New LG X phones last longer, run faster and look better, here’s what you need to know
LG has already established its X phone series of handsets to tempt the mid-range fans, and now that group has grown. The LG X Power, X Mach, X Style and X Max have all been announced by the company to target everyone’s individual needs.
READ: LG X Series starts to roll out: LG X cam and LG X screen
First up, the LG X Power. As the name suggests this is all about battery life. As such, despite being 7.9mm thin, this handset packs in a hefty 4100mAh battery. It also uses PE+ fast charging which LG says will get the battery charged twice as fast as a normal charger. This has a 5.3-inch HD display, 1.3GHz quad-core with 2GB RAM plus 13-megapixel and 5-megapixel cameras.
Next is the LG X Mach, which is all about speed. This features the latest Cat. 9 3CA LTE connectivity backed by a 1.8GHz hexa-core processor and 3GB of RAM. Since everything will be zipping along so quickily it needs to be shown clearly hence this phone’s 5.5-inch QHD Quantum Dot display. This also feature a 12.3-megapixel camera with 1.55μm sensor in the rear for low light snaps and an 8-megapixel selfie camera in the front.
The last two handsets are just being teased right now. There’s the LG X Style which features an extra slim body and “gracefully curving lines”, says LG. Finally the LG X Max has the largest display of the bunch.
Further details on all the handsets including pricing and release dates should follow soon.
LG
READ: Best smartphones 2016: The best phones available to buy today
OnePlus 3 official cases in pictures: Bamboo, Karbon, Sandstone and more
The OnePlus 3 has finally arrived bringing with it impressive specs for the £309 pricetag. But now we know about the 6GB of RAM, the 16-megapixel camera and that Dash fast charging, it’s time to decide what look is best.
OnePlus is offering a selection of official rear protector cases specifically for the OnePlus 3. There are five in total, each made of varying materials for a unique look and feel.
The cheapest, at £16 is the Sandstone Case, the rest are £20 each and include Bamboo, Black Apricot, Karbon and Rosewood. Each case pops on and off the handset and hugs the edges for rear and corner protection, the protrusion at the front should also offer some face protection if the handset were to fall flat.
Materials vary but largely consist of kevlar. The Karbon case is pure kevlar while the Bamboo, Rosewood and Black Apricot are all part Kevlar. The Sandstone is listed as “PC” and weighs in at the most at 18g while the others are all listed as 12g.
Check out the entire range options in our gallery of photos above to see what they look like in the real world so you can pick the one, or ones, that best suit you.
READ: OnePlus 3 is official, equipped with huge 6GB RAM and an all-new all metal finish
Moto Z vs Moto X: Force, Style, Play compared
Lenovo-owned Motorola announced its latest flagship smartphones at the beginning of June in the form of the Moto Z and Moto Z Force.
The two devices succeed the Moto X range of devices, of which there were three announced last year, but what else is different aside from the letter change?
Read on to find out how the Moto Z and Moto Z Force compare to the Moto X Play, Moto X Style and Moto X Force.
Moto Z vs Moto X: Design
The Moto Z measures 153.3 x 75.3 x 5.2mm, while the Moto Z Force measures 155.9 x 75.8 x 7mm. Both therefore offer super slim designs, with the Moto Z taking the crown for the slimmest of these handsets and the rest of the Android flagship bunch.
The Moto X Play is the smallest in terms of footprint measuring 148 x 75mm with a curve between 8.9mm and 10.9mm. The Moto Z Force has the largest footprint, with the Moto X Style following closely behind at 153.9 x 76.2mm offering a curve of 6.1mm to 11.1mm.
The lightest device being compared here is the Moto Z at 136g, followed by the Moto Z Force at 163g. The heaviest device is the Moto X Style at 179g, while the Moto X Play and Moto X Force both hit the scales at 169g.
The Moto Z an Moto Z Force both have premium metal designs, while the Moto X Play, Moto X Style and Moto X Force all have a more plasticky finish. The two new devices also have snap on accessories called Moto Mods, which include Style Shells, a loudspeaker, projector and powerpacks, with more Mods coming in the future.
Moto Z vs Moto X: Display
The Moto Z and Moto Z Force both come with a 5.5-inch display. This puts the new devices in the same size bracket as the Moto X Play, larger than the 5.4-inch Moto X Force and smaller than the 5.7-inch Moto X Style.
