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Tumblr Issues A “Very Important” Security Update For Its iOS App

Tumblr has rolled out a “very important” security fix for its iOS app for the iPhone and iPad in response to a flaw identified within the service.

Tumblr’s statement regarding previous versions of its iOS app:

If you’ve been using these apps, you should also update your password on Tumblr and anywhere else you may have been using the same password. It’s also good practice to use different passwords across different services by using an app like 1Password or LastPass.

Please know that we take your security very seriously and are tremendously sorry for this lapse and inconvenience.

Another statement read : We have just released a very important security update for our iPhone and iPad apps addressing an issue that allowed passwords to be compromised in certain circumstances¹. Please download the update now.

Tumblr gave a statement to The Verge, noting that the company was “notified of a security vulnerability” introduced into its iOS app earlier today and therefore took immediate action to fix the issue and notify its affected users. It is unknown how many people may have been affected.

Tumblr is one of the Web’s most popular blogging platforms. Bought by Yahoo for $1.1 billion in a deal that closed in June, its network of blogs see more than 300 million monthly unique visitors. Tumblr says there are 120,000 new signups every day with 900 posts published every second.

[Via]

July 17, 2013
Gionee Post A Very Apple-Like Advertisement For The Elife E6, Show Off Design

Gionee has been very keen to showcase its upcoming smartphone, the Elife E6. Last week they posted a specs comparison of the smartphone with other high end devices and this week, they’ve posted a very Apple-esque advertisement of the smartphone on their YouTube channel.

Gionee last week posted a specs comparison of the Elife E6 with the other high-end smartphones.

The advertisement shows off the design of the device, which to be honest is quite similar to the iPhone 5. Along with the design, it reads out the specs of the device in Chinese.

[youtube url=”www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijcXqx2q7Mg”]

Gionee Elife E6 is powered by a 1.5GHz quad-core ARM Cortex A7 CPU and a PowerVR SGX544MP GPU. It has a 5.0-inch AMOLED display with full HD screen resolution. The screen has a 441 ppi and employs OGS technology.

The Gionee Elife E6 will come with a 13 megapixel rear camera and a 5MP front camera. Its 5MP front-facing camera comes with 12 levels of auto beauty effects, object tracing focus, instant facial beauty support and more. It is powered by a non-removable (as it has a unibody construction device) 2020 mAH battery. It has 32 GB internal memory along with 2 GB of RAM. It sports a really slim profile with dimensions of 144 x 69 x7.7mm. It runs on Android 4.2.1 Jelly Bean.

The Gionee Elife E6 also comes with a bunch of gesture support features. The company claims that the Gionee Elife E6 features Heartbeat Synchronizing Technology that enables the system to synchronously wake up applications every ten minutes, reducing the number of applications wake ups improving power consumption.

The Gionee ELIFE E6 is available in Black and White colour variants with matching colour cases. The phone will be available in China starting mid-July for a suggested price of CNY 2699 (Rs. 26,250 approximately) and will be available in India after August 2013.

What do you think? Are you impressed with the design of the device? Let us know below!

July 16, 2013
Lexus’ LFA Works making $10K Carbon Fibre Bicycles

Engineers at the LFA Works that produced the Lexus LFA supercar, have had a lot of time on their hands since the 500th and last LFA rolled down the production line in December 2012. Now we know what all those carbon fibre experts have been doing with the world’s best Carbon Fibre machinery in their free time. They’ve been working on bicycles, called the Lexus F Sport. Now obviously, these aren’t your everyday go-to the market bicycles. There will be only 100 units in total and each will cost US $10,000 each.

The black-and-white one-seater is very hi-tech, which it should be given the exorbitant price tag. The front derailleur is electronically controlled, for an instantaneous, smooth click into gear. And the shift levers are modeled after the paddle shifters in Formula One racers. The bike is heavy on lightweight carbon fiber. The frame, forks, seat, handlebars, seat post, rims and crankshafts are all made of the superexpensive, superstrong material. Except none of it is manufactured by Lexus, with all the carbon fibre being sourced from Takumi, in Taiwan. The Lexus F Sport also packs a Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 groupset with electronic shifters and weighs an astonishing 6.8 kilograms. Lexus crafstmen polish each frame for three hours to bring out the glow in the lacquer finish and exclusivity is still the norm for the Lexus LFA Works, with only one bike headed for Canada and two for the US.

