Moto G5 Plus vs. Xiaomi Redmi Note 4: Clash of the titans

Near-identical hardware, vastly different software.

Motorola has enjoyed a lot of success in India following its resurgence, with the company now counting the subcontinent as its largest global market. A lot of that has to do with strong sales of the Moto G series. Motorola revealed earlier this year that it sold over 6 million Moto G devices in India since the series debuted in 2013, and last year’s Moto G4 Plus certainly proved to be a hit with local customers. With the G5 Plus, Motorola is looking to continue that success.

Xiaomi is also gaining ground in India. The Redmi Note 3 turned out to be the standout phone in the budget segment last year, racking up over 3.6 million sales in under a year. The Redmi Note 4 is following in the same vein, with Xiaomi selling over 1 million units in just 45 days.

The Moto G5 Plus and Redmi Note 4 are going to be two of the most popular devices in this segment. If you’re looking for a capable budget device that doesn’t compromise on the basics, these two should be high on your list. But which one should you ultimately buy? Read on to find out.

Hardware

Motorola opted to go with a metal backplate with the Moto G5 Plus, a first in this series. The sides are still plastic, albeit with a metallic finish that makes them blend in seamlessly with the rest of the phone. The overall result is that the G5 Plus looks upmarket when seen next to its predecessors.

The metal back also adds some much-needed heft to the device, which at 155g weighs the same as last year’s Moto G4 in spite of the smaller size. It is also thinner at 7.7mm (versus 9.8mm) while featuring the same 3000mAh battery as last year. Motorola made the design a priority on the G5 Plus, and it shows.

Xiaomi has been building metal phones for a few years now, and with the Redmi Note 4, it has refined its design aesthetic. The phone feels much more premium than its predecessor, and the black color option in particular stands out. It’s similar to the Midnight Black model of the OnePlus 3T, offering a murdered-out look that seems to absorb all light.

Redmi Note 4 in black offers a matte finish that looks amazing.

There are subtle chrome accents for the antenna lines and the camera housing that serve to add a bit of flair to the design, and overall, the black variant of the Redmi Note 4 is one of the best-looking budget phones I’ve used. Phones in this segment don’t get much better in terms of design.

As for color options on the G5 Plus, you’re currently limited to either the Fine Gold or Lunar Grey variants. The Fine Gold variant has a gold front and back, which when placed next to the Redmi Note 4 looks gaudy. You’re better off getting the grey option as it has a black faceplate.

Xiaomi has always led the way when it comes to sheer hardware prowess, but it doesn’t have that advantage anymore as both the G5 Plus and Redmi Note 4 are running the Snapdragon 625 SoC. As they’re both pushing 1080p displays, the performance is at par when it comes to day-to-day usage. You won’t notice any slowdowns in normal usage, but you will see a certain amount of lag in visually-demanding games.

Although the G5 Plus has a smaller 5.2-inch display when compared to the 5.5-inch screen on the Redmi Note 4, both devices are just as tall and wide thanks to the generous bezels on the G5 Plus. The bezels are necessitated by the front fingerprint sensor, which thankfully is rounded and larger than what we’ve seen last year. It is also much more functional, as we’ll see later.

While the G5 Plus isn’t as compact as you’d imagine for a 5.2-inch phone, it is comfortable to hold and use one-handed thanks to the rounded corners and arched back. The Redmi Note 4 has sloping edges that curve inward, allowing for one-handed usage. That said, the black color option is a magnet for smudges, and you’ll have to clean it several times a day to make it look pristine. Thankfully, there aren’t any such issues on the G5 Plus.

The G5 Plus has the same chipset as the Redmi Note 4, but it costs more.

However, like last year’s G4 and G4 Plus, the G5 Plus is missing key sensors like a magnetometer. While this doesn’t cause an issue when using Google Maps, the Lenovo forums are full of complaints from customers dissatisfied with how the device works with other navigation solutions, like Here. Considering how affordable the sensor is, continuing to omit it is a strange move by Motorola.

