In another of its firsts, OnePlus has now launched a photography app called Reflexion. It has been released as an inspiration of OnePlus X, celebrating OnePlus’ latest device.
“Inspired by our latest device, Reflexion…easy-to-use photography app that explores contrasts and harmony in everyday moments. Capture your world, express your unique personality and share it with those you care about,” says the company.
The app is available for download on both iOS and Android devices. Basically, what the app does is take two photographs, one from the front camera, the other from the rear camera, and it stitches them together in an X-pattern on your screen. Like almost all other photography apps, Reflexion allows for easy sharing options of the picture on social media.
https://youtu.be/XczhUed1X_I
Don’t get too carried away by the fancy video though. We’re not too sure how exciting an addition Reflexion is to the app-world, especially post the song and dance of OnePlus X earlier this week. You can find more information about it on Reflexion’s official website, or you can check out the Google Play listing.
Are you as impressed by Reflexion as OnePlus would want? Let us know in the comments below.
Following Samsung’s announcement of making its On series phones available in India next month, reports have confirmed 11th November as the date for Apple’s iPad Pro to come to the country. The device was launched in September, along with additional accessories and the new iPhones.
Apple had mentioned a November launch for the iPad Pro and now various sources have confirmed the date as eleventh. The Apple Pencil and the Smart Keyboard -accessories for the new iPad – will also go on sale on the same day. Current pricing of the device in the US marks it at $799 (about Rs. 52,000) while the Pencil costs $99 (about Rs. 6400) and the Smart Keyboard costs $169 (about Rs. 11,000). Click here for the specs of iPad Pro.
After the poor response to iPhone 6s and 6s Plus in the country, let’s see how the iPad is received by buyers. Many users believe that there isn’t a specific purpose for the iPad because all work gets done on laptops and cellphones in India. There isn’t basically a need of an in-between device. iPad Pro thus is not much more than another shiny new toy for tech lovers and Apple enthusiasts, don’t you think?
Samsung’s ‘A’ series continues to grow. Last year, the company released the Galaxy A5 handset and has since seen the launch of the A6, A7 and A8. Latest rumours going around that Samsung is working on an A5 successor. To back this up, a smartphone carrying model number SM-510F has shown up pn GFXBench.
As the listing suggests, the A5-like model will feature Samsung’s Exynos 7 octa-core processor clocked at 1.6 GHz. The device will sport a 5.2-inch screen with 1080 x 1920 pixels resolution.
Other features include a 2 GB RAM, 16 GB internal storage (11 GB free) expandable via MicroSD card slot, 12 MP primary camera and a 5 MP front. The phone will run on Android 5.1.1 Lollipop while connectivity options include WiFi, Bluetooth, NFC and GPS.
Samsung unveiled its ‘On’ lineup of budget smartphones last week. The On5 was even briefly listed on Flipkart last week with the name ‘Samsung Galaxy On5 G550’ without any mention of the price. Last night, Samsung India sent out a tweet that suggests that the low-range smartphones will see a November 3 launch.
The tweet doesn’t give away much and you can expect Samsung India to make a few more announcements in the days leading up to November 3. The On series phones also promises an ‘exhilarating music experience’, which points out what the devices main attraction is going to be, apart from it’s price tag.
For those unaware, the Galaxy On5 and On7 are equipped with a 1.3 GHz 32-bit quad-core Samsung Exynos 3475 processor paired with a Mali-T720 MP1 GPU and 1.5 GB of RAM. The phones come with a low 8 GB internal storage, but are expandable up to 128 GB via MicroSD slot.
Furthermore, the On7 and On5 feature 5.5-inch and 5.0-inch Super AMOLED display, respectively. Another point of difference between them is the camera. The Galaxy On5 has an 8-megapixel rear camera while the On7 houses a 13-megapixel sensor rear, and they both sport a 5-megapixel front. Meanwhile, the On7 has a bigger 3000mAh battery compared to On5’s 2,600mAh.
