BlackBerry is expected to launch at least three new phones this year, and the and they are currently code-named as Athena, Luna, and Uni. These smartphones over the past few weeks, have been making their appearance on Geekbench, through configuration files, and in European device registration databases.
BlackBerry already confirmed that it would launch two KeyOne phones this year and now it looks like the brand is taking a turn and launch three instead. Starting off with Uni, letsgodigital have recently discovered with patent and trademark files of the phone owned by BlackBerry and TCL. The findings revealed that the phone is expected to look identical to the BlackBerry Priv.
With TCL already having a Uni named phone; the Alcatel Uni360, it is starting to look suspicious. Complicating further, The BlackBerry Uni shares same registration codes as the Uni360 leading us to believe that it could be a successor to the phone. Since it a BlackBerry device and chances of TCL mixing its brands are less, one needs to closely look at the patents which mostly focus on the camera module instead of the device. Meaning the 'device' used in the patent could very well be just a reference point.
Moving along, the Athena is the most heard name in the recent times, ...
BlackBerry is expected to launch at least three new phones this year, and the and they are currently code-named as Athena, Luna, and Uni. These smartphones over the past few weeks, have been making their appearance on Geekbench, through configuration files, and in European device registration databases.
BlackBerry already confirmed that it would launch two KeyOne phones this year and now it looks like the brand is taking a turn and launch three instead. Starting off with Uni, letsgodigital have recently discovered with patent and trademark files of the phone owned by BlackBerry and TCL. The findings revealed that the phone is expected to look identical to the BlackBerry Priv.
With TCL already having a Uni named phone; the Alcatel Uni360, it is starting to look suspicious. Complicating further, The BlackBerry Uni shares same registration codes as the Uni360 leading us to believe that it could be a successor to the phone. Since it a BlackBerry device and chances of TCL mixing its brands are less, one needs to closely look at the patents which mostly focus on the camera module instead of the device. Meaning the 'device' used in the patent could very well be just a reference point.
Moving along, the Athena is the most heard name in the recent times, ...
This week Xiaomi launched the Redmi Note 5 series of phones and also launched the most-expected Mi TV 4 in India, Motorola launched the Moto Z2 Force with TurboPower Mod, OPPO launched the A71 (2018) Edition, and lots most in our weekly roundup.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OfGmpzHh6Ng
Xiaomi launched the Redmi Note 5 with 5.99-inch FHD+ 18:9 full-screen display, Snapdragon 625 with up to 4GB of RAM, Android 7.1.2 (Nougat) with MIUI 9.2, 12-megapixel rear camera with 1.25μm pixel size sensor, dual-tone LED flash, 5-megapixel front-facing camera with selfie flash, fingerprint sensor on the back and a 4000mAh battery.
https://youtu.be/qUSzcpRBt_U
It comes in Black, Gold, Rose Gold and Lake Blue colors, is priced at Rs. 9999 for the 3GB RAM with 32GB storage version and the 4GB RAM with 64GB storage version costs Rs. 11,999.
It will be available exclusively from Flipkart as well as Mi.com and Mi Home Stores starting from February 22nd. It also comes with Rs. 2200 cashback offer and 100% additional 4G data for Reliance Jio customers.
Along with the Redmi Note 5, Xiaomi also launched the Redmi Note 5 Pro.It has the same 5.99-inch Full HD+ 2.5D curved glass screen and runs Android 7.1.2 (Nougat) with MIUI 9.2 on top, but this is powered by Snapdragon 636 SoC with up to 6GB RAM, has a ...
LastPass password manager for Android has finally received Android Oreo autofill support. Accessibility option is still available for Older apps and Chrome that don't support the new implementation. LastPass v4.4.1749 brings you an option to turn on Oreo autofill by going to Settings > Autofill.
The LastPass password manager shows you a brief animation once you toggle for "Autofill" in the Android Oreo and shows you what you'll have to do next. Once you enable LastPass autofill service as default service, you'll see a warning if your trust the app and everything else is pretty much is identical to what we saw in the previous LastPass beta supporting Oreo's autofill API which was rolled out in August.
Android Oreo autofill API offers more seamless and universal experience than the accessibility-based approach. It can recognize address and credit card forms, and they're available as toggles in LastPass' settings. However, for now, both these features are tagged as beta features and are turned off by default.
Legacy autofill using accessibility is still available for users who are not on Android Oreo or for anyone who uses Chrome. It also allows LastPass to autofill in apps that aren't yet compatible with Oreo autofill.
You can install the LastPass app from PlayStore or manually download the ...
