Honor 5X and Honor Holly 2 Plus launching in India
Huawei’s Honor brand has two new smartphones heading to the Indian market very soon, the Honor 5X and the Honor Holly 2 Plus.
We recently reviewed the Honor 5X and found the handset to be one of the best budget-friendly smartphones on the market right now. The device packs a 5.5-inch Full-HD display and an octa-core Snapdragon 615 processor paired up with 2GB of RAM for decent performance. The phone also features a 13 megapixel rear camera with f/2.0 aperture and an f/2.2 front camera with 5 megapixel resolution and 88 degree shooting angle. There’s also a 3,000mAh battery, Quick Charge 3.0 support, a fingerprint scanner, and dual-SIM compatibility, which adds up to quite a lot of top notch features for a mid-range handset.
The Honor Holly 2 Plus is a slightly lower end smartphone, with a 5-inch HD (1280×720) display, a quad-core MediaTek MT6735P SoC, and 2GB of RAM, which is still ample for your day-to-day tasks. The phone also packs in a 13 megapixel rear camera, 5 megapixel front camera and a huge 4,000mAh battery, along with 4G LTE support and 16GB of storage. Both handsets are powered by Huawei’s EMUI 3.1 software, which is based on Android 5.1 Lollipop.
The Honor 5X will retail at Rs. 21,999 and will be available on February 1st in both Silver and Gold colour options. The Holly 2 Plus costs just Rs. 8,499 and will go on sale from February 15th. Both smartphones will be sold through Flipkart and Amazon India, and come with a 15 month warranty and 1 month free screen replacement in the country.
SpaceX tests Crew Dragon’s parachute landing skills
There’s a well-worn saying about what goes up. Usually it’s metaphorical, but in the case of SpaceX’s human-carrying Crew Dragon craft it’s very, very literal. That’s why the private space firm has been testing its multi-parachute descent system. The tests used four parachutes in total, and a dummy payload to simulate the expensive capsule — all of which was ejected from a C-130 cargo plane.
We’ve already seen the Dragon capsule successfully take off, and hover, but its the part where it plummets to earth that its human cargo will likely be most concerned about. The recent tests passed without incident, but more rigorous trials are still needed. When astronauts are coming home from the ISS, their capsules will actually land on water. But, with the hover test complete, and more parachute testing planned, the ultimate goal is to put those SuperDraco engines to use, and bring capsules safely back to terra firma directly.
Source: NASA
Tinder adds GIF support to show matches what you really mean
It doesn’t seem like Tinder’s done anything with Tappy, the photo messaging app it acquired last year, but the hook-up application has added a new feature that takes advantage of the internet’s favorite image format: GIFs. Thanks to a partnership with Giphy, now you have the option of sending GIFs to your potential mate. More than that, you can “like” a message to indicate, well, that you were into what the person on the other side was layin’ down. There’s a video of it all in action below, wherein you’ll find a guy whose spelling and grammar are somehow more questionable than his choice in haircuts.
Beyond that, emoji are bigger when you drop them into a message now, profile pictures have grown and you can add to those directly from the camera roll. Previously, you’d have to go through the rigamarole of pulling from photos uploaded to Facebook. It was kind of a nightmare.
The “dating” app’s also brought in support for 3D Touch, with a deep press previewing links within messages on iPhone 6s and 6s Plus. Speaking of Apple hardware, this latest update is iOS-only for now. It’s probably a little too late (or early, depending on where you’re located) to take full advantage of these new features while you read this, so for maximum impact just remember to set an alarm for 9 PM.
Source: iTunes, Tinder blog
Mitsubishi’s SeaAerial is an antenna made of seawater
Mitsubishi has developed an unusual alternative to conventional antennae, and it uses seawater instead of metallic conductors. The new system called SeaAerial shoots conductive plumes of seawater into the air to emulate a tall tower and transmit/receive radio-frequency waves. Mitsubishi even believes it could be the first seawater antenna that can receive digital terrestrial TV broadcasts you can watch. (You can see a small-scale sample of a working SeaAerial connected to a TV above.) If it has a predecessor, though, we’ve never heard of it.
The company developed a special nozzle to spew out the seawater plumes, since they need to be insulated to work. It also had to determine the plume diameter ideal for transmitting signals and managed to compute for a size that achieves a 70 percent efficiency. Since SeaAerial is comprised of only two components (a pump and an insulated nozzle), it can be installed anywhere where seawater is accessible. In the future, they could be built on shores, in the middle of the sea or even on land if the company can figure out how to contain and recycle the water it’s using.