A Quad HD resolution is found on the Moto Z, Moto Z Force, Moto X Style and Moto X Force. The difference in size means the Moto X Force has the sharpest display in terms of numbers however, offering a pixel density of 544ppi compared to the Moto Z and Moto Z Force’s 534ppi. This is not going to be noticeable to the human eye though.
The Moto X Play has a Full HD resolution, meaning a pixel density of 401ppi and resulting in the softest display of the devices being compared here. It also uses LCD technology, as does the Moto X Style, while the other three devices opt for AMOLED. Typically, AMOLED offers richer and more vibrant colours, but they can be a little more unrealistic compared to LCD.
The Moto Z’s display is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 4, while the Moto X Play and Moto X Style both have Gorilla Glass 3. The Moto Z Force and Moto X Force both have a ShatterShield protection however, hence their names. If you’re prone to smashing your smartphone’s screen then these might be your best option.
Moto Z vs Moto X: Cameras
The Moto Z has a 13-megapixel rear camera with an aperture of f/1.8 and features including optical image stabilisation and laser autofocus. The front camera is 5-megapixels with a wide-angle lens and an aperture of f/2.2.
The Moto Z Force has the same front camera capabilities as the Moto Z, but it ups the rear camera resolution to 21-megapixels, sticking with the same f/1.8 aperture. It also adds phase-detection AF to the mix too.
The Moto X Play, Moto X Style and Moto X Force all have 21-megapixel rear cameras but with a narrower aperture of f/2.2 compared to the Moto Z and Moto Z Force. This should mean the newer devices are better in low light conditions. All the three Moto X devices have 5-megapixel front snappers and all the devices being compared here have a front-facing flash, except the Moto X Play.
Moto Z vs Moto X: Hardware
The Moto Z and Moto Z Force feature the Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 under their hoods, supported by 4GB of RAM. They come in 32GB and 64GB storage options and both the Z and Z Force have microSD support for storage expansion.
The Moto X Play has the Qualcomm Snapdragon 610 chip, supported by 2GB of RAM and 16GB or 32GB storage capacities. The Moto X Style features the Qualcomm Snapdragon 808 processor, 3GB of RAM and 16GB or 32GB of storage. The Moto X Force opts for the Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 processor, 3GB of RAM and is available in 32GB or 64GB storage options. All Moto X models have microSD support.
The largest battery capacity sits within the Moto X Force at 3760mAh, while the smallest is within the Moto Z at 2600mAh. The Moto X Play has a 3630mAh capacity, the Moto Z Force has 3500mAh and the Moto X Style has 3000mAh. All come with turbo charging abilities.
The Moto Z and Moto Z Force also lose the 3.5mm headphone jack in favour of USB Type-C only and they add a fingerprint sensor. The three Moto X devices are charged via Micro-USB, keep the headphone jack intact and don’t offer a fingerprint sensor or any other kind of security sensor.
Moto Z vs Moto X: Software
Moto devices are known for offering a very close to vanilla Android experience with very little bloatware. The Moto X Play, Moto X Style and Moto X Force all launched on Android Lollipop and featured just a few extra apps. They have since been updated to Android Marshmallow.
The Moto Z and Moto Z Force will launch on Marshmallow when they arrive, again offering a very close to pure Android interface so all these devices should offer a similar user experience.
Moto Z vs Moto X: Conclusion
As you might expect, the Moto Z and Moto Z Force offer a number of improvements over the previous Moto X devices. Their designs are not only more premium, but there are those attachable accessories we were talking about, as well as advancements in plenty of other areas.
The camera capabilities appear to have been enhanced, especially in the case of the Moto Z Force, and performance should see a jump too with the extra RAM and faster processor.
It’s the Moto Z Force that sees the best specs on paper compared to the other Moto devices being compared here, but whether it will be the best Moto device to buy remains to be seen. We will update this feature as soon as we have reviewed the latest two devices.
UberEats hits UK, food delivered in 30-minutes or you get £20
Uber is no longer just a taxi company, it delivers food now too. That service has just arrived in the UK as UberEats.
The simply named UberEats was already up and running in the US but has now arrived in London, following a launch in the only other European country to offer it, Paris. That means anyone with the app, based in London, can get food delivered to them between 11am and 11pm any day.