Users of Google Pixel 2 XL have started reporting the slow battery charging speeds despite the phone showing the "Charging rapidly" notification. AndroidPolice in their testing has concluded that "rapid charging" isn't always an accurate statement as the phone in low temperatures the phone starts charging at less than 4W.
Regardless of the Google claims of 10W+ charging speeds, the Pixel 2 XL only caps to 4W at the best. It isn't clear if the Pixel 2 is also affected by this issue yet. Furthermore, if the 2 XL's battery temp is below 20°C, instead of pulling the maximum charging speed at 10.5W, it will only pull 3-4W. Most misleading this about this issue is that the phone still claims "Charging rapidly," despite the slower speeds.
Android Police put the Google Pixel 2 XL in the freezer until the internal battery temperature was around 16°C degrees, at this point the phone was connected to charging. Later, the phone was disconnected was left to warm up to room temperature, i.e., around 24°C values. At this point, the phone was again connected to charging only to see a huge difference of over 12W in the charging speeds.
The phone recorded a speed of 16.3625 watts in warm conditions but was only ...
Samsung made 'Over the Horizon' as default tone on its Galaxy device back in 2011. Each generation of Samsung's Galaxy devices comes pre-loaded with a fresh new take on Samsung’s signature "Over the Horizon", six-note groove. Today it has announced that it has teamed up with Icelandic composer Pétur Jónsson to compose a new “Over the Horizon” tune for the next generation flagships.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=doFVaVZrIeg
The Samsung Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+ announcement at the Galaxy Unpacked 2018 will take place at 6 p.m.CET (10:30 PM IST) in Barcelona on February 25, 2018.
Regarding the creation on the new tune, Samsung on its release, said:
Delicately layering instruments, Jónsson’s minimalist arrangement takes you away on an atmospheric journey of discovery. The piece begins with the soft tones of a single piano playing the refrain. As additional instruments are gradually introduced, the sound rises to a crescendo before melting away. As the video cuts away from the opening scene of Jónsson at the piano, it prompts you to imagine travelling over the remote Icelandic countryside. Capturing the beauty of Nordic nature, the camera pans over misty mountains and jagged cliffs, steaming geysers and snow-blanketed hills.
Listening to this year’s piece by Jónsson, you will find that the notes ...
The Wikimedia Foundation has announced that it ending the Wikipedia Zero program which was launched in 2012. It said that the new partnership opportunities will continue to address critical barriers to participation in free knowledge around the world.
Wikipedia Zero was created with a goal to address one barrier to participating in Wikipedia globally: high mobile data costs. The company through this program has partnered with 97 mobile carriers in 72 countries to waive off mobile data fees to more than 800 million people and allow free access to Wikipedia on mobile devices.
It also clarified that no further partnerships will be formed through this year, and the remaining partnerships with mobile operators will expire. The company says that since 2016 the adoption and interested in this program among users have seen a significant drop-off. The main reason identified as part of the research was low awareness of Wikipedia outside of North America and Europe.
To address this the company says that it has experimented with new projects and partnerships and has also seen some initial success in this work. In Iraq where it raised the awareness of Wikipedia by more than 30%. In Nigeria, we partnered with Nigerian community members and Nollywood stars to introduce more than 15 ...
Airtel today announced that it has partnered with HMD Global to offer affordable 4G smartphone options to customers as part of Airtel’s ‘Mera Pehla Smartphone’ initiative. Under this partnership Nokia 2 and Nokia 3, 4G smartphones are now available with cashback of Rs. 2000 from Airtel.
Both 4G smartphones will come bundled with a special Airtel recharge pack of Rs. 169 offering 1GB 4G data per day and unlimited calling – Local and STD.
You need to pay upfront amount of Rs. 6,999 and Rs. 9,499 for the Nokia 2 and Nokia 3 , respectively and do 36 continuous monthly recharges worth Rs. 3500. You will get a cash refund of Rs 500 after 18 months and another Rs. 1500 after 36 months, taking the total cash benefit to Rs. 2000.
Nokia 2 specifications
5-inch (1280 x 720 pixels) HD LTPS LCD In-Cell Touch display with Corning Gorilla Glass 3 protection
1.3 GHz quad-core Snapdragon 212 Mobile Platform with Adreno 304 GPU
1GB LPDDR3 RAM, 8GB internal memory, expandable memory up to 128GB with microSD
Android 7.1.1 (Nougat) OS, upgradable to Android 8.0 (Oreo)
Dual SIM
8MP autofocus rear camera with LED Flash
5MP front-facing camera
Splash proof (IP52)
3.5mm audio jack, FM Radio
Dimensions: 143.5 x 71.3 x 9.30 mm
...
