ASUS’ ZenFone 3 Deluxe is the first phone to run Snapdragon 821
At its Taiwan and Hong Kong launch event, ASUS announced that the 5.7-inch ZenFone 3 Deluxe will be the first phone to be powered by the Snapdragon 821 SoC, which offers a quad-core Kryo CPU cluster clocked at 2.4GHz.
As noted by Engadget, the high-end variant of the ZenFone 3 Deluxe will offer the Snapdragon 821, along with 6GB of RAM as well as 256GB of UFS 2.0 flash storage (and a microSD slot!), with retail pricing in the vicinity of $780. The standard versions will be powered by the Snapdragon 820, offering 6GB of RAM and 64GB storage for the equivalent of $560, and 4GB of RAM and 32GB storage for what amounts to $500.
Other specs include a 5.7-inch Full HD Super AMOLED display, 23MP camera (Sony IMX 318) with f/2.0 6-element Largan lens and 0.03 second TriTech autofocus, 4-axis OIS and dual-tone LED flash, 8MP 85-degree wide-angle shooter up front, Wi-Fi ac MIMO, LTE Category 13, NFC, and a 3000mAh battery.
With the ZenFone 3 series set to make its debut later this month in India, we will be able to take a look at the performance benefits offered by the faster CPU, and see how it compares in terms of energy efficiency to the Snapdragon 820.
ASUS ZenFone 3 series preview
Twitter ups its GIF size limit to 15MB for the web
Finally, you won’t ever have to tweet unsatisfying GIFs that end too soon. The social network has upped its GIF size limit to 15MB, three times larger than its old 5MB limit. Twitter quietly updated its FAQ with the change — a welcome one for those who’d rather watch moving images than videos, we’re sure — where it also dropped the bad news: You’re still stuck with posting files 5MB and below if you tweet on mobile. You can only post monster files if you access Twitter.com on the web. It’s still a start, though, and there might come a time when you can tweet video-length GIFs even from your phone or through Tweetdeck.
ALERT: Twitter now supports gifs up to 15MB! pic.twitter.com/PfyAiYRg5K
— Jessica L. Conditt (@JessConditt) July 11, 2016
Source: Twitter
Temporary nanotech ‘tattoos’ can track your facial expressions
Wired, electronic temporary tattoos may have started off as fun novelties, but a new type of stick-on, nanotech “tattoo” has already found some practical medical applications. According to a new study published in the journal Scientific Reports, researchers from Tel Aviv University have developed a thin, non-invasive carbon electrode that can be placed on the skin to measure muscle and nerve activity and could soon be used to help restore damaged tissue.
According to the American Friends of Tel Aviv University, the electrode’s developer Professor Yael Hanein created the device as an alternative to electromyography — an “uncomfortable and unpleasant medical procedure” that requires electrodes stuck directly into muscle tissue or unseemly surface electrodes and sticky gel. “Our tattoo permits patients to carry on with their daily routines, while the electrode monitors their muscle and nerve activity,” Prof. Hanein explained. “The idea is: stick it on and forget about it.”
Beyond rehabilitation, Hanein believes the device could be used to study emotional responses by tracking a user’s facial expressions through the electrical signals in their facial muscles. While other researchers study emotions through facial recognition software or even low-tech solutions like subjective questionnaires, Prof. Hanein’s thinks his team has come up with a much more convenient solution. “The ability to identify and map people’s emotions has many potential uses,” Prof. Hanein said. “Advertisers, pollsters, media professionals, and others — all want to test people’s reactions to various products and situations.”
While the prospect of an advertiser tracking your cheek’s every twitch might be a little overwhelming, Prof. Henein also sees his device being put to use to monitor driver alertness, to improve muscle control in stroke victims or even to use it as an interface for amputees to control artificial limbs.
ASUS ZenFone 3 Deluxe gets first dibs on Snapdragon 821 chip
We knew it wouldn’t be long before ASUS rolls out its latest smartphones after the Computex unveiling, but it turns out the company has saved a little surprise for us. At the Taiwan and Hong Kong launch event today, ASUS revealed that its flagship 5.7-inch ZenFone 3 Deluxe has been given a chipset upgrade — from Snapdragon 820 to the speedier Snapdragon 821 announced yesterday. And yes, it’s officially the world’s first device to feature this 2.4GHz processor, while still benefiting from the same old Cat 13 LTE radio, a slightly faster Adreno 530 GPU, dual-SIM support (Micro SIM plus Nano SIM) and Quick Charge 3.0.