The LFA was Lexus’ halo sports car and about a decade was spent by Lexus in its development. Even at US $375,000 per car, Lexus made a loss on each one they sold. Only 500 were produced, and the F Sport bicycles are touted by Lexus, as embodying the “principles and philosophy” of the LFA.

[Images source: Lexus]

July 16, 2013
Vespa 946 Automatic Scooter to be Launched Soon

Premium Italian two-wheeler manufacturer Piaggio has confirmed that the Vespa 946 will be launched in India very soon. Piaggio recognised a potential in the ever growing Indian two-wheeler market for its premium scooters, and has been gradually expanding its product portfolio in the Indian market since. After the LX125 automatic scooter arrived here last year, Piaggio recently introduced the Vespa VX, which was basically an LX125 with a front disc brake and a choice of new colours.

Now, its the turn of the very stylish and upmarket Vespa 946 automatic scooter to make its way to India. The Vespa 946 is powered by a Piaggio 125cc, four-stroke, single-cylinder and air-cooled three valve engine, making a maximum power of 11.7 bhp. However, the Vespa 946 will also be launched with the option of a 150cc engine in some markets, which will produce about 13 bhp.

It gets better though. Disc brakes at both ends as well as ABS, traction control and a long list of accessories such as a windscreen, chrome carrying luggage rack and options of colours of the seat, palm grips and leather helmet bag all make the scooter a very impressive piece of kit. The handmade scooter looks sleek and very contemporary with a handlebar mounted headlight encased within minimal bodywork. The 946 front apron gets a small chromed grill with slender turn indicators on either side.

However, as you may expect, all these brilliant features come at a price, and although we don’t know what it will be, we’re pretty sure it will be much higher than the average automatic scooter available in India.

[Images source: Vespa]

July 16, 2013
New Leak Reveals Upcoming Sony Honami Will Have 20.7 MP Camera With 1/2.3-inch sensor

Sony is going to release a new 5-inch flagship device at IFA this year, a sequel to the Xperia Z and now a leak from the Taiwanese site ePrice says the device has a 20.7-megapixel ExmorRS sensor that’s the same size as the one in the Galaxy Camera and other point-and-shoots.

Originally, rumours spread that the Honami’s image sensor was going to have an impressive 1/1.6-inch sensor. However, this leak indicates that the Honami may only have a 1/2.3-inch sensor. But to compensate for that, the Sony Honami will have a f/2.0 with 5mm focal length and utilize the BIONZ processing engine, which effectively allows the camera to take photos with a resolution of up to 5248 x 3936 pixels.

This will help the Sony Honami to take on the recently-announced Nokia Lumia 1020 and the Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom. The 1020 comes with an impressive 41MP camera that aims to revolutionize smartphone cameras, and while we still have yet to try the phone’s camera out for ourselves, Sony will mostly likely have to out something big in order to overthrow the 1020.

As previous rumours have indicated the Sony Honami will reportedly be capable of capturing video at 4K resolution, or 4000×2000 pixels. This insanely high video resolution is going to work synergistically with Sony’s big 4K TV push at the end of the year, but until then will mainly be little more than a sideshow act.

The battery is reportedly built into the device, suggesting it won’t be user replaceable, with a large capacity of 3,000 mAh battery. In addition to the reported camera specifications, there’s also said to be a 5-inch full HD display, as well as a 2.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 quad-core processor, as well as 2GB of RAM and 16GB of internal memory. In addition, there’s said to be a microSD expansion slot, with the maximum supported capacity not being specified.

[Via]

July 16, 2013
Blackberry Q5 Launched In India, Priced At Rs. 24,999

Blackberry today launched their cheapest Blackberry 10 device, the Blackberry Q5 in India. It is the second QWERTY touch and type device from Blackberry, following in the footsteps of the atrociously priced Blackberry Q10.