The Redmi Note 4 has no such limitations on the hardware front. Xiaomi — more than any other manufacturer — is cognizant of customer feedback, and the Redmi Note 4 has a full complement of sensors, including an IR sensor that lets you control a myriad of TVs and set-top boxes.

As we’re on the subject of internal hardware, it’s worth pointing out that although both phones are powered by the same chipset, they’re offered in varying memory and storage configurations and price points. The Redmi Note 4 starts off with 2GB of RAM and 32GB storage for just ₹9,999, whereas the variant with 3GB of RAM and 32GB storage retails for ₹10,999. The best option is the one with 4GB of RAM and 64GB storage, which costs ₹12,999.

The Moto G5 Plus is available in two configurations: a base variant with 3GB of RAM and measly 16GB internal storage for ₹14,999. The model with 4GB of RAM and 32GB storage costs ₹16,999, a full ₹4,000 more than the Redmi Note 4 while offering half the amount of internal storage. Motorola is counting on two factors to make up for the added cost: a 12MP camera with an f/1.7 lens and Dual Pixel autofocus, and class-leasing software.

Software

Motorola has led the way for clean and unencumbered software, and that thankfully hasn’t changed under Lenovo’s stewardship. If you’re looking for an uncluttered user interface that sticks to Google’s guidelines for Material Design, you’re not going to get anything better than what’s on the Moto G5 Plus, at least in this segment.

Although Motorola hasn’t tweaked the UI itself, it offers several useful features through Moto Actions. You can easily launch the camera with a double twist gesture, and toggle the flashlight with a chop motion. Then there’s one-handed mode, which lets you shrink the screen down for easier one-handed usage. A particularly interesting addition with the Moto G5 Plus is One Button Nav, which relies on the fingerprint sensor as an all-in-one replacement for the standard navigation keys.

The feature allows you to use gestures as the primary form of interaction. A single tap on the sensor takes you to the home screen, a right-to-left swipe corresponds to the same action as the back button, and a left-to-right swipe serves up the multitasking pane. Lenovo has debuted the feature in a few phones in India, but this is the first time the company has rolled it out in a Motorola phone.

If you want an uncluttered software experience, get the G5 Plus.

As is the case with the rest of the software, Motorola didn’t go overboard with Moto Actions, instead opting to give customers a few features that augment the overall experience.

As for the Redmi Note 4, MIUI 8 is a known quantity at this stage. The user interface is loaded with customizations, and if you’re getting started for the first time, there’s a high learning curve. But once you get used to it, you’ll love the sheer number of features on offer. From the built-in video editor to Dual Apps — which lets you run two instances of the same app simultaneously — and several features aimed at combating call and text message spam, there’s a lot to explore in MIUI 8.

The G5 Plus comes with Android 7.0 Nougat out of the box, and while Motorola has done a great job of rolling out platform updates quickly (at least in India), the company isn’t doing the same for monthly security patches. In mid-April, the G5 Plus is on the January 1, 2017 security patch.

Meanwhile, the Redmi Note 4 is still on Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow, and while Xiaomi is offering a beta Nougat build, we’re still a long way away from seeing a stable release. Security updates are also an issue, as the device is still on the December 1, 2016 patch.

Camera

The Redmi Note 4 comes with a significantly better camera than its predecessor, and the same holds true for the Moto G5 Plus as well. The end result is that you’re looking at phones that offer two of the best cameras in this segment. The G5 Plus pulls ahead thanks to its f/1.7 lens and 1.4-micron pixels — the same hardware as the Galaxy S7 — and while the phone doesn’t come close to the S7 in most lighting conditions, it sets the standard for the budget segment.

The G5 Plus doesn’t handle low-light conditions as well as it should considering its imaging sensor, but in most other shooting conditions you’ll get a great image on the first attempt.

Moto G5 Plus on the left, Redmi Note 4 on the right.

