Category: Tech

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Samsung Continues To Launch Flip Smart Phones With The W2018

If you’re not aware, flip phones were all the rage back in early 2000’s with the Moto Razr being one of the most famous phones back in the day. However, with the advent of touchscreens and smartphones, the flip phone craze slowly faded away. Samsung however, has consistently launched Android powered flip phones in the Asian market, and to many’s surprise, they’re quite popular.

Samsung has launched a yet another flip smart phone, the W2018 at an event in South Korea. The new phone also marks the ‘W’ lineup’s 10th anniversary.

The W2018 has a 4.2-inch full HD AMOLED front display, and a 4.2-inch full HD inner display with a directional pad and a number keypad. There’s a fingerprint scanner beside the rear camera, like other Samsung models, and a Bixby button for voice assistance. It comes in gold and platinum in a metal-and-glass body protected by Gorilla Glass.

It has the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 chipset, Adreno 540 GPU, 6GB of RAM and 64GB or 256GB of storage which can be expanded via microSD card.

It is powered by a 2300 mAh battery which might seem small considering it has to power to displays with over 4 inches in size. The phone will run Android 7 Nougat out of the box even though Android 8.0 Oreo was launched over three months ago.

Samsung W2018 boasts the first ever smartphone camera with an f/1.5 aperture. This beats the LG V30 which became the first ever smartphone to have an f/1.6 aperture at the time of its launch. Samsung claims that the rear camera can capture sharp images in less light than the cameras on rival phones can. It also has a 5MP front camera. Through software, the camera can sense when there’s enough light to switch to f/2.4 and capture more of the background in photos.

As far as pricing is concerned, there is no official word yet. To give you some perspective, the W2017 was priced at US $3000 so, expect the W2018 to be priced higher than that. This phone is clearly not for the faint-hearted and should be strictly recommended to those who prefer luxury over practicality.

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December 2, 2017

From Xiaomi Redmi 4A To Redmi 5A – What Has Changed?

Nobody likes to compromise nowadays, especially when it comes to our smartphones. Even if you’re buying a sub-10K phone, you have certain expectations from your budget device. The Indian smartphone industry if flooded with phones that provide great value for money. Xiaomi’s own Redmi Note 4 has been one of the best-selling budget phones in India.

Xiaomi has established itself as one of the top brands in the Indian market and has consistently delivered great phones at an affordable price. One such phone was the Redmi 4A, and one such phone is the Redmi 5A. Launched on the 30th November, the Redmi 5A succeeds one of the most successful Xiaomi phones in the country. By its own admission, Xiaomi claims that the Redmi 4A sold over 4 million units since its launch. hence, Redmi 5A has a huge ask in front of it.

Let’s compare the two phones and see what has changed between the two generations. And, more importantly, if you are a Redmi 4A user, should you upgrade?

Specifications	Redmi 4A	Redmi 5A
Price	Rs 5999 (16GB) Rs 6999 (32GB) Buy it here	Rs 4999 (16GB) Rs 5999 (32GB) Buy it here
Display	5 inch IPS	5 inch IPS
Resolution	1280 x 720 px 296ppi	1280 x 720 px 296ppi
Battery	3120 mAh	3000 mAh (8-Day Standby time)
Chipset	Qualcomm Snapdragon 425	Qualcomm Snapdragon 425
RAM	2GB/3GB	2GB/3GB
Storage	16GB/32GB	16GB/32GB
Primary Camera	13MP f/2.2	13MP f/2.2
Primary Video	1080P @ 30fps	1080P @ 30fps
Secondary Camera	5MP f/2.0	5MP f/2.0
Colours	Gold Grey	Gold Rose Gold Dark Grey
Features		Dual SIM card slot + MicroSD card slot

At a glance, or even a closer look, you’ll barely be able to make out the difference between the two phones. But, the most important factor in favour of the Redmi 5A is its price. In this world of every successor becoming more expensive, it is astonishing how Xiaomi has reduced the price for the base model while maintaining all the other features of the Redmi 4A.

The only reason you should upgrade to the Redmi 5A if you own a Redmi 4A is if you miss the dual SIM slot and microSD card slot. Other than that, there is barely anything keeping the two phones apart.

