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OnePlus is Building a Dedicated Customer Support Team, Says it Hears You Loud and Clear

OnePlus has emerged as one of the fastest growing companies in the tech domain. It’s first and only smartphone, the One, is a flagship decimator that provides aggressive performance at an affordable price point. The Chinese smartphone brand got rave reviews for the handset, but was criticized for not having an established Grievance Redressal unit. The company is now working on fixing the loophole by improving their support team.

The firm addressed in its official blog post they understand the need of a customer support team and are working to make the support experience amazing for every customer. OnePlus mentioned that it has expanded the customer service team and the department now employs the highest number of members in the company. The support team has increased by 4500% since the time of its launch. Meanwhile, social media like Twitter and Facebook will continue to be the main platforms to address customer complaints.

Agent expertise is the next segment where the company will have its major focus. The agents catering to customers feedback will undergo an intensive training through weekly workshops where they will learn soft skills, tech support, policy changes and more. This means, customer service executives will be trained to be as polite as they can.

Also, OnePlus shared one more update about the warranty and return policy of its products. The company remarked that from now on, all its accessories will come with an extended one year warranty, and a no-questions-asked return policy extends from 14 days to 15 days. In addition, OnePlus stated that it tries to respond to every request within the minimum time frame of 9 hours, which is faster than the average industry response time of 21.2 hours.

It’s nice to see that a company that is about a year old making efforts to maintain a healthy customer relationship. We hope that the smartphone label establishes a strong link with its customers and stays true to the promises it makes.

April 3, 2015
Lenovo to Bring the Affordable A7000 with Dolby Sound to India on 7th April

Looks like Lenovo is all set to bring its newest smartphone to the Indian market. The company is hosting a launch event for their latest gadget, the Lenovo A7000. This handset was first unveiled at the MWC 2015, and it will hit the Indian market on 7th April.

According to the price and spec ratio, it has been speculated that it can match against the Yu Yureka and Redmi Note. It is powered by a 1.5 GHz MediaTek True8Core Processor with 4G LTE and sports a 5.5-inch HD display. It comes with 2GB of RAM and 8GB of internal memory, which can be expandable through microSD.

Measuring up to just 7.9mm thick and weighing 140g, it is easily one of the lightest phones to carry around. The smartphone runs on Android 5.0 Lollipop. The camera specification offers an 8MP primary camera and a 5MP front shooter. Specs aside, the main attraction of this phone is its Dolby Atmos sound. This technology will tweak the audio of the content to make it sound like it is coming from all directions. You will, of course, require a pair of headphones to get the true Atmos experience.

Lenovo A7000 will be priced at $169 (about Rs.10,500). Until now we don’t have a confirmation about its price or availability. We’ll make sure to update you about the same on 7th April.

April 3, 2015
New HTC One M9 Plus Leak Shows a Physical Home Button and a Textured Body

For a while now, rumours have been floating around about the much-anticipated Plus variant of HTC One M9. Earlier we reported that the bigger version of the One (M9) flagship will feature fingerprint scanner, and from the images leaked today, it is now becoming clear how the firm has designed the smartphone.

A new batch of pictures leaked hint at the Plus version of both the One E9 and the One M9. The alleged images of One M9 Plus depicts the presence of a physical home button on the device, much like the one Samsung follows on its S series line-up. The image has a magnified view of the home button which gives us a close look at the rectangular button with rounded edges.

The inclusion of a physical button, if the images are true, strongly hints at a presence of a fingerprint scanner.

The next image focuses on the other design element of the smartphone. The close-up above seems to highlight the controls of the phone, along with the textured metal shell.

The last image is of the screen that supposedly stresses on the QHD quality display. Along with these leaks, the pictures have confirmed one more thing, the launch date of the handset. All three images read – Beijing, April 8^th 2015.

