15 fake GPS apps with over 50 million downloads found on Google Play Store

Gadget Bridge Bureau
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15 fake GPS apps with over 50 million downloads found on Google Play Store

Search giant Google may have increased the security on its Play Store in order to combat fake apps, but it’s still far from being able to control the situation. According to the latest report that has surfaced online, a number of adware apps have been found on the Play Store masquerading as Global Positioning System (GPS) and navigation apps. It is worth mentioning that these apps have been installed several millions of times.

To be more precise, 15 such malicious navigation apps with adware have been found on the Google Play Store by ESET’s malware expert Lukas Stefanko, and they collectively, these apps have been downloaded over 50 million times. Stefanko has also posted screenshots of these 15 apps on Twitter.

What is surprising is the fact that these malicious apps don’t even have a proprietary GPS algorithm and instead, they just use Google Maps. As if this isn’t bad enough, some of them go a step ahead and just showcase advertisements on the user’s smartphone screen once they are installed.

Shockingly, some of them even ask the user to pay a fee to use navigation and then use Google Maps to showcase routes.

We should mention that these apps blatantly violate Google’s policy that states that no app can use the search giant’s or any other company’s services as their own and they must have their own proprietary services.

It has been stated by Google that if any app violates these policies, they would be taken off the Play Store.

Ideally, these apps should have been red-flagged during the screening done by Google itself. It’s even more shocking to know that in spite of Play Project being active in most Android smartphones, these shady apps were not detected by the search giant.

However, after they were brought to notice by Stefanko, Google removed some of the malicious navigation apps. We are hoping to see the rest of them being removed from the Play Store soon too.

We should mention that earlier this month, as many as 85 malicious apps from adware family were removed from the Google Play Store after they were found by security researchers at Trend Micro.

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LG V40 ThinQ with five cameras goes on sale in India

Avani Bagga
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LG V40 ThinQ with five cameras goes on sale in India

South Korean electronics maker LG launched its V40 ThinQ smartphone in the United States last year at a price of $899.99. And now, the company has finally made the LG V40 ThinQ smartphone available for purchase in India. Interested buyers can head to Amazon India’s website to pick up the smartphone. It is worth noticing that the key highlights of the smartphone include a QHD+ OLED FullVision Display, Snapdragon 845 processor, 6GB of RAM, and five cameras. Here’s a look at the pricing at specification details of LG V40 ThinQ smartphone:

LG V40 ThinQ price and availability

LG V40 ThinQ smartphone is available in only one variant which comes with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of internal storage and is priced at Rs 60,000. As we mentioned earlier, the device is available via Amazon India’s website in India, where it is available at Rs 49,990 as of now.

The e-commerce giant is also offering a discount of Rs 5,000 for those who wish to exchange their old smartphones. Buyers can also avail free screen replacement worth Rs 16,750 within the first six months of purchase. LG V40 ThinQ is available in Grey and Blue colour options in India.

LG V40 ThinQ specifications

The LG V40 ThinQ smartphone features a 6.4-inch QHD+ OLED FullVision display which is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 5. Powered by an octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 processor, the device comes with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of internal storage. For more storage, it can hold a microSD card of up to 2TB. LG V40 ThinQ smartphone runs Android 8.1 Oreo and houses a 3,330mAh battery that has support for Quick Charge 3.0.

On the camera front, LG V40 ThinQ sports a triple rear camera setup with a 12MP primary sensor that comes with 78-degree viewing angle and f/1.5 aperture, a 16MP secondary ultra-wide angle sensor with a 107-degree viewing angle and f/1.9 aperture, and lastly, a 12MP telephoto-lens with a 45-degree viewing angle and f/2.4 aperture. For selfies and video calls, there is an 8MP primary camera with an f/1.9 aperture and a 5MP wide-angle sensor with an f/2.2 aperture.

The connectivity options of the smartphone include 4G LTE, Wi-Fi, GPS, NFC, Bluetooth v5.0, q USB Type-C port and a 3.5mm headphone jack.

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Samsung Galaxy S10 ‘confirmed’ to sport an in-display fingerprint sensor: Report

Avani Bagga
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Samsung Galaxy S10 ‘confirmed’ to sport an in-display fingerprint sensor: Report

As the launch of Samsung Galaxy S10, Galaxy S10 Lite and Galaxy S10+ draws closer, more and more reports and rumours about the smartphones are surfacing online. The latest one comes from XDA Developers that claims to confirm the presence of an in-display fingerprint scanner on at least one among the three devices.

Reports about Samsung adding an on-screen fingerprint scanner on its smartphone have been circulating online since Galaxy S8’s launch. Speaking about previous reports about Samsung Galaxy S10 smartphones, it has been said that the with the devices, South Korean technology giant will be ditching the iris scanner and will instead opt for an in-display fingerprint sensor. It was also reported that 30% of Samsung Galaxy S10’s screen will act as the fingerprint scanner rather than just one point on the entire screen having the sensor embedded on it.

In 2018, a number of smartphone makers like Oppo, OnePlus, Xiaomi, and Lenovo adopted this trend, the first one among them being Vivo. All signs point towards Samsung getting this feature on its next flagship device.

And now, we finally have a ‘confirmation’ for this by XDA Developers. The website has share two screenshots that are claimed to be from the Samsung app – one from SimpleAuthBottomView class and the second from the OnlinePayMainBaseFragment class. In both the screenshots that the technology website has shared, the app seems to be checking if the smartphone has an in-display fingerprint scanner, and if it does, the app would then “shift the payment flow window at the bottom a bit higher up to make more room.” According to XDA, one among the screenshots also have Samsung Galaxy S10’s codename – Beyond – on it.

samsung-fingerprint-scanner-2

However, we should mention that all the variants of Samsung Galaxy S10 have the same code-name, so with just these screenshots, it cannot be determined if all the models will come with an in-display fingerprint scanner or only one or two of the devices will sport the feature.

samsung fingerprint scanner

But then, it has been reported earlier that the Lite variant of the smartphone will come with a side-mounted fingerprint sensor, so chances are that either one among the Samsung Galaxy S10 or Galaxy S10+ will come with an in-display fingerprint sensor or both will. We should also mention that it has also been reported that unlike Vivo, Oppo and OnePlus, Samsung will be using an ultrasonic fingerprint scanner on its smartphones.

