Letv made its presence felt at CES 2016 today in a big way. The internet and technology conglomerate unveiled the world’s thinnest TV. Yes, it’s Letv who has done it this time with a Max65 Blade that actually lives up to its name.
Because the 65-inch TV was designed to set a new record for slimness, it comes with a separate speaker rather than a built in one.
But just when you thought Letv had managed to inspire awe in those present at the event with the TV, the company pulled another surprise by bringing out the world’s first smartphone with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 820 chipset. Yes, it is Letv again that has beat the likes of Samsung to become the first company to use the Snapdragon 820 SoC for its new smartphone, Le Max Pro.
Along with this powerful new chipset under the hood of the device, the Le Max Pro will be featuring ultrasonic fingerprint technology made possible by the chipset and it will also support WiFi ad. Letv has indeed managed to steal the spotlight at CES 2016 with these two announcement.
Another interesting point to note is that it was confirmed that Samsung would have the exclusivity of the new Snapdragon 820 chipset for the first quarter. So, seeing that Letv has managed to sneak in its own device sporting the new SoC first could mean that other companies ready to release their Snapdragon-powered flagships might not need to wait until April to do so.
Asus had announced the Zenfone Zoom at CES last year, and now a year after the announcement there is finally some news on its arrival in India. The phone was launched in Taiwan, the home to the company, last month, and was expected to be made available in the US next month.
Though it was supposed to arrive in India in Q3 2015, but clearly that did not happen. The latest update on this comes in an official statement by Asus,
“Scheduled to hit the Indian market later this month, the new addition to ASUS’ expanding smartphone range, the imaging-masterpiece will truly enable the users to ‘See The World Up Close’!”
The company claims to “reinvent smartphone photography” with Zoom which sports a 13 MP camera that has 10-element lens, 3X optical zoom, and optical image stabilization. The back of the smartphone is reminiscent of the Nokia Lumia 1020. In terms of specs, Zoom has a 5.5 inch, Corning Gorilla Glass display, 3,000 mAh battery and it runs on Android 5.0 Lollipop. There has been no mention of the Indian price of the phone yet, but in the US it is expected to be $399 (about Rs. 27,000).
India’s second largest telecom operator, Vodafone, has revealed plans to roll out 4G services in major cities including Delhi, and Mumbai by end of March, 2016. The Britain based operator, which has one of the widest network in terms of reach in an official statement communicated,”Vodafone has already launched its high speed 4G services in Kerala. The intensity of its roll-out will continue with major metros like Mumbai, Kolkata, Bengaluru and Delhi to be launched by March 2016″
In a bid to showcase it’s superior customer service, it has already started to issue 4G ready SIM cards in Mumbai. Vodafone India Business Head Mumbai, Ishmeet Singh said,
“The company is fully geared up to launch 4G services in 1800 Mhz band in Mumbai very soon. We want our customers to be 4G-ready so that they can start experiencing the benefits of high-speed mobile Internet services as soon as they are launched commercially. Hence, this facility to upgrade to 4G-ready SIMs in advance”
Vodafone is also planning on home delivering 4G-ready SIMs to its premium high-value customers in Mumbai, and formal communication for it is already being sent out.
This New Year’s resolutions all around seem big on fitness. People in the virtual space have been talking a lot about being fit -from a deluge of pre and post work-out selfies to this never ending high of fitness-junkies. Yes, we get it -life is so much better after a work-out, and even better if your entire Facebook friend-list knows about it.
If fitness is your cup of tea, because of reasons mentioned above, or (hopefully) different ones, and if you too made a resolution about a healthier body and mind in 2016, we are here to help you keep it. Find below a list of five diet and exercise related apps to motivate yourself to keep in shape. Here goes:
Nike+No list on fitness apps can be complete without this. If you already don’t know about this cool and pretty useful app, this is why Nike+ is important -it made running so much better with its constant motivation in the form of trophies, badges and NikeFuel. It allows users various running programmes and challenges to choose from, along with the option of syncing it with your social media accounts. Nike definitely got it right with this one. It is available for both iOS and Android devices.