The Redmi Note 4 has a great camera, but it is overshadowed by the one in the G5 Plus. That said, Xiaomi offers more shooting modes and live filters, whereas Motorola focuses on ease of use. You get a manual mode on both phones, along with tools to edit and retouch images.

Battery

The Moto G5 Plus has a 3000mAh battery that manages to last all day. However, it doesn’t match up to the massive 4100mAh battery on the Redmi Note 4. Aside from phones like Gionee’s Marathon series — which usually have a battery the size of an external power bank — there isn’t a phone that comes close to the Redmi Note 4 in terms of battery life.

The 14nm Snapdragon 625 combined with the 4100mAh battery and MIUI’s optimization make the Redmi Note 4 a battery life champion. You’ll easily get a day’s worth of usage from the battery even with heavy usage, and more often than not, you’ll be able to eke out two full days from a full charge.

If you do need to top up, the G5 Plus has faster charging speeds thanks to Motorola’s TurboPower charging tech. The Redmi Note 4 is still limited to 5V/2A, and takes just over two hours to fully charge.

Which should you buy? Your call

The Redmi Note 4 wins out when it comes to battery life and overall design, but the G5 Plus takes the lead in imaging and software. If you value battery life above all and aren’t deterred by the learning curve of MIUI 8, then the Redmi Note 4 is a great phone to get, particularly considering it costs ₹4,000 less than the G5 Plus and offers 64GB storage, double that of Motorola’s offering. The downside is that you’ll have to wait for the weekly sale to get your hands on one.

See at Flipkart

However, if you’re looking for a phone that has a stellar camera, is easy to use and comes with the promise of quick updates, then the G5 Plus is a better choice. The ₹16,999 price tag will undoubtedly cause most potential buyers to rethink their decision, but the overall merits of the phone justify the increased cost.

See at Flipkart

Foldable ‘Galaxy X’ could debut this year — in prototype form

‘2,000-3,000’ units will be produced in 2017, Korean press reports.

While foldable phones probably won’t hit the mass market until 2019, Samsung may be prepared to unveil such a device in prototype form before the end of the year.

Korean outlet The Investor reports that Samsung has already placed orders for the components necessary for “2,000-3,000” prototype devices. The phones, reportedly part of its “Project Valley” endeavor to create a foldable handset, are referred in today’s piece as “Galaxy X.”

Samsung’s foldable prototype is said to use two panels with a hinge in the middle.

“The prototype that can be folded open 180 degrees reportedly features a pair of [OLED] panels that are connected with a hinge in the middle,” the article says.

And that’s a crucial detail: A true “foldable” phone of the type discussed by Samsung Display execs at a recent event would make use of a single foldable panel. The prototype in today’s report would use two separate panels with a hinge, likely making use of the “bezel-less” AMOLED tech already used in the Galaxy S8. Slim bezels around the hinge would be important in reducing the visibility of the gap between the two sides.

“Samsung seems to be testing the waters with the dual-screen device to gather ideas about its upcoming foldable phone,” The Investor’s source is quoted as saying.

It’s unclear whether these devices would actually go on sale. If Samsung did sell them, it’s likely that, like the Galaxy Round of old, they’d have an extremely limited (likely Korea-only) release.

A true “foldable” smartphone — one with a single, seamless AMOLED screen, is the ultimate goal of the project. Even if this “Galaxy X” doesn’t technically meet that standard, it’ll be an important opportunity for Samsung to debut its work publicly, and build on feedback before any mass market launch.

Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8+

• Galaxy S8 and S8+ hands-on preview!
• Galaxy S8 and S8+ specs
• Everything you need to know about the Galaxy S8’s cameras
• Get to know Samsung Bixby
• Join our Galaxy S8 forums

Verizon
AT&T
T-Mobile
Sprint

Samsung Galaxy S8 will ship without Bixby voice control

Samsung has confirmed that Bixby Voice, the voice-control feature of it’s very own voice-assistant and answer to Google Assistant, Alexa and Siri, will not be ready to launch with the Galaxy S8. The Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 Plus will launch in the US on 21 April, but Bixby Voice won’t be available later in the Spring.

