Samsung Galaxy J7 Prime and J5 Prime 32GB smartphones get a price cut of Rs. 2000

Samsung has reportedly reduced the price of Samsung Galaxy J7 Prime and J5 Prime 32GB smartphone, according to Mahesh Telecom, a Mumbai-based mobile phone retailer. The reatiler announced the price cut via its social media platforms (Facebook and Twitter). However, there is no official confirmation from Samsung regarding the same.

The Samsung Galaxy J7 Prime 32GB has got a price cut by Rs 2,000 and will now be available at Rs 14,900. The Galaxy J7 Prime 32GB smartphone was launched in May this year at Rs 16,900. On the other hand, the Samsung Galaxy J5 Prime 32GB has also got a price cut by Rs 2,000 and will now be available at Rs 12,990. The Galaxy J5 Prime 32GB smartphone was also launched in May this year at Rs 14,900. Both the smartphones come in Gold and Black colour variants.

As far as specifications are concerned, the Samsung Galaxy J7 Prime has a metal body and a 5.5-inch 2.5D glass display that comes with 1920x1080 pixels resolution and Gorilla Glass 4. It is powered by a 1.6 GHz Octa-core processor, which is paired with 3GB RAM and 32GB internal storage. An expandable storage slot is there for a micro SD card of up to 256 GB capacity. The smartphone runs on Android 6.0 Marshmallow operating system and also offers a fingerprint scanner, which is integrated on the home button.

The Galaxy J7 Prime has a 3300 mAh battery and comes with S Bike mode. To activate S Bike mode, all you have to do is attach an NFC tag, which comes bundled with the phone, with your bike (like on the petrol tank). Just before getting on your bike, the user just needs to tap the phone with the NFC tag that will turn on the S Bike mode. Once activated, callers will hear a message that the person is riding and they can leave messages.

The Samsung Galaxy J5 Prime comes with a full metal body and a 5-inch HD (720p) display, It is powered by a Exynos quad-core processor, which is paired with 2GB RAM. The Galaxy J5 Prime comes with 32GB of internal memory, which can be further expandable up to 256GB via a micro SD card. The smartphone runs on Android 6.0 Marshmallow operating system and is backed by a 2,400 mAh battery.

On the camera front, Galaxy J5 Prime flaunts a 13-megapixel rear camera with f/1.9 aperture and an LED flash, and a 5-megapixel front-facing camera with f/2.2 aperture for selfies and video chats. The smartphone also has a fingerprint sensor that is integrated into its home button. Besides, the smartphone offers dual-SIM slots, 4G with VoLTE support, WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS, and a micro USB port.

Galaxy J7 Prime (16GB) 

Galaxy J7 Prime Gold (32GB) 

Galaxy J7 Prime Black (32GB) 

Galaxy J5 Prime Gold (32GB) 

Galaxy J5 Prime Black (32GB) 

HMD Global confirms Android P upgrade for all Nokia smartphones

HMD Global, the company responsible for resurrecting Nokia smartphones with Android OS went on record earlier this year saying that Android 8.0 Oreo update will be released by the end of this year. While the new Android update is on its way, HMD Global has now announced that the current batch Nokia smartphones will also be upgraded to Android P.


So far, the company has released Nokia 3, Nokia 5, Nokia 6 and Nokia 8 smartphones. It is rumored to launch a couple of more handsets by the end of this year, following HMD Global’s earlier plans of launching over half a dozen Nokia Android smartphones in 2017. Going by the company’s word, the latest Nokia smartphones based on Android 7.0 Nougat will be getting two major Android OS upgrades. This will certainly cheer up a lot Nokia fans as the company seems to be keeping up with the promise it made when it announced the Nokia smartphones.

ALSO READ: Nokia 8 with dual-camera setup, Snapdragon 835 SoC launched in India: Price, Specs and features

Moreover, Nokia is not keeping the latest Android experience to only the high-end or mid-range smartphones but keeping each of its launches this year in the Android upgrade program. According to Gizbot, the yet-to-be-announced Nokia 2 might not get the Android P update as it is said to be the entry-level smartphone with a basic line of specifications. However, this cannot be confirmed until the company releases the list of smartphones to get Android P.

Earlier this month, Nokia 8 was reported running Android 8.0 Oreo beta builds hinting at the imminent release. The company had also teased the flagship running the latest Android on Twitter. While Android P still has a lot of time before it comes out in wild, Nokia smartphones are currently in line to get the Android 8.0 Oreo upgrade. Notably, the eight iterations of Android has officially been released to a select Pixel and Nexus smartphones only. 

Other smartphones like OnePlus 5 are spotted testing Android 8.0 Oreo beta builds. Previously, Lenovo-owned Motorola and Sony have also out their list of smartphones getting the Android 8.0 oreo. As of now, Android 8.0 Oreo is installed on less than one percent of active Android devices across the globe, as seen in last Android distribution report by Google. 

Nokia 3, Nokia 5, Nokia 6, Nokia 8 to get Android Oreo by year-end: HMD Global

HMD Global has been consistent with software updates for the Nokia smartphones. While the company has already confirmed Android 8.0 Oreo update for all the Nokia smartphones, it has now hinted at a timeframe. HMD Global says that Android Oreo will arrive on all Nokia smartphones by year-end.

