The e-commerce giant, Amazon, is now finally bringing the Echo Dot and the Prime music service to India later this year. Amazon Echo dot is hardware device from Amazon which is a smaller version of the Amazon Echo, and it is a hands-free, voice-controlled device that uses Alexa to play music, control smart home devices and do much more. Prime Music is a service offered by the e-commerce website, where Prime members can stream over 2 million songs ad-free, listen on any Echo device, and take their music anywhere with offline listening.
The Echo Dot is currently available in the United States and few other markets. It supports a set of music services which are not going to make it to India anytime soon. The music services include Spotify and Pandora. The company will unveil the Echo Dot and the Prime Music service somewhere in October. Echo Dot's big brother Amazon Echo won't make it to the country this time, may be this will be introduced later. Reports suggest that the company has been testing the Echo Dot for a month now at its office in Bangalore.
However, the Echo Dot, in India will support Amazon Prime Music and Gaana, as per the reports. We can rely on Gaana as it is already supported on the company's Fire TV Stick which launched in April in India. Though services like Google Play Music and Apple Music are available in India, sadly Amazon Echo doesn't support these music services.
Echo Dot, in the US, is currently priced at $50 which roughly converts to Rs. 3,200. Price is a bit of a confusion right now, as a recent report claimed the price of the Echo Dot would be around Rs. 5,000 to Rs. 6000. But recently Gadgets 360 from its sources, claimed the price would be under Rs.3,000 in India.
As we discuss the prices, Prime Music would not have a separate cost and most probably will be included in the Amazon Prime subscription package. Amazon India charges Rs. 499 for the Prime subscription, where they provide special discounts, faster deliveries and Prime Movies.
As the developers at Facebook are searching for more ways for people to spend more time on the Social media giant, the company started testing a new feature. This new feature helps user by proving customized links of the new topics that are based on the user's interest.
Facebook's newest feature called "Featured Topic" display's a line of text, image or a video based on the user's interest. This will be displayed in the news feed in the core of Facebook.
Facebook confirmed that they are working on a feature like this to help people discover topics and content relevant to them. The company is making relevant changes to the news feed constantly. However, this is still in testing phase and may or may not have a global roll out.
Facebook news feed generally includes status, images and videos posted by one's friends and family. This is all based on factors decided by Facebook's Algorithm. It is also a way to display stuff from users liked pages groups and other outlets. This will help users to discover new things based on how they interacted with the stuff showed to them. This can be used to potentially promote content.
Recently in May last year, Facebook changed it's trending topics after being alleged to suppress conservative news. Leading to Republican U.S. senator demanded more transparency in the companies algorithms.
Facebook last December started rolling out series of changes to suppress click bait videos and fake news after the US presidential election. Ahead of the actual voting the reports of Pope Francis endorsed by Republican Donald Trump and murder of federal agent investigating Hillary Clinton started surfacing. Fake reports like that cause a lot of disturbance in the society. They also lead us to doubt the authenticity of content on the website.
An array of other competitors like Twitter and Snapchat Inc. find methods to show it's users trending news to keep them informed while they use their product.
Last month search giant Google overhauled its mobile app to show news based on personalized feed. Enabling users to see news on the topics they are interested in.
MediaTek has started to send out invites for a launch event they will be hosting in Beijing on August 29. Some reports from various tech publications have claimed at the event that the company will be launching the new MediaTek Helio P23 and the Helio P30 chipsets.
GSMArena has reported that the Helio P23 will be built upon the 16nm process and will feature eight cores. It is also being reported that the System on Chip (SoC) will support 2K resolution along with support for dual cameras on the rear. Whereas the MediaTek Helio P30 is expected to be based on the 12nm process, it will come with four cores.
Image Courtesy: MediaTek
The Helio P23 will support CAT 7 and the Helio P30 will support the Cat 10 standards. A user on Weibo also had posted that the Helio P23 will be seen in smartphones from companies like Xiaomi, Vivo, Oppo, and Meizu.