Tabata Stopwatch ProNow that we are on the topic of cardio, let’s talk about Tabata. This amazing four minute work-out is made for those who live life on the go. Doing this work-out once in the morning and once in the evening will let you maintain a basic standard of health. The biggest hurdle in doing Tabata is keeping the time in check. But worry not, Tabata Stopwatch Pro is here to save the day. It not only plays your favourite song during the work-out but also notifies you of time intervals every 20 and 10 seconds. It’s available in both the App Store as well Google Play.
Daily YogaIf cardio is not your thing, why not try your hand at flexibility and stretching with some good, old Yoga? Daily Yoga is an app which instructs users in Yoga for different parts of the body through comprehensive videos. Depending on the body-part and the trouble you’re facing -from aches to soreness in muscles to fat, Daily Yoga sufficiently covers all requirements. The app is available in the App Store and Google Play.
Calorie Counter – My Fitness PalOptimum health requires both physical exercise and a balanced diet to work in unison. Now that we have got the former part covered, it’s time to move on to the latter -that is, the right diet. Calorie Counter, as the name suggests, lets you keep a check on the daily consumption of carbs and fats. You can enter in the meal and it would give you an estimate of your calories. Once you start using it, you’d be pleasantly surprised with how customizeable this app is. Calorie Counter too is available for both iOS and Android devices.
Hydro Coach and Daily Water Free ‘Nuff with all the huffing and puffing -make sure to keep the body well-hydrated. That’s much easier said than done; making sure to drink enough water is one of the most useful but also the most underestimated hacks ever. Enough water keeps the muscles replenished and healthy enough to take on any exercise regimes. It also keeps the metabolism up and running on its feet making sure your diet and exercise is optimised in the most efficient ways. While Hydro Coach is a useful app for Android phones that will give you regular reminders to drink water, Daily Water Free is the answer for iOS users.
Microsoft’s flagship 12 inch hybrid tablet that promises to put your laptop out of business for good is all set to take up Indian markets by storm in the coming days. Microsoft has started sending invites of the launch event for the Surface Pro in India on the 7th of January, 2016. Microsoft fearing a backlash because of the high price of the series had shied away from introducing the Surface Pro range in India for a long time, but its seems the company has decided to cast those apprehensions aside, and trust its loyal user base in the country.
The Surface Pro 4 whose pricing has not been disclosed by the company yet, looks set to retail in India over the Rs. 60,000 mark. For the hard earned money you spend, Satya Nadela, and Co. present to you a gorgeous piece of consumer hardware that can easily take on all the productivity tasks that you throw at it. This hybrid tablet is a sure-shot upgrade from the Surface Pro 3, but still leaves you wanting more when it comes to battery life.
The Surface Pro 4 features a 12.3-inch Pixel Sense display, that can output a maximum resolution of 2736 x 1824 (267 PPI). It will run on a 6th Gen Intel Core m3, i5, or i7 processor. The device will have 4GB,8GB,16GB RAM depending on the variant of choice, and will be available in storage options of 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, 1TB SSD drives. To add to this, the Surface Pro 4 will also come equipped with Intel HD Graphic chips, or an Intel Iris chip for the top of the line i7 variant.
The hybrid tablet will be powered by Windows 10, and the cool thing about the the device is that it turns into a fully-powered laptop while running a desktop software. Battery life is promised at just over 9 hours on a single charge, and the device will weigh not over 786 grams. Not bad we say.
The Surface Pro 4 on paper looks like a device which if priced right could easily make deep inroads into the Indian consumer market, and keeping in mind how carefully Microsoft has been looking at India in the past year or so, come 7th of January, 2016 Indian consumers could well expect this game changer from the tech giant to be priced reasonably, and make way into their homes.