Earlier this month Panasonic launched its P100, a budget Android smartphone at a starting price of Rs. 5299, exclusively on Flipkart. Today Idea Cellular has announced that it has partnered with Panasonic to offer a cashback of Rs. 1,500 on P100 for Idea customers, the device will be available at an effective price, which is over 25% lower than the MRP.
Idea customers will get a cashback of Rs. 300 after the first 12 months of use, and Rs. 1,200 after the next 12 months, on the purchase of the latest Panasonic P100 which is priced at Rs. 5,299 for 1GB RAM variant and Rs. 5,999 for 2GB RAM. With the cashback of Rs. 1,500, the effective price of the 4G device will be Rs. 3,799 and Rs. 4,499, respectively.
To avail the special offer, Idea customers need to do a cumulative recharge of Rs. 2,500 during the first 12 months and the same amount during the next 12 months period. Idea customers need to recharge with a minimum of Rs. 199 or above, each month, to be eligible for the cashback.
Rs. 199 comes with unlimited calls across all networks, 28 GB data (1GB/day), 100 SMS/ Day, free roaming (outgoing and incoming) and a validity of ...
Google has updated its Tez mobile payments app that brings support for bill payments, as it had promised. It has support for over 90 billers, including national and state electricity providers, gas and water, and DTH recharge. Some of them include billers like Reliance Energy, BSES and DishTV, and Google says that it will cover all states and major metros in India.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BeAd2n4_Vhg
It also supports Bharat BillPay system, which lets you fetch the latest bill from your providers. For most recurring utility bills, Tez will fetch any new bill and send you a timely notification when it arrives.
[gallery link="file" size="large" ids="244160,244159,244156"]
To add new biller and pay bill, you need to
Tap on New Payment on the home screen
Click Pay your bills
Click the name of biller. You can also search for them by name.
Once you’ve located your biller, select them and enter the number associated with your account to link it to Tez
Give it an easy name to remember
Pay the bill
Tap biller's name on your Tez home screen to check whether you’ve paid a bill
It also shows all past payments grouped by biller, as well as manage bills from multiple accounts. Google is also offering a scratch card ...
We are inching closer to the launch of the Galaxy S9 and S9+. We already saw most of the details about the upcoming flagships, however, today we have almost all the details, specifications and even the rendered images leaked ahead of the MWC 2018 announcement. The Galaxy S9 and S9+ will be powered by the Snapdragon 845, run on Android 8.0 Oreo.
Looks wise, the Galaxy S9 and S9+ look almost identical to the S8 duo from last year except for the rear fingerprint sensor placement. The S9 duo will retain the Infinity-display with narrow bezels on all corners. The Galaxy S9+ will have the dual-rear camera arrangement with 12MP rear camera, variable aperture of f/ 1.5 and f/ 2.4 for the primary camera, 12MP secondary rear camera with f/2.4 aperture, and an 8MP front camera with f/ 1.7 aperture. On the other hand, the S9 will just have a single rear camera with a 12MP sensor with f/1.5 and f/2.4 variable aperture and can record videos at 960 fps.
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As expected, the Samsung Galaxy S9 sports a 5.8-inches Quad HD+(1440 x 2960 resolution) on the other hand, the S9+ packs a 6.2 inches with the similar resolution. Outside of the USA, the S9 and ...
Huawei's Honor brand launched its mid-range Honor 7X smartphone in India recently. We already brought you the review of the phone, here we have the battery life test results of the phone. It packs a 3340mAh battery (typical) / 3240mAh (minimum), has a 5.93-inch Full HD+ display, is powered by Octa-Core Kirin 659 SoC, has 4GB of RAM and runs on Android 7.0 (Nougat) with EMUI 5.1. Check out the test results below.
Talk Time
It lasted for 33 hours and 36 minutes in our talk time test.
3G Browsing
It lasted for 7 hours and 16 minutes in our 3G browsing test.
WiFi Browsing
It lasted 9 hours and 7 minutes in our WiFi Browsing test.
Video Playback
It lasted only for 8 hours and 28 minutes in our video playback test.
Charging Time
It took 2 hours 23 mins for charging it from 0 to 100% since it doesn’t have fast charging, and 0 to 50% takes about an hour.
Standby Time
It lasted for 54 days in our standby test.
In achieved a One Charge Rating of 14 hours and 46 minutes, mainly due to brilliant talk time results. Check out our battery life test procedure, to know more about our tests in detail.