Source: Mitsubishi
Update: BlackBerry Priv now available in India for Rs. 62,990
Update, January 28: It’s official. BlackBerry officials introduced the Priv to the Indian market at a Delhi event today. The BlackBerry Priv will be available in Indian stores starting today, at a price of Rs. 62,990 ($925). Thoughts on this price tag?
Original post, January 19: 2015 was a profound year for BlackBerry, for it represented a new beginning in the form of the OEM’s first Android device, the BlackBerry Priv. The handset has apparently fared well in its limited release so far, given that CEO John Chen has gone on record to state his company will bring at least one new device to market this year. Meanwhile, outside of a small handful of markets, the Priv is still waiting for its time to shine.
According to a new report, India need only wait a bit longer, as the device is set to release there on the 28th. Invites have reportedly been sent out for the event, to be held in New Deli. BlackBerry can be expected to focus on the privacy and productivity aspects of the device, as well as the slide-out QWERTY keyboard.
For those in need of a recap, the Priv has a 5.4 inch QHD dual curved AMOLED display, a 1.8GHz Dual Core/1.44 GHz Quad Core Qualcomm 808 hexa-core SoC, 3GB of RAM, Adreno 418 GPU, 32GB of on-board storage, an 18-megapixel rear camera and 2-megapixel front camera, microSD support, a 3410 mAh battery, and runs Android 5.1.1 Lollipop with an update to 6.0 Marshmallow scheduled for later this year.
The real question may be a matter of price however. Given that the Priv launched for around $700 in the USA last November, it is already a very expensive prospect. Add in any form of premium that BlackBerry might tack on to the price tag and the product becomes an even greater fiscal hurdle for a market that is enjoying a wide variety of low-to-mid range, more moderately priced competition.
As if that is not enough in-and-of-itself, there is the additional issue of the Galaxy S7, Galaxy S7 Edge, and LG G5, all of which are expected to be announced next month. John Chen has already mentioned that the price of the Priv will probably have to drop come MWC 2016 given that the hardware involved is going to be out-of-date. To this end, it will be of particular interest to see if late-January release of the Priv in India represents a potential last-ditch effort to charge the full price for the “aging” components.
On a final note, given that the Priv has been available since November, and many online stores are selling unlocked (SIM free) versions, it might also follow that any truly interested potential consumers in India – or elsewhere – will have already imported it weeks ago.
Indian readers, at what price point would you argue BlackBerry could feasibly sell the Priv at before it became too expensive for you to consider purchasing it? Would you or any of your friends be interested in the product, period? Leave a comment below and let your voice be heard!
Facebook Reactions are coming in a few weeks
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We’ve already heard quite a bit about the incoming Facebook Reactions update to the social media platform, and reports are now saying that we’re all going to be using Reactions in a matter of weeks. For those who aren’t up to speed, Facebook has been toying with the humble “like” button in the hopes that they can give people a wider range of emotion to use.
The classic real-life scenario is when something bad happens to a friend of yours, but you don’t want to hit “like” because it’s not a good thing, and commenting is too personal – that’s where Reactions come in. With Reactions, you’ll be able to convey empathy with a “sad” reaction, or amazement with a “wow” reaction. All up, there should be five new Reactions to play with (“yay” has since been scrapped, it would appear).
This may be the single biggest change to Facebook since its conception, particularly seeing as the “like” is its logo. While this might not seem like a big deal to most (especially if you don’t use Facebook), the addition of Reactions has been a long time coming, and frequent users are no doubt going to need a period of transition whenever the update goes live. Only time will tell whether Facebook gets the right reaction.
What do you think about the Facebook Reactions? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
Source: Bloomberg via engadget
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Google app now has an Aussie accent
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Being an Australian, one of the things that I’ve had to learn to live with is Google butchering the names of Australian cities – I mean seriously, what’s not to get when saying Mullumbimby or Maroochydore? Fortunately, Google has heard the Aussie cries of pain (by the way, “Aussie” is pronounced “Ozzie”), and has just updated the Google app with an Australian accent, one which can actually pronounce Australian city names. That might not sound like a huge deal for the rest of the world, but it’s nice to know that Google is thinking of our small, island nation.
Ironically enough, some commenters on the above YouTube video have already spotted some mispronunciations – obviously Australian English is a really easy accent to nail. To take advantage of the more Aussie-sounding Google, you’ll need to go to the Google app, enter Settings->Search Language, and change your selected option to English (Australia) if it wasn’t already. You’ll also need to do the same in the Google Maps app to get all the place names happening in Australian as well.