Asus has expanded its portfolio with the launch of the Asus EeeBook E402 and Asus EeeBook E205SA in India today. The former is a 14-inch compact and lightweight notebook with HDD expansion slot up to 3 TB, while the later is an entry level convertible notebook with a sensitive and accurate touch display and up to 8 hours of battery life.
Asus has launched the two notebooks seeing the growing demand for affordable, compact and ultra-portable computing devices in the country. The company claims that their EeeBook series are pocket-friendly notebooks that are “elegantly crafted for high mobility and style”.
Asus EeeBook E402
Both the notebooks run on the latest Windows 10 64-bit OS. The 14-inch EeeBook E402 measures at 2.19 cm in thickness and weighs 1.65 kg. The device is powered by Intel Dual-Core Celeron N2840 processor and has an on-board memory of 2GB. The notebook also comes with Intel HD Graphics 4000, VGA web camera, and a 2-Cell Li-ion prismatic battery pack. Asus also claims that the E402 offers a large display, upgradable storage option and comes packed with technology aimed at improving user experience, all at an affordable price tag of Rs. 23,990.
The notebook features SonicMaster technology for audio, Splendid technology for the demanding viewing standards, and the company’s own Smart Gesture technology for multiple Windows gesture on the large touchpad.
Asus E2055A
Meanwhile, the entry-level 11.6-inch EeeBook E205SA comes with a metallic finish that gives it a premium look. The 360 degree convertible notebook weighs 1.20 kg and is being offered in two colour options – Dark Blue and Crystal Silver. Furthermore, the notebook promises 8 hours of battery life on a single charge, powered by a reversible USB-Type C port, and is priced at Rs. 18,999.
If ever there was need of proof that HTC & the Under Armour team were up to good work together, then the UA HealthBox is it. It feels like ages that HTC & Under Armour announced their partnership together to roll out fitness gear such as the HTC GRIP, which sadly never saw the light of the day.
But fast forward to the first day of CES 2016, and much to the liking of fitness enthusiasts these two giants have finally launched for a measly $400( Approx Rs 26000) an all in one fitness tracking system. This apt named UA HealtBox is a collection of three different, but beautiful looking devices.
UA Band which is a fitness tracker, is designed to be worn 24/7. It tracks the number of steps taken, heart rate, workout, and sleep patterns of the user. It is the first accessory in the box.The UA Band comes in black with a red textured underside to allow for moisture wicking.
The second piece of the HealthBox is the UA Heart Rate. This is a band designed to be strapped to the users chest to provide more accurate reading of the pulse. The UA heart Rate is targeted towards athletes, and advanced users who are on intense workout regimes. It also gives an accurate calculation of calories burned during the workout.
The final piece that completes this fancy jigsaw puzzle is the UA Scale which measures your weight, and body fat ratio. The scale is Wi-Fi enabled, and syncs with the UA Record app to keep a check on things.
Though not physically a part of the UA HealthBox, but still the most critcial element of the system, is the UA Record app. Developed by Under Armour, this app is the element on which hinges the whole experience of using the UA Healthbox system. It brings together these isolated elements of the box together, making them work seamlessly as a single entity. To top it off, this app even has an option where it lets you rate on a scale of 1-10 about how you felt about your workout on a particular day!
Fitbit’s Blaze smartwatch arrives in India and is up for preorder today while availability with retailers all over the world starts in March.The watch boasts of features like compatibility with over 200 Android, iOS and Windows devices and a battery that lasts up to 5 days, according to Fitbit.
The watch comes equipped with a sleep-tracker, GPS and Bluetooth Smart which notifies the user of calls, texts and calendars notifications. The user can also accept or reject calls using the watch when its connected to a compatible smartphone. On-screen controls also allows the user to navigate and play music from the connected smartphone. PurePulse feature of Blaze tracks the heart-rate of the user and helps make training routines more efficient.
Blaze seems high on design with its interchangeable bands, modular design and a high resolution colour touchscreen. It has a stainless steel display which further has three options to choose from -black, mist grey and camel. There is another option of a Luxe stainless steel band paired with the display frame available in silver.
