Category: Tech

Latest Technology News, Alternative, Bio-Tech, Medical, R&D and Innovations

Xiaomi Confirms Mi Mix 2S Launch

Up until a few minutes ago, the prospect of the Mi Mix 2S launch was uncertain. The renders of the smartphone, although interesting, seemed too different to be real. However, just before the launch of the Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9+, Xiaomi has blatantly confirmed the launch of the Mi Mix 2S on Twitter.

Can you guess what is coming? pic.twitter.com/Gd10g3OsFf

— Xiaomi (@Xiaomi) February 25, 2018

A lot of smartphone makers like posting teasers before the official launch. However, Xiaomi has gone ahead and spilt the beans on its MWC 2018 plans. The company will be launching the Mi Mix 2S with the Snapdragon 845 on March 27th in China. The timing of the move is interesting since we are just a few hours away from the launch of the Galaxy S9 and S9+, which will be the first ever smartphones to run on the Snapdragon 845 chipset.

Mi Mix 2S Expectations

The back of the Mi Mix 2S is expected to be the same as the Mi Mix 2. It will be made of ceramic which means it’ll be a fingerprint magnet. However, that is a price you have to pay for a device that looks as premium as the Mi Mix 2S. The significant change will be in the camera department. This time around, the Mi Mix 2S will have a dual-camera setup, which could be similar to the one found on the Mi A1, albeit of better quality.

On the front is where Xiaomi will look to one-up the much-famed Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9+. The leaked image confirms that the smartphone will have a different take on the notch. The bezels all around the display will be uniform but, the top right corner will protrude a bit.

It will be powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 chipset coupled with 8GB of RAM and 256GB onboard storage.

February 25, 2018
Samsung Galaxy S9 Launch Video Leaked Ahead Of Official Launch

The Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9+, as usual, have almost nothing to surprise us with, at the launch. Over the past few weeks, the 2018 flagship smartphones have been leaked in some shape or form. While the design of the devices has been leaked enough in renders and live images, the pricing is also starting to get clearer by the day. The smartphone will be launched today at MWC 2018.

Renders by @evleaks

The Video

The Video begins by showing the display on of the Galaxy S9, with the multi-window mode. Samsung has introduced to the Samsung Dex, which is an add-on accessory that converts the Galaxy S9 into a PC. After connecting the phone to the Dex accessories. The smartphone can also be used as a trackpad or a keyboard to edit those serious office presentations.

Then comes the camera, the Galaxy S9’s camera now offers live Bixby translation, like the one we have seen on the Honor View10. The new AR capability of the camera will be able to detect the problem with your LAN connection and will help you to fix it instantly.

Renders by @evleaks

The new Galaxy S9 or the Galaxy S9+ also comes with app pairing, which helps you to organize two mostly used apps together as a single entity. Like the Galaxy S7 and the S8, the Galaxy S9 and S9+ are also IP68 certified against water and dust.

The Samsung Knox 3.1 is advertised to secure your data with biometric authentication for the face unlock. However, unlike Apple iPhone X, the device also has a fingerprint scanner, located on the back of the smartphone.

There is a special enterprise edition of the Galaxy S9 and it comes with 24×7 technical support. These smartphones are covered under extended warranty support with up to 4 years of security updates. However, the standard edition is expected to receive two years of software update.

Press Renders

Expected specifications:

The Samsung Galaxy S9 is expected to have a 5.8-inch Super AMOLED QHD+ display with 18:9 aspect ratio, with narrow bezels. Under the hood, the smartphone will be powered by either Snapdragon 845 chipset or Exynos 9810. According to a leak, the device will be offered in two storage options, 4GB RAM/64GB storage and 4GB RAM/128GB storage.

The camera on the smartphone will have a noticeable upgrade. A leak reveals that the device would have a 12 MP camera with a variable aperture from F/1.5 to F/2.4. The mobile is expected to run Android 8.1 Oreo out of the box with Experience UI on the top. In fact, the Galaxy S9+ comes with a secondary dual camera and the functionality of the camera is yet to be known.