A publication by the name DigiTimes had also published that MediaTek is getting huge competition from Qualcomm who is trying to get into the lower price segment with offerings like the Snapdragon 450 platform. The report also mentioned that Qualcomm is reducing the price heavily due to which MediaTek also has to reduce its prices.
The Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) earlier this year, had approached the government to intervene and ban MediaTek powered smartphones, due to which the 4G connectivity networks are being hampered. COAI had claimed that when a 4G enabled SIM card is put inside a 2G SIM card slot, it makes the 4G throughput on the network of the primary SIM to fall by as much as 40 percent.
The Taiwanese tech giant, Asus, has finally launched one of the most awaited series, the ZenFone 4 series. The series gives a refresh to the last years ZenFone 3 lineup.The new ZenFone 4 family includes - Zenfone 4, Zenfone 4 Pro, Zenfone 4 Selfie, Zenfone 4 Selfie Pro, Zenfone 4 Max and the Zenfone 4 Max Pro. The line-up is consists of so many smartphones, just because the company likes to take care of every type of customer out there. Asus has announced that the smartphones will hit the Asian market first and then extend to other markets globally. All these smartphones have some features in common like the finger-print scanner placed on the home button. Here are the details on the smartphones launched:
Asus Zenfone 4 Pro
Asus Zenfone 4 Pro is top of the line as it is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 chipset coupled with 6GB of RAM and 64GB of internal storage which is further expandable up to 2TB using a microSD card. The smartphone features a 5.5-inch AMOLED display with a resolution of 1080x1920 pixels and a pixel density of 401ppi. The device comes with a dual camera setup at the back with a 12-megapixel and a 16-megapixel sensor. The rear cameras have laser/phase detection autofocus, Optical Image Stabilization, 2x optical zoom and a dual tone LED flash. Up front, the phone includes an 8-megapixel front facing camera with f/1.9 aperture. The phone runs on Android 7.1.1 Nougat with ZenUI layered at the top. All of this is backed by 3,600mAh.
Asus Zenfone 4
Asus Zenfone 4 is a bit lower on specs as it is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 630 chipset paired with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of onboard storage which is further expandable up to 256GB using a microSD card. The smartphone features a 5.5-inch AMOLED display with a resolution of 1080x1920 pixels and a pixel density of 401ppi. The device comes with a dual camera setup at the back with a 12-megapixel and an 8-megapixel sensor. The rear cameras have autofocus a dual tone LED flash. Up front, the phone includes an 8-megapixel front facing camera for selfies and video calling. The phone runs on Android 7.0 Nougat with ZenUI layered at the top. All of this is backed by 3,300mAh.
Asus Zenfone 4 Selfie Pro
Asus Zenfone 4 Selfie Pro is all about selfie lovers and it is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 chipset paired with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of onboard storage which is further expandable up to 256GB using a microSD card. The smartphone features a 5.5-inch AMOLED display with a resolution of 1080x1920 pixels and a pixel density of 401ppi. The phone sports a 16-megapixel camera at the back with autofocus a dual tone LED flash. Cameras impress when it comes to the front of the device where the phone includes a 24MP + 5MP dual camera setup with a LED flash. The phone ships with Android 7.0 Nougat with ZenUI layered at the top out-of-the-box. Powering up everything is a 3,000mAh.
Asus Zenfone 4 Selfie is also for the selfie lovers out there and it is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 SoC paired with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of onboard storage which is further expandable up to 256GB using a microSD card. The smartphone features a 5.5-inch IPS LCD display with a resolution of 720x1280 pixels. The phone sports a 16-megapixel camera at the back with autofocus a dual tone LED flash. Cameras impress when it comes to the front of the device where the phone includes a 20MP + 8MP dual camera setup with a LED flash. The phone ships with Android 7.0 Nougat with ZenUI layered at the top out-of-the-box. Powering up everything is a 3,000mAh.