The watch is priced at Rs. 19,999 and has three colour variants for the band -black, blue and plum. The company promises additional changeable accessories for the watch soon.
The long wait is finally over. Samsung, after having ignored the Windows OS platform for sometime now, has come to the market with a Windows 10 based tablet. The Galaxy TabPro S, is a sleek tablet, which at its size is thinner than it’s main competitors, the Apple iPad Pro, and the the Surface Pro. Samsung at CES,2016 gave a sneak peak into this new offering from its stables.
The product from the outside looks better than most other Android tablets that Samsung has in the market. With its detachable keyboard case, and stylus input bears, it’s more than a passing resemblance to Microsoft’s very own Surface Pro lineup. Because of its fanless design, it runs at a sleek 6.3 mm.
Inside this frame of it, the Galaxy Tab Pro S houses a dual core 2.2 GHz Intel Core M Processor. This, paired with 4 GBs of Ram, and 128 GB/256GB of storage space, works wonders with the Windows platform to give users a smooth, stutter free experience. The TabPro S also comes equipped with a rear 5 MP camera, and a 5 MP front camera.
On the connectivity front, it comes with Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and option of LTE connectivity, but sadly no HDMI, and USB ports are to be found on the TabPro S. A 12 inch Samsung Super Amoled display on the outside running a resolution of 2160×1440 is arguably the star of the show here. It’s bright, colourful, and much like the other displays on Samsung devices, has brilliant viewing angles.
The Tab comes with the much loved USB Type C Port which charges a cool 5,200 mAh battery packed inside the case.
The TabPro S, with it’s sleek looks, under the hood hardware combined with the fact that it’s running the fast growing Windows platform looks to be a sure winner. Pricing, and further details are expected by February.
The Samsung Galaxy S7 is reportedly going to be unveiled on February 21st and be up for sale in the market by March. To the dismay of buyers, it won’t be launched at CES. It seems like a long wait before the S7 is up for grabs, but in the meantime, here is a round up of everything we know so far about the phone.
Variants
South Korea’s Electronic Times has reported that Samsung’s initial production would include 5 million Galaxy S7 handsets. The new flagship of the company would have two variants, a 5.2 inch Galaxy S7 and a Galaxy S7 Edge with a larger curved screen of 5.5 inches. The division between the two variants would include 3.3 million S7 phones and 1.6 million S7 Edge phones.
Samsung S7 Concept
Samsung is creating a buzz about its next rumoured smartphone, the Galaxy S7 Premium Edition. According to rumours, this phone will only be offered in South Korea and could feature a 4K display with a dual-lens camera module made by Sony. Reports suggest that the Exynos 8890 for the Galaxy S7 Special Edition will come with the Mali-T880 and 14 cores.
Display
Samsung Galaxy S7 is likely to arrive with a pressure sensitive display.Though Samsung is tight-lipped about its new smartphones, its silence hasn’t done much to keep speculations and rumours in check as Wall Street Journal reports that the display of S7 will be pressure sensitive. Looks like Samsung is all set follow in the footsteps of Apple which cannot stop talking about the 3-D Touch of the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus.
The S7 will have a 5.2 inch display while the S7 Edge will have a 5.5 inch curved display. The company is expected to incorporate 4K display in its flagship devices.
Bigger Battery
The phones will have larger batteries that would make them last longer than their predecessors. The S7 will come equipped with a 3,000 mAh battery while the S7 Edge will be marked at 3,600 mAh. The S6 and S6 Edge have 2,550 mAh and 2,600 mAh battery capacities respectively. While the S7 batteries are the best Samsung has offered so far in its flagship, they would not be user-replaceable. But you can still expect the S7 to charge wirelessly in 2 hours and S7 Edge in 2.2 hours. The Type C USB Port of the devices would ensure significantly faster charging.
Camera
BRITECELL is Samsung’s new camera technology that is expected to be part of the upcoming Galaxy S7. The technology will be showcased at CES and viewers will get a sneak peek into what they can expect from the flagship handset, at least on the camera front.
