Category: Tech

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

Exclusive: YU’s YUFit Band To Go on Sale Starting 29th July, Registrations open on 21st July

YU Televentures is venturing into the wearables segment and is starting with the YuFit fitness band. The registrations for the band will start from 21st July and will go on sale on 29th July. The Yufit band has been priced at Rs.999 and will be available exclusively through Amazon India.

The YuFit has an OLED display that tracks steps taken, sleep cycle and alerts about incoming calls and messages. The fitness band comes along with an accompanying app called HealthifyMe. This app calculates the calories of any food material you click along with suggesting a healthier alternative. On the fitness front, it gives access to group coaching, social fitness, motivation and more.

YuFit Band.

The company will also offer a free personal trainer for the first 1000 YuFit users. Along with the fitness band, YU also revealed another device known as the HealthYU cassette. This device measures body vitals such as ECG, skin temperature, blood oxygen saturation, heart rate and respiration rate and is is priced at Rs. 4,999. This small device can fit into your pocket and has two suction cups that help in attaching the device to a smartphone’s back cover. The device then pairs with an app working on the phone with Bluetooth, and once the pairing is complete, you can keep four fingers on the four sensors on the HealthYu to start tracking the body vitals.

With inputs by Rishi Baruah.

July 18, 2015

OnePlus Says The New Invite System Will Be Improved This Time

OnePlus 2 will be released later this month through a unique virtual reality launch event. In the meantime, OnePlus has been releasing regular teasers to keep its fans occupied ahead of its official launch on 28th July. The newest feature that Pete Lau, CEO of OnePlus, has confirmed is that the device will feature a dual SIM support with dual standby.

These features have created a high demand for the unreleased phone. And, why not? Some of the partnered companies to help the OnePlus were Samsung, Qualcomm, Toshiba, Japan Display, Texas Instruments, Everlight and many others.

Thank you to our partners who helped make the #OnePlus2 possible! Together, we’ve created the 2016 Flagship Killer. pic.twitter.com/0QuiCKzk6j

— OnePlus (@oneplus) July 16, 2015

As a solution to meet the great demand, OnePlus has confirmed that the OnePlus 2 will get a new and improved invite system. The company said on the blog that, “some people thought it was too difficult and time-consuming to obtain an invite or thought it was all some big marketing stunt.” For this reason, a few key improvements to the purchase experience has been made.

We’ve made it much easier to get the #OnePlus2. Read about our new and improved invite system: http://t.co/slzh6GHdJo pic.twitter.com/vxsA8NeI3B

— OnePlus (@oneplus) July 16, 2015

So far we know that OnePlus 2 will run on Snapdragon 810 chipset along with 4GB ram. The phone will sport a 5.5-inch 2k display that will improve the viewing experience of the user. The OnePlus 2 will also have a USB C-Type, the first in a flagship device by a major manufacturer. Just a few days back, the company revealed that the phone will come with a built-in fingerprint scanner.

The company has confirmed its price will not cross more than Rs 28,500. Let’s wait and watch!

Specification	OnePlus 2
Display	5.5 inches LTPS LCD Capacitive touch screen
Resolution	1080 x 1920 pixels (401 ppi)
Chipset	Qualcomm MSM8994 Snapdragon 810 v2.1 SoC
Processor	Quad-core 1.5 GHz Cortex-A53 & Quad-core 2 GHz Cortex-A57
GPU	Adreno 430
RAM	4 LPDDR4 RAM
Storage	16/64 GB
Expandability	N/A
Rear Camera	13 MP
Rear Camera Video	2160p@30fps, 2160p(DCI)@24fps, 1080p@60fps, 720p@120fps, HDR, stereo sound rec.
Front Camera	8 MP (Not confirmed)
Front Camera Video	1080p@30fps
Battery	Non-removable Li-Po 3300 mAh battery
Operating System	Android 5.1 Lollipop-based Oxygen OS
Connectivity	Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, Wi-Fi Direct, DLNA, hotspot Bluetooth v4.1, A2DPGPS with A-GPS, GLONASS NFC, Radio FM,microUSB v2.0, Type-C reversible connector
Miscellaneous	Fingerprint sensor
Price	Not more than Rs, 28000