Watch Our Redmi 4A Review

Watch Our Redmi 5A Camera, Benchmarks Video

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WCkus1qD2TQ[/embedyt]

December 1, 2017

Huawei Nova 2S To Launch On The 7th Of December

Huawei has started sending out press releases for the launch of the Huawei Nova 2S scheduled for the 7th of December. There is no word on what the price of the smartphone will be.

According to recent leaks, the Nova 2S will have a 6-inch display with a 2160 x 1080 px resolution which translates to an 18:9 aspect ratio.

Under the hood, the device will have the Kirin 960 chipset and 6GB of RAM. There is no information about the storage options however, expect a minimum of 64GB onboard storage when the phone is launched.

Despite the tall display and thin bezels, Huawei has placed a home button on the front of the phone. It is safe to assume that the physical home button also houses the fingerprint sensor since there is no fingerprint sensor at the back of the phone.

The device will run Android 8.0 Oreo out of the box with Huawei’s custom skin EMUI 8.0 on top.

Another interesting thing about the phone is its four cameras. It appears that the smartphone will have a 20MP + 16MP camera setup at the back and a dual 20MP setup at the front.

December 1, 2017
A New Patent Application Published For Using Apple Pencil With iPhone

Apple Pencil support for iPhones have been highly anticipated ever since Tim Cook accidentally confirmed that its on it way. A new patent has been published which chronicles the technology behind using the pencil with a smartphone.

The touch sensing system may perform one or more coarse input device sub-scans to determine a coarse location of the input device.

The coarse location can be used to select one or more touch sensors (or sensor channels) to sample for decoding data encoded in the stimulation signals from the input device.

During one or more fine input device sub-scans, the touch sensing system can determine a fine location of the input device and decode the data from the input device sampled from the selected touch sensors (or sensor channels).

The sketches accompanying the patent resemble the iPhone even though the patent talks generically about ‘touchscreen devices’.

Some reports suggest that 2019 iPhones will even retail with a mini Apple Pencil although this seems far-fetched.

December 1, 2017
Samsung Chairman Under Investigation For US $4.2 Billion Tax Fraud

Samsung has had an excellent financial year so far. All three of its flagship phones have been received well and performed well in the market. However, organisationally, the South Korean tech giant has had a rough patch. Now, it appears that authorities in South Korea are still going after the family that runs the Samsung empire. Samsung’s Chairman Lee Kun-hee has allegedly used accounts opened under borrowed names to withdraw money from the company and avoid taxation.

The accounts have been used for illegal transfer of wealth from Lee’s father, the founder of Samsung, Lee Byung-chull, and the sum has been estimated around to be $4.2 billion.

Reports suggest that the authorities are looking to tax the money that was illegally withdrawn. According to the country’s Act on Real Name Financial Transactions and Confidentiality, interest and dividend income obtained on borrowed names can be taxed by up to 90%.

This is just one of the many organisational controversies surrounding Samsung’s founding family.

In October, Kwon Oh-hyun, CEO of Samsung Electronics and Samsung Display, vice chairman and head of Samsung’s components division announced his resignation. He will step down from the role as well as his position on the board in March 2018.

In February, Samsung’s vice chairman Lee Jae-yong was arrested in South Korea for charges of bribery and of hiding criminal proceeds and violating laws pertaining to transferring assets abroad.

December 1, 2017
Samsung Is Working On The First Ever Truly Bezel-Less Phone

Samsung has been experimenting with smartphone displays for quite some time now. Who can forget the Galaxy Round in 2013 or the Galaxy Note Edge. Recently, Samsung’s flagship phones come with curved edges and in 2017, the top and bottom bezels were extremely thin as well. However, it appears that Samsung is not satisfied with thin bezels and has started working on an all-display smartphone with no bezels.

A series of new Samsung patents have been published in the WIPO (World International Property Office) database. One such patent dates back to May of 2017 which describes an electronic device with a curved display on both sides of the device. So, no rounded display, but, 180? curved, up to the back of the smartphone.