It has been speculated for a while that Samsung is looking to improve its camera quality rather than upgrade its pixels. So a 12 MP camera for the S7 series wouldn’t be all that surprising.
MicroSD Card Slot
The Galaxy S7 might come with a microSD slot for memory expansion and therefore improve on a feature that most people had a problem with in the previous installments of the Galaxy line-up.
Chipset
The Galaxy S7 will arrive in two variants – one powered by the new Snapdragon 820 chipset and the other being Exynos 8890. The Exynos 8890 has earned a record score of 100K in the AnTuTu benchmark test and has beat out competition from the likes of Huawei’s Kirin 950 SoC (79K points) and the Mate 8, which secured more than 94K points.
Dust and Water-Proof
Samsung Galaxy S7 flagship devices will be waterproof. They are also expected to arrive with an IP67 rating which makes them dustproof as well.
Design
The new smartphone might use magnesium alloy in the construction of its body. While, the Galaxy S6 uses an aluminum frame and a glass body, the S7 could be Samsung’s first full metal flagship device, ever. The reason for this is reportedly because the metal is lighter and more durable as compared to its glass-bodied devices, plus magnesium generates much less heat than aluminum, which is something the smartphone industry is definitely looking at as a feature in all their phones.
The flagships will not be entirely new smartphones but simply upgraded and improved versions of the S6 series, similar to what Apple has been doing with its iPhones.
There are also rumours of a retina scanner as well to be included in the smartphone. Watch this space for all the latest updates on the Samsung Galaxy S7 devices.
Samsung’s day at CES 2016 is now over. The company made some big announcements in technology today, one of which concerns the Tizen-powered Gear S2 lineup. Samsung’s newest wearables will be available in platinum and rose gold variant. But this wasn’t the big announcement we’re talking about. The Gear S2 will be iOS compatible later this year. As of now, the wearables can only work with an Android device.
now while Samsung promises seamless connectivity with iOS devices like the iPhone or iPad not all features in the device will be made accessible. Samsung Pay, for example, which is yet to roll to the smartwatch, is not likely to be iOS compatible, and will rather require a Samsung device for it to work.
Samsung’s decision to have its wearable work with iOS devices will be especially beneficial for those who aren’t all that excited about the Apple Watch (mostly due to its pricing), but are still keen on sporting smartwatches.
Samsung hasn’t revealed the precise date when the iOS platform for the Gear S2 will be rolled out to the public. You can expect Apple to take point on this as this is likely to affect sales of the Apple Watch once the cross-platform compatibility is made available.
The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2016 doesn’t officially begin until Wednesday. However, the conference kicked off today with CES Unveiled, where some companies were allowed to preview their products in a smaller, closed space with limited numbers. Lenovo was one such company that kicked off the event with a bang, unveiling a bunch of products, among which is the Lenovo 900S convertible laptop.
The new Lenovo Yoga 900S, which is a spinoff of the Lenovo 900 that was unveiled at last year’s CES, is officially the world’s thinnest convertible laptop weighing at 2.2 pounds (0.99kg), making even the 3 pound MacBook Air look a little bloated. The 12.5-inch QHD display hybrid laptop also promises up to 10.5 hours of battery life thanks to Intel’s low energy Core M processors powering it, which means the performance of the laptop will take a hit.
That’s not all. Because of its carbon fibre construction, the Lenovo 900S measures at an incredibly thin 12.88 millimetres, which is the same as the iPhone 3GS. The laptop also comes with an active stylus for drawing. Starting at a price of $1,099, the Lenovo 900S will be available in the US in March. It’ll be interesting to see just how well a thinner, lighter laptop from Lenovo will do.
The long wait is over. It’s been almost 7 months from the date that Asus first announced its plans for this second generation SmartWatch, and finally today the ZenWatch 2 has hit Indian markets.