HMD’s General Manager Mark Trundle confirmed this information in an interview with GadgetGaul. HMD Global’s flagship smartphone, the Nokia 8, is first in line to receive the update. Recently, HMD Global, CPO, Juho Sarvikas tweeted showing the Nokia 8 running Android Oreo beta version. The stable version of Android Oreo is expected to roll out soon. In the coming months we can expect the Nokia 3, Nokia 5 and Nokia 6 receiving Android Oreo update gradually.

HMD Global has been providing software updates as promised. The Nokia 3 was recently upgraded to Android 7.1.1 Nougat as scheduled. The Nokia 3 is quite the highlight here since it is the cheapest of the lot with a price tag of Rs 9,499. Google officially rolled out Android Oreo last month, and the pace HMD Global is on right now seems pretty quick.

With Android Oreo, Nokia smartphones will be treated to some new and interesting features. The notable ones include Picture-in-Picture mode, Notification Dots, Android Instant Apps, and Google Play Protect among others. Android Oreo also promises optimizations such as minimizing background activity in the apps least used, better connectivity, and a longer battery life. 

ALSO READ: Nokia 8 with dual-camera setup, Snapdragon 835 SoC launched in India: Price, Specs and features

Nokia 8 users in India would also be part of the software rollout as the smartphone was launched here earlier this week. The Nokia 8 is priced at Rs 36,999, and will be available via Amazon India and offline channels from October 14. 

Samsung Galaxy S7, Galaxy S7 edge to soon get Galaxy Note 8 UI: Report

Samsung Galaxy Note 8 has more to it than the Infinity Display which makes it one of the Samsung’s best smartphones ever. One such thing is the new UI that adds up to the whole premium experience on the company’s latest flagship smartphone. However, the South Korean giant doesn’t want to keep the previous flagship smartphone owners away from the new UI experience.

Samsung this year launched the Galaxy S8 duo smartphones with Samsung Experience 8.1 and Galaxy Note 8 with upgrade Samsung Experience 8.5. According to SamMobile report, the company will soon be rolling out the new user interface along with firmware upgrade to Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 edge smartphones. While mid-range Galaxy J5 and J7 have already been getting the new UX, it is believed that Samsung is holding back on the new UX release for Galaxy S7 duo as it plans to roll that out along with Android Oreo upgrade.

The Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 edge were launched in 2016 running Android 6.0 Marshmallow based TouchWiz UX. The smartphone was unofficially treated with Android 7.0 Nougat based Grace UX as well. However, ever since Samsung showcased the new Samsung Experience UX, fans have been waiting for it to be extended to last year’s flagship as well.

The current Samsung Experience UX is based on Android 7.0 Nougat and is more of a cosmetic upgrade from the previous versions. It is much intuitive and comes with new icon packs, typography, and other elements. Samsung has not yet out an official timeline around which it will release Android 8.0 Oreo updates. Also, it is not known what smartphones Samsung will be covered under the new Android OS upgrade. If reports are to go by, Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 edge users will have to wait until the end of the year to get the Android 8.0 Oreo-based Samsung Experience UX.

Galaxy Note 8 

Galaxy S7 edge

Moto X Play starts receiving Android 7.1.1 Nougat update

One of Motorola‘s popular older smartphones, the Moto X Play has started receiving Android 7.1.1 Nougat update. The Moto X Play launched back in 2015 with Android 5.1.1 Lollipop, after it which it received Android 6.0 Marshmallow update in early 2016. Motorola has skipped Android 7.0 Nougat update altogether and rolled out the Android 7.1.1 Nougat update for the device.

Motorola announced back in June the rollout of Android 7.0 Nougat for the Moto X Play but didn’t provide a date. According to screenshots shared (via TAS) by Moto X Play users in Brazil, Android 7.1.1 Nougat has arrived on the smartphone. With this update, Moto X Play users will get access to features such as split-screen mode and improved battery life, among others.

You can also now double tap the recent apps key on your smartphone to go back to the last app. In addition to this, with the Android 7.1.1 Nougat update, Google Duo will be installed on the smartphone as a system app. Google has also released its monthly security patch but the month isn’t listed. It could be for either August or September. The update will roll out gradually to Moto X Play users globally. If you haven’t received a notification for the update you can manually check for it using the following steps. Head over to Settings>About Phone>Software Update. This would be the last Android OS upgrade for the Moto X Play. 

Moto G5 Plus 

Moto G5s Plus 

Microsoft Office 2019 to be released next year

The next version of Microsoft Office — Office 2019 — will be released in the second half of 2018 and its previews will start shipping mid-year. The release will include perpetual versions of the Office apps including Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook and servers including Exchange, SharePoint and Skype for Business, Microsoft said in statement late on Tuesday. Office 2019 will add new capabilities for customers, including improved inking features like pressure sensitivity, tilt effects and ink replay.


“New formulas and charts will make data analysis for Excel more powerful. Visual animation features like Morph and Zoom will add polish to PowerPoint presentations,” the company added. The release will bring server enhancements, which will include updates to IT manageability, usability, voice and security. Office 2016 — the current version — was launched two years ago. 