Image courtesy: XDA Developers

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How to track your lost or stolen iPhone

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How to track your lost or stolen iPhone

The last thing you’d want is your iPhone getting stolen or lost somewhere. Being such a status symbol and hard earned money spent on it, you do not want it to be lost. Therefore, we have enlisted a few steps for your assistance. Before we go ahead, you might be knowing about the Find My iPhone app in order to locate your device in case you have lost it. If you haven’t yet downloaded it, then it is  advisable to do it now. In case you had the app downloaded and on when you lost your phone, these options will come in handy:

  • Sign in to icloud.com on your PC or Mac or use the Find My iPhone app on another iOS device
  • In the app select a device in order to locate it on map. If the device is nearby then you can make it play a sound and trace it
  • Turn on Lost Mode. With the help of Lost Mode, you can remotely lock your device. This happens with the help of a passcode. Then display a custom message on your missing iPhone’s lock screen with the help of your phone number. A message like “lost or stolen mobile” will help.
  • You can now report about your device to a local law enforcement. The authority might ask you the device serial number which you will find on its box.
  • To prevent anyone from misusing your device, you can erase it remotely too.
  • Report your device to a wireless carrier so that they can disable your account and prevent any kind of data use.

In case you did not have the app downloaded or downloaded but not on, then you should consider the following options:

  • Change you Apple ID password. With this, you can prevent anyone from accessing your iCloud or any other service part of your iPhone
  • Change passwords of email, social media accounts
  • You can report your stolen/lost device to a local law enforcement. As mentioned, in the previous guidelines you need to give them a device serial number
  • Also, as mentioned you can contact a wireless carrier in order to prevent data use, phone calls, texts

To prevent anyone from using your lost or stolen mobile, always put a hard to guess pass lock on your mobile phone.

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Google Pixel 3 Lite’s ‘hands-on and review video’ leaks before the smartphone’s official launch

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Google Pixel 3 Lite’s ‘hands-on and review video’ leaks before the smartphone’s official launch

It seems like it’s becoming a tradition for upcoming Google smartphones to show up in videos from Europe even before they are launched. We saw it happening before the launch of Google Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL, and now it’s happening all over again with the company’s upcoming ‘Pixel 3 Lite’ smartphone. A number of reports about the device have surfaced online already and with this video getting circulated, very little has been left to know about the device.

The video, which first appeared on a YouTube channel named Andro News, was later removed. However, until that happened, others re-uploaded it. The upcoming device, which is reportedly codenamed ‘Sargo’ looks very similar to Pixel 3 and comes with thick bezels on top and bottom, defying the current notch trend. However, there’s one key difference between Google Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 Lite: There’s no secondary selfie camera on the latter.

In the video, the body of the upcoming smartphone seems to be made of plastic and unlike the flagship smartphones, the device has a 3.5mm headphone jack. It has also been reported that the smartphone features a 5.56-inch LCD display, is powered by a Snapdragon 670 processor clubbed with 4GB of RAM and houses a 2,915mAh battery.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqnSkALsdkk

And now let’s talk about the highlight of the smartphone: Its cameras. The company has reportedly kept the cameras of Google Pixel 3 Lite similar to the ones seen on the flagship devices that were launched in October last year. So the smartphone sports a 12MP sensor with 1.4-micron pixels along with an optically-stabilized lens with an f/1.8 aperture.

According to Andro News, Google Pixel 3 Lite’s camera can click “the same quality photos as the Pixel 3.” However, we should mention that there were no side-by-side comparison pictures that were provided to support this statement. So as of now, we wouldn’t say whether to expect the same quality cameras or not, but of course, it’s great for photography lovers if this indeed is true.

That being said after such an extensive leak one can fully expect the smartphone to be launched by the company soon. Let’s hope Google notifies us soon!

Video courtesy: Mobile.com, YouTube

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Amazon Great Indian Days Sale: Discounts on smartphones, laptops and others

Aadvika
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Amazon Great Indian Days Sale: Discounts on smartphones, laptops and others

If you have been planning to buy some new gadgets and electronics, now seems to be a good time as Amazon India’s Great Indian Days Sale kicks off for the masses tomorrow. Till now, since 12 pm today, the sale was only open for Amazon Prime members. Apart from price cuts, the e-commerce giant is also offering no-cost EMI options, exchange offers, and a 10% instant discount for those who pay for their purchase via HDFC Bank cards. Here, we are listing down all the offers that you may wish to avail.

To begin with, during Amazon India’s sale, the OnePlus 6T smartphone will be available with up to 70% Guaranteed Exchange Price. Additionally, customers will also be able to avail an exchange discount of up to Rs 2,000 and they can also opt for a no-cost EMI starting at Rs 6,334 per month.

Another premium device to be available on a discount is Samsung Galaxy Note 8. During the sale, the device will be available at a discounted price of Rs 39,990 and customers will also be able to opt for no-cost EMI options.

Samsung’s this year’s flagship smartphone, Galaxy S9 can also be bought with up to Rs 9,000 exchange discount. Other than this, no-cost options will be available with the device starting at Rs 5,443 a month.

You can also pick up the Xiaomi Redmi Y2 smartphone at a starting price of Rs 7,999. That’s not all. Other Xiaomi devices are available at discounted prices too. Customers can go for the Redmi Note 6 Pro or Mi A2 smartphones, both of which can be purchased at an additional exchange of Rs 2,000.

Speaking of smartphones from the budget segment, you would also be able to buy the Realme U1 smartphone with no-cost EMI options starting at Rs 1,650 a month during the Amazon sale. Besides this, dual rear camera smartphones from Huawei’s sub-brand Honor will also be available at a starting price Rs 8,499 during the sale. We should also mention that Honor View 20’s pre-bookings will also go live during the period of the sale. Amazon India has said that it will offer up to 43% discount on Huawei smartphones.

The e-commerce giant also said that customers will be able to avail a discount up to 60% on various other electronics along with no-cost EMI options and exchange offers. A discount of up to Rs 40,000 will be available on laptops and up to 60% discount will be applicable on hard drives and headphones. Customers will also be able to avail up to 50% discount on speakers and a flat Rs 10,500 off on Samsung Gear S3 smartwatch.

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Samsung to launch Galaxy M-series smartphones on January 28: Everything you should know

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Samsung to launch Galaxy M-series smartphones on January 28: Everything you should know

The much-talked-about Samsung Galaxy M10, Galaxy M20 and Galaxy M30 smartphones are set to be launched in India on January 28. Reports about the upcoming devices have been circulating online for months now giving away a lot about their specifications. Some have even speculated their pricing. Here, we have collated all that we know about the three smartphones so far via these leaks. So read to know everything that has been said about Samsung Galaxy M10, Galaxy M20 and Galaxy M30 smartphones:

The devices to come with Infinity V displays

Infinity V displays

According to a report in IANS, Samsung Galaxy M10, Galaxy M20 and Galaxy M40 smartphones will come with Infinity-V displays in India. For those unaware, Infinity-V display is one among the four new types of screens that Samsung unveiled at its developer conference in November. In order to provide users with more screen space, the devices will have a V-shaped notch on the top to house the selfie camera.