• What is Bixby? Samsung’s smart AI explained
• Samsung Galaxy S8: Release date, specs and everything you need to know

Bixby Voice is perhaps the headline feature of Samsung’s new assistant, and will let you use your voice to perform everyday tasks such as sending emails, editing photos and placing calls. Samsung says that anything you can do with touch, you’ll be able to do with your voice. 

The South Korean tech giant said in an official statement: “”Key features of Bixby, including Vision, Home and Reminder, will be available with the global launch of the Samsung Galaxy S8 on 21 April,” 

“Bixby Voice will be available in the US on the Galaxy S8 later this spring.”

Bixby Vision is Samsung’s augmented reality software, that will let you use the Galaxy S8’s camera to point at things like buildings, for the phone to tell you what the building is and other interesting spots nearby. Home is essentially a pane of widgets and Reminder, as the name suggests, lets you set reminders. 

• Bixby, Samsung’s smart AI, launches on the Galaxy S8 but only supports US English and Korean

Samsung’s voice assistant has already been confirmed to be launching in just two languages: US English and Korean, meaning UK and European owners will need to wait for local language support. Samsung has yet to confirm when this will be. 

Google AutoDraw: How to use Google’s new software and become an artist in seconds

Google has just made it a lot easier for us all to become budding artists with AutoDraw.

AutoDraw is a new web-based drawing tool that is completely free to use on mobile, tablet and computer, that will turn your failed attempts at drawing into something that people can actually recognise.

With AutoDraw, you can draw a rough sketch of virtually any object, for example, a dog, and no matter how good or bad it is, Google will suggest a much better version. Google has partnered up with several designers and artists who have created the huge library of of suggestions.

If you’d rather have a more authentic drawing that fully resembles your drawing talent, you can turn the AutoDraw feature off. 

AutoDraw can currently recognise “hundred” of doodles, with more being added all the time. You can make suggestions for pictures to include in Google’s library, or if you’re an accomplished artist you can draw your own and submit them.

AutoDraw is based on much of the same technology as Quick, Draw!, another of Google’s A.I. experiments. Quick, Draw! is a bit like the game Pictionary. You’re given objects to draw and Google has 20 seconds to guess what it is. It gives you constant voice feedback while you’re drawing to give you a bit of help, and if it doesn’t recognise the drawing within the time limit, you can find out what Google did think it was at the end.

Twitter @support’s test bot will handle your complaints

Twitter launched a handful of features in recent months meant to cement its new role as a customer service platform. Now it’s putting some of those features to use: the social network has begun testing a bot to handle your questions and complaints. The company’s @support account can now serve automated replies to basic inquiries, so long as they fall under one of the five available topics, through direct messaging. Based on Buzzfeed News’ experience engaging the bot, it can help you regain access to your account, deal with users impersonating you and report abuse or harmful behavior. You can also hit it up for tips and tricks and to send the company feedback.

Unfortunately, the bot is still in its very early experimental stages and not available for everyone yet. A company spokesperson confirmed the trial period and told us:

“We’re testing a new @Support DM tool to make it easier for people to get help with certain support issues, directly on Twitter. This is a very early test and will be limited in scope for the time being.”

It’s not a huge loss at this point, though: it can barely do anything other than redirect you to Twitter’s website to fill out forms. Buzzfeed says the company will gather data from the test period and will tweak the bot accordingly.

Even in its current barebones form, the feature can help assuage Twitter’s huge troll problem more than a change in default profile pictures can. Its abuse section is the most robust among the five available, and it has the potential to help a lot of users if Twitter continues to build it up.