Earlier this month, Microsoft rolled out a feature on its ‘Teams’ service which will allow guest access to all Office 365 commercial and education customers. The feature will allow Office 365 users to add people from outside their company to a team, so the guests can participate in chats, join meetings, collaborate on documents and more.

Huawei aims to make India 5G-ready, aims to invest $600 million by 2018

Huawei is continually investing in market-specific partnerships, developing localized solutions and conducting trials to ensure that India joins the ranks of other developed global economies in 5Gs commercial roll-out, the company said. On the first day of the “India Mobile Congress 2017″, Huawei highlighted its efforts in ensuring that the commercial roll-out of the 5G network in the country happens along with the developed global economies of the world.


The company, which began investing in 5G research in 2009, is aiming to invest $600 million in the technology by 2018. “The 5G era is approaching, and we are confident that 5G deployment in India will happen in line with the global timeline,” said Jay Chen, CEO, Huawei India.

“Huawei continues to promote joint innovation with operators in the 5G field around the world and in India, and is joining hands with upstream and downstream industry partners to promote the sustainable development of the 5G industry,” Chen added.

Huawei, together with Bharti Airtel, recently launched the country’s first massive multiple input, multiple output (MIMO) antenna technology implementations, which can potentially increase spectrum efficiency by six to ten times. The move will significantly decrease networking costs, enhancing intensive coverage and user experience in India.

Last month, Huawei released its 5G-oriented mobile bearer solution ‘X-Haul’, which is now available in India. The solution will help operators in India build end-to-end 5G networks.

MediaTek launches new chipset MT6739 at India Mobile Congress 2017

Taiwan-based semiconductor leader MediaTek launched its MT6739 SoC designed for mid- to entry-level 4G smartphone users at the ongoing India Mobile Congress 2017 in New Delhi. The high-speed quad-core system on chip (SoC) is built for the rapidly growing 4G market.

The MediaTek MT6739 SoC features an advanced WorldMode LTE Cat. 4 modems, dual-camera photography and 18:9 display support to bring the latest 4G LTE functions to users.


“Consumers expect smartphones to do more than ever before. That’s why we designed the smartphone chipsets with features to let you share, do and capture more and at the same time plug in less,” said Dr Finbarr Moynihan, General Manager, International Corporate Sales, MediaTek. “Our latest offering in India allows OEMs and ODMs to create 4G-entry smartphones that deliver premium features that provide high-end value at affordable prices,” Moynihan added.

The MediaTek MT6739 SoC is a quad-core 64-bit ARM Cortex-A53 processor and operates up to 1.5GHz. In addition to MT6739, MediaTek is also introducing its Helio P23 chipset to India. The MediaTek Helio P23 delivers performance and power efficiency, dual-camera photography, dual-SIM and dual 4G VoLTE capabilities.

MT6739 and Helio P23-enabled devices will be available in India and the global market by the end of this year, the company said. MediaTek is a global fabless semiconductor company that enables 1.5 billion connected devices a year.

Nokia 3310 3G variant launched with more storage, new colors: Price, specifications

HMD Global revived the iconic Nokia 3310 feature phone this year at MWC 2017. The revamped Nokia 3310 has brighter colors, upgraded specifications, all wrapped with the nostalgic essence. In terms of connectivity, the Nokia 3310 however came with 2G support only. But the company has launched a 3G variant.


The Nokia 3310 3G variant is priced at €69, which translates to approximately Rs 5,400. In India, the 2G variant of the Nokia 3310 is priced at Rs 3,310. In terms of availability, it will go on sale in mid-October. The device will reach Australia first in October 16 followed by markets like Singapore and the US later. There are no launch and availability details for India as yet.

Design wise, the 3310 looks the same as its 2G variant but with silver keypads now. The keys are also spaced wider now for a more comfortable experience. However, HMD Global’s CPO, Juho Sarvikas says that it is 13.29 percent larger than the 2G variant. Also, there are two new colors introduced for the Nokia 3310 3G. These include Azure and Charcoal along with the existing yellow and warm red, all given a matte finish. 

With the addition of 3G connectivity, the new 3310 also comes with a customizable retro UI. You can now choose color themes, and position the icons according to your preference. In case some of you are worried, the iconic Snake game is still available with slight upgrades in the Nokia 3310 3G. There are slight changes under the hood of the phone as well. The Nokia 3310 3G features the same 2.4-inch QVGA display, but is now powered by Feature OS. The memory has been increased to 64GB from the existing 32GB. You can still expand the memory using a microSD card. 

The Nokia 3310 is fueled by the same 1,200mAh battery. HMD Global says that it can provide up to 6.5 hours of talktime and standby time up to 27 days. It further sports a 2-megapixel camera at the rear with LED flash. Connectivity options include dual-SIM support, Bluetooth 2.1, Bluetooth 2.1, and a 3.5mm audio jack. For entertainment, it comes with a built-in FM radio, and MP3 player.