The upcoming smartphones to house big batteries

smartphone battery

This is particularly true for Samsung Galaxy M20 and Galaxy M30 smartphones, both of which are reported to house a 5,000mAh battery. Samsung Galaxy M10, on the other hand, is said to come with a 3,400mAh battery. According to Samsung’s website, its Galaxy M-series smartphones will come with 3X Fast Charging.

Expected specifications of Samsung Galaxy M10

samsung phone

Samsung Galaxy M10 smartphone will reportedly sport a 6.2-inch HD+ display and will run Android 8.1 Oreo. Powered by the Exynos 7872 processor coupled with 3GB RAM, the device has been said to come with 32GB of storage. Reports suggest that Samsung Galaxy M10 will sport 13MP and 5MP dual rear cameras and will house a 3,400mAh battery.

Expected specifications of Samsung Galaxy M20

Samsung

Samsung Galaxy M20 is expected to feature a 6.3-inch display and be powered by Exynos 7885 processor clubbed with 3GB of RAM. The device will reportedly be available in 32GB and 64GB storage variants and house a massive 5,000mAh battery. The smartphone is said to sport an 8MP selfie camera.

Expected specifications of Samsung Galaxy M30

samsung smartphone

Samsung Galaxy M30 smartphone will reportedly come with a 6.38-inch display and house a massive 5,000mAh battery. It is said to be powered by Samsung’s Exynos 7885 processor clubbed with 4GB of RAM and run Android 8.1 Oreo. For imaging duties, Samsung Galaxy M30 will reportedly sport a triple rear camera setup with a 13MP and two 5MP sensors, while for selfies and video calls, the smartphone will feature 16MP front-facing shooter.

Expected pricing

samsung phone

Two different reports have emerged about the pricing of the upcoming smartphones. While 91mobiles claims that Samsung Galaxy M10 and Galaxy M20 will be priced at Rs 8,999 and Rs 12,999, according to IANS Galaxy M10 will cost Rs 7,990 and Galaxy M20 will bear a price tag of Rs 10,990. As of now, there is no word on the pricing of Samsung Galaxy M30.

The smartphones will be made in India

samsung logo

Samsung has said that the three smartphones will be made in the world’s largest mobile facility which was opened last year by the company in Noida.

The smartphones will first launch in India

Samsung Galaxy M10, Galaxy M20 and Galaxy M30 are India-first devices, as the launch on January 28 that is scheduled to be held in New Delhi, it the smartphones’ global launch.

The series to replace three current smartphone series by the company

Galaxy On

Various media reports claim that with its Galaxy-M series, Samsung plans to replace its Galaxy On, Galaxy J and Galaxy C series, which dominated the budget segment of the Indian smartphone market before Xiaomi started topping the charts.

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This may be the real reason behind Apple and Qualcomm’s fallout

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This may be the real reason behind Apple and Qualcomm’s fallout

Cupertino based technology giant Apple and American chipmaker Qualcomm have been involved in a legal battle over licensing and royalty fees for over two years now and this has led to a complete breakdown of the two companies’ relationship. However, some media reports have emerged indicating that there may be more to what has led to this situation between the two companies.

According to a report, Bloomberg has seen some of the leaked emails that were exchanged between Apple’s Jeff Williams and Qualcomm’s CEO Steve Mollenkopf. The report further says that the two companies may have cut ties with each other because of software access.

While Williams wanted Apple’s association with Qualcomm to continue in spite of their ongoing legal battle, the chipmaker accused the smartphone giant of leaking Qualcomm’s code that was required to customise mobile processors. After this, Williams reportedly offered to “firewall” the engineers in Apple’s team who used the Qualcomm software and also added that nothing valuable was obtained from the code by the company.

The reports have quoted his email saying, “In my wildest imagination of some evil intention of Apple, I have trouble coming up with a real scenario where anything of significant value could be leaked based on this code.”

In return for this, Mollenkopf reportedly told Williams that he wanted to protect Qualcomm’s proprietary information. He also added that when Apple was offered to use software from Qualcomm, the company committed to using chips from Qualcomm in at least 50% of the iPhones produced in the next two years.

Following this, in September 2018, Qualcomm accused Apple of stealing confidential information and trade secrets from the company and passing it on to Intel, which is a rival chipmaker.

According to Bloomberg, the software dispute between the two companies was the primary reason why they cut ties with each other as at first, both appeared to continue working with one another in spite of the legal battle. We should point out that because of this legal battle, iPhone 7, iPhone 8 and iPhone X models have been banned in China and Germany as Qualcomm has won the case in these countries.

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Satya Nadella hints that Microsoft 365 subscriptions will be available for consumers soon

Avani Bagga
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Satya Nadella hints that Microsoft 365 subscriptions will be available for consumers soon

Software giant Microsoft initially unveiled its Microsoft 365 bundle for Windows 10 targeted at businesses and schools in 2017. For commercial customers, it made perfect sense to buy Office and Windows licenses. But now, the company is also planning to launch a similar Microsoft 365 bundle for consumers. Earlier this week, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella hinted at a media event that the company is planning to launch Microsoft 365 for consumers.

We should mention that lately; the software giant’s focus has increased towards its business customers. With this becoming more and more evident, Nadella did have to answer certain questions about Microsoft’s consumer focus at the media event.

As mentioned in various press reports, the CEO admitted that Microsoft has “made a bunch of mistakes by just saying let’s just enter every category, just because we’re a software company,”. He also added that going forward, the company will be choosing its battle of business vs consumer more wisely. And needless to say, subscriptions are inevitably a part of this battle for Microsoft.

Nadella also added that “I think about Microsoft 365 as a two-sided market. What we are doing with Office 365 or what we will soon be talking about as Microsoft 365 consumer subscriptions, those would be again completely consumer businesses.”

It has also been reported that the company’s CEO hinted that for consumers, Office 365 will be renamed to Microsoft 365. Prior to the confirmation by the company, it was reported in December last year by ZDNet that Microsoft consumer bundle will be available soon. Although there is no official word from the company on what all the bundle will comprise of, it is being speculated that it will come with Office 365, Skype, Cortana, and Outlook Mobile. However, there is no clarity on if Windows 10 will be a part of the Microsoft 365 for consumers.

Typically, devices with a Windows 10 license are bought by consumers and most people don’t opt for Windows unless they have to build their own PC. So, we are expecting the company to add some benefits to Microsoft 365 within Windows, but then, only time will tell what the company actually has up its sleeve.