The expected prices of the On5 and On7 stand at $150 (approx. Rs. 10,000) and $200 (approx. Rs. 13,000), respectively. You can expect the Indian pricing to be made official in the next few days. Follow this space for more on the On series launch.
Halloween is around the corner, and yes, we are aware as Indians we do not need another festival to celebrate in the month of October, but there’s no harm in spooking a couple of your friends out. Here’s a list of five smartphone apps that you can download specifically for the purpose.
1. Ghost Lens App
The first one you can try out is called the Ghost Lens app, which happens to be free on all iOS devices. It’s a very efficient app, where you just have to choose from a selection of backgrounds and filters, then you shoot your own video or pictures and save it. This is what your end result could potentially look like:
2. The Camera Hoax
The Camera Hoax, yet another free iOS app, allows you to choose an image from the given options within the app, such as ghosts, ghouls, UFOs etc. after which you can add a picture of yourself from your phone gallery and upload it. This app comes with a bunch of expert photoshop features too.
Minecraft:
In the spirit of Halloween, even Minecraft has vamped up its settings. Therefore, along with skeletons, and zombies, it now added a Halloween Costumes skin pack as a 79p in-app purchase to give your Minecraft character a Halloween makeover.
Halloween Sounds Pro:
Visual effects aside, sound also plays a very important role in scaring people, therefore to amp up your experience there is a free Halloween Sounds Pro app which lets you choose from a series of gory sounds such as a hiss or a scream to scare people around you. This app comes free on the iOS and has a $1 fee on the Android version.
The Hunting Part 1:
Last but definitely not the least, we have The Hunting Part 1, which basically puts you in a Blair Witch Project kind of simulation that you need to get out of. The film is shot from a first-person view, and it’s perhaps one of the most interactive zombie movie apps till now. This one should be a whole lot of fun to play on the 13th of Friday, after having said “Bloody Mary” to the bathroom mirror thrice. Go save yourselves!
Hitler tried it, so did Soviet Russia, Hollywood cannot get enough of it and countless people still endorse it all over the world. Debates around the topic just don’t seem to end. Here’s a look at what eugenics is all about.
What is Eugenics?
Eugenics refers to an attempt to improve the over-all quality of the human species by choosing which traits are to be passed on to the other generation. It basically is a borderline messed up concept about closely altering the genetic make-up of future generations.
How Recent is the Idea of Eugenics?
Not recent at all. The beliefs and principles of eugenics have been around since the time of Ancient Greece. However, modern eugenics date back to only as late as the 20th century. It began with Britain and spread to many parts of the world including the United States.
Messages about eugenics during the 1930s in an American city.
Hollywood, because that’s how it rolls:
Hollywood never disappoints when it comes to taking sci-fi theories to random levels of creativity and imagination. Two iconic products of this industry based on eugenics are the Ethan Hawke-Uma Thurman starrer Gattaca, and the 1917 film the Black Stork. The latter film was re-released in 1927 under the title Are You Fit to Marry?
Uma Thurman as Irene Cassini, a eugenically conceived character in Gattaca
Eugenics in Politics:
The most significant example in this case is that of Adolf Hitler and his campaign of ‘purifying’ the German race by the mass extermination of Jews. One of Hitler’s main goals was to preserve, or as he saw it, the purity of the Aryan German race as he went ahead to categorise large groups of people as “life unworthy of life”. Who else is glad this isn’t 20th century Germany?
The USSR has as disturbing a history as Germany when it comes to eugenics. It began as a systematic field of study in the 1900 with the Imperial era and lasted significantly right until the end of Stalin’s reign in 1939, when it begun to be viewed as a ‘fascist science’. It started as discussions on heredity, diversity and genes in the early 20th century and went ahead to become a full-fledged scientific discipline with societies and periodicals within a couple of decades. Though Stalin’s period saw the last of it, narratives about Russian eugenics are still prevalent in contemporary times.
Eugenics -the Foundation of Transhumanism:
We recently spoke about transhumanism and how this movement attempts to make the human species efficient with the use of technology. Transhumanism in a way, therefore stems from eugenics -a belief which conceives a world made of only the strongest and the best of their species, which in turn means getting rid of the weak and the inefficient.