Apple drops Bing for Google on Siri and macOS searches

Apple has switched the default provider of its web searches for Siri on iOS and Spotlight on the Mac to Google from Microsoft’s Bing. Now if you ask Siri to search something on the internet, you will get Google results instead of Bing on iOS and Spotlight — a system-wide desktop search feature of Apple’s macOS and iOS operating systems.

ALSO READ: Nokia 8 with dual-camera setup, Snapdragon 835 SoC launched in India: Price, Specs and features

Apple’s web browser Safari on Mac and iOS already use Google search as the default provider, thanks to a deal worth billions to Apple (and Google) over the last decade, Tech Crunch reported. “Switching to Google as the web search provider for Siri, Search within iOS and Spotlight on Mac will allow these services to have a consistent web search experience with the default in Safari,” Apple said in a statement.

“We have strong relationships with Google and Microsoft and remain committed to delivering the best user experience possible.” The search results would include regular ‘web links’ as well as video results. Web image results from Siri will still come from Bing, for now, the report added.

Meanwhile, a Microsoft spokesperson said that the company value the relationship with Apple and look forward to continuing to partner with the iPhone maker in many ways, including on Bing Image Search in Siri, to provide the best experience possible for our customers.


“Bing has grown every year since its launch, now powering over a third of all the PC search volume in the US, and continues to grow worldwide. It also powers the search experiences of many other partners, including Yahoo (Verizon), AOL and Amazon, as well as the multi-lingual abilities of Twitter,” the spokesperson said. Given Microsoft’s work to advance the field of artificial intelligence, the company was confident that Bing would be at the forefront of providing a more intelligent search experience for its customers and partners.

Google extends security updates for Nexus 5X, Nexus 6P until November 2018

Google has announced that it is extending security update period for its Nexus 5X and Nexus 6P devices to November 2018. Earlier, both Nexus 5X and Nexus 6P devices were slated to get the security updates from Google till September 2018, but the date has been extended now. This simply means that the aforementioned devices might not receive guaranteed security updates after this period from Google.

ALSO READ: Nokia 8 with dual-camera setup, Snapdragon 835 SoC launched in India: Price, Specs and features

The new timelines for Nexus 5X and Nexus 6P have been updated in the list mentioned on Google's support page. Normally, the pattern under which Google pushes out device support includes two years of significant Android updates and three years of Android security updates. Since the Nexus 5X and Nexus 6P are already around two years old, the security update for both of them will end in November next year. The Android update date is still September 2017, after which there are no guaranteed Android version updates for the devices, says Google.

Google has not stated the reason behind the extension of end-date for Nexus 5X and Nexus 6P. Besides, Google has even pushed back the cut-off telephone and online support for both the devices to the same period, i.e., November 2018. While this is a rough indication from Google to the owners of these devices that they should perhaps switch to some newer device, it does not mean that the devices would stop functioning. However, it makes sense on the tech giant's part as it is preparing to launch its next generation Pixel devices on October 4, where it is also expected to unveil new Daydream headsets and more.

Opera browser adds 360-degree virtual reality support in version 49

Opera is adding support for 360-degree virtual reality video in its Developer browser version 49. This new developer update comes with a built-in VR 360 player for headsets such as HTC Vive, Oculus Rift and other OpenVR compatible devices.

Although VR headsets have been around for a while now, associated content hasn’t taken off to the extent we’d expect. Besides, pairing the headset has been a cumbersome process as well. Opera is trying to fix that with the new developer update.

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“The rapid growth of the 360 videos and soon WebVR bring an exciting revolution for VR content on the web. However, with limited software support, it has been difficult for VR headset owners to easily enjoy the fast growing library of 360-degree content on Youtube, Facebook and other video portals,” Opera said.

“So far they had to use inconvenient workarounds: download the video first, including spending time on finding a “download” button and waiting for the download, then quit the browser and launch a separate player app. It wastes time and bandwidth on blindly downloading a video. Sounds ancient.”

ALSO READ: Samsung Galaxy Note 8 goes on sale in India; Price, specs, features and launching day offer

And so, Opera is focusing on creating and embedding direct VR playback into the browser. This functionality enables users to watch virtual reality videos, and standard 2D videos, instantly through their VR headsets. Which means, the new Opera developer version comes with VR 360 player feature enabled and will automatically detect an installed VR headset. When a user browses through a video, a button above the video (next to Opera’s video pop out button) labeled ‘Watch in VR’ will appear. Click on that, and VR away! Needless to say, besides 360-degree videos, it was also support the standard videos, which is the 2D/180-degree ones.

Samsung Offers one time screen replacement for selected smartphones at Rs. 990

Mobile phone major Samsung India announced the ‘Never Mind’ offer for buyers of Samsung smartphones wherein consumers can avail one-time replacement of a broken screen within 12 months of purchase of their phone. Under the ‘Never Mind’ offer, consumers can replace the broken screens by paying Rs 990 at the time of repair within 12 months of purchase of the phone. The offer is valid on purchases between September 21, 2017, and October 21, 2017.

“As part of the offer, we are giving our consumers the peace of mind of having screen replacement anytime during the period of 12 months from now of the purchase of their device,” Samsung India Senior Vice President Asim Warsi told reporters. “We came up with ‘Never Mind’ offer to acknowledge the love and trust of consumers in Karnataka for their overwhelming response to Galaxy J7 Pro and Galaxy J7 Max,” Warsi said.