Asus Zenfone 4 Max Pro
Asus Zenfone 4 Max Pro targets the audience who wants the best battery life and it is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 SoC for the Indian variant, whereas the global variant ships with a Snapdragon 425 chipset. The smartphone comes with 2GB/3GB of RAM and 32GB of onboard storage which is further expandable up to 256GB using a microSD card. The Max Pro features a 5.5-inch IPS LCD display with a resolution of 720x1280 pixels. For the optics, the phone sports a 16-megapixel dual camera setup at the back with autofocus and a dual tone LED flash. Up front, the phone comes with an 8-megapixel camera. The phone runs on ZenUI based Android 7.0 Nougat out-of-the-box. Under the hood is where the magic happens with the massive 5,000mAh battery.
Asus Zenfone 4 Max
Asus Zenfone 4 Max also targets the audience who wants the best battery life and it is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 SoC paired with 4GB of RAM and 32GB of onboard storage which is further expandable up to 256GB using a microSD card. The smartphone features a 5.5-inch S-IPS LCD display with a resolution of 1080x1920 pixels. For the optics, the phone sports a 13-megapixel dual camera setup at the back with autofocus and a dual tone LED flash. Up front, the phone comes with an 8-megapixel camera. The phone runs on ZenUI based Android 7.0 Nougat out-of-the-box. Under the hood the phone packs in a massive 5,000mAh battery.
Pricing and Availablity
The top-of-the-line Zenfone 4 Pro is priced at $599 (roughly Rs. 38,400) and is available in Pure Black and Moonlight White colour variants. The Zenfone 4 is priced at $399 (around Rs. 25,600) and is available in three colour variants- Midnight Black, Moonlight Green and Mint Green. Zenfone 4 Selfie Pro is priced at $379 (roughly Rs. 24,300) and is available in three colour options- Rouge Red, Sunlight Gold and Deepsea Black. The Zenfone 4 Selfie comes with a price tag of $279 (roughly Rs. 17,900) and comes in Deepsea Black, Mint Green, Rose Pink, Sunlight colour variants.
Asus has been working on giving a great camera experience with their Zoom line up and now they have officially launched the ZenFone Zoom S. The highlights of the smartphone include the massive 5,000mAh battery, SuperPixel technology and the new AMOLED panel. The new ZenFone Zoom S has an improved ASUS TriTech+ autofocus system with new Dual Pixel PDAF technology as one of its three focusing technologies along with the second-generation laser autofocus and subject tracking autofocus. ASUS TriTech+ automatically chooses the best technology to use depending on the subject and achieves focus in an amazingly fast 0.03 seconds.
Peter Chang, Regional Head, South Asia & Country Head, System Business Group - ASUS India said, “On the onset of World Photography Day, ASUS India wishes to rejuvenate the passion and commitment of photography enthusiast by launching ZenFone Zoom S. We at ASUS have maintained a resolute and enduring commitment to championing mobile photography and ZenFone 3 – ‘Built for Photography’ launched in 2016 is testimony of the same fact. Today, we reinstate our commitment to help consumers catch the beauty of every moment with the ZenFone Zoom S. An incredible device that combines a dual-lens camera system with an unbeatable battery - ZenFone Zoom S will set new bar for mobile photography.”
As far as the specifications are concerned, the Asus ZenFone Zoom S is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 which is a 14nm octa-core processor clocked at 2.0GHz. The smartphone features a 5.5-inch Full HD AMOLED display with a resolution of 1920x1080 pixels. The device ships with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of onboard storage which is further expandable using a micro-SD card which goes into a hybrid sim slot. Powering all this up, under the hood, there is a 5,000mAh battery which supports reverse charging as well as BoostMaster fast charging. Currently, the smartphone runs on Android 7.0 Nougat with the company's own ZenUI skin layered at the top.
Ayyappan, Rajagopal, Senior Director, Flipkart, said “ASUS ZenFones have always ticked the right boxes and greatly appealed to our customers with their design and performance. The recently launched ZenFone AR, yet another Flipkart exclusive, was sold out within a week on the platform. Having the numero uno position in this category, we constantly look forward to bringing customers the best technology at the best prices through our host of seamless affordability levers. We are positive that the new ZenFone Zoom S will spark interest in our customers who are and aspire to be photography enthusiasts.”