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Facebook Messenger’s redesigned app has finally started rolling out to the masses

Avani Bagga
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Facebook Messenger’s redesigned app has finally started rolling out to the masses

Last year at its developer conference F8, social networking giant Facebook announced a redesign for its Messenger app. And now, the redesigned app has finally started rolling out. The Facebook Messenger listing on Google Play Store as well as App Store has the updated version of the app, and certain media reports suggest that it’s available for both the operating systems. However, we should point out that Facebook’s Messenger team has reportedly said that the update is being rolled out in a phased manner and it may take a while before it is available for everyone.

The main purpose of redesigning the Messenger app is said to be to make it more simple than what it was earlier. After the update, the Messenger app will put your messages front and centre once again. However, the widespread release of the updated app is taking a long time. We should mention that the redesign was announced by Facebook in May 2018 and it initially started rolling out in October.

However, even now, the only guaranteed way to get the revamped app is to buy Facebook’s Portal video-calling device. But finally, months after it was initially announced, the revamped app is rolling out to one and all. But as we mentioned earlier, this too is happening in a phased manner, so don’t be surprised if you don’t get it immediately.

The most highlighted feature of the redesigned Messenger app includes that post the update, its nine tabs will be merged into just three. Besides this, the interface of the app will become a lot cleaner than what it was earlier. It is worth noticing that the Messenger app will still come with the numerous functions that have been stuffed into it over the year including games, bots and reminders. However, users will now be able to access most of these via a new four-dot icon.

While the update doesn’t add too many new features to Messenger, it improves the experience to a great extent and makes the user interface of the app far more simpler than earlier. We feel that this was indeed a much-needed redesign for the Messenger app as it had rather become too overstuffed with the numerous features that have been added to it over the course of the last couple of years.

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Redmi Note 7 Pro’s pricing gets leaked a month before launch

Avani Bagga
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Redmi Note 7 Pro’s pricing gets leaked a month before launch

Last week saw the launch of the Redmi Note 7 smartphone in China. Although the smartphone is a much-awaited one in global markets, rumours about Redmi Note 7 Pro have already started circulating online. We should mention that last week when Xiaomi launched Redmi Note 7, which is the first device under its Redmi sub-brand, it also announced that Redmi Note 7 Pro will be launched next month.

The upcoming Redmi Note 7 Pro will reportedly be powered by the Snapdragon 675 processor and much like Redmi Note 7, the smartphone will sport a 48MP primary camera. Interestingly, although there’s still a month to go for the smartphone’s launch, its alleged pricing has been revealed via Chinese social networking platform Weibo. But before we get to that, we should first mention the other specifications of the upcoming device that have surfaced on the same platform.

A teaser was posted by Redmi by Xiaomi on Weibo talking about the Redmi Note 7 Pro smartphone. According to the video, Redmi Note 7 will sport a 48MP Sony IMX586 primary sensor on its back panel. It is worth noticing that Redmi Note 7 that was launched last week also features a 48MP camera but uses the Samsung ISOCELL GM1 sensor instead. The teaser also confirms that the smartphone will be launched next month, sometime around the Chinese New Year.

These were the details of the smartphone that have been revealed officially by the company. However, we have learnt more via the platform. A tipster on Weibo has said that Redmi Note 7 Pro will be one among the first smartphones to be powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 675 SoC. This will be an upgrade to the processor we have seen on Redmi Note 7 – Snapdragon 660 SoC.

Now, let’s talk about the pricing details of the device that have surfaced online. According to another tipster on Weibo, Redmi Note 7 Pro will bear a price tag of CNY 1,499, which on conversion becomes approximately Rs 15,800. We should mention that last week, Redmi Note 7 was launched in three variants. While the base model of the device, that has 3GB of RAM and 32GB of storage was priced at CNY 999, the 4GBRAM/64GB storage model cost CNY 1,199, the most high-end variant – with 6GB RAM and 64GB storage – came with a price tag of CNY 1,399.

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New WhatsApp bug may expose your chats and images to strangers

Avani Bagga
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New WhatsApp bug may expose your chats and images to strangers

WhatsApp is, without doubt, the most popular messaging app in the world. The popular messaging app has a user base of over 1.5 billion and it claims to ensure the privacy of its users with end-to-end encryption. But then, when we speak of online services, no amount of privacy can be enough and there are bugs that can always find their way into the app. And this is exactly what has happened to WhatsApp according to a tweet shared by an Amazon employee.

According to the tweet by Amazon employee named Abby Fuller, the instant messaging app has been affected by a bug that makes users’ chats and photographs visible to others. In her tweet. Fuller claimed that she could see some other user’s chat and private photos on her smartphone. She tweeted, “Logged into WhatsApp with a new phone number today and the message history from the previous owner’s number was right there? This doesn’t seem right.”

She’s right, of course, because this is not how it is supposed to work. Basically, with this bug, anyone who is using your old phone number will be able to access your chat history in the app. We have to say that this is downright scary as any stranger who has our old number will have complete access to entire chat backup, in spite of the fact that WhatsApp allows users to change phone numbers without uninstalling and reinstalling the app.

Fuller tweeted further, “And now I’m wondering how many other times it’s happened? Like does whoever has my old number now have MY WhatsApp history?”. She also mentioned that her smartphone, as well as the SIM card that she was using, was new. We should mention that recycling phone numbers is a common trend in the telecom industry and from what it looks like, Fuller’s ‘new’ phone number was actually a recycled one. However, if our guess is right, the previous user did not migrate his number on WhatsApp, and probably that’s why WhatsApp just restored his chats when Fuller installed WhatsApp in her new smartphone.

We don’t think that any of this would have happened had the previous user migrated their account to their new number first. However, this incident tells us how important it is to migrate our chats to a new number when we get a new SIM.

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Samsung Galaxy M10, Galaxy M20 pricing revealed ahead of launch

Avani Bagga
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Samsung Galaxy M10, Galaxy M20 pricing revealed ahead of launch

Samsung Galaxy M10 and Galaxy M20 smartphones have been creating headlines for months now. The smartphones are set to be launched in India on January 28 and a number of reports have talked about their specifications. And now, 91mobiles has also reported about the pricing details of the upcoming smartphones.

The report suggests that Samsung Galaxy M10 will be priced at Rs 8,999 while Galaxy M20 will cost Rs 12,999. According to 91mobiles, the information about the price of the two smartphones was revealed to them by “a source close to Samsung’s pricing strategy” for the two smartphones.

It is also worth noticing that prior to this, news agency IANS had reported that Galaxy M10 and Galaxy M20 smartphones will be priced at Rs 7,990 and Rs 10,990 respectively. As of now, we can’t comment on which one among the two is credible and we will have to wait till next Monday to find out for sure.

