Xiaomi thinks its next big opportunity lies in India
China’s smartphone market isn’t the hotbed of new customers that it once was, which means that companies now need to look elsewhere for fresh profits. Plenty believe that India is the next big thing and Xiaomi is putting money where its mouth is by setting up a manufacturing facility in the country. The firm has teamed up with Foxconn to produce devices from a base in Sri City in Andhra Pradesh, India’s hotbed of science, engineering and technology talent. The first piece of hardware to roll off the production line is the Redmi 2 Prime, a localized version of the company’s Redmi 2, which is available today for 6,999 Rupees ($110).
India’s probably going to become the buzzword of 2016, with lots of companies directing efforts to produce cheap phones for its booming market. That process will be helped by Google, which is revamping its Android One program in an attempt to produce high quality devices that cost as little as $50. Unfortunately, Google’s efforts are likely to be stymied due to the country’s weak mobile infrastructure, at least for right now.
As for the Redmi 2 Prime, it’s certainly got a respectable spec-list, with the 4.7-inch device packing a Snapdragon 410 and dual-SIM card support. Rounding out the vital statistics you’ll find 2GB RAM and 16GB storage, which will delight anyone who’s spent more than half an hour with the Aakash 2.
[Image Credit: Hugo Barra/Twitter]
Filed under:
Cellphones, Google
Source:
Xiaomi (Facebook)
Tags: Android, AndroidOne, google, India, Xiaomi
Cardiovascular health app is the UK’s first ResearchKit project
One of the first health apps built with Apple’s ResearchKit platform is now available to download outside the US. MyHeart Counts, which was first announced at Apple’s “Spring Forward” event in March, has been opened up to iPhone users in the UK and Hong Kong for the first time. Once you’ve opted in, you’ll be asked every few months to take part in a weeklong test, which includes seven days of activity monitoring, a 6-minute walk and a submission of personal risk-factor information. Stanford University will offer a review of your heart’s health in return, as well as some advice for improving general wellness, but the idea here is to make it as easy as possible to become a volunteer. ResearchKit was, after all, invented to help scientists and medical professionals conduct large-scale studies. There are over one billion iOS devices in the world, so if even a fraction of those take some time to use the app, that’s a trove of new information that will benefit medical research.
[Image Credit: AP Photo/Eric Risberg]
Filed under:
Cellphones, Apple
Via:
Wired
Source:
Stanford University
Tags: apple, cardiovascular, fitness, health, heart, medicine, myheartcounts, researchkit, stanforduniversity
Opera revenue growth disappoints, company considers finding buyer
Opera Software, developer of the Opera browser, has announced the company may go up on the sales block “in response to strategic interest in the company from a number of parties.” Even if the company is not sold, the board is considering other forms of partnership as they commence a “strategic review” with the help of Morgan Stanley International and ABG Sundal Collier during the second half of 2015. It is unclear whether there is a connection, but Opera Software also released second-quarter revenue results which missed forecasts by analysts and they had to cut their full-year expectations.
According to Opera Software, the company missed expectations for revenue growth during the quarter due to weaker than expected results from their mobile advertising business. The company now anticipates 2015 revenues will be $600 – $618 million, down from previously issued guidance of $630 – $650 million. Analysts had projected the company should have $642 million in revenue for 2015, which is an increase from 2014 revenue of $481 million.
This is the second time in the last six months that Opera Software has had to cut their revenue outlook after a similar move this past February.
While announcing financial results, Opera Software also revealed they had acquired Bemobi, a Latin America subscription service for mobile games and apps. The acquisition cost $139.5 million with an initial cash payout of $29.5 million and the rest tied to Bemobi’s future performance. Based on the structure of the deal, the transaction “will be self-funded after closing.”
If Opera were sold, who would you like to see buy them and what should they do with the browser?
source: Reuters
Come comment on this article: Opera revenue growth disappoints, company considers finding buyer
How to transform your Android device into a professional camera
Smartphones have essentially replaced point-and-shoot cameras for not only being more accessible and convenient but also in providing superior image quality. There’s virtually no reason to have a point-and-shoot camera anymore when you’re already carrying it with you wherever you go.