Sony Mobiles have just released a new teaser video of its MWC 2018 event which kickstarts in a week at Barcelona. Very little was shown in the brief 23-second video, all we see is just a curved display indicating a smartphone with a curved display.
Sony is also expected to introduce two new flagships; the Xperia XZ2 and Xperia XZ2 Compact. While the exact specifications of the phones are unknown at the moment, a mysterious Sony phone with model number H8266 recently surfaced the benchmarks listing, which reveals that it sports an 18:9 Full HD+ display, powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 SoC Octa-Core processor with 4GB RAM, 64GB internal storage.
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It is said to run Android 8.0 Oreo, come with IP65/IP68 rating, a 3210/3240mAh battery with Qnovo Adaptive Charging. We also expect to see a phone with 6GB RAM, 4K display much like its predecessors. Since these are just rumored and surfaced specifications, there's no way to tell if these are the actual deal. But with MWC 2018 event in just a week, we expect to see a lot more at the event.
Sony is expected to introduce the Xperia XZ2 Compact at the MWC 2018, but before the official launch, the device now surfaces in a new prototype image. The Sony Xperia XZ2 Compact next to a Xperia Z5 Compact shows a brief design and an idea of what to expect.
A reader of Xperia Blog has left a comment on a post with an alleged photo of the Sony Xperia XZ2 Compact and also clarified that since it is a prototype image, it may not represent the final version. Furthermore, there is also no 3.5mm audio jack and a rear-facing fingerprint sensor much like the Xperia XA2. It has a slightly curved bottom design which completely contrasts from Sony’s usual blocky slab design.
The final version of the Xperia XZ2 Compact will have a slightly smaller bezel on the top of the screen, and the design might reflect the plate + human design concept that was leaked back in 2015. With MWC 2018 event kickstarting in a few days, we are expecting the phone to make its appearance which might have a slightly modern look.
Source
Nuance Communications, the makers of Swype Keyboard today announced that they are discontinuing the Keyboard for Android and iOS. According to a Reddit user who reached out to Nuance with a crashing issue has received a reply saying that they are ending the development.
The Swype Keyboard app is one of the most used applications and in fact, it came pre-installed on Huawei and other phones. The company in their response email clearly clarified that the company will no longer be updating the Swype+Dragon keyboard for Android. It also mentioned that it is ending direct-to-consumer keyboard business to focus more on the AI solutions for sale directly to businesses.
Furthermore, Nuance Mobility earlier this month announced the end of support to its iOS app and it will no longer be offering the Swype keyboard on the iOS app store. The company has also recently started working on getting its dictation software in vehicles. This is seriously sad news for those Swype users, and with that being discontinued, Gboard and SwiftKey keyboards are better alternatives.
The company is a statement said:
Nuance will no longer be updating the Swype+Dragon keyboard for Android. We’re sorry to leave the direct-to-consumer keyboard business, but this change is necessary to allow us to concentrate on developing ...
Chrome 64 for Android was rolled out last month with features like the white navigation bar, blocks auto redirect pop-ups and more and an ad blocker. Today the company is adding one more new feature that automatically shortens URLs and converts them and removes the unnecessary strings at the end of URLs.
This feature was first spotted by Android Police cleans up long or messy URLs when shared through the browser’s built-in Share functionality in the overflow menu. You can also quickly copy the URL to the clipboard or share directly to another app with additional setup required. This feature is related to the "canonical page" URLs that Google started supporting some time ago. We've seen similar features in AMP pages where sharing the content would share a usable URL.
It isn't functional in V63 and is only available in Chrome V64. Chrome's URL trimming will remove anchor tags that load a page to a specific location. This feature also works on links from Amazon, Google AMP, and also works with the “Copy to clipboard” option and any other third-party app. You can download the Chrome 64 directly from Play Store.
Via
Vodafone today announced the commencement of trials of the world’s first air traffic control drone tracking and safety technology. It uses the 4G IoT technology to protect aircraft from any unexpected accidents as well as prevent any unintentional or criminal drone incursions at sensitive locations such as airports, prisons, and hospitals.
The company says that the regular drones are too small to be tracked by conventional radar and also present a serious risk to pilots worldwide, particularly in the immediate vicinity of airfields and airports. Since the usage of drone in criminal activities is a possibility, additional security and intelligence services are increasingly concerned about the wrong usage of them.