July 18, 2015

Exclusive: Starting at Rs. 55,000, the Turing Phone is Set to Launch in India by September

In a post-Snowden world, privacy has become an integral part of our lives. We have seen in TV shows and movies where the protagonist and spies carry an uncrackable, heavily encrypted phone. Turing Robotics Industries has launched a smartphone, the Turing Phone, which the company claims is unhackable and unbreakable. Appropriately named after Alan Turing, the first person to develop cryptographic machines, otherwise known as computers, the device will launch in India by the first week of September, starting at a price of Rs. 55,000.

If the price seems too steep, there is a reason behind it. The Turing Phone has been constructed from a material called Liquidmorphium, which is stronger than titanium and steel. It uses nano-coating to cover the internal parts, which makes it waterproof. To round off its main selling point, the phone has built-in end-to-end encryption in its core apps, which means servers and third parties cannot intercept your calls and messages. The phone has been built keeping security in mind. To that extent, it doesn’t even has a headphone jack or a USB port. It is meant to be unhackable.

The Turing Phone lacks a headphone jack and USB port. Source: Turing Robotics Industries.

On the specifications front, the Turing Phone runs on the 2.5 GHz Snapdragon 801c processor with 3GB of RAM. The phone supports 4G LTE and is powered by a 3000 mAh non-removable battery. The rest include a 5.5 inch full HD display, a 13MP rear and an 8MP front camera and a fingerprint scanner on the left side of the phone. The phone runs on Android 5.1 Lollipop with Turing Aemaeth UI. The phone can be charged via a magnetically attached power connector, like Apple’s MagSafe.

Source: Turing Robotics Industries

It is available in three variants – 16GB, 64GB and 128GB. In India, the 64GB variant will be available for a price of around Rs. 55,000 and the 128 GB variant will be available at a price of around Rs. 68,000. The Turing Phone comes in three models – Pharaoh, Cardinal, and Beowulf, each one taking colour and texture cue from the source material.

Turing Robotics’ CEO SYL Chao hopes that the material used in the Turing Phone will become standard in the near future. In the present, it seems that the phone will only attract businessmen and people working at higher positions in corporate sectors, considering its steep price tag.

July 18, 2015
Close Look : Marshall’s New London Smartphone is Pretty Awesome

Yesterday, Music gear and accessory company Marshall audio released information about their upcoming smartphone called the London. While the news made waves, the phone specifications itself are not that appealing.

[pullquote_left]What Android Needs Today is More Personality Not More Performance[/pullquote_left]

However the Marshall London is designed not to impress the spec-hungry but more the music hungry. The company claims that Android today needs more personality, and not more performance. The phone is relatively low end with a 4.7-inch, 720p display. Dependant on 2GB of RAM, a 2500 mAh (removable) battery, and a Snapdragon 410 processor which is seen in some of the most popular low end phones.

The London has been priced higher than expected for roughly US $ 549 or Rs. 35000. But, the intention that the phone serves is different. Apart from being completely brilliant to look at, the music centric London has excellent audio processing. Dual headphone outputs, Dual front speakers and a jog dial for precise controls. There is a dedicated “M” button on the top for easy access to music.

There, However, seems to be various implications of the dual headphone jacks. Thick of multi track mixing or recording. Dual independent outputs to separate devices, and dual monitoring when mixing tracks on a DJ app. From a use case point of view, it eliminates quite a few hurdles. The phone won’t be available till late Aug, in the meanwhile however, you can check out the pictures of the beautiful Marshall London below.

July 18, 2015
Cortana’s Beta Version for Android Leaked

Microsoft’s plan to release Cortana for Android to coincide with the release of Windows 10 may have received a bit of setback. According to sources, a version of Cortana for Android has leaked earlier than expected. It’s still a beta version, so Microsoft has nothing to worry about.

Android users who have used the Windows version before, will find nothing new in the Android version. Except for one detail, the beta version is identical to the one found in Windows devices. You can check for weather, set reminders, see sport results, ask it to tell you Rahul Gandhi’s age etc.