In fact, some smartphones excel in taking photos so much that they’re used for professional photo taking, too. They might not be as on par as a DSLR camera, but they do come pretty close. However, there are other ways to take your smartphone’s camera quality beyond the stock options. There are a lot of accessories and apps available that all work towards that common goal: producing the best image possible for a smartphone.
External Lenses
A camera lens attachment isn’t required to take a professional photo with your smartphone, but they can certainly help a lot, especially if you get a fish eye Lens or wide-angle lens. A fish eye lens will not only give you a wide angle, but can also help you take a focused and even spherical view of an object.
Wide-angle lenses are pretty self-explanatory. As the name implies, it will give you a wider field of view on the sides of the photo. They’re most commonly used for capturing gorgeous landscape photos, sporting events, and weddings. Of course, you aren’t limited to just those scenarios — put your imagination to use and capture something beautiful with a wide angle lens!
Neewer’s 3-in-1 Lens Kit is not only a quality solution to getting yourself an attachable lens, but it is also priced at an affordable rate and works with most smartphones, including newer devices like the Samsung Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge.
[Amazon]
Software
Software plays a big part in producing great images, and usually the stock camera app on your smartphone is your go-to choice as it’s often the best option out there. For instance, take a look at Apple’s World Gallery, full of shots taken on the stock iOS 8 camera app. While Apple does really well when it comes to cameras, Samsung, Motorola HTC, and others do just as well with their stock camera apps, too.
Of course, if you’re not happy with the stock camera app, there are plenty of great options in the Play Store.
Google offers a responsive and easy-to-use free camera in the Play Store with important features such as HDR+, Panorama, and more. It has some unique features, too, such as the ability to create Photo Spheres.
HD Camera is another great easy-to-use option packed full of awesome features. In addition to the usual HDR and Panorama features, it also has different shooting modes such as Timer if you want to get yourself in the photo. There are some other photo quality settings, such as white balance, exposure adjustments, and so on.
If you’re running Android 5.0 or higher, I’d highly recommend just using the stock Camera application. It allows you to shoot in RAW format, at least as far as some Nexus devices and a few other brands go, allowing for better photo quality and editing on the computer at a later time.
Accessories
Another handy thing to keep in mind when shooting professional photos on Android is the accessories you might need. Are you shooting group wedding photos? Your own personal family photo? Then you might need a smartphone-compatible tripod.
If you have a tripod already, this ChargerCity tripod attachment will bode you well. If not, you’ll the full set. Really, any tripod will work here, so you won’t need to go all out. Amazon sells their very own tripod fairly cheap, and based off of product reviews, it works extremely well.
Lighting
The final thing to keep in mind is your lighting. Nothing is worse than a poorly lit photo, especially if you’re doing a shoot for a video or a bunch of shots on a device you’re reviewing. The lighting situation will usually make or break your photos, and in the case of a product review, you almost always want your photos to pop.
The LimeStudio SoftBox light kit is perfect for a situation like this. They can be rather pricey, but they usually pay for themselves if you’re doing professional video and photography. You can never go wrong with these, and they’ll last you a long time.
[Amazon]
Wrap Up
You don’t necessarily need all of these extra goodies to take professional photos on your smartphone. When it comes down to it, you just need your camera settings set correctly, a good angle, good lighting, an eye for detail, and a moment worth capturing.
What do you use to take photos with your Android device?
Come comment on this article: How to transform your Android device into a professional camera
iPad Mini 4 Again Rumored to Be Smaller Version of iPad Air 2 in New Design Renders
The upcoming iPad mini 4 will be the smallest the line-up has seen, equivalent to a miniaturized version of the iPad Air 2, according to a new design render video shared by uSwitch and Nowhereelse.fr‘s OnLeaks channel. The render gives the iPad mini 4 a thickness of 6.1mm, the same as the iPad Air 2, and less than the current 7.5mm thickness of the iPad mini 3.