Alongside these revelations, few more rumours came out that speak of its specifications. It was earlier leaked that the One M9 Plus would sport a 5.5inch 2k display together with snapdragon 810 and 3GB RAM. A dual camera of an unspecified MP will sit at the back of the phone. Rumours need to taken with a pinch of salt, the true picture of the phone will only come to light when the Taiwanese brand launches it officially.

April 2, 2015
Meet Nikon’s New Candidate in the Mirrorless Camera Market : The Nikon 1 J5

Nikon has launched their latest entrant in the compact mirrorless camera market, the Nikon 1 J5. This camera is a latest model of the 1 J ensemble. However, unlike the rest of the J-series cameras, this camera does not require a lot of menu diving to access basic settings.

The camera has a 20.8 MP, 1″ CX-format BSI sensor, added up along with EXSPEED 5A image processor and a 171 point contrast detect auto-focus system. As claimed by the company, the camera offers fast burst modes of 20fps at full auto-focused resolution and 60fps of fixed focus. The camera also boasts 4K video recording but can do so at only 15fps. Even though, if this does not work out, the camera also has an option of the 1080p at 30/60fps recording mode and 120fps 720p slow motion video mode.

On the other side is a 3-inch 1037k dot touchscreen display with an 180-degree tilt. It also includes built-in Wi-Fi and NFC. The camera is also compatible wth the entire NIKKOR 1 series lenses and the DX and FX mount NIKKOR lenses with FT-1 mount adapter. J5 can take up to 250 shots in a one time charge of the battery.

The camera is priced at $499.95 (approx Rs. 31, 116) with the NIKKOR 1 10-30mm f/3.5-5.6 PD-Zoom lens and $749.95 (Rs. 46,676 ) with both the 1 NIKKOR 10-30mm f/3.5-5.6 PD-Zoom lens and 1 NIKKOR VR 30-110mm f/3.8-5.6 lens. The camera comes in three colour variants, namely Silver-Black, Silver-WHite or all Black.

Nikon has not yet announced its release date in India, however the product will start rolling out in USA later this year.

April 2, 2015
Xiaomi’s Next Band to Embrace One-Touch Mobile Payment Technology

Xiaomi’s smartbands are assumed to be the next big thing by the tech world; much because they are rightly speculated to be cheaper than the present offerings by other brands. According to a recent disclosure by a Chinese online publication, the next-gen Xiaomi smartband will incorporate a mobile payment solution, providing users a safer, more convenient payment experience.

Huami, the Chinese start-up set to partner with Xiaomi for fitness wearables, declared that it has inked a strategic cooperation in AliPay. The tie-up is aimed at developing a wearable device that fits modern one-touch payment system. The idea is to speed up the payment process and eradicate the need of providing passwords at retail stores.

With this, whenever a user will come in the range of an AliPay client, the mechanism will activate automatically, establishing a link with the client. Through the technology, the payment will be done directly through the wristband.

The smartband works in conjunction with smartphone to function. The band gets connected to the handset through Bluetooth to verify the user’s identity, thereby acting as a channel to enable payments. Once the identity is established, the Xiaomi band then authorizes it to make payments via AliPay client.

Xiaomi smartband payment system

Xiaomi smartband payment system

The start-up further mentioned about the verification technology stating that it uses industry standard encryption measures to make the payments secure. In this, every user is provided with a unique identifier which verifies the status of users after eliminating the password link.

However, the mobile payment technology is not new and many big names in the technology sector have already embedded it to their devices. Though this will widen the reach of the technology. As Xiaomi offers products at a reasonable price, the forthcoming band is expected to become a common accessory and bring a larger change in the retail payment mode used in China.

April 2, 2015
HTC One M8s Unveiled : a Refreshed One (M8) with Enhanced Camera and Battery

Post the launch of the flagship M9 at MWC this year, HTC today brought out a tweaked version of its predecessor HTC One. Dubbed as HTC One M8s, the smartphone embraces the same all-metal body and trademark features of the One such as BoomSound front speakers, Duo camera, and more. The handset is launched at a price of GBP 379.99 (in Indian currency that translates to approx. Rs. 35,000).