Similar to the BlackBerry Q10, the device features a 3.1 inch 720 x 720 resolution screen. Unlike the Bold-esque QWERTY on the Q10, the keys on the Blackberry Q5 keyboard are more basic.

The BlackBerry Q5 is powered by a 1.2GHz dual-core processor and has 2GB of RAM, microSD slot, 5MP rear camera, 2MP front camera, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, NFC, 4G and a 2180mAh battery.

Look the BlackBerry Q5 up and down and it’s immediately obvious that this isn’t a premium device, with a sizeable bezel above and below the screen, and then a chunk of plastic below the keyboard too.

BlackBerry CEO Thorsten Heins said earlier this year that the Canadian based manufacturer would launch six BlackBerry 10 models in 2013. Two would be low-end.phones, two would be mid-range units and two would be high-end models. Each price tier would consist of one all-touch and one QWERTY-enabled phone.

With that in mind, we can assume that the BlackBerry Q5 is the low end QWERTY. Heins has said in the past that all of the touch models would have a 4.2 inch screen and share the same resolution, while all of the QWERTY equipped models would have the same 3.1 inch 720 x 720 display. This would make it easier for developers to produce apps for all models without worrying about different screen sizes and resolutions.

Coming in at Rs. 24,999 the BlackBerry Q5 is pricier than we’d expect for what it is. It will be available from authorised retailers from 20 July (Saturday). What do you think? Would you go for the Blackberry Q5? Let us know in the comments section below!

July 16, 2013
Rovio Coming Back With Angry Birds Star Wars II

Rovio Entertainment, the Finland-based creator of the Angry Birds mobile game franchise, announced this morning a sequel to the massively successful Angry Birds Star Wars.

It’ll include a new story as well as over 30 familiar characters including young Anakin, Mace Windu, General Grievous, Darth Maul…and also Jar Jar Binks. There’ll also be the option to “Join the Pork Side” and fight for the villainous pigs.

“Angry Birds: Star Wars was a blockbuster hit for us and Lucasfilm, with over 100 million downloads since its release,” Rovio executive vice president of games Jami Laes said in a statement. “We are thrilled to be able to introduce the exciting next chapter in the Angry Birds: Star Wars saga to our fans around the world. Some of the most amazing character additions are versions of young Anakin, Mace Windu, and Darth Maul. Hasbro’s Telepods technology also provides a great way to extend the experience beyond the app and bring a whole new dimension to the gameplay.”

Rovio is also teaming up with toy-makers Hasbro on the new game, providing licensing tie-ins that will be promoted at Comic-Con in San Diego this week.

“New characters and super powers can be unlocked for players by placing one of the collectible Telepods physical characters from the Hasbro line on the phone or tablet camera and scanning it into the game,” according to Rovio’s press release.

An animated 3D features based on the Angry Birds gaming franchise has been set up at Sony Pictures with delivery planned for July, 2016.

July 16, 2013
NASA Discovers New Neptune Moon

The Hubble space telescope has discovered a new moon orbiting Neptune, Nasa has confirmed. Designated S/2004 N 1, this is the 14th known moon to circle the giant planet.

The S/2004 N1 is so small and faint that it escaped detection by NASA’s Voyager 2 spacecraft, which flew by Neptune in 1989. It was discovered by the SETI Institute’s Mark Showalter, who found it while studying photos of Neptune’s rings that had been taken by the Hubble Space Telescope between 2004 and 2009. The moon went undiscovered for so long simply because it was so hard to see.

Just 12 miles across, the moon orbits outside the planet’s ring system, carving a rut into space about 65,400 miles away from the ice giant. But S/2004 N1 is a little speed demon: It completes its 372,000-mile orbital journey in just 23 hours.

“The moons and arcs orbit very quickly, so we had to devise a way to follow their motion in order to bring out the details of the system,” Showalter said in a press statement. “It’s the same reason a sports photographer tracks a running athlete — the athlete stays in focus, but the background blurs.”