Source: Microsoft News

Named after a character in the Halo video game series, Cortana is Microsoft’s answer to Apple’s Siri. The virtual assistant is currently available to only Windows 8.1 phone users. After Microsoft launches Windows 10 later this month, the feature will be made available to both PC and mobile phone users, as well as for Android, iOS and XBox.

Cortana has proved itself time and time again that it is equivalent to Siri. Last year, Cortana gained its fame when it successfully predicted most of the FIFA World Cup games.

July 18, 2015
Google Reported 17.7 Billion In Revenue Last Quarter – Thanks To Youtube And Mobile

For the past quarterly earning reports, Google had been having a bad time. But this time, Google has beaten the expectations in the April-June quarter with a net income of $3.9, which was $3.35 billion last year, the search engine giant reported. The advertising revenues spurred by 11% yearly to make it to $17.7 billion.

The new Chief Financial Officer, Ruth Porat, said

Our strong Q2 results reflect continued growth across the breadth of our products, most notably core search, where mobile stood out, as well as YouTube and programmatic advertising. Shares soared almost 12 percent in after-hours trading.

Ruth Porat also said a part of the 60% surge of overall viewership spent on the website is all due to the time spent watching YouTube videos on smartphones or tablets.

Google acquired a total of $17.7 billion in revenue from the commencement of April to the end of June, which is an 11% increase. The net income has seen an increase to $3.93 billion, up from $3.35 billion, that the corporation earned last year, at this time. Sites owned by Google made $12.4 billion, up 13% year over year. Paid ad clicks have seen an 18% yearly increase, and paid clicks on Google’s websites saw a 30% yearly and 10% quarterly increase.

The company stated that if foreign exchange rates continued to be constant from Q2 2014 to Q2 2015, Google’s revenues would have been $1.1 billion higher.

Much like Facebook, Pinterest, and many other social networking sites, Google expects to boost its future earnings by attaching the ‘buy button’ on to mobile ads to make purchasing and shopping easier for smartphone users.

Google succeeded to accumulate a 31.42% share of funds spent on digital ads worldwide, last year. It is expected to slip marginally this year as leading social networking sited Facebook, gains ground, according to industry tracker eMarketer.

Google continues to dominate when it comes to online search-related advertising, with its share of the market this year expected to be 54.5 % according to the industry tracker.

July 17, 2015
Sandisk’s Wireless Flash Drives Will Wirelessly Add Storage to Your Smartphone

Flash drives, or more commonly known to us as USB drives, are a really useful component in the world of computing. Transferring data from one machine to another has become so simple and easy. Otherwise, earlier, copying data onto a CD was such a pain. But, some computer systems like the 12-inch Retina Macbook lacks USB ports. So, how will one transfer files to the Mac? SanDisk brings the answer in the form of the SanDisk Connect Wireless Stick.

The SanDisk Connect has a full-size USB port that can be utilized to load content like videos, music or photos from your computer to your smartphone, tablet or Mac. You just need to press the big wireless button, and the drive will activate a WiFi hotspot. You will need the SanDisk Connect Flash Drive app on your phone or tablet.

This device is the solution to two problems: the chore of moving files between devices, and the internal storage limitations of modern smartphones. Movies and high-resolution images work out just fine on a desktop computer, but when we try to transfer them in a smartphone, it is either challenging or nearly impossible, especially since most mobile phones have a maximum of 16GB of storage.

The Connect Wireless Stick, however, holds up to 128GB, thus allowing you to stream data on a single charge, lasting for 4.5 hours. It will also enable users to back up photos and videos automatically using the camera roll on your phone.

The device comes in 4 different capacities, starting at 16GB till 128GB. To manage all the content dashing around, SanDisk has developed a Connect app that is compatible with Android, iOS, Mac, and PC platforms. You can find the Connect Wireless Stick right now on Amazon.

July 17, 2015
OnePlus Cardboard VR Goes on Sale on Amazon for Rs 99 Today

The OnePlus 2 launch event is promised to be a grand affair. The Chinese company is gearing up for the launch of the OnePlus 2 in a very different way than most of its competitors. The live streaming of the event will take place in Virtual Reality, starting at 7 pm PDT on 27th July. For this occasion, OnePlus has engineered its own ‘cardboard’ VR headgears that allow you to slip in your mobile handset inside of the little box.