Cameras
As the zoom line up is all about the cameras, the ZenFone Zoom S comes with a 12-megapixel dual camera setup at the back, where one camera sensor is a SuperPixel camera with an aperture of f/1.7. It is a Sony IMX362 sensor, which supports Optical Image Stabilization, 4K UHD video recording with Electronic Image Stabilization and RAW shooting support with Android Nougat. The second camera sensor at the back is a zoom camera, which is also a 12-megapixel sensor with an aperture of f/2.6 and supports 2.3x true optical zoom.
At the front, the phone includes a 13-megapixel PixelMaster 3.0 camera with f/2.0 aperture. The front camera sensor is a SONY IMX214 sensor with a five-element Largan lens.
Price and Availability
Asus ZenFone Zoom S is priced at Rs. 26,999 and is available exclusively via Flipkart. The smartphone is available in two colours, namely, Navy Black and Glacier Silver.
Nokia with HMD Global has made a comeback to the smartphone industry and they first launched the Nokia 3, 5 and 6 and now the flagship Nokia 8 is unveiled. The smartphone has come with some amazing set of features and did not fail to impress the people. But there is no perfect smartphone in the world. Nokia 8 does seem to have some flaws some of which are:
Bezels
In 2017, where most of the smartphones are trying to go bezel-less, Nokia for some reason sticked with the bezels. People have started to embrace the beauty of a smartphone which is delivered by cutting off the bezels and making more room for the display, ultimately making the smartphone look more impressive and attractive. That beauty lacks in the Nokia 8, but may be that is because they wanted to make the smartphone much more durable. Also, the phone does have a pretty attractive design at the back, and if bezels don't bother you, this might be a great smartphone for you.
Also Read: Top 5 Reason to buy the new flagship Nokia 8
No Waterproofing
The world where most of the companies are trying to make their smartphones waterproof regardless of the price, Nokia decided to go with splash proof. Nokia 8 is a flagship device and should have included some kind of coating to make the device waterproof. Though the smartphone is a splash proof phone, that doesn't make much difference as people cannot take their Nokia 8 into the swimming pool for some underwater pictures.
Less hardware for more price
Nokia likes to call the Nokia 8 a flagship, but it fails to compete with some devices coming with larger storage capacity and more RAM. On the other hand, OnePlus 5 comes with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of onboard storage for a couple of thousand rupees cheaper. OnePlus 5 is cheaper than the Noki 8 and still delivers double the RAM and storage. Not only comparing with one device, but most of the smartphones are shifting towards 6GB or 8GB of RAM now.
The Wait
If you have been impressed by the set of features the Nokia 8 offers, you must be excited about the availability. But sadly the device will b available globally starting in the month of September. If you live in India, you might get a bit more disappointed, as the India launch is set somewhere in October. Indian customers will get to know the price and availability of the Noki 8 only in October.
Wireless Charging
Yes, the Nokia 8 being a flagship device misses on one of the most crucial features, wireless charging. Most of the companies are trying to go wireless with Bluetooth headphones or wireless charging compatibility. HMD Global for some reason decided not to include this feature with their "flagship" smartphone.
Nokia 8 has been finally unveiled at an event held in London by HMD Global on August 16. The smartphone is the first flagship since the comeback of the company. The Nokia 8 comes with some of its unique features and does compete with other flagships like the Samsung Galaxy S8, OnePlus 5 and others. But people when choosing for a new smartphone, usually tend to confuse with the various options they have in front. Here are the top 5 reason why to purchase the Nokia 8 when it comes out in the market.
Cameras
Nokia 8 comes with a 13-megapixel dual camera setup at the back, where the sensors are provided by Carl Zeiss. Nokia has been known for their mobile photography, as it was the first company to introduce Optical Image Stabilization, 41-Megapixel camera and much more. Camera's are something we can trust with the Nokia devices, and being the flagship, Nokia 8 could deliver some really great photographs. Also to keep in mind, the company considered the generation and included the same 13-megapixel camera sensor at the front for selfies and video calling. Not only this, but the company took an initiative for the content creators out there, and introduced a feature they like to call "bothies" where the smartphone can use both front and rear cameras at the same time for clicking pictures and recording high-quality videos. Also, people can go live using the bothies feature on social media channels like YouTube and Facebook.