Science has convinced us of its tendencies of being more than just disturbing -with phenomena like Artificial Intelligence, transhumanism and eugenics. There is also a sense of elitism among eugenicists who believe how some races are superior to others and therefore their existence should be privileged at the expense of other races. 21st Century Wire sums it up aptly when it says,
Eugenics rests on a necessity of there being superior and inferior genetic pools in the human population. It might be very socially unacceptable to speak publicly of there being some races, ethnic or cultural groups who are inferior to the rest, yet in secrecy this is exactly what elite Eugenicists believe.
Eugenics too joins the fray of one of the many theories and propositions ricocheting in the world right now. There has never been a consensus about it and it doesn’t seem likely to be reached in the near future. Do you think you’d be okay with genetically altering your progeny if it meant they would be the best of their kind, or would you rather let nature take care of it like it has done so far?
A team of researchers from Germany and the US have developed a first of its kind face break-through in video recording. They have developed a method which copies the facial expressions of the source actor and transfers them as it is to the target actor.
The software trackers keep a close track of the subject’s face even when it’s away from the camera, or in different light conditions of the source and the target actor. It was at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, the Max Planck Institute for Informatics, and Stanford University that this technique of facial expression reenactment was developed. It will be presented in the computer graphics conference in Japan in early November.
Imagine your words coming out of one of these pretty mouths.
Even though the software doesn’t register eye motions, it takes into account the shape, size, colour, angle of the face, and then transfers the facial expressions with the help of a proxy mouth on the target actor’s face. The technology holds immense potential if worked upon further. It can be used in multi-lingual video conferences for real-time translation, along with being used in virtual reality and editing.
“It seems like there’s a lot of demand for it. Essentially it can do to video what Photoshop did to images,” says team member Matthias Niessner.
However, as always, this software comes with its own potential dangers if put to misuse. It can be used in identity thefts and wreak different degrees of havoc depending on the person being impersonated. The team which developed this software is convinced that all these activities can be checked and prevented with the right technological regulations.
In a merger that could probably spell disaster for Google, the company is planning to fold its Chrome OS into its Android OS. Why is this a bad thing? Well, the Chromebook with Chrome OS was introduced as a lightweight operating system with limited native apps for low-powered netbooks. It was meant for students who would do most of their networking through the browser.
With this merger, Google has basically stated that the Chromebook is opening the gates for a horde of Android apps. This will not only leave the Chromebook more cluttered, but could also invite potential security concerns.
Samsung Chromebook
The news is not unexpected, though. Plans for a Chrome and Android merger have been on the cards since 2013. In the past few years, Google has been getting Android apps to run on Chrome, and back in 2009, Google co-founder Sergey Brin himself said that Chrome OS and Android would “likely converge over time”.
The end result of this merger will be an all encompassing OS for both mobile devices and notebooks. Again, net security is the primary concern for people after this merger news. While Chrome OS has been relatively malware-free due to its minimalism, Android apps have been riddles with vulnerabilities. As expected, users took to Twitter to express their disappointment at Google’s latest move.
Most experts I know have deep respect for the security in Google’s Chrome OS. None have respect for Android. Sad that Android won vs Chrome.
After making news with Moto X Play and Moto X Style, Motorola is all set to launch its new smartphone, Moto X Force, in India next month. The smartphone is expected to hit the market with its current price tag of $624 (Rs. 40,000 approximately) and $720 (Rs. 47,000 approximately) for the 32GB and 64GB variants respectively.
Moto X Style and Play
The highlight of the device is its super-hardy screen. Motorola claims to have integrated a ‘Moto Shattershield’ technology in the display of Moto Force which, it says, is the first shatterproof screen in the world. The company feels confident enough to affirm the screen would stay intact for up to four years, owing to the multiple layers of different materials used in making it capable of absorbing shock and providing protection against cracking.