There were two ways of obtaining the cardboard VR headset; one was to participate, and the winners would be chosen at random, whose results are yet to be revealed, and the other was to purchase them from Amazon for a cheap price of Rs 99. Basically, you are being charged only for the delivery, not the headgear.

The VR headgear is up for sale on Amazon from today. The cardboard has been perfectly tailored to fit the OnePlus 2 smartphone and can be assembled quickly.

Most of the spec details will be revealed at the launch event. Till then, as per the revelation by the company CEO Liu Zuohu, OnePlus 2 will run on Snapdragon 810 chipset along with 4GB RAM. A 5.5-inch 2K display will improve the viewing experience of the user. The OnePlus 2 will also have a USB C-Type, the first in a flagship device by a major manufacturer.

The company has already announced that the price of the OnePlus 2 will not be above Rs 28,500. With the launch next month, there is a huge possibility that users will, again, be required to have an invite to buy the phone. But this time, the company says it is ready to meet the demands.

Update:

The VR headsets are currently sold out on Amazon. We will keep you updated as soon as it is back in stock.

July 17, 2015
Marshall Turns Towards The Mobile Industry, Creates Its First Handset

Marshall is a famed company that is known worldwide to music geeks and guitar pros as one of the best guitar amp companies. With nearly 50 years of wisdom and experience in the audio world, the company is now moving on to the world of mobiles.

The new Marshall smartphone is an Android handset that is specially designed for music lovers. The device has been installed with very simple specs, including a 4.7-inches 720p display with Gorilla Glass 3, 2GB RAM, a removable 2,500mAh battery and a Snapdragon 410 processor and a Qualcomm MSM8916 with Wolfson WM8281 Audio Hub chipset. Moto E uses the same processor to power their system. The Marshall phone also has LTE connectivity. Camera details include an 8MP rear camera with flash and 2MP front camera. It offers 16GB of internal storage that can be expanded to 128GB via a microSD card.

But Marshall is all about music. It has an additional processor that is dedicated to high-resolution FLAC music files. It has two pairs of headphone jacks and a pair of good-looking Marshall Earphones. The button mounted on top of the device fires up the phone’s music UI, a 5-band global equalizer and a scroll wheel for adjusting the volume, without needing to take the phone out of your pocket.

The phone has not been officially announced in the U.S. yet—it will be in a few hours according to the Marshall Swedish site’s countdown clock. There is no pricing information on the U.S. version of the site, as yet.

Hardware differentiation and specialization are evolving trends in the smartphone universe—we have “luxury” phones from Vertu and Lamborghini, a smartphone with a large image sensor from Panasonic, and Samsung’s wrap-around Edge screen Dual headphone jacks and hi-res audio capabilities seem like features that may become mainstream, soon.

July 17, 2015
Samsung Launches Galaxy J5 and J7, Hopes to Rival Xiaomi

If there is ever an award for the ‘The Manufacturer With The Most Handsets’, it should go to Samsung. The company has launched two new handsets under the Galaxy brand, named J5 and J7. According to Samsung, the phones have been oriented towards gamers. By pricing Galaxy J5 and J7 at Rs.11,999 and Rs. 14,999 respectively, the Korean giant aims to rival the likes of Xiaomi Redmi 2 and Lenovo K3 Note.

Asim Warsi, Vice President, Marketing, IT & Mobile at Samsung India; Manu Sharma, Director, Mobile at Samsung India; Ankit Nagori, Chief Business Officer – Flipkart and Ajai Puri, Director-Market Operations, Bharti Airtel (India and South Asia) at the launch of the Samsung Galaxy J5 and Galaxy J7

“Galaxy J5 and Galaxy J7 aim to give consumers options in the mid-range price segment. With optimal features and great value proposition for our consumers, the new devices will offer an uncompromised smartphone experience, at very competitive prices,” said Asim Warsi, Vice President, Marketing, IT & Mobile at Samsung India.