ALSO READ: Samsung Galaxy Note 8 goes on sale in India; Price, specs, features and launching day offer

He added that Samsung Pay, is becoming quite popular with 1.5 million people using it. The app is a disruptive payments platform allowing Samsung smartphone users to simply tap and pay with their phones without needing to carry the physical card. It has also integrated mobile wallets like PayTM and MobiKwik along with the government’s Unified Payments Interface in the Samsung Pay platform, he said.

ALSO READ: Amazon Great Indian Sale : Top deals on Galaxy Note 8, iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, One Plus 5, Moto G5s Plus, Honor 8 Pro and more, iPhone 7 at Rs. 38,999

Warsi said Samsung smartphone remains the leader in the Indian market. “We have registered a double-digit growth rate. While the company recorded good growth in a previous calendar year, this year it performed even better,” said Warsi.

Moto X4 Android One edition for Project Fi launched: Price, Specifications

Earlier this month, a leaked render of the Moto X4 variant with Android One branding popped up on the Internet and on Wednesday, Google finally announced the new handset officially. Notably, the search giant has launched the Moto X4 Android One edition for Project Fi exclusively in the US. The Android One variant of Moto X4 has been priced at $399 (roughly Rs. 25,800) and can be pre-ordered from the Project Fi website starting Wednesday itself. The new edition has been launched in Super Black and Sterling Blue colours.

ALSO READ: Amazon Great Indian Sale : Top deals on OnePlus 5, Moto G5s Plus, Honor 8 Pro and more, iPhone 7 at Rs. 38,999

If you are wondering what you will get with Android One edition of the Moto X4, it will offer a "Pure Android" experience and "carefully curated set of preinstalled apps" as per the company. "For example, it comes optimised for the Google Assistant to help you get more done, and offers high-quality video calling with Google Duo. You'll also get access to the latest updates from Android, such as Android Oreo before the end of the year. Android One Moto X4 will be among the first to receive an upgrade to Android P," the company said in its blog post.

If we talk about specifications, the handset comes with the same configuration as the regular variant of Moto X4. This means, the Moto X4 Android One edition packs a 5.2-inch full-HD (1080x1920 pixels) LTPS IPS display with 424ppi pixel density and Corning Gorilla Glass protection. It is powered by the 2.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 630 octa-core SoC paired with Adreno 508 GPU and 3GB of RAM.

ALSO READ: Motorola confirms Moto X4 with dual rear cameras launching in India on October 3

In terms of optics, the Android One edition of Moto X4 sports a dual camera setup at the back. It houses one 12-megapixel dual autofocus sensor with f/2.0 aperture and 1.4-micron pixels; and another 8-megapixel ultra-wide angle sensor with 120-degree field of view, f/2.2 aperture, and 1.12-micron pixels. This dual camera setup comes alongside a colour correlated temperature (CCT) dual-LED flash and PDAF. At front, the handset sports a 16-megapixel shooter for taking selfies. The handset houses a 3000mAh battery.

The company is also providing users with a trade-in offer, if you have an older Nexus phone and want to trade it in for a new device, the company will give you up to $165 for select Nexus devices. Further, if you trade-in the old device for an Android One Moto X4 by October 5, you'll earn an extra $50 Fi credit.

Google acquires HTC’s smartphone team for $1.1 billion

Ending months of speculation, Google announced to acquire part of the Taiwan-based HTC Corporation’s mobile division team for $1.1 billion. Certain HTC employees – many of whom are working with Google to develop its Pixel smartphones – will join the US tech giant.

However, HTC will continue onward with its own smartphone business even after sending a good portion of its talent and operations over to Google. Separately, Google will receive a non-exclusive license for HTC intellectual property (IP).

“HTC has been a longtime partner of Google and has created some of the most beautiful, premium devices on the market,” said Rick Osterloh, Senior Vice President of Hardware at Google, in a statement. “We’re excited and can’t wait to welcome members of the HTC team who will be joining Google to fuel further innovation and future product development in consumer hardware.”

The transaction was expected to close by early 2018. This is the second time Google has acquired a smartphone manufacturer. It announced a $12.5 billion buyout of Motorola Mobility six years back and in 2014, sold it again to Lenovo. HTC will continue to build the virtual reality ecosystem to grow its VIVE business, while investing in other next-generation technologies, including the Internet of Things (IoT), augmented reality and artificial intelligence (AI).

HTC will also continue to have best-in-class engineering talent, which is currently working on the next flagship phone, following the successful launch of the HTC U11 earlier this year. Google will have access to HTC’s IP to support the Pixel smartphone family. Additionally, the agreement also represents a significant investment by Google in Taiwan as a key innovation and technology hub.

“Our unmatched smartphone value chain, including our IP portfolio, and world-class talent and system integration capabilities, have supported Google in bolstering the Android market,” said Cher Wang, Chairwoman and CEO of HTC. “This agreement is a brilliant next step in our longstanding partnership, enabling Google to supercharge their hardware business while ensuring continued innovation within our HTC smartphone and VIVE virtual reality businesses.” 