Initially UberEATS will cater for 150 restaurants but that’s expected to grow massively, especially as the app expands its reach beyond central London.
One great advantage of using this service over others is the promise that if your food doesn’t arrive in 30-minutes or less you get £20 off your next order. Plus, the first time you use the app you automatically get £10 off your first order using the UberEatsLondon promo code.
The London addition to the UberEats areas of availability mean it is now in 18 cities across the world.
To use UberEats either download the app or use the website. Enter the delivery location, browse the restaurants, pay with a card on file then track the order as food is made and delivered.
READ: Play the hidden football game in Facebook Messenger: Here’s how to find and share
Samsung will take on Google and Amazon in the cloud
Cloud computing! Doesn’t the mere mention of it just get your blood pumping? Okay, it might be dull, but we all depend on those data centers for CPU-intensive services like Google Now and Siri, storage for photos, documents and video, and infinitely more. So, it’s big news that Samsung has acquired Joyent, a US-based cloud platform, for an undisclosed sum. The company will be able to power its mobile apps, internet-of-things (IoT) business and storage, and possibly break into artificial intelligence (AI), an area dominated by Google, IBM’s Watson and others.
The Korean company currently relies heavily on AWS, Amazon’s cloud company, to power apps and storage for its mobile customers. Joyent will be able to take a lot of those chores on right away, and handle more in the future. “As we heard Samsung’s vision — which included using [our services] for a new generation of mobile- and IoT-based applications — it was hard not to get excited,” Joyent CTO Bryan Cantrill said in a blog post.
As we heard Samsung’s vision — which included using [our services] for a new generation of mobile- and IoT-based applications — it was hard not to get excited.
Samsung wasn’t specific about what those apps are, but it has many that could likely use Joyent’s services like Knox, S Health and S Voice. It could also potentially market services like deep learning and cloud storage to other companies. Joyent currently services Fortune 500 companies and sites like Storify, and Samsung says that it will continue to operate as a standalone company.
Joyent shows that Samsung is acting more like Google by acquiring services instead of developing them internally, as it has traditionally done. For instance, the company recently bought LoopPay, which it developed into Samsung Pay. When it tried to go the internal route, things didn’t go as well — remember S Cloud? Samsung was developing the storage service for Galaxy devices but eventually scrapped it, reportedly because it couldn’t come to terms with a third-party storage provider. With Joyent in its pocket, it may be able to resurrect that and other ideas.
Via: WSJ
Source: Joyent
UberEats food deliveries come to London
Walk anywhere in central London and you’re bound to pass a Deliveroo cyclist, puffing and panting as they shuttle an enormous backpack filled with restaurant food. The service has taken off in the capital, but its supremacy could now be questioned by a ride-hailing giant: Uber. The company is launching UberEats in the city today, marking its first location in the UK and its second in Europe, after Paris. By downloading the UbeEats app or using the companion website, you can choose a restaurant, make an order and track its progress, from food preparation to delivery.
Uber says over 150 restaurants have signed on for UberEats in London, including Hotbox, Chilango, Pho, Comptoir Libanais and Snog. For now, the service is limited to central London, although Uber says “this is just the beginning” and will be expanding further “in the coming weeks.” The other limiting factor is time; UberEats will be available from 11am to 11pm, although the company has hinted that this could be extended in the future.
For the people of London, UberEats is just another option to keep in their back pocket when hunger strikes. For existing food delivery companies, however, such as Deliveroo, Just Eat and Hungryhouse, it’s a warning shot and a fresh reminder of just how lucrative the takeout market is.
Sky and Virgin Media to host 24-hour eSports TV channel
The UK will soon have it own 24-hour eSports TV channel, covering multiplayer video games such as Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and Dota 2. Ginx eSports TV is a relaunch of the existing Ginx TV channel, which covers a broader range of gaming culture. It’s currently available online and through Virgin Media; for its relaunch on June 23rd, it’ll also be coming to Sky as part of the broadcaster’s “Original” TV bundle. Today, Sky and ITV are also announcing that they’ve taken minority stakes in Ginx.
Video game publishers and league organisers already offer their own eSports coverage. Gfinity, for instance, has live commentary and studio analysis for all of the tournaments it holds in London. Ginx has a studio in the English capital and will be using this for its own live commentary and post-match discussions. When the company shows live match feeds, however, it’ll be working with tournament holders to splice in their respective shoutcasters and pundits — when it makes sense, of course.