The Hubble imagery has been publicly accessible for years. All it required was a sharp-eyed observer to spot the moon’s track over time. “Anyone could have discovered this,” a modest Showalter told Sky & Telescope. Neptune is the farthest planet from the Sun.

[Via]

July 16, 2013
Rumour : 6″ Full-HD HTC One Max Set For September Launch

HTC is prepping a couple extensions to their popular One device. Leaked images of the HTC One Mini have arrived online a few times. The HTC One Mini should be launching within the next couple weeks and sports a 4.3-inch 720p LCD display, 1.4Ghz dual-core processor, 16GB Internal Memory, 1GB RAM, 4-megapixel “Ultrapixel” camera, run Android OS 4.2 Jelly Bean and many of the new features such as Beats Audio, Zoe Share, BoomSound.

In addition, HTC has long been rumoured to compete against rival manufacturers with a phablet. Mobile Geeks cited individuals who claim to have knowledge of the company’s plans.

HTC will reportedly debut a 6-inch version of its HTC One in September. Dubbed the HTC One Max, the Android handset could arrive at the same time as Samsung’s expected Galaxy Note 3 and several other near-tablet-sized phones from Sony and LG. In addition to the large displays, all of these are expected to use the same chip inside.

Rumoured specifications indicate that the HTC One Max will have a 6-inch 1080p Super LCD 3 display, 2 GB of memory, either 32 GB or 64 GB of internal storage and a 3200 mAh battery. A 2.3 GHz Snapdragon 800 chip will power the Max.

No rumoured price points of the HTC One Max have surfaced, yet.

[Via]

July 16, 2013
Leaked : Complete Specs List And New Images Of Upcoming Blackberry A10

Remember when the specs of the BlackBerry ‘Aritso,’ currently pegged as being the BlackBerry A10, leaked online? This was a powerhouse that eager Berry enthusiasts were highly anticipating. The rumoured specs of the A10 indicated a 4.65-inch Super AMOLED display (1080×1920 resolution), 1.9GHz quad-core Qualcomm processor, 3,000mAh battery, and 2GB RAM, with a release expected for November.

Over the past several days the Blackberry A10 has appeared in both picture and video format and seems to be a larger 5-inch smartphone with design similarities to the Z10.

A new image has found its way online, this time it’s apparently from an internal presentation and reveals all the important specs:

– Processor: Dual Core 1.7GHz Qualcomm MSM8960 Pro, Quad Core GPU
– Radio: LTE/CDMA/HSPA+, LTE/HSPA+
– Display: 5″ OLED, HD/WXGA, 1280×720, 24-bit color, S-Stripe Pixel Arrangement, 295ppi
– Dimensions: 140.7 x 72 x 9.4mm
– OS: BlackBerry OS 10.2
– Camera: 8.0MP Rear Camera with flash, IS 5X / 2.0MP Front Camera IS 5X
– Memory: 16GB + 2GB(RAM) + 64GB uSB (hot-swap)
– Connectors: Micro USB, Micro HDMI out
– Sensors: Ambient Light, Proximity, Accelerometer, Gyroscope, Magnetometer, Altimeter
– WiFi: 802.11 a/b/g/n (4G Mobile Hotspot)
– Battery: 2800 mAh Integrated
– Other: NFC, DLNA, Micro SIM

These specs are not too different than what was previously leaked online. The last few days have provided eager Berry users with a plethora of information and insight into the potential next flagship device. The BlackBerry A10 – codename of Aristo – has surfaced in pictures and a video, now there’s one more image to add to the list.

The above rendering is from a support tutorial and gives another look at the 5-inch BB10 device, specifically showing that the back battery cover will be removable (previous reports indicated the battery would be a 2800mAh non-removable battery). In addition, the SIM card will be inserted at the side of the device. Other than those two attributes, the standard ports and buttons are all their familiar locations and BlackBerry is expected to launch the Blackberry A10 in November.