Moto X Force has been already launched as Droid Turbo 2 exclusively for Verizon users in the US. Moto X Force is the name of the global variant of this smartphone which will go on sale in Latin America, EMEA, and APAC (including India) starting this November.
https://youtu.be/JJWmBFV2GHM
On the specs front, Moto X Force packs a 5.4 inch Quad HD display with a resolution of 2560×1440 pixels. It is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 octa-core chipset along with 3 GB of RAM. The two internal storage options of 32 GB and 64 GB are expandable up to 2 TB with the help of a microSD card.
The phone comes equipped with a 21 megapixel main camera along with a 5 megapixel selfie camera. The battery is marked at a 3,760 mAh, which Motorola claims is sufficient for lasting up to two days of mixed usage. The battery also features Quick Charging support. In terms of connectivity, Moto X Force includes single-SIM card slot, 4G LTE, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and runs on 5.1.1 Lollipop.
Whether or not a consensus has been reached on the pronunciation of the word, GIFs are all set be a bigger part of our virtual lives. VSCO Cam have decided to follow suit with lots of other developers and come up with its own GIF-making app. However, the glitch is this app is only for iOS users.
https://youtu.be/cthr_L7wt5A
DSCO, an Instagram-like app, is unveiled by the company for achieving the moving image effect for a footage of few seconds. This mobile photography app allows you to choose filters and presets, developed along with MTV and others, for your GIF before posting it on one of the social media platforms or on the company’s own portal. The app is available as a free download for all iOS users.
Micromax is certainly speaking out loud about its upcoming Yu Yutopia. CEO Rahul Sharma said that it would be the “most powerful phone on the planet”, however, the Indian smartphone makers have gone even further with its new teaser on Facebook that read- “Calling a 1080p Display a 2016 Flagship killer? #WhySettle #YUTOPIA.”
The new teaser is an obvious dig at the “2016 flagship killer” OnePlus 2, however, apart from that they’ve also confirmed that the Yutopia will come with a Quad HD display. The Facebook teaser also includes a blurred image of the OnePlus 2 with the words “Never Settle For 1080p” on it.
Therefore, with this teaser and the previous one, we now know that Yu’s next premium smartphone will sport a metal build, as compared to its usual plastic build and a Quad HD display for the first time.
However, speculations about the upcoming Yutopia’s specifications include a 5.2 display, 64 bit class Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 backed by a 4GB RAM, Cyanogen 32GB memory with expandability and a rumoured 21MP primary camera with an 8MP front camera.
The company has not confirmed any of the rumoured specs so until then, let’s just hope all the mud-slinging pays off.
After teasing audiences for a while on social media, OnePlus launched OnePlus X in India today. The company launched its predecessor, OnePlus 2 in July this year. OnePlus 2 had been made available for sale on an invite-only basis initially, but later it was put up for open sale as well.
OnePlus X
The glass ceramic limited edition variant of OnePlus X costs Rs. 22,999. The price is same as that of the 16 GB variant of OnePlus 2. However, the 16 GB variant of OnePlus 2 is priced at Rs. 22,999 which is far ahead from the Rs. 16,999 of OnePlus X onyx-back variant.
OnePlus X has only one storage option which is 16 GB, but it’s expandable upto 128 GB with the help of a microSD slot. Find a comparison of the specs of the two OnePlus devices below and let us know which one you would be willing to stake your money on.
OnePlus 2
Specs
OnePlus X
OnePlus 2
Display
5 inch full HD Amoled display, Corning Gorilla Glass 3
In addition to the above mentioned specs, OnePlus X has dual sim, two variants -one with an onyx back, the other with a glass-ceramic back which is a limited edition variant, 11 mm drivers and is available in two colours -gold and graphite.
We had earlier reported that OnePlus’ latest smartphone will be launched in India on the 29th of October. The company has indeed lifted the veils off the OnePlus X today. This is the third entry in the company’s lineup and it falls under a whole new category for OnePlus – not exactly a mid-range device but also not a ‘flagship killer’.