Software and UI
The Nokia 8 comes with Android 7.1.1 Nougat out of the box with the pure stock Android experience. The phone can deliver a flawless experience with such a great hardware packed in and running the no-bloatware stock Android. Also, the company claims that the fastest way to get your hands-on the Android O operating system is to own a Nokia 8. Here the company was sounding a bit aggressive and will surely keep up to what the said. This being said, we can be very positive when it comes to the software and the UI on the new flagship.
Build Quality
Nokia, as a brand, has been always known for the build quality and the durability their phones delivered. Now with the Nokia 8, the story continues as they bring one of the most durable android smartphones with some of the best materials used to build up the device. Of course, it is not a shatter proof smartphone but is a lot more durable than other phones out there. Nokia 8 has a unibody design built out of 6000-series aluminium and it is IP54 rated, which makes it a splash-proof smartphone.
Price
Being one of the best-in class devices and coming from a renowned brand, Nokia has not put up a heavy cost. The device will justify its price at EUR 599 (roughly Rs. 45,000). Also being a feature rich flagship smartphone, it doesn't lack on any sensors and it is significantly cheaper than the Samsung Galaxy S8 and the Apple iPhone 7 Plus. But we cannot be sure of this as we don't have a word on how much the phone will cost in India.
After-Sales Service
Nokia has been always a trusted brand and known for its after-sales service worldwide. Now, though the brand is owned by HMD Global, the company will still maintain that reputation of the brand. Nokia will be having all the service centres currently functional along with setting up multiple new locations. In India, Nokia Mobile care is in over 300 cities and has pickup and drop services in over 100 cities. These numbers will increase in the future and the company also has Web, Chat and call support.
Nokia, with HMD Global, made a come back to the smartphone industry with their Nokia 3, 5 and 6 and now they have launched their flagship device, the Nokia 8. Nokia 8 was one of the most anticipated phones of the year as it was being said to come with a Carl Zeiss lens. The major attraction of the device is the camera, the Carl Zeiss, 13-megapixel dual camera at the back. Also at the front, the phone comes with the same 13-megapixel sensor.
Juho Sarvikas, Chief Product Officer of HMD Global, said “We know that fans are creating and sharing live content more than ever before, with millions of photos and videos shared every minute on social media. People are inspired by the content they consume and are looking for new ways to create their own. It’s these people who have inspired us to craft a flagship smartphone which perfectly balances premium design, an outstanding experience and powerful performance.”
Design
Nokia 8 has a unibody design built out of 6000-series aluminium and it is IP54 rated, which makes it a splash-proof smartphone.
Juho Sarvikas explained "The Nokia 8 is fitted with an elaborate heat management solution: a copper pipe that runs from the upper right corner of the device to the lower left has liquid evaporating in the middle and condensing on the edges. A graphite shield enables heat transfer to the aluminium unibody and its eventual dissipation to the air"
Specifications
As far as the specifications are concerned, the Nokia 8 is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 SoC and features a 5.3-inch 2K LCD display with Gorilla Glass 5 protection. The smartphone comes with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of onboard storage, which is further expandable up to 256GB using a microSD card on the hybrid-SIM slot. however, there will be two variants of the smartphone, one with a single sim option and the other with a hybrid-SIM slot option. The flagship will run on Android 7.1.1 Nougat out-of-the-box and will pack a 3,090mAh battery under the hood.
It is also confirmed that the Android O is being tested out for the Nokia 8 and will be soon available for the consumers.
"One of the fastest ways of getting Android O will be to get our new flagship," said Sarvikas.
The company has also introduced Nokia OZO, which combines three microphones with exclusive Nokia acoustic algorithms to capture audio with immersive 360-degree spatial surround sound. Consumers can share their 4K videos with OZO Audio anywhere – binaural codecs enable high fidelity playback even on devices without OZO Audio.