With a full HD display of 5-inch (1080×1920 pixels), the screen of the One M8s comes with a Corning Gorilla Glass 3 coating. The smartphone holds a tweaked 64-bit octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 processor clocked at 1.7GHz, bundled with 2GB RAM. The internal storage option stands identical at 16GB, which is expandable up to 128GB via MicroSD card slot. The One M8s runs on Android 5.0 Lollipop with HTC Sense 6.0 skin on top, while the One (M8) came with default Android 4.4. KitKat, upgradable to 5.0 Lollipop.

The rear camera is the one feature which gets a major boost. The device now sports a 13-megapixel duo camera. The front camera is static at 5MP just as the previous iteration. Battery is also a noticeable change in the One M8s. A 2840mAh, just as the one fitted on to the One M9, powers the handset. Connectivity options include 4G LTE, GPS/ A-GPS, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.1, and NFC.

The smartphone will be available in the European market early April in three colour options – Glacial Silver, Gunmetal Gray, and Amber Gold. Meanwhile, there is no word about the device arriving in other countries.

April 2, 2015
Xiaomi is Currently Working on a Refreshed MIUI 7 That Will Debut on the Mi 5

The tussle to bring the finest product to the customers is getting meaner by the day. With many top-notch smartphones already present in the crowded market, there’s a need for every mobile brand to stand out of the pack. Xiaomi enjoys a large fan base in the world majorly because of its affordably priced devices and for the unique MIUI that makes the smartphones look different, not just externally. The Chinese brand is now considering giving its users a better experience with a brand new user interface.

The company is said to be working on the next instalment of MIUI which will debut with the upcoming Xiaomi smartphone Mi 5. The firm has teamed up with AOKP (Android Open Kang Project) to build the new UI. The latter company made public information about the new interface that gives us a fair idea of MIUI 7.

Minimalistic Look with subtle graphics.ith

According to the official AOKP blog, the forthcoming interface is codenamed MiKangy and will be based on Android 5.1 OS. It will be a whole new take on the Android UX and will combine the salient features of top ROMs like CM, PA, Omni and AOKP. MIUI 7 is stated to “create an experience which completely submerges the user in his own world.” The web page further reads that the UI will evolve with the user, and after a period of time, it will be different for every MI 5 user. Now that sounds innovative.

The market of custom ROMs and user interface has lately grown to become a sizeable industry. There was a time when smartphones were mostly about bumped up specifications and features. The brawl between Micromax and OnePlus on Cyanogen that pushed them to the court room is an example that the tech domain is growing in every sector, largely and rapidly. We hope MIUI 7 turns out to be as good as its description.

April 2, 2015
Motorola is Not Considering an Offline Sales Policy Anytime Soon: Moto India Head

At a time when most of the major tech giants are setting up their retail stores, slowly making the move from online to offline, Motorola wants to stick to their present sales model. The telecommunications firm revealed that it has no plans to sell smartphones through physical stores in India and will continue to retail handsets through their exclusive online partner Flipkart.

According to Times of India, the India Business Head of Motorola, Amit Boni spoke about the company’s plans, “It is important that when you take a strategic bet, you stand by it and make it work. That’s what we are doing with the Flipkart partnership. You need to look into other channels of sales only when your present channel is not sound enough.”

Recently, Motorola inaugurated its first bricks-and-mortar store Moto Care in India. It’s a one of a kind store at Jayanagar in Bengaluru where customers can walk-in to check the product portfolio. The store showcases smartphones and accessories and also provides repair services. Boni further elaborated his statement, “We believe that there’s a certain set of customers who wants to see the device before buying it. We are making sure that we are opening up to them too.” The Chicago-based firm plans to open more such stores across the country in the coming days.

Motorola’s Handcrafted Selfie Stick

It has also been learnt that Motorola is planning to expand its 4G portfolio of devices. The company is expected to launch a 4G version of Moto E in India. Recently, the firm came up with few new releases. The first in the list is the Moto Turbo, followed by Moto Selfie Stick, which the company showed off on April Fool’s day. The company claimed that the stick is a $140 handcrafted accessory to click self portraits and is compatible with Moto X. We almost fell for that one.