The OnePlus X was touted as a smaller version of the OnePlus 2. Recent leaked images also suggested that the company was not going with the OnePlus 2 design for the X, which made sense given the poor response towards the OnePlus 2’s look.
The phone was launched today in New Delhi. The GM of OnePlus India, Vikas Agarwal, said that the OnePlus X is made for a design conscious user and brings a feeling of high quality. The company has introduced for the first time a glass-ceramic variant for the phone. The OnePlus X onyx will come with a black glass plate and round edges while the OnePlus ceramic comes with angled edges that will reflect light. The ceramic variant is limited edition with only 10,000 units available.
The specs of the phone keep with past rumours. The OnePlus X sports a 5-inch AMOLED display (1920×1080), with a primary camera of 13 MP and a 8 MP front. The device runs on a 2.1 GHz Snapdragon 801 chipset. It features a 3 GB RAM with 16 GB internal storage and is expandable up to 128 via MicroSD card slot. The phone includes an alert slider, like the one found on OnePlus 2. The OnePlus X weighs around 138 gm for the onyx variant and a heavier 160 gm for the ceramic variant.
As expected, the OnePlus X is available through invite only. The handset comes at a very affordable price tag of Rs. 16,999 for the onyx variant and Rs. 24,999 for the limited edition ceramic body. The price is great for a phone that aesthetically looks high-end but isn’t. The device will be sold exclusively on Amazon from the 5th of November. Have a look at the spec table below.
Specification
OnePlus X
Display
5-inch full HD AMOLED screen, Corning Gorilla Glass 3
Samsung’s newest addition to the tech world includes an 18-inch device which is a hybrid between a TV and a tablet. With its size and measurements and a handle in its design, the device is meant to be carried around like a briefcase. It’s clear from the start the main purpose of this gadget, Galaxy View, is video streaming and viewing. But honestly, don’t we already have laptops and television sets for that? The physiological need to watch videos to the extent of lugging around an 18-inch device is a little hard to imagine.
The Korean company claims that Galaxy View is an attempt to achieve a middle ground between a TV and a tablet. However the screen has no 4K, QuadHD or Retina display. What it does have is full HD 1920X1080 resolution display instead. The screen specs were chosen keeping in mind the battery life. The Galaxy View can provide up to 8 hours of viewing with 5,700 milliamp-hour battery.
The team at Samsung cannot have enough of their little baby. Sean Bornheimer, a senior manager of product for Samsung Design of America says,
“Multiple people can view, which is very difficult with other kinds of portable devices. It’s really about the experience and less about the specs.”
The operating system of the device -since we’re unsure of what else to call it – is Android 5.1.1 Lollipop and it comes with a 1.6 GHz octa-core processor and 2 GB of RAM. The two variants are marked at 32 GB and 64 GB memory respectively expandable up to 128 GB. The base model is wi-fi only but an LTE model would be made available soon, claims Samsung.
It is unclear what exactly Samsung aims to achieve with this device, or who exactly is the target audience. However, because the specs of the device are not high-end, the price can be expected to be low enough to draw customers. Either way, all the best with being adventurous, Samsung.
When Apple launched the first iPod 14 years ago on October 23, 2001, very few imagined the impact it would create in the way we consume music. For all the hate Apple receives today by dedicated groups out there, even they would have to agree that back then when Apple said it would come out with something revolutionary, it meant it.
The iPod was perhaps one of the best inventions of the 21st century. The device literally changed the way we listen to music and single-handedly dethroned the traditional Walkman and CD player. 13 years later, on September 9, 2014, Apple quietly decided to kill the classic iPod.
The sixth generation 160GB iPod Classic was the last Apple product in the iPod line to use the original 30-pin iPod connector and the Click Wheel. According to Apple CEO Tim Cook, the iPod Classic was discontinued because the parts were unavailable and a redesign was unwarranted given the small amount of consumer interest in the product.
Blame it on a generation that was moving towards all things touchscreen, the iPod Classic indeed was seeing low demand. But that doesn’t diminish the fact the Apple had made a serious dent in technology and the music world with the iPod Classic.