Apple iOS 11 to roll out tonight at 10:30PM IST: Here are the top features, list of compatible devices and how to install the OS

Starting tonight, Apple will begin rolling out the new iteration of its iPhone and iPad operating system in India and globally. iOS 11 is a major update to iPhones, and as Apple claims “the biggest software release ever for iPad”. The new iOS iteration brings updates like augmented reality support to iOS devices, and improvements to images in Photos and Camera. With the update, Siri is apparently more natural and useful, and App Store is dramatically redesigned. And in the light of this big fat update releasing tonight, here’s taking a quick look at the operating system’s top features.

As you would know, Apple iOS 11 will run on both iPhones and iPads. Among the smartphones, while the newly launched iPhone X, iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus will come pre-installed with iOS 11, the older iPhone 7, iPhone 7 Plus, iPhone 6s, iPhone 6s Plus, iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, iPhone SE, and iPhone 5s will also be compatible with the new OS. Unfortunately, Apple iPhone 4S, iPhone 5, iPhone 5C will not receive support for iOS 11.

In terms of iPads, the iOS 11 will be compatible with the 12.9-inch iPad Pro (second generation), 12.9-inch iPad Pro (first generation), 10.5-inch iPad Pro, 9.7-inch iPad Pro, iPad (fifth generation), iPad Air 2, and iPad Air. The iPad Mini list includes iPad Mini 4, iPad Mini 3 and iPad Mini 2. The iPod Touch (sixth generation) is also compatible for the update.

How to install iOS 11

Now, if your device falls under the list of compatible ones, you will most likely receive the notification for update by tonight or latest by tomorrow morning. Apple sends OTA update for the new iteration of the iOS to all compatible devices. However, if you do not receive a notification or miss out on it, you can also run the update manually. For that, go to Settings > About > Software Update and check for the update.

If you want to check which of your existing apps aren’t compatible with iOS 11, go to Settings > General > About > Applications and there will be a list of those that aren’t going to survive the transition. At least not unless their developer takes pity and fixes compatibility in a future update.

If you see the iOS 11 update, simply tap on download and install. It is always recommended that you run update when connected to a stable Wi-Fi connection. Being a major OS upgrade, the iOS 11 is believed to be close to 1GB, which will also depend on when you last updated your device. You should also free up some space in your device, to have a smoother update.

One of the major changes in the iOS 11, is the major redesign of the App Store for iPhones and iPads. Apple says that with the new layout it wants to make discovering apps and games easier than ever before, and for that it is introducing the new Today, Apps and Games tabs.

Siri has long been criticized for its computer-like accent, and its often failed attempts at understanding commands. However, with iOS 11, Apple promises Siri to be more useful, and more natural and expressive in its accent. Apple says, that Siri in iOS 11 will be able to adjust in tone, pitch, emphasis and tempo while speaking.

Siri can now translate US English into Mandarin, French, German, Italian or Spanish. While Siri still doesn’t translate sentenced to Hindi, Apple says it will be able to take dictations in Hindi. Siri uses on-device learning to deliver more personal experiences and offers suggestions based on personal usage of Safari, News, Mail, Messages and more. 

Further, Siri now works with Notes to create to-do lists, notes and reminders, it works with with banking apps for account transfer and balances, and it can now work with apps that display QR codes.

The OS update also brings a few changes to the camera app. For the ones using the iPhone 7 Plus, the Portrait mode will supports optical image stabilization, HDR and True Tone flash with iOS 11. For all other iPhone and iPad users, Apple says the photos and videos will now take up half the space with the new HEIF and HEVC image and video formats. Also, the new OS iteration comes with redesigned set of nine filters optimized for natural skin tones. The camera app will also automatically identify and scan QR codes (finally!). 

Since Apple introduced Live Photos in iOS 9, it didn’t much to it. iPhone users could click live photos, but there wasn’t much they could do with it. However, with iOS 11, Apple has finally paid attention to the Live Photos, first of all, by adding effect like loop, bounce, and long exposure. Users can also mute, trim, or choose a new key photo for Live Photos. Further, Apple says that with iOS 11, people album is more accurate and stays up to date across devices with iCloud Photo Library. Finally, iOS 11 also adds support for animated GIF.

Apple is adding lane guidance and speed limit information with turn-by-turn directions to the maps. It is also adding support for one-handed zoom with double tap and swipe. Further, Apple says that with the update, users will now be able to interact with Flyovers by moving their device. Also notable is the support for indoor maps for major airports and shopping centers.

Something similar to what Samsung added with the Galaxy S8 duo, iOS 11 is introducing a Do Not Disturb feature while driving. In the feature, an iPhone will be able to detect when a user may be driving through vehicle movement or Bluetooth connections, and automatically silence notifications to keep the screen dark. Users have the option of sending an auto reply to their Favourites, contacts or recent call logs to let them know they are driving and cannot respond until they arrive at their destination.

With the iOS 11, iPhone and iPad users will now be able to experience AR apps on and view virtual content on top of real-world scenes for scenarios like gaming, shopping, and more. These apps deliver high-quality AR experiences using the built-in camera, powerful processors and motion sensors in iOS devices.