February 25, 2018
Sony RXO Action Camera Launched In India For Rs 64,990

Sony has officially launched its latest premium Sony RXO Action camera in India for Rs 64,990. Along with the camera, the company also announced the SEL18135 Wide-Zoom lens for Rs 49,990. The camera will be available via Sony Center, Alpha Flagship stores, and Sony authorised dealers from 22nd Feb.

Additional accessories like VCT-CGR1 cage, MPK-HSR1 casing, CPT-R1 cable protector, VF-SPR1 Spare lens protector, VFA-305R1 Filter Adaptor Kit, NP-BJ1 Rechargeable Battery Pack, and ACC-TRDCJ are also available at the additional cost.

Design and features:

The Sony RXO Action Camera offers rugged construction with IPX8 certification, which can operate under 10-meter deep water up to 60 minutes.

Combination of this camera with the MPK-HSR1 can extend the function up to 100-meter deep water. In fact, the camera can all alone withstand up to 2 meters fall and can breeze through harsh shooting conditions like rain, sand, dust, and snow.

Specifications:

The Sony RXO has a 1 inch Exmor RS CMOS image sensor with up to ISO 12800 light sensitivity, powered by BIONZ X processor and a DRM chip for fast large volume output.

The camera comes with a fixed Zeiss Tessar T 24 mm wide angle lens with an f/4 aperture. The Sony RXO Action camera does offer anti-distortion shutter as fast as 1/320000 per second. In fact, the camera is optically stabilised, which helps in getting stable video footages.

The 16fps frame rate is one of the faster burst-mode for the camera of this calibre. There is even Super slow motion feature, which offers a staggering frame rate of 960/1000 frames per second. However, one has to use high write and read memory card to capture slow motion videos.

February 24, 2018
Doogee V With In-Screen Fingerprint Scanner And iPhone X-Like Notch To Launch At MWC 2018

Doogee is all set to launch its first smartphone with an in-screen fingerprint scanner at MWC 2018. In fact, the Doogee V uses the same technology as that of the Vivo’s recently launched Vivo X20 Plus UD. The smartphone has been officially listed on Doogee’s official website.

6.2-inch Doogee V with in-display fingerprint scanner pic.twitter.com/mqn9w3UjHc
— Evan Blass (@evleaks) January 6, 2018

The Doogee V embraces a unibody glass design with a metallic frame. Similar to the iPhone X, the Doogee V also has a notch on the display which could house the hardware used for “Face ID,” as the company calls it.

Doogee V Specifications:

Doogee V

The Doogee V has a 6.2 inch 18:9 aspect ratio OLED display with 2160 x 1080px resolution. As this device comes with an In-screen fingerprint scanner, there are no physical or capacitive buttons on the front.

The company hasn’t mentioned any details on the chipset or the RAM it uses. In fact, these are the only factors that are yet to be known about the Doogee V. The phone offers a dual primary camera setup with a 16 MP + 8 MP sensor combination, the function of the secondary camera is yet to be known.

The single front-facing camera will also support face unlock. Interestingly, the company has used “Face ID” to describe its facial recognition system. Face ID is what Apple calls its facial recognition system on the iPhone X.

The glass back panel comes with a maze finish with support for NFC connectivity. The smartphone comes with a 4000 mAh Li-ion battery with fast charging support via USB type C Port.

The image also mentions the presence of AI. Along with shrinking bezels and increasing price, many people believe that the integration of AI will be the next big thing in the smartphone industry. Therefore, we will see more smartphones with emphasis on AI in the coming weeks.

February 24, 2018
Android P: What To Expect

With the launch of Android 8 Oreo, Google natively introduced features like notification dots and always on display. However, the upcoming Android P is expected to build upon that introduce more features:

Five expected Features of Android P:

Support for notch

Android P is expected to support smartphones with a notch. Though Android already have smartphones with the notch (Essential Ph-1) the inclusion of support for notch will have a major impact on the Apps and layouts. In fact, the upcoming Pixel 3 is also expected to embrace the notch.