[Via]

July 16, 2013
Edit: The Best of the 2013 Goodwood Festival of Speed

For the uninitiated among you, The Goodwood Festival of Speed (FoS) is an annual hill climb featuring historic motor racing vehicles, held in the grounds of Goodwood House, West Sussex, England, every June/July. Visitors can expect to see lots of cars and motorbikes from over 100 years of worldwide motor racing history as well as newer models take a shot at the hill run. An immensely popular event, 1,50,000 people regularly attend the FoS. Here are some of the newer cars which were seen at the 2013 FoS, which was held over the last weekend.

Peugeot RCZ R

Dubbed the RCZ R, this striking coupe is the most powerful production Peugeot in history and was unveiled at the 2013 Goodwood FoS. The RCZ R uses an updated version of the 1.6-liter, turbocharged four-cylinder engine found in the standard RCZ, which produces an impressive 270 hp and 243 lb-ft of torque. It can hit 100 kmph in 5.9 seconds and sports a beefier twin-scroll turbocharger, as well as a racing-derived steel exhaust manifold. Lots of mechanical upgrades have been done to the pistons, connecting rods, dampers and anti-roll bars making it a very capable little car. The Peugeot RCZ R will get its auto show reveal at the 2013 Frankfurt Motor Show in September before hitting European showrooms in early 2014.

McLaren P1

McLaren’s latest offering and part of the new breed of hyper cars, the McLaren P1 is the spiritual successor to the legend which was the McLaren F1. Unveiled at the 2012 Paris Motor Show, the P1 packs some serious performance under the extremely aerodynamic carbon-fibre body. With a 903 hp hybrid powerplant which will slingshot the P1 from a standstill to 100 kmph in under 3 seconds, and to 300 kmph in 17 seconds, the P1 is a member of a very small and elite group capable of crunching numbers like those. If you haven’t noticed yet, the body is styled with the McLaren logo making multiple appearances all over the car’s sleek construction. McLaren really wants you to recognise this car when you see it fly past on the expressway. And if you want another number to feed on, the base model retails for a cool US $1,150,000.

Citroën DS3 Cabrio Racing

We at iGyaan love hot hatchbacks. Brimming with character and ambition, they really epitomise everything that’s wonderful about car culture. The Citroën DS3 Cabrio Racing is one such sporty little car, and was shown for the first time to the world at the FoS. A roll-top version of the DS3 Racing that was introduced three years ago at the Geneva Motor Show, it keeps the same 1.6-liter four-cylinder with 202 horsepower and 19-inch wheels. The entire package is coated in a stunning textured Moondark matte grey with black chrome, Carmin Red and DS-pattern accents. In fact, according to a few reputed sources, this isn’t just a concept anymore and is expected to go on sale in the UK next year. Unfortunately, it seems like we’ll have to wait a couple years more for the hot hatchback segment to really hit Indian markets.

Porsche 918 Spyder

Another member of the new group of hyper cars, the Porsche 918 Spyder is truly an engineering marvel. The 918 is testament to Porsche’s belief that hybrid supercars will not only successfully exist, but they will dominate the automotive industry. By far the most complex vehicle ever to come out of the Stuttgart-based automaker’s labs, the 918 Spyder is propelled by a hybrid gasoline-electric unit making use of a race-spec 4.6-liter V8 engine producing 795 hp, supplemented by two electric motors drawing power from a liquid-cooled lithium-ion battery pack. It starts up with the hum of a small electric fan, gently floats about without any combustion, and then takes off like a fighter jet when you put the pedal to the metal, onto a top speed in excess of 320 kmph. The base price is US $845,000 and considering the top-mounted exhaust pipes like the flare launchers on the 1966 Batmobile, we think its worth every penny.