[Image credit: Buzzfeed News]

Source: Buzzfeed News

Your phone’s motion sensors can give away PINs and passwords

You could be the most careful mobile user ever, but hackers can still steal your PINs and passwords simply by spying on your phone’s motion sensors. A team of cyber researchers from the UK’s Newcastle University have demonstrated how easy it is to steal a four-digit PIN by analyzing the way your phone tilts and moves as you type. You might think your phone’s movements are random, but they apparently create distinct patterns. During their tests, they were able to crack four-digit PINs on the first guess 70 percent of the time and 100 percent of the PINs they used by the fifth guess.

Lead author Dr. Maryam Mehrnezhad explained:

“Most smart phones, tablets, and other wearables are now equipped with a multitude of sensors, from the well-known GPS, camera and microphone to instruments such as the gyroscope, proximity, NFC, and rotation sensors and accelerometer.

But because mobile apps and websites don’t need to ask permission to access most of them, malicious programs can covertly ‘listen in’ on your sensor data and use it to discover a wide range of sensitive information about you such as phone call timing, physical activities and even your touch actions, PINs and passwords.

More worrying, on some browsers, we found that if you open a page on your phone or tablet which hosts one of these malicious code and then open, for example, your online banking account without closing the previous tab, then they can spy on every personal detail you enter.

And worse still, in some cases, unless you close them down completely, they can even spy on you when your phone is locked.”

To conduct the tests, the team trained an artificial neural network with data collected from people who actively key in PINs to access various accounts. They then used a javascript exploit delivered through a browser on the phone as a point of entry. So long as a user clicks the malware’s link, it can collect data from motion sensors.

The team already told tech titans and browser makers that sensors can be a vulnerability. Apple and Firefox issued patches to prevent anyone from collecting sensor data last year. Google also knows about the issue, but it’s still looking into a fix. The researchers are now expanding their research to include personal fitness trackers, which are typically a treasure trove of motion sensor data. They want to find out how their sensors can be used to spy on your activities and how the data collected from wearables can pose a risk to your privacy.

Via: PopSci

Source: Newcastle University (1), (2)

Evernote for Mac puts shortcuts on the Touch Bar

When we reviewed the latest MacBook Pro after it came out last November, we found its brand-new Touch Bar feature to be useful, if unasked-for. But even as a peripheral appeared to give users the full touchscreen they really wanted, software mainstays like Office and Chrome have added support for the capacitative strip in the last few months. Evernote is the latest to integrate the Touch Bar into its MacBook edition, adding a handful of controls that mimic those found in its smartphone app.

Evernote’s Touch Bar controls are arranged in three sets. Default shows the navigational and “new post” shortcut buttons along with a carousel of tags users can swipe through. Notes includes emojis, formatting options and a hue slider to change color. Finally, Annotations has markup options like text boxes, cropping and, well, annotations. You can’t customize the Touch Bar settings, but at least it carries over some of the best quick-access features from Evernote’s mobile device versions.

Source: Evernote

Nikon’s D7500 DSLR arrives this summer for $1,250

Those of you with eyes set on a mid-range DSLR may want to wait for Nikon’s D7500, scheduled to launch later this summer for $1,250 body-only. The new shooter features a 20.9-megapixel DX-format sensor, an ISO range of 100-51,600 (with a low setting of 50), 8fps continuos shooting and 4K UHD video at 24, 25 and 30fps. What’s more, the D7500 comes with an Expeed 5 imaging chip, the same processor that’s on Nikon’s D500 high-end DSLR. According to the company, that should make the camera versatile enough to handle fast-action and low-light scenarios with ease.

To frame your shots, you get a 3.2-inch tilting LCD and an OLED electronic viewfinder, while built-in Bluetooth and WiFi let you share pictures wirelessly to a smartphone. Unfortunately, Nikon didn’t say when exactly its D7500 will hit stores; all we know is it’ll be sometime during the summer. Either way, in case you want more than the $1,250 body itself, there’s also going to be a $1,750 kit that includes an 18-140mm f/3.5-5.6 AF-S DX Nikkor lens. Time to start saving up if you’re looking to pick one up.