Essential Ph-1

Dark mode

This is probably the most anticipated feature of Android OS. In fact, few smartphone OEMs like Samsung and OnePlus does support dark mode, which has a huge impact on the battery life of the device, that too on a device with an OLED display.

Strict privacy controls

Users security has been the biggest all-time concern for the smartphones powered by Android OS. The Android 6 Marshmallow came with the option to ask permission to use certain features of the phone. The Android P will take this to the next level with additional control over the microphone, camera, and internet accessibility. However, MIUI has this option from last four years.

Solving the OS fragmentation issues

Starting with the Android P with the help of Project Treble, Google will push faster OS updates to more smartphones. In fact, smartphones like the Honor View10 and the Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 Pro are expected to be the first set of smartphones to support Project Treble.

More customisation options

The Android P is expected to offer more customisations, compared to the earlier versions of the Android operating system. Google might release the Google Pixel launcher for the general public. As of now, the Pixel launcher is limited to a small number of smartphones. Though it is available on Google Play store, it is incompatible with most of the smartphones.

Pixel 2 XL Runs Android 8 Oreo

February 24, 2018
MediaTek Helio P60 To Launch At MWC 2018

MediaTek is expected to launch a new smartphone chipset the MediaTek Helio P60 at MWC 2018. The MediaTek Helio P60 will be the successor to the MediaTek Helio P30, with improved CPU and GPU processing power.

In fact, the chipset scores on the Geekbench are almost equivalent to the scores of Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 Chipset, which is found on the smartphone like the Xiaomi Mi Note 3 and the Vivo X20 Plus UD. However, the Mi Note 3 scores 1775 points on single-core and 6428 points on multi-core performance, which is slightly better than the MediaTek Helio P60.

Credits: Geekbench

According to leaks, the chipset comes with the features like AI Deep learning, Real Time Bokeh, CorePilot, thermal low power demonstration, power efficiency, and with support for dual 4G VoLte/ViLte with support for wireless charging. However, it depends on smartphone OEM to give access to these features.

The chipset was listed on Geekbench in a test smartphone with 4GB RAM. On Geekbench, it scored 1524 points on a single core and 5871 points on the multi-core. The scores are pretty impressive for the Helio P range chipset. In fact, these scores are similar to the one obtained on a smartphone with the Snapdragon 660 chipset.

Specifications:

The chipset has an 8 core CPU design, with big.Little architecture. The base frequency is listed as 1.99 GHz, which is expected to be the clock speed of the four little CPUs. The chipset might also come improved GPU with energy efficient processing.

Conclusion:

This will be the successor of the MediaTek Helio P30, which was not that of a performer. Finally, MediaTek is launching a chipset with can challenge the Snapdragon counterpart.

February 24, 2018
Huawei P20 With Triple Camera Launch Date Confirmed

Huawei has officially confirmed that the Huawei P20 will be its next flagship smartphone. The smartphone maker has also announced that the smartphone will be launched in Paris on 23rd March 2018. This confirms that only the Huawei P20 Lite will launched at MWC 2018.

The company has released a brief 7-second video, which showcases the landscape view of Paris with 3 circles. This might be the Huawei’s way of saying that, the Huawei P20 has a triple camera setup. The teaser also says “SEE MOOORE ON AI”, which hints towards the possible AI capabilities of the Huawei P20. In fact, according to rumours, the Huawei P20 could be the first modern flagship smartphone with triple camera setup.

Design:

On to the front, the Huawei P20 is expected to have a notch similar to the Apple iPhone X. This means that the smartphone might have a Face ID like facial recognition system using two cameras. The company had claimed that the facial recognition system on its smartphone will be ten times better than Face ID.

Specifications:

The smartphone is expected to have a 6 inch 2160 x 1080 px IPS LCD display with a notch on the top. Under the hood, the smartphone will be powered by the HiSilicon Kirin 970 Octa-core chipset with 6GB RAM and 128GB storage. However, we might also see a plus version with OLED display and 8GB RAM.