Along with some sketches demonstrating what the device might look like, it also discusses the production method for such a smartphone. That is a positive sign because a lot of patents just sit at the back burner but, a well thought out production plan means that the company is serious about this.

In one of the sketches, you can see the regular edge display, with a rounded screen. Then there is another illustration of a smartphone with a round edge. The display is bent 180? on both sides and extended all the way to the rear of the phone.

December 1, 2017
2018 iPhone Users Will Not Have Battery Life Issues

As smartphones get sleeker, many companies resort to making the battery size smaller in order to keep the phone thin. As the iPhone X launch craze fades away, a new report suggests that the 2018 iPhones will have a new power management system that will qualify as the “most advanced in the industry.”

It appears that Apple is designing its own power chips, which should be manufactured by TSMC, Apple’s go-to silicon supplier.

This new component will barely be mentioned in the keynote, or make the advertiser’s list of fancy features but, it is one component that can make the 2018 iPhone a much better prospect than its Android counterparts. The report goes on to say:

The in-house chip would be the most advanced in the industry, according to the sources, and could have processing capabilities that allow it to better monitor and control power consumption among various components.

With Apple resorting to in-house chip manufacturing, its current supplier Dialog Semiconductor will be sweating bullets. Last year, Apple accounted for 74% of Dialog Semiconductor’s revenue which means that this move by Apple will not be good news for the UK-based firm.

The repercussions of Apple moving to in-house chip-making are real. Earlier in 2017, it was reported that Apple had started developing its own graphics chips, which resulted in Imagination Technologies’ stock crashing immediately upon the revelation. It was later revealed that the company had sold itself to a private equity investment fund in the aftermath.

December 1, 2017
Google Could Owe Over US $650 To Every iPhone User

Lawsuits and counter lawsuits within tech companies have been going on since as far as one can imagine. But, a tech giant owing considerable amount of money to consumers could be the new talking point. British consumers who used an iPhone between June 2011 and February 2012 could receive as much as US $672 each from Google as compensation for the search giant bypassing Safari privacy settings between those dates.

Google’s backdoor method of installing cookies on iPhones despite them being blocked in Safari’s settings was discovered in 2012.

A British campaign group launched a class action lawsuit on behalf of the 5.4 million iPhone users in England and Wales affected by Google’s ‘Safari workaround.’ The lawsuit could cost Google as much as US $3.63 billion.

The campaign group, You Owe Us, has said that the British iPhone owners affected by the breach of privacy do not need to take any action at this stage to be included in the lawsuit.

We have started a representative action against Google because we believe they abused the rights of iPhone users by taking their data unlawfully.

A representative action is when a group of people affected by the same issue are represented by a single person to bring a claim. Consumers can use such an action to hold large companies to account. Representative actions need representatives, ours is Richard Lloyd.

If you were affected you will automatically be part of the claim and you do not need to take any further action. Richard Lloyd and the lawyers are taking care of the case.

The compensation amount has not been officially decided yet. The campaign group says that the amount would be decided by the court.

November 30, 2017
Apple’s Counter Suit Against Qualcomm Could Mean Bad News To Android Phones

Apple vs Qualcomm is not a new story. The two tech giants have been embroiled in a legal battle for many years now. But, this legal battle is not just two big companies going against each other, the result of the legal battle will have consequences which the whole tech industry will have to deal with.

Apple has filed a new countersuit against Qualcomm, in which it is targeting some Snapdragon chips that power some of the most prominent Android phones in the market right now. Even though Apple has received support from other Android phone makers in this case, Apple targeting Snapdragon chipsets won’t go down well with these companies which rely on Qualcomm’s chipsets for powering their devices.

In a revised response to Qualcomm’s previous lawsuit, it has listed some accusations of its own. Apple says it owns at least eight patents related to battery life that Qualcomm’s chips have violated.

The patents describe technologies that allow a certain part of a phone’s processor to only draw the minimum power needed and turn off when it’s not needed. The two main chipsets in question here are the Snapdragon 800 and Snapdragon 820 chipsets.

Apple is asking for damages from Qualcomm, but, an actual number has not been specified yet.