With this thought in mind, Vodafone has developed the world’s first Radio Positioning System (RPS) for drones. It combined with Artificial Intelligence algorithms which are also developed by Vodafone enables very large numbers of drones to be tracked and controlled remotely. The company claims that it has kept the RPS research and associated intellectual property in the public domain with no licensing fees for re-use in order to accelerate the pace of drone safety and geolocation innovation worldwide.
The Vodafone IoT drone tracking and safety technology trials support the objectives of the European Aviation ...
Xiaomi launched the Redmi Note 5 smartphone in India last week. As expected, it is the same Redmi 5 Plus that was introduced in China back in December last year, which is not a huge upgrade except for the full-screen display, camera and the selfie flash. It is definitely worth the price, but should you get it? Let us jump into the review to find out.
Unboxing
We recently unboxed the smartphone, check out the video below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qUSzcpRBt_U
Box contents
Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 in Black color
2-pin charger (5V-2A)
Micro USB cable
SIM ejector tool
Clear protective case
User guide
Display, Hardware and Design
The main change in the Redmi Note 5 compared to the Note 4 is its 18:9 2.5D curved glass screen with gentle rounded corners. It has a large 5.99-inch Full HD+ display with a pixel resolution of 2160 × 1080 pixels and a pixel density of about 403 PPI. The display is bright, thanks to 450 nits brightness and has 1000:1 contrast ratio. Sunlight legibility is good, since it has a Sunlight display that uses hardware-level technology to adjust the contrast of each pixel in real time, so images are less affected by glare. It has 84% of NTSC color gamut, compared to 72% in the predecessor. It also has Corning Gorilla Glass 3 ...
Google has announced its new AI algorithm that can detect heart diseases by retina scanning. Scientists from Google and its subsidiary health tech Verily claim that by deep scanning of a patient’s eye, the newly developed AI software is capable of accurately detecting data including age, blood pressure, and whether or not they smoke and more.
Furthermore, this can also detect the risk of a person suffering a major cardiac event with roughly more or less the same accuracy as current leading methods. the algorithm is said to make it simple for doctors to analyze a patient’s cardiovascular risk since it doesn't require a blood test. However, even before this software is implemented, it needs to be tested for accuracy and perfected.
Google says that using the deep learning algorithms trained on data from over 284,335 patients, it was able to predict CV risk factors from retinal images which also included eye scans as well as general medical data.The company claims that the algorithm was able to distinguish the retinal images of a smoker from that of a non-smoker 71% of the time. Neural networks were used to mine this information for patterns, learning to associate telltale signs in the eye scans with the metrics ...
A new smartphone codenamed Blackshark has surfaced on AnTuTu, revealing that it is a top-end smartphone. This hints that it could be Black shark technology incorporated, in which Xiaomi has invested. The company's website shows that it has been established in August 2017 and its weibo account reveals that it is a mobile phone maker. The teaser on its website shows some kind of a gaming device.
The AnTuTu listing reveals that the phone will be powered by Snapdragon 845 with Adreno 630 GPU and 8GB of RAM. It also reveals 32GB of storage, Android 8.0 (Oreo) and 2160 x 1080 FHD+ 18:9 display.
The phone has scored 270680 points in AnTuTu, which is on-par with the upcoming Nubia NX606J that share similar specifications, but it has 6GB of RAM instead of 8GB of RAM.
Xiaomi has not confirmed if they are working on a gaming phone under a sub brand. It might come with a 120 Hz display to compete with the Razer Phone. We will have to wait to find out more details about the mysterious smartphone.
Source 1, 2
Qualcomm today announced that it has reached an agreement with NXP Semiconductors NV to raise its bid to $127.50 per share from $110 and has lowered minimum tender threshold to 70% of outstanding shares instead of the 80% it required under the earlier terms.
Qualcomm said that it has reached a binding agreement with nine NXP Stockholders who currently collectively own more than 28% of outstanding shares which excludes additional economic interests through derivatives. The latest offer values NXP at $44 billion. The revised price reflects NXP’s recent performance which includes the 2017 results which exceeded Qualcomm’s transaction model on revenue, gross margin and EBIT and GAAP operating income also increased 20% from calendar 2016 to 2017.
The NXP auto business has increased revenues by 11% YoY on the other hand, Qualcomm has also significantly improved its own capabilities in key industry segments such as Auto, IoT, and Networking. NXP’s shares were up 6.5% at $126.15 in premarket trading. The acquisition will help Qualcomm in the fast-growing auto-mobiles chipset market.
NXP has time till March 5th, 2018 and Qualcomm intend to fund the additional consideration with cash on hand and new debt. Qualcomm’s acquisition of NXP has received antitrust clearance from eight of the nine required government regulatory bodies around the world ...