However, the report in IANS gives us some extra information as it states that the devices will be available exclusively on Amazon India’s website starting March 5. So if you have been planning to buy one among the two smartphones, you would have to wait for more than a month after they get launched.

It has been reported that with its Galaxy M series, Samsung plans to replace its Galaxy J, Galaxy On, and Galaxy C series. Considering that these series ruled the budget segment of the Indian smartphone market till sometime back, it makes perfect sense for the company to schedule the global launch of its new series in the country.

While Samsung Galaxy M10 smartphone will reportedly feature a 6.2-inch HD+ display with Infinity V screen that has a waterdrop-shaped notch. The device is said to run Android 8.1 Oreo and will be powered by the Exynos 7872 processor coupled with 3GB RAM. According to reports, Samsung Galaxy M10 will sport 13MP and 5MP dual rear cameras and will house a 3,400mAh battery.

Speaking of Galaxy M20, it will have a 6.3-inch Infinity-V display and will be powered by the Exynos 7885 processor clubbed with 3GB RAM. It will come with a bigger 5,000mAh battery and come with the same cameras as Galaxy M10.

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Twitter admits about bug in Android app that leaked protected tweets for years

Gadget Bridge Bureau
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Twitter admits about bug in Android app that leaked protected tweets for years

If you are an Android user and have a twitter account, it is time for you be alert. The microblogging site has recently discovered a bug which has been exposing protected tweets for quite sometime now. Twitter also acknowledged the security flaw in its ‘Help Centre’ after discovering the bug. The bug caused Android apps to disable “Protect your Tweets” in settings after making changes to account settings. From November 3, 2014 to January 14, 2019 many email addresses which the twitter accounts are made of, were altered.

The company said that it has finally fixed the problem. It gave assurance to web and iOS users that they won’t experience anything of such nature. The issue, as twitter said, was fixed on January 14. Twitter cannot ascertain how many users have been affected as of now. So, it is contacting the users one by one and turning the setting back on for the affected ones. The micro-blogging site is advising users to be on the safer side and check their privacy settings. This, according to twitter would ensure that desired preferences are reflected as they were meant to be.

Twitter is now facing a privacy investigation for the protected tweets security flaw by Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC). This investigation is going on in addition to another investigation twitter is already going through. That is the EU investigation for data-collection issues under GDPR rules.

DPC head of communications, Graham X Doyle said to Bloomberg, “The DPC opened a statutory inquiry in late 2018 into Twitter’s obligation under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) to implement technical and organisational measures to ensure the security and safeguarding of the personal data it processes following the receipt of a number of breach notifications from the company since May 25, 2018. This inquiry is ongoing.”

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Xiaomi Mi 9 renders reveal a bezel-less display with a waterdrop notch

Avani Bagga
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Xiaomi Mi 9 renders reveal a bezel-less display with a waterdrop notch

Chinese smartphone brand Xiaomi has sent out its invite for the Mobile World Congress 2019. The company has its event scheduled for February 24 and it is being speculated that it will be launching the 5G variant of its Mi Mix 3 smartphone. Some reports also suggest that the smartphone maker will be seen launching its Mi 9 smartphone at MWC 2019.

The possibility of this happening is high too considering that earlier reports also said that Xiaomi Mi 9 smartphone will be launched in February. Even if the Mi 9 doesn’t show up at Mobile World Congress, it will be launched soon because lately there have been a number of leaks and reports about the device that have surfaced online. And now, the first renders of the smartphone have been leaked and they showcase the Mi 9 from almost all angles.

In the renders, you can see the nearly bezel-less smartphone with a waterdrop-shaped notch on its top. It is worth noticing that the notch on the Mi 9 smartphone looks smaller than the one we saw on Mi Play or Redmi Note 7 smartphones. The bezels of the device are also way thinner than what we have seen on other Xiaomi devices. Even the chin of the smartphone is extremely thin. In other words, this means that we get more screen-to-body ratio and better viewing angles.

Considering that there’s no physical fingerprint sensor on the device, we can expect to see an in-display fingerprint scanner. We should mention that Xiaomi’s CEO has showcased the next generation UD fingerprint sensor earlier this week. According to Xiaomi, this fingerprint scanner is fast as well as reliable. Considering the Mi 9 is the company’s flagship device, we can fully expect to see the new fingerprint scanner present on it.

Mi 9

Speaking further about the renders of Mi 9 smartphone, the device can be seen coloured in Blue and from what it looks like, the handset’s back panel is made of glass. Prior reports claimed that Mi 9 will feature a triple rear camera setup among which two cameras will be placed in a cylindrical camera module parted with a flash. The third camera lens will be placed right below the two sensors in a separate module. The renders confirm this report about the smartphone’s cameras.

Mi 9 2

Coming to the specifications of Xiaomi’s Mi 9, the device has been reported to come with a 48MP primary sensor, an 18MP secondary sensor and a third 8MP sensor. It has also been reported that Xiaomi Mi 9 will be powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 855 processor with X24 modem. As of now, not much other than this is known about the smartphone, but we do know that two model numbers of the device – M1902F1T/A and MI1903F2A – have been spotted.

Image courtesy: hi-tech.mail.ru

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OnePlus introduces it’s ‘OnePlus Assured Upgrade’ program on republic day

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OnePlus introduces it’s ‘OnePlus Assured Upgrade’ program on republic day

Today, OnePlus which is one of the leading smartphone makers announced the first-ever ‘OnePlus Assured Upgrade program’. This program will be based on the purchase of the OnePlus 6T from January 19, 2019. Buyers, as a part of this sale can get guaranteed buyback value of a maximum of 70% purchase value. The minimum of purchase value on the other hand is 40%. You can then sell your old OnePlus Device on Amazon.in and OnePlus exclusive offline stores between 3-12 months from purchase date of the device, on upgrade to a future OnePlus flagship.

The OnePlus upgrade program is available for purchase at an additional cost of Rs 199. Vikas Agarwal, General Manager of OnePlus India said, “At OnePlus, our constant endeavour is to innovate and delight our loyal community of users. Our community has always been technologically forward and a vast majority of them also upgrade to subsequent OnePlus devices.  With the ‘OnePlus Assured Upgrade’ program, we are excited to make upgrading to future OnePlus flagships even easier.” Also, this republic day, OnePlus is going to roll out limited period offers for prospective OnePlus 6T buyers.

The January 19 and January 20 offers include Rs 1,500 instant discount on every OnePlus 6T smartphone through HDFC Bank credit and debit cards on Amazon.in. Those customers who buy the OnePlus 6T from the official website, OnePlus exclusive offline stores, Croma or reliance digital outlets are eligible for Rs 1,500 cashback. Users can avail up to 6 months of No-cost EMI—those who purchase the mobile phone on Amazon.in, oneplus.in, croma, Reliance digital outlets and all OnePlus exclusive offline stores.