The metallic ZenFone 3 Deluxe comes in three flavors, with its top model offering pretty much all the best possible specs to date: 6GB of DDR4 RAM plus 256GB of UFS 2.0 internal storage (expandable by up to 128GB via microSD using the second SIM slot). But this will cost you NT$24,990 or about US$780. The remaining two variants are still based on the 2.15GHz Snapdragon 820, and you get either 4GB RAM with 32GB storage (NT$15,990 or about US$500) or 6GB RAM with 64GB storage (NT$17,990 or about US$560). It’s worth mentioning that these are certified for Google’s Daydream VR platform.
The rest of the features are identical, including their 1080p Super AMOLED touchscreen (with glove mode), Gorilla Glass 4, a 3,000 mAh battery, NFC, 23-megapixel f/2.0 main camera (with OIS, laser AF and dual-tone flash). 8-megapixel f/2.0 front camera and fingerprint reader on the back. The series will become available in Taiwan and Hong Kong as early as August, though we’re also told to expect the Snapdragon 821 variant to arrive later.
Also announced today is the ZenPad 3S 10 (Z500M). This is a mid-range 9.7-inch tablet featuring a 2,048 x 1,536 LCD, 4GB of RAM, 32GB of storage (with microSD expansion), an 8-megapixel main camera, a 5-megapixel front imager and Android 6.0. It runs on a hexa-core MediaTek chip (MT8176; dual 2.1GHz Cortex-A72 and quad 1.7GHz Cortex-A53) so it should be more than enough for general usage, plus it has a fingerprint reader, 802.11ac WiFi, DTS Headphone:X audio, a 5,900 mAh battery, USB Type-C port and Quick Charge 3.0 (but charger sold separately). The tablet will be available in Taiwan for NT$10,990 or about US$340 in August.
iPhone Photography Awards Showcase Best Photos of 2016
Photos from the ninth annual iPhone Photography Awards have been posted on the IPPA website, offering a look at some of the best photos captured on an iPhone in the past year. As in previous years, the photos depict a range of subjects, from people to landscapes to animals.
This year’s grand prize winner was “Man and the Eagle” by Siyuan Niu. The photo depicts a 70-year-old man sharing a moment with his beloved eagle. The photo was shot on an iPhone 5s with a filter from VSCO [Direct Link] and post processing in Snapseed [Direct Link], Niu told Time.
The second winner was Patryk Kuleta’s “Modern Cathedrals,” which depicts an abstract version of cathedral architecture in Poland. The photo was taken using long-exposure camera apps like AvgCamPro and AvgNiteCam, with post processing in Snapseed and VSCO.
The third winner was “She Bends with the Wind” from Robin Robertis, which depicts a woman in red swaying in the wind during a sunset. The photo was taken on an iPhone 6 and edited with Snapseed and Photoshop Express [Direct Link].
Apple’s iPhone 6, iPhone 5s and iPhone 6s continue to be the most popular cameras on Flickr. Apple continues to make upgrading the iPhone camera a priority, and renderings indicate the iPhone 7 could see a larger camera cutout, perhaps to accommodate a larger sensor. The iPhone 7 Plus may also include an exclusive dual-lens camera system.
Photos from all the winners of the 2016 iPhone Photography Awards can be found on the competitions’ website. The site is also accepting entries for the 2017 competition.
Tags: iPhone Photography Awards, IPPA
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Pokemon Go: Where it’s available now — and coming soon – CNET
Even if you got to download Pokemon Go, you may not get to play it yet.
Alina Bradford/CNET
Pokemon Go mania is sweeping the globe, but since it is being released at different times in different locations, some people are still (impatiently) waiting.
So far, the game has been released in:
- United States
- New Zealand
- Australia
There are rumors that it’ll be coming out in Europe and Asia sometime this week, but this rumor hasn’t been confirmed.
The servers for Pokemon Go did temporarily go live in Hong Kong, Taipei and Singapore on July 4. It didn’t last long, though.
Originally, the worldwide release was supposed to happen in the first week of July. After the first three countries, developer Niantic decided to hold off on releasing the game to any more until it could address its server issues.
Here’s what the company had to say about the situation on its Twitter account:
Thank you for your patience. We have been working to fix the server issues. We will continue rolling out #PokemonGO to new countries soon.
— Pokémon GO (@PokemonGoApp) July 8, 2016
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If you live in South America or Canada, you may have to keep waiting. As of now there is no word on release dates in those areas.
The game’s available in your area and you still can’t play?
No matter where you’re located, you still may not be able to play. According to Downdetector, at the time of this writing, 51 percent of people reporting to the site have connection problems and 48 percent have log-in problems.
Some have reported that if you try logging in with Google instead of the Trainer’s Club you’ll get in. Beware, though. Logging in with a different method may create a new game.
How to get Pikachu as your starter in Pokemon Go – CNET
Sarah Jacobsson Purewal/CNET
Ready to see what all the Pokemon Go hype is about? If you’re just getting started with the augmented-reality game — which has been downloaded more times than Tinder, and has caused Nintendo’s stock to skyrocket — here’s a trick that will let you nab Pikachu as your very first Pokemon.