April 2, 2015
Micromax YU Invites its Followers to Help Them Name Their Next Device

We’ve known for a while that Micromax YU’s upcoming smartphone is in the pipeline. However very scarce details are known about the much-awaited device, which till date has been called ‘Project Caesar’. Now YU wants to give it a fixed name, and one which has been decided by its fans and followers.

The Indian smartphone brand announced the first ever crowdsourcing, where its devotees can suggest the company a name of the forthcoming Cyanogen-powered smartphone. The firm has announced a contest where the winner’s decided name will be the moniker of the next YU handset.

Interested users can submit their entries at all the social platforms of YUPLAYGOD with a caption ‘#YUNameIt’. The submissions should be made on or before April 2. Once the entries are closed, top 5 participants will make it to the voting stage, which will be held on March 3 and 4. The one with highest number of votes will be the chosen name for Project Caesar.

Not only this, YU will reward 5 randomly picked contributions with the next YU device. An additional number of them with receive Amazon Gift Cards worth Rs. 1 lakh.

Customers can submit their entries using the following links:

Click here or here to play.

April 1, 2015
Apple Might Bring Facial Recognition Technology to its iDevices, But With a Twist

We’ve seen Apple deliver some of the best and secure technologies to its customers. Its TouchID, a fingerprint recognition feature, has laid the path to create a feature which makes phone locks reliable. Now, the Cupertino-based firm has plans to embed a simpler but effective technology to its devices for the same purpose – it’s called face recognition.

According to a patent recently granted to Apple by the U.S. Patent Office, the new-found invention will lock the device if the user’s face is no longer present. The granted patent reads, “In the embodiment of the invention, a mobile device is configured to automatically lock based on determining that a user’s face is no longer present in the image captured by the device’s built-in camera.”

It’s evident from the statement that the device will keep snapping pictures at a definite interval of time to check if the owner is working on the device. If the user doesn’t appear in the pictures, the device will automatically lock. This means if your iPhone is kept motionless for a certain period, it will lock on its own.

The patent also mentions that with this technology, iOS device users don’t need to type in the password or touch the screen. The handset would unlock through a selfie. This also means that if your phone reaches in the wrong hands, the intruder would not be able to access your device’s content.

The innovation is already present in Android smartphones, but it doesn’t keep a tab on the user’s activity continuously. Apple’s facial recognition technology looks promising and might arrive in the new gen iPhone, iPad or even the rumoured Apple Car.

April 1, 2015

Hands On : Motorola Moto Turbo

Motorola’s first foray, after a really long while, into the premium handset domain was well thought out. The Moto Turbo launched in India for a price of Rs. 41,999 and comes after the moderate success of the newest gen of Nexus phone which was also manufactured by Motorola for Google.

The Moto Turbo is no lightweight contender in the battle of heavy weight champions, in fact it even looks the part. The body of the Moto Turbo is rugged and well built, a solid texture at the back adds copious amounts of good looks and grip. This texture also makes it less prone to scratches and damage.

Motorola has slyly hidden the sim tray behind the volume rocker, a tough guess location, especially if you don’t know where to look for it. The unibody design is appreciated, the large battery would be sufficient to warrant a non removable type design too.

The Moto Turbo is all about the grip; the buttons are robust and tactile with a sliced grip that you can feel on your skin. The glossy metallic bezel adds the upmarket feel and the overall package is a good mix of beauty and brawn.

A previous gen Gorilla Glass 3 protects the front display of the Moto Turbo, which incidentally is a brilliant 5.2 inch Quad-HD Super-AMOLED type with a 2560 X 1440 Pixel resolution giving it 565 ppi.