The OnePlus 6T starts at Rs 37,999 and is available in ‘black mirror’ colour variant on Amazon.in. The smartphone comes with an Optic AMOLED 6.41-inch capacitive touchscreen. The screen resolution is 1,080×2,340 and the aspect ratio is 19.5:9. The handset runs on Android 9.0 Pie and is powered by Qualcomm SDM845 Snapdragon 845 octa-core processor. Storage options include 128GB and 256GB. The former comes with either 6GB RAM or 8GB RAM whereas the latter comes with 8GB RAM variant.

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PUBG Mobile Season 5: Ten things you should know about the update

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PUBG Mobile Season 5: Ten things you should know about the update

Do you love playing PUBG Mobile? If the answer is yes, then you should know that PUBG’s 0.10.5 update has now been released and with it, the Season 5 of the popular game has begun. The update has got a number of new changes to the game including the Royale Pass Season 5, some cool new outfits, a new theme and some new weapons. Here, we list down everything that you should know about PUBG Mobile’s latest update.

The Mk47 Mutant is now available

PUBG game 1

Were you waiting for the Mk47 weapon to come to PUBG Mobile? If yes, then your wait is now over. Once you update to PUBG 0.10.5 update, the weapon will be available to you in all the maps of the game including Erangel, Miramar, Vikendi and Sanhok. The weapon has two firing modes and can fire 7.62mm rounds. It is worth noticing that the weapon was already available in the PC version of the game.

Changes in Vikendi map

According to the changelog that has been shared by the company, there are two main changes to look forward to as far as Vikendi map is concerned. The first is that Vikendi will now be available as a map while creating rooms. And the second is that with the update, its loot has been tuned.

Laser Sight has been added to the game

PUBG Mobile 6

The latest update of PUBG Mobile gets Laser Sight to the game that can be found in all the maps. The feature lets users lower the rail attachment that can help in reducing spread when firing from the hip.

The Classic voice is back

PUBG Mobile 11

PUBG Mobile’s Season 5 also gets the Classic voice back to the game. Users will be able to the Classic voice in the Settings of the game and they can enable it from there.

A change in Spawn Island announcements

With the update, users can now enable and disable Spawn Island announcements from the settings of the game. So if you don’t find them useful, you can now turn them off.

Royale Pass Season 5

The update also gets with itself the Royale Pass Season 5. So there are more premium outfits and taunting emotes that will now be available as rewards. The game will also have server-wide Pass upgrade events.

Other changes

Other changes in PUBG Mobile include a ranked mode, an updated model for Swimmer Sandals, tweaks in Share for Deals feature and Clan benefit sharing, an updated avatar display of Crew Challenge winner and some adjustments in Shop. Users will also be able to access supplies from the main menu of the game itself.

No zombies…yet.

PUBG Mobile 8

 

Although there are no zombies present on PUBG Mobile’s new season yet, reports suggest that they will be added soon. A PUBG Mobile Zombies mode has also been reported about and it may get rolled out with PUBG Mobile’s 0.11.0 update.

Must be downloaded on Wi-Fi

PUBG Mobile 2

We should mention that the update weighs around 190MB and can be downloaded in-game. However, considering the size of the update, we recommend you to download it only when your smartphone is connected to Wi-Fi.

The update is being rolled out in a phased manner

pubg mobile vikendi 3

Don’t panic if you don’t immediately get the update of PUBG Mobile Season 5 as it is being rolled out slowly in a phased manner.

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Nikon expands its product line up with the new COOLPIX B600

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Nikon expands its product line up with the new COOLPIX B600

Nikon COOLPIX B600 is the latest prosumer camera the company has launched. The company claims that this camera leads to an enhanced imaging experience. Some of its qualities that sets it apart from other Nikon products include delivering high quality still images and movies, high power-zoom model, superior operability. Also, it offers versatility across various photography situations. The Nikon COOLPIX B600 has a 60x optical zoom, which can zoom on to far away objects easily.

Sajjan Kumar, Managing director of Nikon India commented, “The latest addition to our ever-evolving product line-up exemplifies Nikon’s desire to provide an imaging experience that differs from the smart devices, amidst the widespread technological advances we see in consumer products today. Great for the everyday user looking to capture high-quality memories in both stills and videos, the COOLPIX B600 promise impressive capabilities suitable for use in any situation.” The 60x optical zoom has a large range of focal length.

The focal length begins at the wide-angle 24mm equivalent, extending to the super-telephoto 1440mm equivalent. There are 19 options in the scene mode, which helps the camera settings to be optimised for capturing high quality images. The Nikon COOLPIX B600 has extensive creative functions and multifunctional Full HD video capabilities that offer a wide range of imaging possibilities. A pre-focus function (Pre-AF) and target finding AF is built so that you can automatically achieve sharp focus in zoom or low-lit shooting scenarios.

The camera is said to be lightweight and has a 120x dynamic fine zoom apart from 60x optical zoom. The Nikon COOLPIX B600 camera has a 16MP resolution, dynamic range up to ISO 6400 sensitivity and optical vibration reduction capabilities ensure picturesque perfection regardless of the light conditions. There are 19 scene modes to ensure that the pictures and movies are always optimised. There are Full HD multifunctional video capabilities that are added to ensure memories get captured in footage and sound.  The instant movie-editing function can be done on spot during playback. The price of the camera is still under wraps and will be announced in some time.

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iPad mini 5, new affordable iPad expected to launch in first half of 2019

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iPad mini 5, new affordable iPad expected to launch in first half of 2019

In the first half of 2019, iPad mini 5 and a new entry-level iPad model are reportedly set to launch. The iPad mini 4 hasn’t yet been upgraded that was launched back in September, 2015. Also, the company hasn’t yet launched the new entry level iPad models. However, the iPad Pro has been said to bring some iterations with the latest updates that happened in October, 2018. There was another report which talks in regard with the launch of the iPad mini 5 and two entry level iPads.

The report reiterated the previous news on the matter that the gadgets will be launched in the first half of this year. Also, the touch panel manufacturers, General Interface Solution (GIS) and TPK Holding are expected to be ready for the launch. Though we don’t know what the specifications of the gadgets are, we know that the iPad mini 5 can sport a vertically stacked dual camera setup and include a headphone jack. The upcoming Apple’s Spring event is supposed to unveil the iPad mini 5.