At the iPhone keynote event last week, Apple really stressed over the core machine learning technologies that it has been employing in its new iPhones, and with the iOS 11 the same is set to com to the older iPhones and iPads as well. Essentially with machine learning, apps from the App Store can deliver intelligent features with machine learning data processed on device for high performance and user privacy.

Besides these, Apple also redesigned the Control Center, which has been done after many many years now. The redesign brings all controls on one page now. The Control Center custom controls including accessibility, guided access, magnifier, text size, screen recording and Wallet.

Further, Apple Music has now been been updated to helps you discover music with friends, and create a profile so friends can listen to playlists you’ve shared and see the music you listen to most.
Also, with the iOS 11, users will now be able to do an automatic setup, which will sign them in to iCloud, Keychain, iTunes, App Store, iMessage, and FaceTime with the Apple ID. Automatic Setup restores device settings including language, region, network, keyboard preferences, places you frequently visit, how you talk to Siri, home and health data. FaceTime has also been improved, wherein you can now capture Live Photos from the other person’s Mac or iPhone camera.

With the iOS 11, iPad now get an all-new Dock, which provides quick access to favorite and frequently used apps and documents from any screen and makes it easier to work with multiple apps with Split View and now Slide Over. Drag and Drop makes moving images, text and files between apps easier than ever using Multi-Touch. And Apple Pencil is more deeply integrated into iPad Pro with support for inline drawing and a new Instant Notes feature that opens Notes from the Lock Screen by simply tapping Apple Pencil on the display.

Plus, iPad now has a Files app, which provides a central place to access and organise files no matter where they are located — on iPad or in the cloud with built-in support for iCloud Drive as well as providers, such as Box, Dropbox and others.

Motorola confirms Moto X4 with dual rear cameras launching in India on October 3

After being unveiled at IFA 2017 earlier this month, Motorola is gearing up to bring the Moto X4 to India. In a media invite sent out this afternoon, the Lenovo-owned company has announced a launch event for October 3. Now to be fair, the invite does not exactly mention the Moto X4, but the big ‘X’ on the invite, and the #XperiencePerfection hashtag used on social channels pretty much confirm the device to be the Moto X4.


The Moto X4 having already been unveiled in Berlin earlier this month, its specifications and features are already known. What remains to be known is the Indian price, and availability details. All will be known on October 3. Motorola India has been teasing the highlight of the Moto X4, which is the dual-camera setup at the back.

This includes a 12-megapixel sensor with dual auto-focus Pixel sensor, f/2.0 aperture, 1.4µm pixel size, and an 8-megapixel one with ultra-wide angle lens, 120-degree field of view sensor, f/2.2 aperture, 1.12µm pixel size, at the rear. The rear camera is supported by Color Correlated Temperature (CCT) dual-LED flash, and Phase Detection AutoFocus (PDAF), among other features. Up front, the Moto X4 sports a 16-megapixel camera with f/2.0 aperture, 1.0µm pixel size, dedicated LED-based selfie flash, and adaptive low light mode.

ALSO READ: Moto G4 Plus to receive Android 8.0 Oreo Update

Moto X4 specifications

Further, the Moto X4 features a 5.2-inch full HD (1080p) display protected by Corning Gorilla Glass at front and back. It is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 630 octa-core processor, which is accompanied by 3GB of RAM and 32GB storage. Fuelling the smartphone is a 3,000mAh battery with a TurboPower charger. 

Moto G4 Plus to receive Android 8.0 Oreo Update

Select phones by Motorola will get Android Oreo's sweetness. This was confirmed by the company itself via a blogpost a few days ago. Motorola last week posted that 12 of its Moto phones will be upgraded to the latest Android 8 Oreo software. Sadly, the list didn't include some of the recently announced phones like Moto G4, Moto G4 Plus, G4 Play, Moto E4, and also E4 Plus. This created a lot of buzz among the Motorola users. This is because, Motorola at the time of announcing the G4, G4 Plus and G4 Play, the company said that all these phones will be updated to Oreo. But, Motorola didn't keep its promise. However, after all the buzz, Motorola on Monday official confirmed that they will be upgrading only the Moto G4 Plus to Oreo. But, there are no words if other G4 series phones like the Moto G4 and Moto G4 Play will get the new software update, probably it will not.  


Only the Moto G4 Plus will get the Android Oreo's sweetness. This means, that the Moto G4 and G4 Play users will never get Oreo update and will be stuck to Android Nougat. Motorola confirmed the news via a blog post. The post reads -- "It's been brought to our attention that there were some errors in our marketing materials around Android O upgrades for Moto G4 Plus. This was an oversight on our part and we apologize for this miscommunication. It's our general practice for the Moto G family to get one major OS upgrade per device, but it's important to us we keep our promises, so in addition to the N upgrade it has already received, we will be upgrading Moto G4 Plus to Android O."

As you can see from the official statement on the matter, apparently there was some miscommunication in the marketing material from the company's side. However, there is still no firm schedule for the Android 8.0 Oreo rollout to the Moto G4 Plus smartphone. While there is no confirmation about the Moto G4, which effectively confirms that the handset will not be upgraded to Android 8.0 Oreo, it is at least better that we now know that Moto G4 Plus will be getting the update and the company kept its promise.