Ferrari F12 Berlinetta

The successor to the Ferrari 599, the ~~F12berlinetta~~ F12 Berlinetta is one of the fastest production Ferraris ever built. The 6.3-litre V12 produces an unadulterated 740 hp and 509 lb-ft of torque propelling the big grand tourer from nought to 100 kmph in just 3.1 seconds. But the true measure of any Prancing Horse is the lap time around the Ferrari-owned Fiorano circuit near Ferrari’s hometown, Maranello. Ferrari claims that the F12 can go around the test track in 1:23. To put things into perspective, the previous record-holder was the 599 GTO at 1:24, while the Enzo clocked in at a ‘slow’ 1:25. A 0.299 Cd and 76 percent more downforce allows a top speed of over 337 kmph.

Ferrari SP12 EC

The only one of its kind in the world, the SP12 EC was specially built by Ferrari for legendary guitarist, Eric Clapton, who was happy to let them use his initials in the name. Based on the chassis of the 458 and the bodywork of the 512 BB, the SP12 EC was designed by Centro Stile in Maranello, in collaboration with Pininfarina, the famous Italian car design firm. Mechanically, it utilises the important bits of the 458 Italia, including a 4.5-litre V8 engine and seven-speed dual-clutch transmission, but not many people know what the technical specifications of the one-off supercar really are. It reportedly set Mr. Clapton back by US $4.7 million.

Rolls Royce Wraith

On to the maker of the ‘best car in the world’, the Rolls Royce Wraith made its dynamic debut at the Goodwood FoS. The most powerful Rolls ever, the Wraith was unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show. Although we’re wildly guessing that most people who end up buying the Wraith won’t be plowing it down racetracks too often, they very well could if they wished to. The 6.6-litre twin turbo V12 engine under the long hood of the luxury coupe produces 625 PS of power and a massive 800 Nm of torque. This along with Rolls Royce’s unique Satellite Aided Transmission technology fitted eight-speed ZF gearbox means that you go from nothing to 100 kmph in 4.4 seconds. Keep in mind that this is a 5.3m long car weighing 2.36 tons and those figures become a whole lot more impressive. The interiors are typical Rolls Royce, providing the ultimate in luxury making use of all the features of the Ghost while also flaunting ‘premium’ creature comforts like the “Starlight Headliner” cabin ceiling southern French wood panelling featured in the superior Phantom models.

Mercedes Benz A45 AMG

The Mercedes Benz A-Class was recently launched in India, and its AMG variant may soon be on its way as well. The striking A45 AMG hatchback had an impressive showing at the FoS as well, and unsurprisingly so. The potent little Benz only has a 2.0-litre engine under the hood but turbocharging helps it attain the highest specific output among production car engines, an astonishing 355 bhp. The hot hatch features a four-wheel-drive system for greater traction which helps it get from a standstill to 100 kmph in 4.6 seconds onto a top speed of 250 kmph. Those are some serious numbers for a hatchback. The car is expected to be priced upwards of Rs. 50 lakh if it finds its way to India.

The coveted spot on the lawn of the Goodwood House was given to Porsche this year, where a sculpture is erected annually to serve as a backdrop to the FoS. This year, Porsche has put up three 911s, new and old, in celebration of 50 years of the iconic car’s existence.

Other eye-catching cars at the Goodwood Festival of Speed included the stunning Jaguar Project 7 Concept, which is based on the new F-Type as well as the Bentley Continental GT3 race car. The FoS also saw the record-breaking auction of a Fangio-driven Mercedes Benz W196R Silver Arrows F1 car, at an unbelievable price of US$ 29.65 million. The 285 hp sub-700 kg Mexican Vuhl 05 as well as the eyecatching Alfa Romeo 4C were on display, as was the new Caterham 620, which may look like a small buggy to those who aren’t aware of it, but has a 0-100 kmph time of 2.8 seconds, making it one of the most fastest cars in the world in terms of acceleration. The Pikes Peak record smashing Peugeot 208 T16 also got a run around the much less challenging Goodwood hill and the Volkswagen XL1, known as the world’s most fuel-efficient car (at a truly staggering 132 kmpl) was on show as well.

July 15, 2013
Google Employee Awarded First Microsoft Bug Program Bounty

In June, Microsoft announced new “bounty programs” for people who could find exploits inside Windows 8.1 or vulnerabilities in the Internet Explorer 11 preview. This week, Microsoft announced that it has already informed one person that he has won money for finding an issue in IE11.