The predecessor of the iPad mini 5, the iPad Mini 4 has a display of 7.9-inch with a resolution of 2,048×1,536 pixels. The screen has an aspect ratio of 4:3 and the device is powered by a second-generation Apple A8 SoC. In terms of memory, there are four variants which includes 12GB, 32GB, 64GB and 128GB. All these storage variants are a part of a single RAM variant of 2GB. In terms of camera, there is a single rear sensor of 8MP and a front sensor of 1.2MP.

Connectivity options include WiFi 802.11, Bluetooth 4.0, GPS, and USB 2.0. The tablet packs a huge battery of 5,124mAh. It comes in three colour options—space gray, silver and gold. Coming back to the iPad 5, Apple hasn’t yet revealed the launch date. But considering that the tech giant hosts an event around March and April we can assume that the new Apple device is going to launch in the same time frame.

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Samsung Galaxy S10+ live photo confirms the presence of dual selfie cameras

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Samsung Galaxy S10+ live photo confirms the presence of dual selfie cameras

South Korea technology giant Samsung has announced its Galaxy Unpacked event that is scheduled to take place in San Francisco on February 20. Although the company has not revealed what it has up its sleeve for the event, it is quite evident that Samsung will be launching its three Galaxy S10 smartphones at Galaxy Unpacked. These will include Samsung Galaxy S10, Galaxy S10+ and a lite version of the device. The smartphone giant has also hinted that its much-talked-about foldable Galaxy F may also be launched at the event. But only time will tell if that will happen.

However, a month before its launch, Samsung Galaxy S10+ has reportedly appeared in a live photo that has been shared on Reddit by a user named hissick27. The image that has been shared confirms the prior report that claims that Samsung Galaxy S10+ will come with dual selfie cameras on the top right of its display. It can also be seen in the picture that the bezels of the smartphone are even thinner than that of Samsung Galaxy S9+.

While the poster confirmed that the smartphone in the image shared is Samsung Galaxy S10+, he removed the watermark on the screen with the device’s serial number and his employee ID. It is being said that the image looks like it has been taken on the bus which was either going to Samsung Electronics’ Suwon campus or coming back from it. It is also worth noticing that the smartphone in the picture is kept inside its pre-production case, which was probably used to hide the design until it is launched.

According to reports, the upcoming smartphone is lighter than Samsung Galaxy S9, in spite of being of the same size. We should also mention that the hole on top of the Infinity-O display of Samsung Galaxy S10+ is not noticeable in the image at all. The smartphone’s display has an ultrasonic in-display fingerprint scanner embedded in it. The on-screen selfie camera, the in-display sensor and the dual selfie cameras are the key differences that Samsung Galaxy S10+ has as compared to its predecessor.

samsung S10+

We should also mention that the company has already used the Infinity-O display, that comes with a hole on it to house the selfie camera, in Samsung Galaxy A8s smartphone. The same technology was also seen in Honor View 20 and Huawei Nova 4.

Image courtesy: Reddit

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Xiaomi will bring a bigger unique fingerprint sensor to it’s next wave of smartphones

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Xiaomi will bring a bigger unique fingerprint sensor to it’s next wave of smartphones

Compared to its Chinese rivals, Xiaomi has been slower to adopt the in-display fingerprint sensor. Except its high-end variants of the Mi 8 series, none of the Xiaomi smartphones have the in-display fingerprint sensor. Now we have got to know that Xiaomi is working on an advanced version of this technology. Lin Bin, the co-founder of Xiaomi has been reportedly seen in a video demonstrating a prototype phone with a new larger in-display fingerprint sensor. We have learnt that this fingerprint sensor has an active area of 25x50mm.

Users can tap anywhere in order to unlock the phone, unlike in previous phones where the fingerprint scanner was small enough to fit just one finger in it. This advanced version will be able to unlock the phone with a single tap rather than holding the scanner, which had to be done in earlier generation smartphones. To speak about the fingerprint sensors, there is more to the story when we pay attention to other brands. And we mean phenomenal, next-generation technology.

Vivo showcased a concept phone called the Apex that featured a “half-screen” sensor. The phone was showcased during last year’s Mobile World Congress. According to The Verge, it is more like a third of the touchscreen in reality. To recall, Vivo incorporated the in-display fingerprint sensors last year, and tech-giant Samsung began following this trend later. Oppo announced this week it will launch a few phones that will have fingerprint sensors 15 times bigger than that of their predecessors.

The fingerprint sensor in the display is a good innovation and it gives any mobile a much cleaner and smoother look, since it takes out the regular fingerprint scanner dig from the back of the smartphone. We reckon with the display technology becoming more advance the fingerprint scanner will also find better use. Like double tapping or press and hold for activating some features of the smartphone. At the moment what users are looking at is that the in-display fingerprint reader should open their smartphone very-very quickly. Which is not the case in many smartphones.

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Android Q’s first beta build leaked, shows system-wide Dark Theme

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Android Q’s first beta build leaked, shows system-wide Dark Theme

The latest Android version – Pie – is far from being rolled out to masses, but this fact is surely not deterring Google’s team of developers to work on the next version. Some reports about Android Q – Pie’s successor – being in development have already started surfacing online. And now, XDA Developers has shared images of an early build of Google’s upcoming Android version that is being tested on Google Pixel 3 XL and spoken about the operating system’s features.

The ROM’s build date was just last week and it is shown to come with February 2019’s security patch and Google’s AOSP internal master. We should mention that since this is an early build of the Android version, a number of features may not be present in it and will be added on later. Nevertheless, it gives us an insight into some interesting features that we will get to see in Android Q.

Among the most notable changes in Android Q, according to this beta build, will be a system-wide Dark Theme. The report suggests that the Dark Theme can be scheduled to go live for a certain time period on the device or just be there permanently. Furthermore, it can also be used on third-party apps which don’t have a dedicated dark mode.

XDA claims that it used it with a number of apps including Facebook, and it worked smoothly. It is worth noticing that Dark Theme is one of the most-awaited features as Google itself has admitted that it can help in prolonging the battery life of the smartphone.

Android Q

Other than this, the permissions menu has also undergone an overhaul and it will reportedly give users more control over apps’ access in real-time. So, there will be an option of viewing each app’s permissions individually and the new Android version will enable you to stop the microphone or GPS when you wish to. The new Android version will also make it easier to uninstall apps or to force close them. You would also be able to see in the notifications which apps have access to your location.

Android Q 2

Another very notable change that can be seen is the ‘desktop mode’. According to the report, the new ‘Force Desktop Mode’ can be found in the Developer Options menu and its description says “force experimental desktop mode on secondary displays.” From what it seems like, Google may be working on a feature that is similar to Samsung Dex. However, we will have to wait for a more updated build in order to see how it functions.