November 30, 2017
Honor 7X To Go On Sale In India On The 7th Of December

Huawei’s sub-brand, Honor recently launched the Honor 7X in India. It has announced that the device will go on sale on the 7th of December and will be an Amazon exclusive. The price of the phone is still not revealed by the company.

The Honor 7X has a 5.9 inch LTPS IPS LCD display with a 2160 x 1080 px display which translates into an 18:9 aspect ratio.

Under the hood, the Honor 7X has the HiSilicon Kirin 659 chipset, Mali-T830 MP2, 4GB of RAM and three storage options of 32GB, 64GB and 128GB. The onboard storage is expandable up to 256GB via microSD card. The device is powered by a 3340 mAh battery which charges via a micro USB slot. Since the device has thin bezels, the fingerprint sensor is placed at the back of the below the dual-camera setup.

The Honor 7X runs Android 7.0 Nougat with EMUI 6.0 on top which gives a user more options for customising their phones.

You may also like: Why Are New Android Phones Launching With Old Android OS?

The smartphone has a dual camera setup at the back. One of the cameras is equipped with a 16MP senor while the other one is a 2MP depth sensor. The camera setup at the back has PDAF and records 1080P videos at 30fps. On the front is an 8MP camera which also records 1080P videos.

Buy it here

Watch our unboxing:

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRoUtlwFgP8[/embedyt]

November 30, 2017
Apple iPhone X Goes On Sale On Amazon At 2pm – Discounts, Offers And More On iPhone 7, iPhone SE
If buying an iPhone X was a part of your holiday plans then fret not. One of the most anticipated smartphones in the world, the iPhone X will go on sale in India via Amazon today (30th November) at 2pm. Here are a few offers available:
- No Cost EMIs up to 6 months on HDFC Credit Card along with INR 2,000 instant discount on HDFC Bank Debit and Credit Card transactions
The iPhone X is priced at Rs 89000 for the 64GB variant while the 256GB variant is priced at Rs 1,02,000 in India.

Along with the iPhone X, other iPhone models will be available at a discounted price as well. Buy it here

The iPhone 7, which usually retails for Rs 49000 for the 32GB variant is on sale for Rs 41999 while the 128GB variant is available for Rs 51999 which usually retails for Rs 58000. Buy it here

The iPhone SE, one of the most affordable iPhones ever made, is currently available for Rs 19999 which usually retails for Rs 26000. Buy it here

Watch Our iPhone X Unboxing:

Watch Our iPhone 7 Review:

Watch our iPhone SE Review:
November 30, 2017
Unboxing The Xiaomi Redmi 5A – “Desh Ka Smartphone”
Xiaomi has launched the Redmi 5A in India as the ‘Desh Ka Smartphone’ at a price of Rs 4999 for the 2GB RAM variant and Rs 6999 for the 3GB RAM variant. At such a competitive pricing, the Redmi 5A at least on paper, seems a worthy successor to the hugely popular Redmi 4A. Xiaomi claims that the Redmi 4A sold over 4 million units within eight months of its launch.

Today, let’s unbox the Redmi 5A and see what we get inside the retail box:
- Redmi 5A
- Documentation
- Sim Ejector Tool
- Wall Charger
- Micro USB Charging And Data Syncing Cable
Even though there is space for earphones inside the box, in typical Xiaomi fashion, you don’t get a pair of earphones with the phone. In the era of big 5.5 inch and 6 inch phones, the Redmi 5A has a 5-inch display which gives it a compact feel in the hand. The device has an IR Blaster on top and in a welcome move, there is a dedicated microSD card slot along with two SIM card slots.

The Redmi 5A isn’t a huge upgrade over its predecessor, the Redmi 4A. The Redmi 5A has a 5 inch LCD display with a 1280 x 720 px resolution.

Just like the Redmi 4A, the new smartphone is also powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 425 chipset, quad-core CPU clocked at 1.4GHz, along with 2GB/3GB of RAM, 16GB/32GB of onboard storage which can be expanded up to 128GB via microSD card. The dual-SIM Redmi 5A is powered by a 3000 mAh battery which seems to be a downgrade when compared to the Redmi 4A which packs a 3120 mAh battery.