Walkman of the 21st Century
The idea behind the invention of the iPod was to create a portable music device that was not “big and clunky or small and useless”. One of the reasons Apple is what it is today is because its founder, Steve Jobs, was bent upon making technology sleek and beautiful. This is what they wanted to with the music player. Successive generations of the iPod Classic saw not only a sleeker, beautifully crafted device but also having a sturdy construction and a massive storage capacity to the pleasure of music lovers.
The Feel of the Iconic Wheel
iPod (3rd Gen)
One of the main reasons the iPod Classic was so successful was because of its simplicity. The device had a decent sized screen and a Touch Wheel that was replaced with a Click Wheel with the 3-gen iPod. The wheel made using the iPod ridiculously easy. A scroll from left to right or right to left let you navigate through thousands of songs and artists in your collection. There was also a center select button, and four auxiliary buttons around the wheel. And that’s really all one needed.
The wheel added that extra bit of flair that came with the device’s sturdy yet sleek design. Navigating through your library was simply too easy. One could even do it without lifting one’s thumb. In all honesty, touchscreens may be the present technology, but even that can’t compete with the wheel’s functionality. Music needed a device that made listeners feel the music; that made them want to listen to music all day. That kind of feel of a personal music player died with the iPod Classic.
A Hundred Albums, A Thousand Songs
It started off with a 5 GB storage and went up to 160 GB by the sixth-gen model. But even an iPod with 30 GB or 60 GB storage was enough for music lovers. The point is that Apple provided a device that had a massive storage for users to keep their entire collection of music all in one place. Spotify and Apple Music is useful in certain circumstances, but you can never get the feeling of owning your own music with them. For years Vinyl collectors bemoaned the emergence of MP3 players as it meant you couldn’t own a physical object. Now music streaming has literally killed the idea of owning music.
iPod (6th Gen)
The iPod Classic let you access hundreds of albums and thousands of songs in a single device. The Guardian‘s Will Dunn lamented the demise of the iPod: “There’s still a huge affection for the iPod Classic and it’s not hard to see why – Spotify might offer 20 million songs, but 120GB of music is more than most people need, and your iTunes library doesn’t carry data charges or a subscription fee. Also, I think the Classic is a more distraction-free listening experience – I’m more likely to get through a full album on one.”
A Pure Music Experience
Today, one is surrounded by the latest in technology. You probably have a phone with 32 GB space or higher. And yes, you do have songs in them too. But they’re still devices that are used primarily for other purposes and can never provide one with the same feel as a dedicated music player. Another point one should remember about the iPod was the massive battery life. You could go through a week of music on a single charge.
Do we really have a device today that looks and feels like a music player? Even the iPod Touch models don’t really look the part. If you go on Amazon or Flipkart today and type in music players, you’ll be surprised to see that there is not one good music-dedicated device that would take your fancy.
People Still Want a Portable Music Player
It’s true. Technology may have changed, but people haven’t. The need for a small, portable music player still exists in the world. Don’t believe us? Well, when Apple decided to call it a day with the iPod Classic, a lot of people rushed to Apple retailers to buy the last of the remaining stock. The sales of the iPods (what was left of them) suddenly saw a rise and even saw some of them being sold for four times the actual value.
What one can take away from this is that the news reminded people just how important the music player was. until a few years ago, before streaming become the new thing, music was something that people loved to ‘own’. Steve Jobs was against the idea of music streaming and he pretty much summed up what music meant to him as well as to many others:
“These services treat you like a criminal. And they are subscription-based and we think subscriptions are the wrong path. One of the reasons we think this is because people bought their music for as long as we can remember. When you own your music it never goes away. When you own your music you have a broad set of personal use rights – you can listen to it however you want.”
Maybe instead of discontinuing the iPod Classic, Apple could have thought of ways to refashion it, adding present-day technology while still keeping the ‘Classic’ look and feel. It probably would have been worth a try. Maybe some day a company might come along and bring back the love for music the way Apple did.
Are you as impressed by Reflexion as OnePlus would want? Let us know in the comments below.