Running this monster is a Qualcomm Snapdragon 805 chipset with a Quad Core CPU clocked at 2.7 GHz (Krait 450). The GPU is the new ADRENO 420 and all of this is managed with 3 GB of RAM and a fixed 64 GB of storage (for the Indian variant, internationally 32 GB options are available too)

The Moto Turbo supports LTE Cat 4 networks, which should suffice in most regions without network compatibility issues. You will also get mostly stock Android 5.0.2 to boot and some Moto apps like ‘Moto Alert’ and the ‘Moto’ app.

You also get quick actions, twist the device to launch camera, Moto Display activates on approach and you can wave to silence an incoming call.

Moto Voice can be enabled from anywhere, including the lock screen to ask arbitrary questions like “when is my next meeting” or “how far away is the moon”. Some of which may have been seen in the Moto X handsets.

The Moto Turbo is very fast and responsive. Its UI is a pure experience, the kinds that you would expect from a Motorola device.

The Main Camera is a whopping 21 MP shooter with adaptive autofocus, and dual LED flash. It will record 4k videos at 24fps and the front has a nimble 2MP snapper. The camera app is mostly basic and we do wish that they had worked on a better app. The depth of field is excellent and the camera has a burst mode which is decent.

Here’s a brief about its specifications:

Specs	Motorola Moto Turbo
Display	5.2-inch 2560x1440p resolution 565 ppi
Processor	2.7GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 805
RAM	3GB
Storage	64GB, non-expandable
Operating System	Android 5.0.2
Main Camera	21MP
Front Camera	2MP
Price	Rs. 41,999

Check Out Our Hands On Video:

April 1, 2015

Microsoft Announces the Sleeker and Lighter Surface 3

Alongside Google, Microsoft too made a few announcements. The brand unveiled the new tablet that is sleeker and lighter than the previous iteration. The device comes with a one-year free subscription to Office 365 and is available in two versions – Surface 3 and Surface 3 (4G LTE).

The Surface 3 holds a thickness of 8.7 mm and weighs a mere 1.37 pounds. Unlike its predecessors, the latest Surface version runs a full version of Windows 8.1 (64-bit), including desktop applications. It has a screen size of 10.8-inch (1920×1280 resolution) with a 3:2 aspect ratio. Powered by a quad-core Intel Atom x7 processor, the Surface 3 features a fanless design with 2GB RAM and 64GB of inbuilt storage.

Type Covers for MIcrosoft Surface 3

There is an 8MP rear camera along with a 3.5MP front shooter to capture photos. Three speakers with Dolby Audio-enhanced sound are fitted onto the tablet, and a three-position kickstand comes within the box for support. Connectivity options include Wi-Fi (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac), Bluetooth 4.0 low energy and 4G LTE. The Surface 3 has physical connectivity options to connect to other devices like USB 3.0 port, a Mini DisplayPort, a Micro USB, and a microSD card reader.

Surface 3 Docket Station

The conventional version of Surface 3 holds a price tag of $499, while its 4G LTE version will cost you $599. Both these come with 2GB RAM and 64GB storage. If you wish to buy a higher version with 4GB RAM and 128GB storage space, then you have to dig your pockets for some extra bucks. The enhanced model is priced at $599 for 3G model and $699 for LTE version.

Surface Pens for Surface 3

Additionally, Microsoft launched two new accessories. One is the Surface 3 Type Covers featuring an improved trackpad and multi-coloured Surface Pens, and the other is the Docking Station that allows connection to external peripherals and turns the tablet into a full desktop workstation.

The tablet is up for pre-orders in 26 countries through the Microsoft store. The device will go on sale on May 5, while it will be made available in the 26 markets by May 7.

The list of countries to first get Surface 3 is: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Korea, Luxembourg, Malaysia, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, the U.K., and the U.S.

April 1, 2015
Google Announces New Low-Cost Chromebooks To Take On Microsoft

Microsoft had recently announced its plans for taking on one of its biggest business rivals, Google. The Redmond-based technology giant had announced that they would be bringing low-cost laptops to target the market of Chromebooks. Google decided to reply back in kind and has now unveiled a series of low-cost Chromebooks to capture the space before Microsoft arrives with its offerings.