The design render video backs up a part of a previous rumor that claimed the next iPad mini would adopt the slimmer form factor of the current line-up of iPad Air models, alongside the Air’s 8-megapixel rear-facing iSight camera and a fully laminated display with anti-reflective coating. Today’s report gives no news on the iPad mini 4’s internal upgrades, nor its camera or display changes, but Apple will undoubtedly aim to make the new generation of mini a bit more substantial than the simple addition of Touch ID that was introduced with last year’s model.
Apple is expected to reveal the new line-up of iPads at the next major company keynote, rumored as of now to be taking place on September 9. Alongside the iPad mini and iPad Air, the company is likely to showcase the so-called “iPhone 6s” and “iPhone 6s Plus” at the event, and possibly even finally reveal the next-generation Apple TV set-top box.
[Deal] Learn anything you want to know about IT for only $59
Last week, we had a bunch of great deals and steals to bring to everyone, and today is no different. We hope that you’re actually getting some use out of these, and have jumped on a few of them. In the meantime, be sure to check out today’s deal and all of the AndroidGuys deals going forward.
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You can find this, and many other great tech bargains through our Deals Page. Backed by Stack Commerce, there are daily promos, giveaways, freebies, and much more!
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What to do when your Galaxy S6 won’t turn on
Many people consider removable batteries to be important for when you’ve run out of juice but another key element is to be able to restart a handset when it freezes, just by pulling the battery out. On past Galaxy flagships, this was the easiest way to soft reset the handset, but with the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge, this is no longer possible due to the non-removable battery.
A couple of days ago, my Galaxy S6 Edge decided to turn off and wouldn’t turn on; although it showed signs of life thanks to a blinking red notification light, the display was completely black leaving me wondering whether I had a hardware fault. Luckily, fixing this proved to be really simple, so here’s what to do when your Galaxy S6 or Galaxy S6 Edge won’t turn on.
Galaxy S6 Edge in video:
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Restarting the Galaxy S6 or Galaxy S6 Edge
For most issues, restarting your phone can certainly fix the problem and it’s recommended to perform this step if your handset ever becomes slow and unresponsive, is draining battery quickly or you receive error messages in the camera.
To restart your Galaxy S6, you can use one of the following methods:
- Press and hold Galaxy S6 power button for a few seconds, then follow the on-screen instructions.
- Press and hold Galaxy S6 power button until the phone restarts.
- Press and hold the Power button and the Volume buttons simultaneously for more than 7 seconds, if the phone is not responsive.
Still didn’t work? Let’s try this
If you’ve tried the above steps and they haven’t worked, connect your handset to a charger and if there’s still no signs of life, you’ll need to try the steps below.
When performing these steps, you’ll definitely want to follow them in order and for me personally (as well as many other people), step number 4 (highlighted in green) was the one that bought my phone back to life.
- Press and hold Power button for more than 20 seconds to check whether it turns on your phone or not.
- Press and hold Volume Up button for a few seconds and without releasing the Volume up button, press and hold Power button until your screen displays something.
- Press and hold Volume Up button for a few seconds and without releasing the Volume up button, press and hold the Power + Home buttons until your screen displays something.
- Press and hold Volume Down button for a few seconds, without releasing the Volume down button, press and hold Power button (totally 2 buttons) until your screen displays something.
- Press and hold Volume Down button for a few seconds and without releasing the Volume down button, press and hold Power button + Home button until your screen displays something.
If you get anything (such as Download mode) on the screen, you can just press and hold the power button to reboot normally. It is not necessary to do anything else. - Press and hold Volume up + Volume down + Power buttons until your screen displays something.
If these steps have failed, you’ll then need to visit your local Samsung care centre as it’s likely your handset has a hardware fault. Did these steps work for you? Let us know your views in the comments below.
The future of Android One may be in sub Rs. 3,000 handsets, says Google
It would probably be fair to say that the Android One program hasn’t quite had the impact that Google was hoping for. Despite offering some rather good hardware at a reasonable price, the low-cost local competition ended up offering better value for money, updates seemed delayed and the second wave of phones never really materialized. According to a recent interview with Rajan Anandan, Google’s managing director for India and Southwest Asia, the initiative is scheduled for some necessarly changes, including the possibility of even cheaper handsets.