The successor to the first ZenWatch comes in two sizes, 1.45-inch (WI502Q) and 1.63-inch (WI501Q). They are priced at a cool Rs. 11,999 and Rs. 14,999 only, and considering the price tags with which previous Android wear smartwatches have been released in the country, this at least on paper, looks like a smart buy.
The ZenWatch 2 variants come with Gorilla Glass 3 protection, and are run by the quad-core Snapdragon 400 Soc chipset, paired with 512 MB of Ram. Internal storage as revealed is 4GB, and the smartwatch comes equipped with Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth 4.1 to ensure continued connectivity.
The 1.45-inch variant sports an Amoled 273 ppi 280×280 resolution display, while the 1.63-inch variant comes equipped with a superior 278 ppi, 320×320 display. The smaller of the two siblings comes with 300 mAh battery, while the other model gets the juice it needs from a 400 mAh pack. The smartwatch interestingly is also one of the few Android Wear devices that can be paired with iPhones, and other iOS 6+ devices.
The ZenWatch 2 is currently being sold exculsively via Flipkart, but Asus has informed that it will soon start sales of the smartwatch through its exclusive Asus Stores. It has also informed that another cool looking stainless steel version of the watch will also hit stores some time in the future.
The Wi-Fi Alliance, body that controls research, and advances of the Wi-Fi technology, yesterday at CES, 2016 announced its future plans for taking this already indispensable medium of communicating with the Internet forward.In a bid to expand the reach and adoption of the Wi-Fi technology when it comes to connectivity with the Internet of Things, ‘Wi-Fi HaLow’ was announced. This new Wi-Fi framework which will operate on the 900 Mhz range, promises to double the reach of the already existing 2.4, and 5 Ghz Wi-Fi baseband.
This switch to the new spectrum will also help conserve energy, making it the perfect platform for low-power, less data intensive devices like smart watches, and other Internet enabled household appliances that the coming days will bring to us.
When quizzed about the real world benefits of ‘HaLow’ to the end consumer, Kevin Robinson, Vice President of the Wi-Fi Alliance had this to say,
“For a consumer, you might imagine someone who wants to deploy a water sensor in their basement to detect flooding or a motion sensor at the end of their driveway to warn them of someone arriving late at night.
In both of these cases, Wi-Fi HaLow will deliver power-efficient connectivity to the home access point, despite the challenging environment caused by obstructions in the device’s path or ranges involved.”
Emergence of ‘Wi-Fi HaLow’ will have implications far greater than just how efficiently low powered devices will interact with the Internet in the future. It will most likely be sounding of the death knell for the outdated Bluetooth framework which currently is used by such low-powered devices. ‘Wi-Fi HaLow’ in time promises to be the perfect platform to meet the needs of the various upcoming Smart Homes, and Smart Cities around the world.But, all is not lost in the land of despair for our trusted old warrior, Bluetooth. According to reports, the new Wi-Fi framework will not come into effect any time before 2018; even then it will take some time to make its way into consumer durables, and even more time through our routers in to our homes, thus leaving a small window of chance for low energy Bluetooth framework to reinvent itself, and leave ‘HaLow’ feeling like a hollow idea to implement altogether.
Lenovo Vibe K4 Note has been finally launched in India today with a price tag of Rs. 11,999. It will be up for customers to buy as part of a flash sale on Amazon.in on the 19th of January. The registrations for the device start today.
Lenovo also launched a Vibe K4 Note bundle with AntVR virtual reality headset priced at Rs. 13,299. This will be available for Rs. 12,499 for the first few flash sales, minus the VR headset. The headset will have to be bought separately at a price of Rs. 1,299, and its available in Tuxedo Black colour.
Coming back to Vibe K4 Note, the phone has a finger-print scanner and dual-front speakers with Dolby Atmos audio. The device is dual-SIM, has 4G LTE support and has a 5.5 inch display. On the camera front, it packs a 13 MP main camera and a 5 front camera. The K4 Note is powered by Android OS 5.1. Find other specs in the table below.