The smartphone is likely to house a triple lens primary camera setup with RGB + wide angle + telephoto lens combination. On to the front, the smartphone is likely to have dual camera setup. In fact, the dual front-facing camera can aid the facial recognition system as well.

Conclusion:

The Huawei P20 looks like a right successor to the Huawei P10 with improvements like the modern taller display with a notch, triple primary camera setup, and an AI-based chipset. Considering the aggressive pricing by Huawei and Honor in the recent past, it will be intersting to see the price of the Huawei P20. However, whether the P0 will be launched in India is yet to be confirmed.

February 24, 2018
Energizer Powermax P16K Pro Has A Massive 16,000 mAh Battery

Smartphones are getting better by the day. More and more pixels are pushed inside a frame, processing power equivalent to a computer, cameras that can take a picture as good as a DSLR and much more. However, the only thing that is not getting much of an attention is the battery life. As the smartphones get smarter, they require a lot of battery power. Energizer looks all set to solve this issue by launching the Powermax P16K Pro with a massive 16,000 mAh Battery. In fact, most of the battery packs come with 10,000 mAh capacity, compared to that, this device is an overkill.

This smartphone could last weeks on a single charge. However, how much time does it require to charge from 0 to 100 percent is the real question. The Energizer Powermax’s design is based on the. The smartphone is expected to have similar internals with a similar design. However, the only difference will the size of the battery on the Powermax P16K Pro.

Specifications:

The Energizer Powermax 16K Pro might have a 5.9-inch 2160 x 108p IPS LCD display with the modern 18:9 aspect ratio. Under the hood, the smartphone is likely to be powered by the MediaTek Helio P25 Octa-core chipset with 3GB/32GB or 6GB/64GB storage options. However, as this is a premium version we might not see the 3GB variant at all.

The smartphone might have a dual camera setup at the back with a 13 MP primary sensor and a 5 MP depth sensing sensor for the portrait mode. In fact, this camera setup is similar to the one found on the Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 Pro. The 8 MP front-facing camera will have a dedicated front-facing flash.

The device might run Android 7 Nougat with nearly stock Android user experience.

Conclusion:

It is almost confirmed that the Energizer Powermax 16K Pro will be showcased at MWC 2018 with more details on features, specifications, and pricing.

February 24, 2018
Huawei Nova 3 Specifications Leaked On TENAA

A new Huawei smartphone has been listed in TENAA with the model number FLA-AL00. Considering the specifications, the smartphone is expected to be the Nova 3, which will succeed the Nova 2. The company might launch this smartphone along with the Huawei P20 Lite at MWC 2018. However, the marquee launch event is scheduled for the 27th of March in Paris.

The same smartphone is listed with three different model numbers. The FLA-AL00 comes with 3GB RAM and 32GB storage, whereas the FLA-AL10 and the FLA-AL20 have different SIM card availability. However, there is no exact information on the other two models.

Huawei P20 Lite Expected MWC 2018

Design:

The possible Huawei Nova 3 has a full metal unibody design with a rear-facing fingerprint scanner. In fact, the design is similar to the Honor 7x, with a taller 18:9 aspect ratio display.

Specifications:

The Huawei Nova 3 has a 5.93-inch 2160 x 1080p IPS LCD display, protected by 2.5D curved glass. Under the hood, the smartphone is powered by the HiSilicon Kirin 659 Oct-core processor with 3GB RAM and 32GB storage.

The device has a dual primary camera setup with 13 MP + 2 MP sensors and a dual front-facing camera setup with 16 MP + 2 MP sensors. In both setups, the primary sensor is an RGB lens and the secondary 2 MP lens helps to capture depth details for the bokeh effect.

The phone will run on Android 8 Oreo with custom EMUI skin on the top with a 3900 mAh Li-ion battery. Finally, the smartphone will be available in three colours including Gold, Black, and Blue.