Samsung Galaxy J7

Let’s begin with common features. Both phones are dual-SIM and support 4G LTE. Both phones feature the same camera, that is, a 13 MP rear camera with LED Flash and a 5 MP front camera with LED Flash. The phones are capable of full HD recording. Both run on Android 5.1 Lollipop and feature 1.5 GB of RAM.

Galaxy J5 runs on 1.2 GHz Quad Core Qualcomm Snapdragon processor. It has 8GB of storage which can be expanded upto 128 GB. It sports a 5 inch HD AMOLED display. The Galaxy J5 runs on a 2600 mAh battery.

On the other hand, Galaxy J7 runs on 1.5 GHz Octa-Core Exynos processor. It has 16GB of storage which can be expanded upto 128 GB and sports a 5.5 inch HD AMOLED display. The Galaxy J5 runs on a 3000 mAh battery and weighs more than the Galaxy J5.

Samsung unveiled the J5 and J7 in China last month and as NDTV points out, they are slightly different, considering the Indian market. Samsung has opened up pre-orders for the Galaxy J5 and Galaxy J7 from 4 p.m. today.

July 16, 2015
Leaked : 2015 Moto X and Moto G 3rd Gen

What appears to be an accurate leak, shows off the next generation Moto G and Moto X by the Lenovo owned Motorola. The Moto X and Moto G for 2015 have been leaked before, but here you can see a lot more information.

The new Moto G (3rd Gen.) seems to have identical hardware Snapdragon 410, 2GB RAM and Android 5.1.1 out of the box. According to rumours the Moto g (3rd Gen.) will be released on July 28, it will have 4G + dual SIM versions. Moto g (3rd Gen.) is IPX7 waterproof cell phone.

The new Moto X will supposedly has a 5.64-inch QHD display, running on the Qualcomm Snapdragon 808 chipset with 3GB of RAM, USB Type C port, 21GB of user available storage. A 16MP main camera with an f2.0 lens, a 5MP front camera and 3,280 mAh non removable battery. It will run Android 5.1.1 Lollipop out-of-the-box just like the new Moto G.

Motorola will this time offer up the Moto G with various options. The Moto G 8 GB variant will come with 1 GB of RAM whereas the Moto G 16 GB variant will come with 2 GB of RAM. The Moto G will be equipped with a 13 MP main camera and a 5 MP front-facing camera. The company will also extend the Moto Maker to the Moto G which was recently outed by notorious tipster @eveleaks.

Moto Maker for Moto G

July 16, 2015
ChatSim Allows Users to Chat Anywhere For Free

ChatSim World has launched what it calls the world’s ‘most advanced SIM card for chatting’, known as ChatSim. The SIM card allows you to chat free of charge with anyone, anywhere in the world and is compatible with popular chatting apps like WeChat, Facebook Messenger and Whatsapp, all for €10 (approximately INR 695). The company claims that the SIM can let you chat free of charge, anywhere (even without Wi-fi) and no limits.

For 10 Euros per year, ChatSim allows you to chat for free and gives you 2000 credits, which can be converted into MBs, evaluated on the world zone set by company. For example, if you live in India, which comes under Zone 2, your 2000 credits convert into roughly 20 MBs. So, for 10 Euros per year, you are getting 20MB data which you can use for sending photographs and other multimedia files. Also, you get 100 minutes of voice calls. Additional recharge of €25 will give you 250 MB and 500 minutes of voice call for 30 days.

Chat Sim costs 20 Euros including shipping charges.

For Indian users, the price of ChatSim might look quite steep, but is actually a boon for those who frequently travel abroad. According to the European Commission, the roaming rate per MB is €0.20 while the roaming rate for making outgoing voice calls is €0.19. Thus, ChatSim will appeal to travellers who are tired of paying steep roaming rates.

As Manuel Zanella, CEO of ChatSim puts it, “It is an excellent tool for people travelling abroad for business to always keep in touch with colleagues and acquaintances. The most advanced instant messaging apps and super-fast networks let you stay connected, always. ChatSim lets you do it at very affordable prices too.