The first time you open up Pokemon Go, three Pokemon will spawn in front of you. They’re Bulbasaur, Charmander and Squirtle, the same “starter” Pokemon that appeared in the original Pokemon games, and you can only choose one to capture.
But if you’d prefer to skip over those three and go for the gold — er, yellow — you can grab Pikachu, the most iconic Pokemon of them all, as your starter Pokemon.
To do this, you’ll need to walk away from Bulbasaur, Charmander and Squirtle. Walk away until you can’t see them any longer, and they’ll respawn in front of you (because, you know, you need a starter Pokemon). Do this four times — walk away, and let them respawn in front of you. The fourth time they respawn, Pikachu will appear next to them. Tap Pikachu and toss your Pokeballs to capture him, and the other three Pokemon will disappear.
If you’ve already started the game and you didn’t get Pikachu, don’t worry — he does appear later on in the game, in shopping centers and out of 2km eggs. You’ll also find the other starters later in the game, though they’re not as common as Rattatas, Pidgeys and Zubats.
3 pro tips for throwing Pokeballs in Pokemon Go – CNET
You’re in the middle of who-knows-where at midnight, your fingers hopelessly flailing over your phone as Pokeball after Pokeball soars past that darn Zubat. There has to be a better way to catch ’em all, right?
It turns out there’s a lot more tocapturing a Pokemon in Pokemon Go than just sliding your finger across the screen. For starters, you can know just how difficult your battle will be based on the color of the ring that appears around the Pokemon. A green ring indicates an easy fight, yellow signifies a moderate difficult and red means you’re in for a struggle.
Pokeball-throwing techniques
Capture the shrinking circle. Once you place your finger on the Pokeball, you’ll notice the circle starts shrinking. If your Pokeball lands on the target Pokemon within that circle, you’ll receive bonus experience points, with the bonus increasing as the circle shrinks. If you’re particularly skilled, you can get an additional bonus by spinning the Pokeball and pitching a curveball. Just don’t expect to hit a Pikachu 100 percent of the time with such a tricky maneuver.
Throw from the top. An entirely different method has caught some attention on Reddit, which involves throwing the Pokeball from the top of your screen instead of the bottom.
Follow the Pokemon’s shadow. When augmented reality is turned on, there’s another trick that can help you from wasting all of your Pokeballs on an evasive Ghastly. Regardless of where the Pokemon is located, there will be a little shadow beneath them. Use that to gauge the distance, and you’ll still be able to snag the Pokemon.
For more info about what to do with those Pokemon once they’ve been captured, check out our full guide here.
Pokemon Go can see everything in your Google account. Here’s how to stop it – CNET
Enlarge Image
Jason Cipriani/CNET
Editor’s note at 6:11 p.m. PT: Niantic has acknowledged Pokemon Go gains unnecessary “full access” to users’ Google accounts on iOS and is actively issuing a fix. If you’re an affected user, no action is needed on your part.
PokeHype is here, it’s real and isn’t going anywhere soon. It’s not all gravy, though. Dealing with server issues is one thing, but finding out an app has complete and total access to your Google account is another.
As Adam Reeve discovered after starting to play on his iPhone, if you use an iOS device and a Google account to sign up for Pokemon Go, the app is granted full access to your Google account.
That means the developer of Pokemon Go, Niantic, may have access to your emails, Google Drive, calendar, contacts, photos, Chrome browsing history, search history, Maps data… and, well, anything else linked to your Google account.
According to Google’s support page, full access lets the application “see and modify nearly all information in your Google Account (but it can’t change your password, delete your account, or pay with Google Wallet on your behalf).” That’s not to say they are actively accessing said information, but the possibility is there for it to happen.
Not cool, guys.
How to revoke access
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Screenshot by Jason Cipriani/CNET
- You’ll need to visit this page.
- Sign in to the same Google account you used for Pokemon Go.
- Click on “Pokemon Go Release” on the list (it should be near the top, where all Full Access apps are listed).
- Click Remove, then OK.
If you’re still signed into the app on your iOS device, it appears you can continue using it without issue. At least that’s been my experience, having revoked access nearly an hour ago at time of this writing and I’m still catching those pesky critters in my office.
However, the next time the app randomly signs you out (I can’t be the only that’s happening to), you’ll need to log in and revoke access again. Not an ideal method.
One alternative is to sign up and use a Trainer Club account, but you’ll have to start your game from scratch.
The issue only seems to be affecting iOS users. Android users who’ve used Google to log in to the app haven’t granted full access, or any access, for that matter, to his or her Google account.
Updated at 5:55 p.m. PT: Adds details about Google’s definition of “full access” from its support page.
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