Anandan admitted that the program had “not delivered to expectations” so far, amid supply chain issues and phone import shortages from China. Importantly though, he wants to retarget Android One and the Android operating system at the “sweet spot” of India’s cost-conscious market, with smartphones preferably priced between just Rs. 2,000 and 3,000 ($30 – $47), rather than around $100 or greater.
The Lava Pixel V1 launched in India recently at a price of Rs. 11,349 ($175), while the new i-mobile iQ II costs 4,444 THB ($126 USD) in Thailand. However, there are a lot of smartphones at this price point already.
Even lower cost smartphones packed with an up to date Android OS are likely to be a tempting prospect. However, cost is just a small part of Google’s plans to win over more customers in India. The company is facing tough competition from companies designing software that is compatible with some of the slower data connections in the country and Google is still yet to properly cater for locals who don’t speak English as their first language.
“There are several battlegrounds where we are not winning [and] local search is clearly the one where it’s most apparent,” – Rajan Anandan
To combat these issues, Google is looking to invest in a program to bring small local businesses online and develop more products that work with slower data connections. Google recently launched offline versions of YouTube and Maps in India, along with a slimmed down version of its search engine. These ideas may help the company compete with the growing local start-ups, which is important for Google if it wants to be influential when the next billion Indian consumers enter the mobile market.
“10 years from now a billion Indians will be online and when we have a billion Indians online we think that’s going to make a huge difference to the global internet economy.”
This is all part of a long-term plan for Google, which will see the company working with manufacturers to help bring even more affordable and high-quality devices to market over the next few years. Android One could probably use a jump-start to put the project back on track, does this plan sound like a smart idea to you?
My BT app lets you restart your router remotely
If you’re a BT broadband, mobile or TV customer, it’s now a tad easier to manage your account from a phone. BT has released a new app called “My BT” for iOS and Android, which lets you check recent bills, track hardware orders and review the packages that you’re currently signed up to. More useful, perhaps, is the ability to check the status of BT services in your area — for instance, when your home broadband suddenly crumbles — and even alter an engineer appointment. The app will also offer assistance for improving your home network, and, if you’re really lazy, give you the option to restart your BT Home Hub remotely. So when your connection is next on the fritz, you no longer have to get out of bed and break your Netflix marathon to do the whole “off and on” router routine.
Filed under:
Cellphones
Source:
BT
Tags: android, app, bt, CustomerService, ios, mybt, smartphone
Coder wins a thousand Twitter contests using a bot
You’ve probably seen “retweet to win” contests on Twitter, and maybe even won a t-shirt, concert tickets or marshmallows. But computer engineer Hunter Scott completely automated the idea and created a bot that entered every Twitter contest it could find — 165,000 in total. As a result, he claims to have won four contests a day for nine months, for a total haul of over a thousand prizes. A lot of that swag was terrible, and a lot of it he couldn’t accept. But the interesting part was how he allegedly managed to beat Twitter’s system.
The most difficult part of this project was preventing the bot from getting banned by Twitter.
Scott said that “the most difficult part of this project was preventing the bot from getting banned by Twitter.” The social network has limits in place to stop such activities: unless you have a high follower count, you can only follow up to 2,000 people yourself, for instance. At the same time, you can’t follow and unfollow users too rapidly or retweet too often. Luckily, Scott’s Python script was able to balance all that and follow every single contest it found.
He said his win rate was “pretty miserable” considering the low quality of the prizes. He couldn’t claim the best one, a $4,000 trip to New York’s fashion week because of taxes and fact that he didn’t live near New York. Nevertheless, he was fond of a few them, especially a cowboy hat autographed by actors in a Mexican soap opera. “It really embodies the totally random outcome of these contests,” he said. Scott never revealed the name of his Twitter bot, so we’ve reached out to verify his claims — but the prizes appear to check out.
Filed under:
Internet
Source:
Hunter Scott
Tags: contests, HunterScott, Python, retweet, Twitter, Twitter bot
AIVAnet 