According to a post published by Katie Moussouris, senior security strategist at Microsoft, the company has already paid one security engineer for finding a glitch in Internet Explorer 11, but no specifics have been provided.

“The security community has responded enthusiastically to our new bounty programs, submitting over a dozen issues for us to investigate in just the first two weeks since the programs opened. I personally notified the very first bounty recipient via email today that his submission for the Internet Explorer 11 Preview Bug Bounty is confirmed and validated. (Translation: He’s getting paid.)” Moussouris wrote.

And still, Moussouris mentioned the name of the lucky winner in a short tweet the past week, revealing that he’s none other than Ivan Fratric, a Google information security engineer who also won $50,000 (€38,300) in 2012 in the software maker’s BlueHat contest.

While the Windows 8.1 bounty program is ongoing, the IE11 preview bounty program will end on July 26. Moussouris said a number of other researchers have also found exploits in IE11 and will be notified of that fact very soon. The reported vulnerabilities can qualify for bounties between $500 and $11,000, or even more in particular cases, depending on the gravity of the vulnerability and the quality of the report.

[Via]

July 15, 2013
LG Optimus G Pro E988 / E 985 Flash Review

LG has mostly faced challenges in releasing devices in India, they have either been too late (i.e. Nexus 4 ) or too early (Optimus 3D) in some cases awkward ( Optimus VU) and in some cases they have failed to hit the hammer on the nail (Optimus G). With the new LG Optimus G Pro, the company seems to have almost all the things right except the massive price difference in the US $ when the competition launched their phone and when LG launched their phone. The LG Optimus G pro is available for a price of Rs. 38990 , but does it justify that value? Lets Find Out !

Build Quality and Hardware

The build quality of the LG Optimus G Pro is nowhere near the HTC One, in fact it appears as if the Korean Manufacturers (read: Samsung and LG) like building their phones with plastic as the major component. The LG Optimus G Pro however is no light weight and can hold its own when it comes to build. The construction is solid and don’t expect any rattle or shake from the device.

The LG Optimus G Pro looks very identical to the Galaxy Note 2, maybe LG is playing on the worlds new weakness for Galaxy devices, as Samsung played for iPhone’s love.

The hardware on this phone is as big as the device itself, Qualcomm’s crazy fast quad-core Snapdragon 600 processor clocked at 1.7GHz, with the Adreno 320 GPU, 2 Gigs of RAM and a total of 32 GB of storage.

The cameras include a set of fantastic full HD capable sensors, with a 13 MP main camera and a 2.1 MP front facing camera which we will talk more about below.

[youtube id=”JAdBnnjaX7s” width=”100%” height=”300px”]

Display, Multimedia and Camera

The LCD on the LG Optimus G Pro is not as bright as the Optimus G, where the screen felt just fantastic, here it seems a little dull. The display is big and wonderful no doubt, but it is definitely not the best display out there. LG usually throws in IPS displays and the viewing angles are great, the same is the case with the new LG Optimus G Pro and its IPS Plus LCD display. Add to the great colour reproduction and a 10 point multitouch panel overlay, which works really well.

Not only is the display fantastic, so is the audio. The Speakers are loud so if you are watching movies or videos or even playing games, you will be quite pleased with the capabilities of the LG Optimus G Pro.

The main camera on the LG Optimus G Pro, yields out great compositions, with a impressive hold on color correction and white balance. You can also manually adjust most of these things, but the auto mode is mostly accurate and can really deliver great pictures. The camera also has several shooting modes, including panorama, quick bust etc all of which work really well.

The HD video captured on the LG Optimus G Pro also gets stabilization among other effects. The video comes out nice, has little noise during the day and is well balanced in low light. You can also activate the infamous dual camera mode allowing your video to be captured while you capture the world.

[youtube id=”hpqyGXOVMIM” width=”100%” height=”300px”]

Phone, UI and Battery

The Phone call capability of LG Optimus G Pro is strong and we found networks to be exceptionally potent. The signal strength is almost always proper and we found little or no noise distortion when on calls.