Source: [tw-button size=”small” background=”” color=”” target=”_blank” link=”http://www.chatsim.com/en”]ChatSim[/tw-button]

July 16, 2015
Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge Plus Launch Next Month

Samsung has been doing rounds in the news feed for some time. After advancing its launch dates from September to August, Samsung, according to blog site SamMobile, will be launching the Galaxy S6 Edge Plus along with the big-screened Galaxy Note 5. Looks like Samsung has got a lot of work for the month of August.

SamMobile confirmed that the Galaxy Note 5 will be announced on 12th August and will officially be launched later on 21st August. Later, the source also learnt that the Samsung Galaxy S6 Plus will follow the same announcement and launch plan.

But, why has Samsung decided to launch both the devices together? Won’t it risk one device eating the sales of the other? It is viewed that advancing the launch dates may work exponentially in Samsung’s favour, as the new handset is not ready to go up against Apple’s iPhone 6S, which will be launching on September. Samsung’s plan to launch both of the new phones at the same time came from Korean press leaks, according to SamMobile.

The Samsung Galaxy Note 5 is likely to feature a 5.4-inch or 5.5-inch Super AMOLED display with curves on both the edges. The display is likely also to feature a 4K resolution. According to reports, the Note 5 will feature a 32GB of eMMC (embedded multimedia card) along with a controller. The phone may also feature a 16MP rear camera, 8MP secondary shooter, 4GB RAM and 16GB internal storage. The Note 5 might even be powered by an enormous battery of 4,100mAh, which is important for a phablet with these specifications. The Note 5 should pack Samsung’s trademark S Pen in a new form.

The Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge Plus is basically the phablet version of the Galaxy S6 Edge. The device is assumed to have a curved display and run on Exynos 7420 processor with 3GB, instead of the Snapdragon 808. It is also highly possible that the device may be available in the same colour options as the Note 5.

Samsung Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge

Samsung’s event will be the highlight event of August with the launch of these two handsets. What are your opinions about the Samsung Galaxy Note 5 and S6 Edge Plus specification leaks? Comment below.

July 16, 2015
Apple Updates the iPod Touch

Apple’s iPod was once their hero product, now however, the story is completely different. Apple has ignored the iPod for two cycles of the iPhone. This time around the iPod gets an internal overhaul, with the new chipsets form the iPhone 6.

The new iPod also gets new colours along with some noticeable upgrades as well. The camera has been upgraded to a new 8 megapixel iSight camera. The new iPod Touch will also get an improved FaceTime HD camera, because who doesn’t want selfies on an iPod.

Apple’s A8 chip found in the iPhone 6 is used in the iPod Touch 2015, along with the old 4-inch Retina display. The new iPod touch starts at INR 18,900 for the 16GB model, INR 22,900 for 32GB and INR 26,900 for 64GB.

If you are in the US, 16GB edition will cost you back $199, you can get a 32GB option for $249, a 64GB variant priced at $299 and a first time 128GB model for $399.

July 16, 2015
ZTE Launches its First ‘Made For the US’ Smartphone

Chinese smartphone manufacturer ZTE has unveiled its new phone, “Axon” in New York, which the company says is the “first phone made in the US, for the US”.

Lixin Cheng, chairman and CEO of ZTE USA, said: “We put consumers at the heart of everything we design, build and deliver, and our phones reflect what consumers want, value, and use. ZTE AXON is a product that devotes to meet all of consumer’s’ requirements.”

The phone runs on a 64-bit octa-core 2Ghz Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 processor with 4GB of RAM. Axon has 32GB of inbuilt storage which cannot be expanded. The 3000 mAh non-removable battery should deliver up to 12 hours of talk time and 240 hours of standby time on a single charge.

The device sports a 5.5 inch display and uses a “dual-lens” system for the rear camera. According to Xinhua, the combination of 13 MP and 2 MP rear camera will lead to sharper video capture. The dual-lens system will also allow users to focus before and after taking a shot.

Dubbed as “a Hi- Fi audio phone”, the features of the Axon include low-light and fast-image capture and high-quality audio. Priced at $449.98, it is available for order directly on ZTE, Amazon and Ebay starting Tuesday, with shipping beginning on July 27.

July 15, 2015