Conclusion:

The only difference between the Huawei Nova 2 and the Huawei Nova 3 is the display. The Huawei Nova 2 had a 5-inch display and the Nova 3 comes with 5.93-inch display. In fact, the Huawei Nova 2 and the Nova 3 are powered by the same Kirin 659 chipset.

February 24, 2018
Sony Xperia XZ2 And XZ2 Compact Renders Leaked Ahead Of MWC Event

The year 2017 saw an industry-wide shift to an 18:9 aspect ratio for smartphones. Sony, however, continued to launch the likes of the Xperia XZ1 with the same boxy design. However, Sony will launch smartphones with a modern design in 2018. At MWC 2018, Sony is expected to launch the Xperia XZ2 and XZ2 Compact with an 18:9 aspect ratio and thin bezels.

Meet Sony's first full screen smartphones: Xperia XZ2 and XZ2 Compact https://t.co/8nDL6zuUKc pic.twitter.com/8dMPfB7kze
— Evan Blass (@evleaks) February 23, 2018

Specifications:

The Sony Xperia XZ2 and the Sony Xperia XZ2 Compact comes with almost identical design with minor differences. Both devices have a 3D glass unibody design with an aluminium mid-frame. The Sony Xperia XZ2 has a 5.7-inch display, whereas the smaller XZ2 Compact has a 5.0-inch display boasting 1080p resolution.

Xperia XZ Premium

The Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 chipset will power both the smartphones.

These smartphones have a single 19 MP primary camera with an f/1.8 aperture and 4K HDR video recording capability. The camera can also record super slow-motion video at up to 960 frames per second. The fingerprint scanner is located on the back, which is placed below the primary camera bump. The smartphone also gets a dedicated camera shutter button located on the bottom right side of the smartphone.

The Xperia XZ2 has a dual stereo speaker setup and the Xperia XZ2 Compact has a single stereo speaker. Like the last generation Sony flagship smartphones, the Xperia XZ2 and the Xperia XZ2 Compact are IP certified for the water and dust resistance.

The Xperia XZ2 comes with a 3180 mAh battery that supports fast charging and wireless charging. The 2870 mAh battery on the Sony XZ2 Compact does not support wireless charging. The Xperia XZ2 and the Xperia XZ2 Compact will be available in Black, Silver, Green, and Pink Colour.

February 23, 2018
Oppo R15 Is Another iPhone X Lookalike With A Display Notch

The Apple iPhone X was launched in September 2017 to enormous anticipation. For weeks leading up to the launch, there were hints that the iPhone X won’t look like a regular iPhone. The launch confirmed that as the iPhone X was unveiled with nearly bezel-less design and notch on the display. While the notch received mixed reviews at the beginning, it has since then, become very popular.

iPhone X

The Oppo R15 looks like another Android phone trying to go the iPhone route. New leaked images of the device reveal that R15 will have a nearly bezel-less design but, with a notch on the top. The notch on the Oppo R15 does look to house the front-facing camera and the earpiece. However, it doesn’t look like it will have any of the hardware similar to what the notch on the iPhone houses.

The company has stuck to its older design for the back of the smartphone. In fact, it resembles the Oppo R11s.

A recent rumour speculated that Android P might natively support the notch. Therefore, there have been speculations that the upcoming Google Pixel 3 and the Google Pixel 3 XL might come with a notch with the iPhone X-like Face ID setup.

Specifications:

The Oppo R15 is expected to feature a 5.8-inch QHD+ OLED display with 19.5:9 aspect ratio. Under the hood, the smartphone might be powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 Oct-core chipset with 6GB RAM and 64GB storage.

The device might come with the dual camera setup with a primary RGB lens and a secondary telephoto lens. For the front-facing camera, the smartphone might offer high-resolution 2o MP camera with features like Animoji and Face Unlock.

While the iPhone X was met with scepticism, it has since then, become a fan-favourite. However, smartphones like the Huawei P20 Lite, P20 and P20 Plus are expected to be launched with an iPhone X-like notch as well. It begs the question, is the display notch, the answer the design problems of future completely bezel-less smartphones?