The Optimus UI on the new Android Jelly Bean interface makes for a great experience, including several apps that actually work really well. The quick remote app on the LG Optimus G Pro controls more things than any remote app out there, it even remembers your AC and lets you control it with the flick of a finger. There are many other features like quick apps, Qslide and quick toggles, the quick note also lets you scribble directly on the screen and then later save it as a note.

The UI itself however, is not so pretty looking. It looks kind of clustered and reminds you of a messy lifestyle vs a more refined and organized one on other manufacturer overlays.

Battery is superb on the LG Optimus G Pro and will last you a really long time. We got good 6-7 hours of talk time over dodgy 3G reception, which is actually really fantastic. Below is the complete test result.

Function

Battery Life

Talk Time 6-7 Hours / 3G

Internet Usage 7 Hours

Music Playback 11 hours

Video Playback 6 hours

Avg. Charge Cycle 1.5 days

[youtube id=”anu97GFi2S0″ width=”100%” height=”300px”]

Conclusion

If you really want a big phone then this has to be it. The phone is fantastic, it’s fast to boot and responsive throughout, plays games great and has excellent cameras. It is large enough to a point where using it with one hand would simply be foolish, even if you have large hands like mine. The UI is the biggest let down and simply can be written over with a tap of a button.

If big is your thing then the LG Optimus G Pro is the right kind of slab for you.

July 15, 2013
Sony To Pay £250k Fine For 2011 UK Data Breach

Sony has admitted it won’t carry on its appeal against a £250,000 fine handed to the firm in Britain following serious breaches of its PlayStation networks in 2011.

ICO fined the firm back in January, after finding that the breach was “preventable” and that Sony, as a business, “should have known better” as the occurrence fell under the Data Protection Act.

A Sony spokesperson said. “After careful consideration we are withdrawing our appeal. This decision reflects our commitment to protect the confidentiality of our network security from disclosures in the course of the proceeding. We continue to disagree with the decision on the merits.”

The fine was handed to Sony by the Information Commissioner’s Office after its PlayStation Network was breached and data on 77 million users exposed. Further breaches of SCEE-related infrastructure led to data of millions more being compromised.

Despite it’s decision not to appeal the fine, Sony said it continues to “disagree with the decision on the merits.”

Unsurprisingly, ICO said that it was delighted with the change of heart. “We welcome Sony Computer Entertainment Europe Limited’s decision not to appeal our penalty notice following a serious breach of the Data Protection Act,” a representative said.

[Via]

July 15, 2013
ZTE U988S Is The World’s First Tegra 4 Powered Smartphone

A new device from ZTE, called the ZTE U988S is all set to become the world’s first smartphone to be powered by the Nvidia Tegra 4 Chipset.

The ZTE U988S will come with a 1.8GHz NVIDIA Tegra 4 processor and will also feature 2GB of RAM, it will be running Android 4.2.1 Jelly Bean.

It has a 1,920 x 1,080 resolution LCD display at the front, with a 2MP front camera at the top. At the back, there is a 13MP camera. The phone also features a MicroSD slot for memory expansion.

There are no details as yet on when the ZTE U988S will be available, as soon as we get some more information we will let you guys know.

NVIDIA announced their chipset upgrade of the year at CES 2013, the Tegra 4 platform. Even though the chip retains the same 4-plus-1 arrangement of the Tegra 3 Platform, it adds capabilities of an impressive 72 GPU cores. That will improve the GPU capability almost 6 times.

Its also the first quad-core processor with Cortex A15 cores on-board, which offers compatibility with LTE networks. NVIDIA also claims this piece of silicon is the world’s fastest mobile processor. in a comparative chart putting the NVIDIA Tegra 4 ahead of the iPad 4 and then the Nexus 10.

The Tegra 4 also boasts of new Photography computational expertise, which will drastically improve the time between an image clicked, processed and saved.

[Via]

July 15, 2013