On the optics front, the Nokia 8 comes with a 13-megapixel dual-camera setup at the back with f/2.0 aperture, laser autofocus and RGB and monochrome sensors. The rear camera is capable of recording 4K videos and comes with a dual-tone LED flash. Up front, the phone includes the same 13-megapixel camera sensor as on the back of the phone.
There is something new and interesting with the cameras on the Nokia 8. HMD Global has introduced a new feature calling it "bothies". This new feature brings the ability to capture images and videos from the front and rear cameras at the same time. This can not only capture still images from both sensors at the same time and fuse them into a single picture but also the camera app on the smartphone will let you stream these 'bothies' as full-HD live videos to Facebook and YouTube. The company claims that they worked hard with Qualcomm to enable Dual-Sight video streaming on the Nokia 8 while minimising the thermal impact of the processing required.
Price and Availability
Nokia 8 will be made available globally in early September and will be priced at around EUR 599 (roughly Rs. 45,200). The smartphone will be available in four colours, namely, Polished Blue, Polished Copper, Tempered Blue and Steel. It is being said that the Nokia 8 will be launched in India, sometime in October and the official India price will be announced at the time.
Huawei's most anticipated smartphone, the Huawei Mate 10 has its launch somewhere around the corner. Just like most of the smartphones, this one also had some leaks and rumours going around. Many have been discussing the design that the Mate 10 is supposed to feature. Now the leaks are pointing towards a bezel-less display, a unibody design and a dual-camera setup, which we are seeing in most of the flagships nowadays. These new leaks are coming from the Chinese social media channel, Weibo. However, the design here is just based on the leaks and renders, which we cannot totally trust. But we can definitely take this design into consideration and look forward to something similar.
As far as the specifications are concerned, the Huawei Mate 10 is most likely to feature a 6.1-inch QHD display with a resolution of 2160x1080 pixels. The smartphone is said to be powered by the company's in-house Kirin 970 processor coupled with 6GB of RAM and 64GB of onboard storage. The phone is also rumoured to sport a dual-camera setup at the back with the Leica branding, something similar to what we have seen in the Huawei P10. The Mate 10 is expected to run on Android Nougat out of the box and will be backed by a 4,000 mAh battery.
Source: Weibo
Huawei is set to unveil the Mate 10 in an event in Munich, Germany on October 16, 2017. Rumours suggest that the Huawei Mate 10 will be priced at around USD 1000 (roughly Rs. 64,200). If this is the case, this would be competing with the next Apple flagship, iPhone 8, which is expected to launch with a similar price tag.
Google Pixel 2, one of the most anticipated phone of the year has its launch around the corner and leaks just give us a lot more hints and clues as of the launch getting closer. Google Pixel was one of the best smartphones of 2016 and now people are thrilled to see what Google will do and will the Pixel 2 get listed in the best smartphones. Earlier reports claimed that the Pixel 2 will be manufactured by HTC while the bigger Pixel XL 2 will be manufactured by LG.
Now with Pixel 2's FCC (Federal Communications Commission) filing, Google has revealed a lot more about the device. FCC filing being leaked now confirms that the phone is manufactured by HTC. The FCC filing also acknowledges the presence of the Active Edge, which is something similar to HTC U11's Edge Sense. Edge Sense is a squeezing feature which allows users to perform various actions or tasks on their smartphone by simply applying pressure on the sides.
Not only the manufacturer and the new feature are confirmed, rather we have few more confirmations regarding the processor and the operating system. The FCC filing, claims that the Pixel 2 will run on the Android 8.0.1 out-of-the-box with the latest security patch by Google. Leaked screenshots also show that the available storage on the device is 50.66GB after being 21 percent used, which further points us towards a 64GB variant of the device. The 64GB variant might replace the 32GB variant which we currently see on the Pixel. In the screenshots, under the baseband version, it shows mw8998 which point towards a Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 chipset. The model number of the upcoming Pixel 2 is G011A, according to the FCC filing.