Walmart.com uses discounts for in-store pickups to fight Amazon

Walmart has made a few moves already to make shopping there more appealing vs. Amazon, but the latest one leverages its existing stores and distribution network. With a new program called “Pickup Discount,” it will lower the price for many items that are only available online, as long as buyers have them shipped to a nearby store for pickup. Walmart says that by relying on its existing fleet of delivering trucks and skipping the last mile, it can save money and pass that savings on to customers.

Here are a few examples of the discounted pricing you can expect to see:

• Britax B-SAFE 35 Infant Car Seat, Slate Strie – $148.05 will have an additional Pickup Discount of $7.40 ($140.65 new price)
• LEGO City Great Vehicles Ferry, 60119 – $23.99 will have an additional Pickup Discount of $2.55 ($21.44 new price)
• Coleman 150 qt Heritage XP Marine Cooler – $111.49 will have an additional Pickup Discount of $4.46 ($107.03 new price)
• VIZIO SmartCast M-Series 70″ Class 4K Ultra HDTV (M70-D3) – $1,698 will have an additional Pickup Discount of $50 ($1648 new price)

Free 2-day shipping is available for many items (no subscription plan necessary), so if you live within a close distance of a Walmart store, it becomes a very competitive option. According to the company, that accounts for about 90 percent of Americans. When the program launches next week it will cover 10,000 items or so, before expanding in June to cover one million items.

Source: Walmart Blog

One of the Galaxy S8’s most important features won’t be available at launch

Bixby Voice is only going to be launched in the spring.

Samsung has come out ahead of the Galaxy S8 launch to say that Bixby Voice, one of the cornerstone features of the new phone’s AI assistant, won’t be available until sometime this spring.

With its intelligent interface and contextual awareness, Bixby will make your phone more helpful by assisting in completing tasks, telling you what you’re looking at, learning your routine and remembering what you need to do. Key features of Bixby, including Vision, Home and Reminder, will be available with the global launch of the Samsung Galaxy S8 on April 21. Bixby Voice will be available in the U.S. on the Galaxy S8 later this spring.

In a statement, the company says while some Bixby features, including the clever Vision contextual camera helper, the Home interface embedded in the launcher, and Reminder, a place to store notes and to-dos, will be available when the phone goes on sale April 21, the ability to navigate the phone’s UI and perform actions using voice won’t come until “later this spring.”

Samsung is making it clear Bixby isn’t just a Google Assistant, Amazon Alexa or Apple Siri competitor, but “a conceptually new philosophy to the problem [of virtual interaction],” according to a blog post written by the company last month. “It is the machine that needs to learn and adapt to us.” This is a very hard thing to do, and is likely why Samsung wants to make sure the experience is great for everyone.

In her briefing with Samsung last month prior to the phone’s announcement, Florence Ion described Bixby Voice as “your own ‘push to talk’ for artificial intelligence.”

It’s not a search engine like Google Assistant; it is an assistant, and it can navigate around your smartphone the way that you normally would with your own fingertips. Bixby will support almost every task you ask it to do, like cropping a photo, applying a filter, or sharing it with your favorite social network. Eventually, you’ll be able to talk Bixby through your process without looking at the screen at all.

Bixby is also supposed to complete tasks, even if you don’t shout out the entire command. The idea is that as it’s learning what you do with your device, it’s also learning how to stay three steps ahead in anticipating what’s next. And if it doesn’t understand everything that you asked, it can get you most of the way there instead of failing and asking you to try again.

Samsung isn’t saying what is holding up the release of Bixby Voice, which will only be available in the U.S. and Korea when it launches, but we expect it is being done with ample weight on the effects of this announcement.

Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8+

• Galaxy S8 and S8+ hands-on preview!
• Galaxy S8 and S8+ specs
• Everything you need to know about the Galaxy S8’s cameras
• Get to know Samsung Bixby
• Join our Galaxy S8 forums

Verizon
AT&T
T-Mobile
Sprint