The device will run Android 7.1 Nougat out of the box with Xiaomi’s custom MIUI 9 skin on top.

The Redmi 5A has a 13MP rear camera with an f/2.2 aperture, burst mode, panorama mode, HDR mode, and more. To the front is a 5MP camera with an f/2.0 aperture. The smartphone records 1920 x 1080 px videos.

The Redmi 5A will be a Flipkart exclusive and go on sale on the 7th of December.

Buy it here

Watch Our Unboxing Video –
November 30, 2017
Xiaomi Launches Redmi 5A In India At A Price Of Rs 4999

Xiaomi has launched the Redmi 5A in India as the ‘Desh Ka Smartphone’ at a price of Rs 4999 for the 2GB RAM variant and Rs 6999 for the 3GB RAM variant.

The Redmi 5A isn’t a huge upgrade over its predecessor, the Redmi 4A. The Redmi 5A has a 5 inch LCD display with a 1280 x 720 px resolution.

Just like the Redmi 4A, the new smartphone is also powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 425 chipset, quad-core CPU clocked at 1.4GHz, along with 2GB/3GB of RAM, 16GB/32GB of onboard storage which can be expanded up to 128GB via microSD card. The dual-SIM Redmi 5A is powered by a 3000 mAh battery which seems to be a downgrade when compared to the Redmi 4A which packs a 3120 mAh battery.

The device will run Android 7.1 Nougat out of the box with Xiaomi’s custom MIUI 9 skin on top.

The Redmi 5A has a 13MP rear camera with an f/2.2 aperture, burst mode, panorama mode, HDR mode, and more. To the front is a 5MP camera with an f/2.0 aperture. The smartphone records 1920 x 1080 px videos.

The Redmi 5A will be a Flipkart exclusive and go on sale on the 7th of December.

November 30, 2017
Specifications Of Sony’s Upcoming Bezel – Less Phone Leaked

Sony has been one of the few smartphone makers who hasn’t jumped the bezel-less smartphone train so far and has continued with its tried and tested designs. All of that appears to be changing as the specifications of an upcoming bezel-less smartphone from Sony have been leaked online.

According to the leaked spec sheet, the device will have a 5.7-inch 4K HDR display with Gorilla Glass 5 on top.

Another interesting thing to note here is that Sony H8541 will have the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 chipset. Now, the Snapdragon 835 is a flagship chipset for only a couple of months more as the Galaxy S9 will have the Snapdragon 845 chipset. The new 2018 flagship chipset won’t be available to smartphone makers until a few months after the launch of the Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9+, similar to what happened during the Galax S8 launch, thanks to a deal between Qualcomm and Samsung.

The upcoming Sony H8541 will have 4GB of RAM, 64GB of onboard storage which could be expandable via microSD card. it will be powered by a 3420 mAh battery which will charge via a USB Type C port.

Other that that, the spec sheet mentions the presence of Bluetooth 5.0, GPS, GLONASS, NFC, and IP68 water and dust resistance.

There are no details about the camera on this phone.

November 30, 2017
Apple Has Fixed The MacOS Security Flaw Already

Only yesterday (29th November), the news broke out of a major security flaw that allowed anyone to gain root access to a Mac device running MacOS High Sierra.

Apple issued a statement:

Security is a top priority for every Apple product, and regrettably we stumbled with this release of macOS.

When our security engineers became aware of the issue Tuesday afternoon, we immediately began working on an update that closes the security hole. This morning, as of 8:00 a.m., the update is available for download, and starting later today it will be automatically installed on all systems running the latest version (10.13.1) of macOS High Sierra.

We greatly regret this error and we apologize to all Mac users, both for releasing with this vulnerability and for the concern it has caused. Our customers deserve better. We are auditing our development processes to help prevent this from happening again.

Apple’s latest MacOS High Sierra operating system had a very serious flaw that allowed anyone with access to a Mac gain root access by simply typing “root” as the username. The flaw didn’t even require someone to enter a password, which means that anyone with zero hacking knowledge and evil intentions could get into your Mac.

November 30, 2017