB variant costs Rs 1,02,000.
The iPhone X will be available to buy in India and a lot of other countries from the 3rd of November. When the smartphone went up for pre-orders on the 27th of October, it was sold out within minutes, showcasing a 180-degree repsonse to the iPhone 8 got at the time of its launch. The big 5.8 inch OLED display with minimal bezels around it on the iPhone X meant that the iconic home button/Touch ID got the axe. It was replaced with Face ID, which Apple claims much more secure than Touch ID with the probability of someone else unlocking your iPhone X with Face ID being 1 in 1,000,000 compared 1 in 50,000 with Touch ID.
One question that came to everyone’s mind when Apple announced the Face ID was ‘what about identical twins?’ Apple even joked about it on stage and said that Face ID’s security is lower when it comes to identical twins. Now that a lot of outlets have had a few days to play around with the new iPhone X, videos of identical twins trying to fool Face ID were bound to surface online. So far, from what we’ve seen, the results are mixed with no definitive ‘Yes Face ID can’t be fooled’ or ‘No, it is very much possible to fool it with your identical twin’. Apple released a white paper a few weeks ago chronicling how the Face ID works, but, while it mentions a higher false match, it didn’t give any specifics.
The probability that a random person in the population could look at your iPhone X and unlock it using Face ID is approximately 1 in 1,000,000 (versus 1 in 50,000 for Touch ID). The probability of a false match is different for twins and siblings that look like you as well as among children under the age of 13, because their distinct facial features may not have fully developed.
News outlets like Mashable and Tech Insider shared videos of identical twins trying to fool Face ID in different circumstances. Mashable’s test saw the other identical twin unlocking the iPhone X even though their face was not stored in the phone.
With both sets of twins, the other twin unlocked the iPhone X, even though neither one had registered his face with Face ID on the iPhone X. With the Franklin twins, we had both brothers remove their glasses and had the other brother register. Again, Face ID failed to tell the difference.
Tech Insider also ran the test on a pair of identical twins and saw an opposite result. In this case, the other twin was not able to open the iPhone X and vice versa.
With every technology, there is a chink in its armour. We will be nitpicking if we say that Face ID has failed on the basis of two or three videos and very few tests. Face ID has replaced Touch ID and people moving on to the iPhone X will have to make do with Face ID and so far, people without an identical twin have found Face ID accurate and easy to use (including us).
The OnePlus 5T rumours seize to fade away. With a rumoured launch date of the 16th of November closing in, there seems to be a frenzy around the upcoming OnePlus 5T. Now, the co-founder of OnePlus, Carl Pei has taken to Twitter to inflate the anticipation around the rumoured OnePlus 5T.
In the tweet, Car Pei shares a portrait mode image from a OnePlus phone. He doesn’t specify the phone the image is taken from. The OnePlus 5, which was launched in June also has a dual-camera setup at the back which allows for portrait mode photos. However, with the curiosity around the OnPlus 5T, Carl Pei could be hinting towards the updated cameras on the OnePlus 5T.
Just like the OnePlus 3T, the OnePlus 5T is expected to be an incremental update rather than a drastic new upgrade in terms of hardware. The 5T is expected to have the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 chipset as it is the current flagship chipset. The dual cameras at the back are also expected to be the same as found on the OnePlus 5. The OnePlus 5T will have a 6 inch AMOLED display with a 2160 x 1080 x resolution which translates to an 18:9 aspect ratio.
The smartphone is expected to run Android 7.1.1 Nougat with OnePlus’ Oxygen OS on top. The 2017 flagship will have the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 chipset with a combination of either 6GB RAM and 64GB of storage or a whopping 8GB RAM and 128 of storage which can not be expanded. The OnePlus 5T is also expected feature dual cameras on the back, one of the main cameras is a 20 MP sensor with an f/2.6 aperture, while the other is a 16 MP camera with an aperture of F/1.7 . The secondary telephoto lens is used for 2X lossless optical zoom and a ‘portrait mode’ for blurred background images.
Recent renders of the OPPO R11s also look very similar to those of the OnePlus 5T. It is possible that just like thge OPPO R11 and OnePlus 5, the R11s and 5T could share a very similar design.
Google is trying hard to reduce the time it takes to pair bluetooth devices with Android phones. A new update is going to make pairing some Bluetooth devices much easier. Starting with Google Play Services 11.7 on Android 6.0 Marshmallow and higher, users will be able to take advantage of the new Fast Pair feature. Fast Pair will make the process of pairing Bluetooth devices easier by scanning for nearby Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) broadcasts and prompting you to pair with them.
Once Fast Pair is enabled, Android will scan for BLE broadcasts close to the user’s device and discovers a Fast Pair packet. That packet is then in turn sent to Google’s servers to retrieve the device’s product name, image, and companion app. After that information is returned, a high-priority notification shows up on the user’s device and asks them to “tap to pair” to the device. That notification will display the product name and image that Google’s server returned.
Once the user taps on the notification, standard Bluetooth connection is established and the device is connected to the phone. After a successful connection, a second notification will appear with a link to download a companion app if the Bluetooth device has one.
It is worth noting that barely any pair of bluetooth headphones support Fast Pair now. As of now, only Google Pixelbuds and Libratone Q Adapt headphones support this upcoming feature. The soon to be launched Plantronics Voyager 8200 series wireless headphones will also support the feature too. Google is open to supporting more devices in the future and if you are a Bluetooth device manufacturer, you can contact Google here.
Google launched the next iteration of its flagship Pixel smartphone lineup, the Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XLon the 4th of October during a launch event at the Google HQ. The most interesting aspect of the Google Pixel 2 and Pixel 2XL is the tight integration of its software, hardware and AI. Google talked a lot about the importance of AI in the future and how the new devices take advantage of the Google Assistant. We have the smaller sibling of the two, the Google Pixel 2 with us which starts at a price of Rs 61000 in India for the 64GB storage variant. Let’s unbox it and see what we get inside:
Google Pixel 2
Sim ejector tool
Documentation
USB C to 3.5mm jack converter
USB C cable
Wall charger
The launch of the Google Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL has been marred by the glaring issues with the smartphone’s display. However, most of the complaints have been directed towards the Pixel 2 XL for its pOLED panel.
The Google Pixel 2 has a 5 inch 1920 x 1080 px AMOLED 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.