Android Q 3

A feature that is making a comeback is ‘Freeform windows’ and it can be enabled by long tapping the app icon in the recent apps menu. In addition to this, there will also be options like launching the emergency dialler via the power menu and the option of taking screenshots from the same menu. Other features of the Android Q beta build include an off switch for all sensors, additional options for locking the screen in case a trusted device is nearby, is added or removed and revamped pop-up notifications.

Android Q 4

We should mention again that this is just an early look at what Google has in store with its next Android version and it is likely to undergo changes before it is fully launched.

Image courtesy: XDA Developers

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Moto G7 appears on Geekbench, 3GB RAM and Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 chipset confirmed

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Moto G7 appears on Geekbench, 3GB RAM and Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 chipset confirmed

Motorola has been in the works with Moto G7 since quite some time now. We have seen quite a few leaks and rumours about the smartphone. But all that is about to come to rest. The Moto G7 is ready to be unveiled in Feb 2019, during Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Spain. Before that the company must have tested the phone out on the popular mobile benchmark, Geekbench 4, on which the mobile has appeared.

It is confirmed now that the Moto G7 will indeed come with Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 chipset and will also carry 3GB RAM in it. The 8 core CPU will have clock speed of 1.8 GHz. The smartphone is also slated to get 64GB internal storage with the option to expand it further using a microSD card. The Geekbench score shows that the smartphone has scored 1,260 points in single-core test and 4,759 points in multi-core CPU test.

Android 9 Pie out-of-the-box is what is expected on this smartphone, in terms of operating system. A 4GB version has also been in the talsk and was spotted in a few reports. Three other phones are also expected to launch with the Moto G7. Namely, Moto G Power, Moto G7 play and Moto G7 Plus, which should have a bigger battery when compared to the regular Moto G7.

There have been tips that the Moto G7 will come with a 6.4-inch display with a waterdrop notch. It should pack 12MP plus 5MP rear cameras and is likely to come with 16-megapixel selfie camera. As far as its battery is concerned, this mobile phone should have 3,500mAh battery with the bigger sibling Moto G7 Plus getting over 4,000 mAh. Corning Gorilla glass is what is expected to protect the screen.

There have been lot of rumours about the Moto G7 phone lately, but this seems to be the most solid one. The latest to churn in the rumour mill is the comeback of the Moto RAZR phone in a much cleaner smarter avatar. It will be a folding pone, but will the company be able to keep its bezels as thin as the original one is something to be seen.

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Google agrees to buy Fossil smartwatch tech for $40 million, Fossil shares scale up

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Google agrees to buy Fossil smartwatch tech for $40 million, Fossil shares scale up

After Fossil decided to share its smartwatch tech with Google, its shares have increased drastically by up to 8 percent. Fossil uses Google’s WearOS software in order to build its smartwatches. Though struggling against Apple watch, the Fossil smartwatch has also gained a lot of popularity and demand over time. And the company claims that smartwatches are its fastest growing category. Under the sale deal, Fossil is going to transfer some of the portions of its R&D team to the Alphabet owned company, that is directly responsible for selling the intellectual property. The deal has been set at USD 40 million.

Stacey Burr, vice president of product management, WearOS by Google said, “The addition of Fossil Group’s technology and team to Google demonstrates our commitment to the wearables industry by enabling a diverse portfolio of smartwatches and supporting the ever-evolving needs of the vitality-seeking, on-the-go consumer. The addition of Fossil Group’s technology and team to Google demonstrates our commitment to the wearables industry by enabling a diverse portfolio of smartwatches and supporting the ever-evolving needs of the vitality-seeking, on-the-go consumer”.

Fossil has specialised in the field of hybrid smartwatches. The touchscreen in their devices looks similar to that of other WearOS devices and the Apple Watch. Hybrid watches are something which Fossil has had a strong foothold on taking into account its design and the company’s manufacturing experience in traditional accessories market. However, on the same note, Fossil is lagging behind because of its slow adoption of technologies like GPS and heart-rate tracking.

Greg McKelvey, Fossil’s executive vice president strategy and digital said, “new product innovation that’s not yet hit the market.” Talking about Google, this could be its huge chance to give WearOS a push and become formidable in comparison to the Apple Watch. Only time will tell whether Google refines the software of the smartwatch or releases an official Pixel Watch of its own design using Fossil’s tech. However, one thing is certain, the fact that the Fossil smartwatch is being given so much attention means that it has a lot of potential left in it.

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LG G8 renders and 360-degree video leaked

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LG G8 renders and 360-degree video leaked

LG’s next flagship, G8, has started making headlines. It is being said that LG G8 smartphone is said to be the successor of the company’s G7+ ThinQ and would be first unveiled at the Mobile World Congress 2019 that is scheduled to take place in Barcelona, Spain in February. And now, the first renders of the upcoming smartphone have surfaced online. We should mention that these renders showing LG G8 have been leaked by 91mobiles in collaboration with Onleaks.

LG G8 doesn’t look very different from its predecessor in the renders leaked by the website. However, some subtle changes can be seen in the smartphone. These include the horizontally stacked rear camera module and the missing Laser autofocus. The back panel of the smartphone can also be seen to have the fingerprint scanner embedded on it.

It is worth noticing that although the company has already launched the V40 ThinQ smartphone with a triple rear camera setup, for its flagship device, it is sticking with dual rear cameras. The front panel of the LG G8 smartphone is shown to comes with dual cameras, so that’s something a lot of selfie lovers may like. The renders show the smartphone to sport a 6.1-inch display that has an iPhone-like notch on the top and has an aspect ratio of 19.5:9. The device has been codenamed Alpha and it reportedly measures around 152x72x8.4mm.

LG G8 can be seen with a USB Type-C port, a speaker grille and a 3.5mm headphone jack at the bottom and the device has its power button and SIM tray sandwiched on the right. On the left edge, it is shown to have the volume rocker and Google Assistant buttons. It is worth noticing that the left edge of LG G8 has an additional hole above the volume rocker buttons, which may be an additional microphone of the device.

LG-G8 3

Coming to the specifications of LG G8, not much is known about the smartphone as of now. Reports have suggested that the device will be powered by the latest Snapdragon 855 SoC. However, if the smartphone launches next month as it has been tipped to be, we would not be surprised to see the Snapdragon 845 processor on it.

LG-G8 4

Another report has hinted that the device will come with ‘sound on display’ speakers, which will use vibration and bone conduction to create sound directly from the screen of the device and leaving the speaker with nothing to do. The main reason to deploy this technology is to maximise the screen space on the smartphone. It has also been reported that the device will come with a non-foldable second screen. Apart from this, not much is known about the device yet. We will update you as more information comes in.

Image and video courtesy: 91mobiles, @Onleaks

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