What do you think about the update to the Google app to add an Australian accent? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
Source: Mashable
The post Google app now has an Aussie accent appeared first on AndroidSPIN.
Smartphone makers shipped a record 1.4 billion devices in 2015
Smartphone global shipments grew 12 percent and hit a record 1.4 billion devices in 2015, according to Strategy Analytics. That doesn’t mean all’s well in the industry, though — not when it’s no longer expanding as fast as it did in the past. In the fourth quarter of 2015, shipments grew merely six percent from the same period in 2015. The research company says that’s the industry’s slowest growth rate of all time, most likely because the people in major markets like China who are inclined to use smartphones already have one.
Samsung, however, continues to thrive and lead the pack. It shipped 81.3 million units worldwide in the fourth quarter, up nine percent (its highest within the past two years) from Q4 2014. Apple, on the other hand, isn’t doing too hot. It still shipped 74.8 million iPhones in Q4, but that’s barely higher than the 74.5 million devices it sent out in 2014. Strategy Analytics says “Apple’s iPhone growth is peaking,” and that Cupertino should look into exploring new markets like India to ensure it doesn’t remain stagnant.
Huawei’s two percent growth from 2014 is nothing to write home about either, but it still comes third after the two clashing giants. Xiaomi in fifth place shipped over 2 million phones more compared to 2014’s figures. It seems the only entry in the top five that shipped fewer units in 2015 is Lenovo-Motorola, whose growth rate has declined by 18 percent.
Source: Strategy Analytics
Stanford’s ‘Gecko Glove’ makes Spider-Man climbing possible
Never let anyone crush your dreams. Last week the results of a University of Cambridge study spread through the news, claiming that the dream of Spider-Man-like abilities for humans is simply impossible. By their reasoning, sticky pads need to scale up in order to support increased weight, and as a result, the size of a gecko is about as big as a vertical climber can be. The only problem? An engineer at Stanford showed off a way around that problem back in 2014. Now Elliot Hawkes has dropped a diss track on YouTube firing shots at Cambridge and Stephen Colbert, showing off his climbing skills thanks to a “Gecko Glove.”
By being “clever about how you distribute weight,” Hawkes shows that yes, a human being can climb a glass wall. The Stanford design uses a process that spreads weight evenly across the entire patch, making it efficient enough for a person to cling to a glass wall. There are 24 adhesive tiles on each pad, each covered in tiny sawtooth-shaped nanofibers (check them out working on Stanford’s gecko-inspired StickyBot back in 2006) that do the actual work of sticking, but can unstick themselves when you pull them away in the correct direction.
The real magic that makes this device do what gecko pads alone cannot, is the depressive springs on the back of each tile, which help keep all the pressure spread equally. The shape-alloy springs work differently from regular springs, getting softer as you stretch them.
As you can see in the video, Hawkes may not be moving with the grace or speed of your imagined webslinger, but human wall-crawling can be done (slowly and carefully). The team claims its tech can theoretically scale up to hold as much as 2,000 pounds.
Source: Stanford, Stanford (YouTube) (1), (2)
iOS 9.3 Beta 2 Allows iPad Pro’s Smart Connector to Update Accessory Firmware
The second beta of iOS 9.3, which was seeded to developers on Monday and the public earlier today, includes a new feature that allows the iPad Pro’s Smart Connector to update accessory firmware. The new feature was first spotted by German developer Stefan Wolfrum (via Cult of Mac) when he plugged his Logitech Create keyboard case into his iPad Pro.
In the past month, several users in the MacRumors forums have noted that the Create keyboard case suffers from lag and dropped keystrokes. Forum member iwill424, who also reported that his Create keyboard had its firmware updated when plugged into an iPad Pro running iOS 9.3 beta 2, said that both issues were resolved by the firmware update.
MacRumors was able to recreate the steps that led to the update by updating our iPad Pro to beta 2 and connecting the keyboard. When the keyboard is connected, a pop-up is displayed alerting users to an “accessory update”, asking whether they want to update the “Smart Connector Accessory”. If a user chooses to update, the pop-up stays on the screen and displays the update progress. Once progress hits 100 percent the dialog box disappears; the update took 30 – 40 seconds. However, there was no dialog or indication of what the update changed once the process was complete.
The Smart Connector’s ability to transmit both data and power at the same time has been on full display with keyboard accessories like the Smart Keyboard and Logitech Create, but it was unknown whether the port could be used to update firmware for accessories. It’s unclear whether the new iOS beta housed the firmware update or whether it quickly pinged a server to download the update before applying it.
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