Ginx says it wants to cover “the widest possible range of games and international tournaments.” These include Turner’s ELEAGUE tournament, FACEIT’s eSports Championship Series, and Valve’s The International for Dota 2. These live showcases will be supplemented with “unique, independent programming” produced by Ginx’s team in London.
The growing popularity of eSports is undeniable. What’s unproven, however, is whether that interest can be reproduced and sustained on a traditional TV channel. Sky and the BBC have both experimented with eSports coverage in the UK, but have so far been hesitant to commit a regular show or programming slot. ESPN is a little more serious, having recently launched a dedicated section on espn.com. A 24-hour TV channel is, in comparison, a bold play, and should serve as a useful litmus test for other, more established TV broadcasters considering similar ideas.
Via: The Guardian
Source: Sky
Google accused of stealing the idea for Project Loon
Did Google engineers steal the idea of Project Loon from a company that was already testing weather balloons to distribute the internet? That’s what Space Data Corporation alleges, having filed a lawsuit against the search engine in California this Monday. According to the complaint, Larry Page, Sergey Brin and Google X representatives met with SDC way back in 2007. At the time, it looked as if Google might invest in SDC, and as part of the negotiations, both parties signed an NDA. Space Data then shared its top-secret research on how to make the system work in reality — thinking that its ideas were protected by the agreement.
Except, given that Google didn’t invest in Space Data and Loon is an active Google project, we know that it didn’t work out. The document explains that Google pulled out of the deal because SDC had blabbed about it to the Wall Street Journal. But Space Data says that the terms of the NDA were never explicitly withdrawn, so Google’s been infringing its patents and working with stolen IP for the last eight years. SDC claims that its business has been “irreparably injured” thanks to Google’s “willful and malicious” misappropriation of trade secrets. We can’t wait to find out how this one goes.
Via: Forbes
Source: Justia
Meerkat team reportedly behind ‘Houseparty’ app
Once Facebook and Twitter had live streaming under lock, Meerkat said it was done with it. As promised, the company has now pirouetted to the next trend — group video chat. According to Recode, it has quietly launched Houseparty, a relatively simple app that lets you host video calls with friends. To use it, you just create a new group chat link and invite others using SMS, WhatsApp, Facebook and other social networks. If any of your friends are on the app, they’ll be able to join a new chat instantly.
Why, might you ask, is a company getting into something that Skype, Google and others have done so well for years? If the idea sounds familiar, it’s a lot like Sean Parker’s new group video chat app Airtime, but stripped of features like link, music and video sharing. Given the name, you might cynically think it’s yet another attempt to capture the youth and party culture market, sans the broken china and burnt carpets. Apparently the strategy is working, because Houseparty is already bigger than Meerkat ever was after just a few months.
The app launched quietly in February, and Meerkat CEO Ben Rubin hasn’t even confirmed that his company is behind it (it’s listed under “Herzick Apps”). However, he indicated earlier that he’d launch a social network “where everyone is always live,” and Recode’s sources say that Meerkat is “definitely” behind it.
Houseparty is now available on Google Play and the App Store, and the company is reportedly running a closed beta with upcoming features. Just bear in mind that the “What’s New” section says, “Guys. GUYS. We’re feeling this new version,” and “errryday,” in case you’re wondering if you’re in the target market.
Via: TNW
Source: Recode
Chinese firm claims Apple copied its design for iPhone 6
It’s tough for foreign companies to do business in China, so much that even Apple is having a hard time. After the iTunes Movies and iBooks Store ban back in April, the previous generation of iPhones have recently been accused of infringing the design patent of some random Chinese company’s “100C” smartphone under the “100+” brand. Don’t laugh, because the Beijing Intellectual Property Office has since ordered Apple to stop selling its iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus in Beijing, with the reason being the general consumers won’t be able to tell the “minute differences” between Apple’s design and the 100C. No, really.
Of course, Apple and its distribution partner aren’t having any of this, so they have initiated an administrative litigation to reverse the ban. But given Apple’s previous failed attempt in China, they’re going to need a lot of luck to win this fight.
Source: Beijing Morning Post, TENAA
AIVAnet 