February 23, 2018
Moto G6 Specifications Leaked

The recent leaks and rumours about the Moto G6, Moto G6 Play and Moto G6 Plus are hinting towards the launch of these phones at MWC 2018. However, the company has not made any announcements pertaining to MWC 2018.

The upcoming Moto G devices are expected to have an 18:9 aspect ratio. In fact, these will be the first few smartphones from Motorola to feature a modern design with thin bezels.

Credits: Geekbench

The Moto G6 was spotted on Geekbench, revealing some of its specifications. The Geekbench listing reveals that the smartphone will be powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon Octa-core processor with the base frequency of 1.8 GHz. The phone scores 709 points on a single core and 3582 points for the multi-core performance.

The only chipset that matches the above equation is the Qualcomm Snapdragon 450. This seems accurate considering the Moto G5 was launched with the Snapdragon 430 chipset. However, these are still leaks and nothing can be said concretely.

Specifications:

The Moto G6 is most likely to have a 5.7-inch 2160 x 1080p IPS LCD display. Under the hood, the smartphone, as mentioned in the listing, will be powered by the Snapdragon 450 chipset with 3GB RAM and 32GB storage.

The Moto G6, in all probability, will run Android 8 Oreo out of the box. However, considering the recent behaviour of other OEMs, it won’t be surprising to see the Moto G6 running Android 7 Nougat. The device is expected to feature a 3000 mAh battery with Turbocharging capability.

The device will have a dual 12 MP + 5 MP primary cameras with an 8 MP front-facing camera.

Conclusion:

Motorola has been doing well in the Indian market. In fact, its smartphones like the Moto G5s Plus and Moto G5 Plus are some of the best selling smartphones. However, the competition in the budget segment has increased since the launch of the likes of Honor 9 Lite and Redmi Note 5 Pro. Therefore, the Moto G6 and its siblings need to have their pricing spot on to compete in the Indian market.

February 23, 2018
Huawei P20 Lite Listed on TENAA

Huawei is expected to launch the Huawei P20 and Huawei P20 LitePlus at a launch event in Paris in March 2018. However, the P20 Lite will be launched at MWC 2018. A smartphone has been listed on the TENNA website which could possibly be the Huawei P20 Lite.

Two smartphones were listed on TENAA with a slightly different model number EML-AL00 and EML-TL00. These models could be two variants of the same smartphone, the P20 Lite. As is with a lot of TENNA listings, there are not many details mentioned in this listing as well.

Details of the listed smartphone:

Huawei P20 Lite Leaked Image

The listed smartphone comes with a metal unibody design with a Huawei logo at the bottom. The smartphone also has a dual camera setup with Leica branding. The Leica branding is reserved for the Mate and P series smartphones from the company, this might suggest that the leaked smartphone is indeed a Huawei P20 Lite.

The listed smartphone even has an Apple iPhone X like notch, which might house the necessary sensors for Face Unlock. However, it might just have a dual front-facing camera like the Honor 9 Lite.

The smartphone is expected to be powered by Huawei’s in-house HiSilicon Kirin 970 Octa-core chipset with at least 4GB RAM and 64GB storage. The device is expected to offer Android 8.1 Oreo out of the box with EMUI skin on the top.

Conclusion:

The Huawei P20 Lite will be one of the three smartphones that the company will launch in a space of one month. While the company’s own facial recognition technology seems interesting, the smartphone’s design will be a huge talking month. However, if Huawei does come up with Face Unlock for the P20 Lite, the notch would seem justified.

February 23, 2018
Top 5 Android Launchers For Free
Different smartphones come with different UI. Luckily, in Android, the UI can be changed by just installing a third party app. The possibilities of making your smartphone unique are unlimited. You can make it look like an iPhone, or like the new Pixel 2 with stock Android user interface.