Moto G5s Plus 

Moto G5 Plus 

Moto G4 Plus 

Asus ZenFone V with Snapdragon 820, 23-megapixel camera launched: features, specifications

After launching the ZenFone 4 series in India, Asus has now unveiled the ZenFone V in the US. The device that has model number V520KL is listed on the official website. The ZenFone V smartphone will be available in the US via Verizon. There is no word on the availability or the price of the smartphone just yet.

The new smartphone follows in line with the design and aesthetics of the ZenFone 4 series. The unibody designed smartphone has thick bezels above and below the display. While there are minimal bezels on the sides of the display. The bottom chin house the home button with a fingerprint scanner embedded into it along with capacitative navigation buttons. The upper region of the phone has the front camera, earpiece, and other sensors. On the back, rear camera can be seen with LED flash and the Asus logo positioned at the center followed by Verizon branding at the very bottom. 

Asus ZenFone V Features and specifications

The ZenFone V has a 5.2-inch full HD AMOLED display offering a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels. The display further has a layer of Corning Gorilla Glass on the top for protection. The smartphone is also supported by company’s Tru2life technology for better contrast ratios and readability. The ZenFone V is powered by a 2.2GHz quad-core Snapdragon 820 SoC paired with Adreno 530 GPU. The device has a 4GB RAM and 32GB of inbuilt storage that can be further expanded up to 256GB via microSD card.

For photography, the smartphone comes with equipped with a 23-megapixel camera on the rear with f/2.0 aperture, Auto-Focus, OIS and dual-LED flash. Up front, there is an 8-megapixel selfie snapper with a f/2.0 aperture. It houses a 3000mAh battery and runs Android 7.1 Nougat with ASUS ZenUI 3.0 custom OS on top. In terms of connectivity, the smartphone offers support for 4G VoLTE, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth v4.2, GPS, AGPS, Micro-USB and 3.5mm audio jack. The ZenFone V comes in Sapphire Black color option.

Google Tez UPI-based digital payments app launched in India

Google has hopped onto the digital payments drive in India by launching its mobile wallet app and payment service called ‘Tez’ (which stands for fast in Hindi). Similar to how competing mobile wallet services function, Tez will allow you to pay for goods and services digitally.

The information portal of the service, scheduled to be announced at an event in New Delhi today, is already live on tez.google.com. Google’s Tez launches today in India, and is available for users on Android and iOS platforms. It supports banks including Axis, HDFC Bank, ICICI and State Bank of India, as well as others that support UPI. To recall, UPI or United Payments Interface enables one to send or receive money through a virtual address, doing away with the need of putting details such as NFSC code or other related bank account details. This is made possible as the virtual address is linked to the bank account.

In addition to the support for banks, Tez also supports online payment partners which include Dominos, RedBus, and Jet Airways. So for example, the next time you’re eating at Dominos or traveling through RedBus, you can make digital payment using Tez. Upcoming smartphones from Nokia, Micromax, Lava, Panasonic, and Xolo will come with the Tez app preloaded.

Google’s footprint in India is strong owing to the company’s continuous focus on localization. For the mobile wallet app, Google has added support for languages including English, Hindi, Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Marathi, Tamil, and Telugu.

With mobile wallet apps linked directly to a bank account, there arises a concern for security. To address this, Tez comes with a feature called ‘Tez Shield’ that works like a fraud-detection mechanism to protect your money. As Google notes, each transaction is secured with your UPI PIN, and the app itself can be secured through Google PIN or by your screen lock method such as fingerprint. For any issue related to the app, the Google helpline number, and chat support is available everyday.

How does Tez work

The app features a Cash Mode, which allows you to instantly transfer cash to anyone nearby without the need to share your contact or bank details. This feature works in the same way as sharing photos or media to a nearby device connected over Bluetooth or Wi-Fi.

Separately, you can transfer money using UPI address or the Tez UPI address to anyone who has a UPI-supported bank account. The payments can be made for online goods, physical stores, and person-to-person transfers. Online services will feature a Tez logo to indicate support. It is to be noted that the transactions need to be Rs 50 and more per user. For merchants with current accounts in banks, the limit is Rs 50,000 per month with UPI with no fee. Post this limit, there will be additional requirements, along with bank fee.

To accelerate adoption, Google is offering Tez Scratch Cards within the app, using which you can earn up to Rs 1,000 for eligible transactions. You can also enrol in Lucky Sundays offer to win up to Rs 1 lakh every week. Interestingly, these offers do not require you to apply any code during any transaction. You need to use Tez for making payments and if you win, the bounty goes straight to your account.

The launch of Tez takes place at a time when India is rapidly pacing towards an all-digital economy. Thanks to the demonetization drive, incumbent payment services witnessed dramatic rise in adoption and transfer levels. What will also help Google is its significant penetration in India, which also happens to be one of the company’s biggest markets. Although there is no word yet, we could see the app being pre-installed on future Android smartphones. 

You can head over to the Google Play Store to download the Google Tez app for Android, or the App Store to download the app for iOS.