The first in the series of new launches is the Asus Chromebook Flip, which comes with a touch screen. It has a 10.1 inch display with a resolution of 1280×800 pixels which can be folded backwards so that you can use it as a tablet. This 2-in-1 notebook will be powered by a Rockchip 3288 processor with four ARM Cortex A17 cores. It offers 16 GB of internal storage and promises 10 hours of battery life.

Asus Chromebook-Flip

Along with the Asus Chromebook Flip, Haier and Hisense have also introduced their Chromebook options which have a dirt cheap price tag. Both the offerings feature 11.6-inch displays with a resolution of 1366×768-pixel. They are powered by ARM Cortex-A17 based processors along with 2 GB RAM. They offer 16 GB of storage space and feature two USB 2.0 ports, HDMI output, and a microSD card slot. They differ only in terms of battery life; the Haier model offer 10 hours while the Hisense model offers 8.5 hours of runtime on a single charge.

Asus Chromebook Flip is priced at $249 (approx Rs. 15,525) while the Haier and Hisense versions will be available for $149 (approx Rs. 9,300). They will be available in the US and may find their way to the Indian shores in the future. With such tempting prices, we can only hope they arrive here sooner than later.

April 1, 2015
As Promised OnePlus Unveils its New Drone, the DR-1

Just a few days back we got news from OnePlus that it would be bringing a drone to its line-up of products. Today the company did bring out the drone, and many claim that it is an April Fool’s prank. However, we just placed an order for two.

OnePlus created a fantastic product website for DR-1. It talks about the features of the new drone which includes the ability to fly higher than any other drone in the market and a simple controller.

The website also has a 30 second teaser video for the product with some sexy graphics. At the end of the video, you get a clear indication that the DR-1 is nothing but a toy with OnePlus branding on it.

A few lucky fans of OnePlus will get to own this remote controlled toy. All you need to do is go on Facebook, fill up a simple form and tag two friends. Even though it isn’t a full-fledged drone that some of you must have been hoping for; you still get to own a tiny OnePlus souvenier. This is definitely better than the usual pranks by Google which just end up making you feel embarrassed and sad inside. So go ahead and prank your friend with a link to DR-1’s website.

April 1, 2015
Google’s Chromebit is a $100 Portable Dongle That Converts Any Display Into a PC

Recently Google supplemented a new product to its range of devices that is a compressed form of Chromebook. Labelled as Chromebit, the gadget is a tiny HDMI dongle of a size smaller than a candy bar that can turn any connected display to a full-fledged computer.

The internet search major spoke about Chromebit –

The Chromebit is a full computer that will be available for less than $100. It’s the perfect upgrade for an existing desktop and will be really useful for schools and businesses.

The tiny little package is a powerhouse that runs on Google’s Chrome operating system. It features a Rockchip 3288 SoC, an ARM Mali 760 quad-core GPU, along with 2GB of RAM. A 16GB of internal storage space is provided with Chromebit to store important stuff. The quintessential features are also equipped with the fresh product, Bluetooth 4.0 and Wi-Fi 802.11 ac, together with a Smart Ready controller.

The Chromebit supports connectivity through two ports. One is HDMI that allows you to connect the device to a TV or other external display, and the other is USB port that offers it to be plugged into peripherals like keyboard, mouse or any other mobile devices.

The handy PC is under testing as of now, but the company stated that it will come with an ASUS trademark. The product will retail for less than $100, and will be available later this summer in three colour choices – silver, blue and orange.

Google’s Chromebit reminds us of Intel’s Compute Stick that was designed to perform the similar task; except that it was a straight piece with no bends. Chromebit, on the other hand, is slightly curved at the end that gives it a smooth finish.

Besides Chromebit, the tech firm also disclosed two new laptops – The Hisense Chromebook and Haier 11 Chromebook. Each of them are priced at $149 and are available for pre-orders. The notebooks will be available later this year.

April 1, 2015