The support for custom themes, icon packs, and font styles are the major ingredients of a good launcher. These launchers will help to customise your smartphone without rooting or installing custom ROMS. Here are the top 5 Free Android Launchers:

Nova Launcher:

Nova Launcher is our first pick, which offers unlimited possibilities of customisation. However, if you want to get most out of this launcher try to purchase the pro version, which will be available for Rs 99. You can choose between stock Android like UI or with a UI with no app drawer.

Pros:
- Ability to choose between Light or Dark theme
- Ability to choose app drawer action to customise the style of app drawer
- Search Bar on the top of app drawer
Cons:
- No gesture support in the free version
- No option for group and hide apps in free version
- Limited scrolling effect
Buzz Launcher:

Buzz launcher is the most different looking launcher of the lot. The UI has different elements with a new way of the organisation of apps and widgets. In the app drawer, the apps automatically arrange themselves into a pre-defined folder, which gives a more clean look.

Pros:
- One of a kind user interface
- Support for social media widgets
- Clean UI design
Cons:
- Might confuse some users on the setup page
- Ads show up as promoted apps
- Ad-free version is not available
Z Launcher:

The implementation of Z launcher is based on gesture support. The launcher looks minimalistic with easy to use user interface. The app drawer has a unique way of stacking up the apps vertically.

Pros:
- Easy to user interface
- Gestures work almost all the time
- Ability to change icon pack or theme pack
Cons:
- No third party theme support
- Still in beta version
- No support for widgets
Microsoft launcher:

Microsoft launcher is one of the lightest launchers that we found. It uses simplistic user interface with an overall black and orange theme. The apps in the app drawer are arranged according to alphabetic order.

Pros:
- Custom window with latest news information depending on the region
- Built-in Cortana voice assistant
- One touch wallpaper change support from Bing
Cons:
- No ad-free version
- Replaces Google search with Bing
- Requires Microsoft account for additional features
Go Launcher Z:

This is a retro looking launcher with 3D style animations. The launcher comes with custom icon pack, which is customisable. The online library offers an unlimited supply of wallpapers.

Pros:
- Retro looking launcher
- Customisable 3D animations
- Support for third-party icon packs
Cons:
- Looks bit dated
- Comes pre-installed with third-party apps
- Ad-free version costs Rs 300
February 23, 2018
Apple AirPods 2 Might Come With Hands-Free Siri Integration

Apple AirPods was launched along with the Apple iPhone 7 and Apple iPhone 7 Plus for US$ 149. These are the first pair of truly wireless earbuds AirPods from Apple, which was powered by a custom W1 chipset.

One needs to simply flip-open the case near an iPhone or iPad and select connect. Once it is synced to a device, it will be available on all devices with the same iCloud account. Apple AirPods offers up to 5 hours of continuos playback on a single charge and AirPods case provides up to additional 24 hours of backup battery. In fact, the company has announced that it will be launching a new AirPods case with wireless charging capability.

A new report suggests that the company is working on a next-generation Apple AirPods with improved features. However, the design is expected to identical to the first generation AirPods.

Speculated features of Apple AirPods 2:

The first major improvement will be the integration of Siri. The 2nd generation Apple AirPods 2 will be able to use Siri wirelessly. With this new device, the user will be able to ask Siri anything by just saying “Hey Siri”. In fact, in the present scenario, a user has to physically touch the AirPod to interact with Siri.

The 2nd Gen AirPods are expected to have water or splash resistance, which can survive a splash of water or rain. However, they will not be “swim-proof” like the 4th edition Apple Watch.

The newer AirPods will be designed by the same team which designed Apple HomePod, so we might also expect improved sound quality with long-lasting battery life.

Conclusion:

Apple AirPods have been the most successful wireless earbuds so far. In fact, according to a report, 85% of the wireless earbuds market is dominated by the AirPods.

Features like wireless charging and tighter Siri integration will surely make for another great pair of wireless earbuds. And probably, this time around, the AirPods will be slightly smaller in size as well.

February 23, 2018