Comcast’s smart home app controls your Philips Hue lights

Comcast’s Xfinity Home app can steer many of the devices in your household, but there’s been a conspicuous omission: Philips’ Hue lights. Why spring for Comcast’s hybrid automation/security service when it can’t handle commonplace smart bulbs? That changes today. Comcast and Philips have formed a partnership that brings Hue support to the Xfinity Home app. On top of direct control, you can create automated rules that link your bulbs to your security system and any other smart home devices. Your lights can switch on when you disarm your security after work, for instance.

You’ll also see Hue integration coming to X1 if you’re a TV customer. You can use the set-top’s voice remote to control the lights “in the near future,” Comcast says.

This probably won’t get you to sign up for Xfinity Home if you weren’t already inclined. However, there’s no question that Hue support eliminates a serious barrier to adoption. If you were thinking of trying the service but were waiting until it worked with more of the most popular home automation products, this might be the excuse you needed to dive in.

Source: Comcast

Apple begins building iPhones in India

Apple has begun building iPhones in India, a huge victory for that country’s push for more companies to build products locally. According to The Wall Street Journal, iPhone SE models are being assembled at Wistron’s plant in Karnataka. Apple has since confirmed that a small number of handsets have been produced, and are due to be shipped to customers in the near future.

The company hasn’t had the best time of it in India, a country that is considered a rich seam of future phone owners. Apple has, however, had several skirmishes with India’s government, which wants technology companies to build factories on the subcontinent. As part of the initiative, foreign businesses are obliged to sell at least 30 percent of products that are locally-made.

Last year, Apple reportedly failed in a bid to open three of its branded stores in the country because it produced no locally-made goods. For that same reason, Apple was blocked from importing refurbished iPhones for the same reason, despite pledging that it would make the products cheaper for locals. It appears that the country’s pressure, plus a need to keep iPhone growth moving at pace, has forced Apple’s hand somewhat.

Source: WSJ

Amazon’s Alexa comes to Fire tablets in the UK

If Amazon’s upgraded Fire tablet range has left your slate looking a little dated, we have some good news: Alexa is coming. The online retail giant confirmed today that when its new Alexa-equipped Fire 7 and Fire HD 8 tablets arrive early next month, it will push an update to older devices, allowing you to get to grips with the fully-integrated AI assistant.

The launch has been a long time coming, especially as US customers have been able to launch apps, play media and listen to news via Alexa since September last year. Amazon says the rollout will begin “in the coming weeks” and that it will continue to update the assistant, meaning it will get smarter over time.

Once the update is installed, all you need to do is long-press the home button to activate Alexa. If you already have an Echo at home, the assistant will already be customised to your liking, letting you to control your music and your smart home directly from your Amazon tablet.

Source: Amazon UK

OnePlus 5: What’s the story so far?

OnePlus announced an upgrade to its OnePlus 3 in the form of the OnePlus 3T in November 2016, but that hasn’t stopped speculation for the next “flagship killer”.

Rumours are starting to pick up, along with predictions from fans as to what we might see on the next OnePlus smartphone. With that in mind, here is a run down of everything we’ve heard so far and what we want to see.

OnePlus 4/5: Name

• Thought to be OnePlus 5 instead of OnePlus 4
• Number 4 is bad luck in Asia

The next OnePlus smartphone should be called the OnePlus 4 and if it was any other number, this probably wouldn’t even be called into question. But it isn’t any other number because the number four is considered unlucky in Asia, apparently.

It’s been suggested that OnePlus may indeed skip the 4 name and go straight to OnePlus 5 because of the unlucky associations. The company’s CEO posted a picture on his Weibo account confirming a new OnePlus device is on its way with the hash tag of Never Settle, but there was no hint as to what the device would be called.

On 4th May 2017, the company also tweeted a picture of the sides of two OnePlus 3T’s with a big “4” in the middle from its official account and said: “May the 4th be with you! #StarWarsDay”. Whether this is a hint at the name of the new device or just a Star Wars play is unclear for now. Funny either way though.

More recently, the Verge has claimed it has been “exclusively confirmed” that the new flagship be called the OnePlus 5 because of the unlucky associations with the number 4. Based on this, we will be referring to the next OnePlus flagship is the OnePlus 5 for the sake of this feature. 

OnePlus

OnePlus 5: Release date and price

• June release expected

OnePlus revealed the OnePlus 3 on 14 June 2016, the OnePlus 2 on 28 July the year before and the original OnePlus on 23 April 2014, meaning there isn’t a distinct release pattern for OnePlus like there is with the Apple and Samsung.

The OnePlus 3T was revealed almost exactly five months after the OnePlus 3 on 15 November 2016 but we wouldn’t expect to see another device for six months, allowing the Chinese company to see what the flagships it’s trying to kill had up their sleeves.

With Samsung, LG and Sony all having announced now, we’d expect OnePlus to reveal its offering around June again. It’s anyone’s guess at the moment but as April has long gone and May is in full swing with no word on an event date as yet, we’d be surprised to see anything earlier than June. According to the Verge, the OnePlus 5 will arrive this summer, which would tie in with a June launch.

In terms of price, a listing for what is claimed to be the OnePlus 5 leaked a while ago on Geekbuying.com, pitching the new device at £360 or $450. Given the OnePLus 3T costs £399 though, this seems too low. We’d expect it to be closer to the OnePlus 3T in terms of price, if not a little more.

OnePlus 5: Design

• All glass design suggested
• Dual camera setup on rear claimed

The OnePlus 3 upped its game in terms of build quality, delivering a premium, solid and metal casing that allowed it to challenge phones £300 more expensive. A fingerprint sensor is positioned on the front, a large rear camera is present on the rear and USB Type-C sits at the bottom.

India Today

There has been a suggestion on Weibo that the OnePlus 5 will offer a glass-made body however, which is something the company dabbled with previously on the OnePlus X, along with ceramic, which has also been suggested for the next OnePlus smartphone. The idea of a ceramic finish has also been supported by some recently leaked sketches published by Android Pure.

Samsung uses a combination of glass and metal for its latest flagships Galaxy S8 and S8+, as it did with the S7 and S7 edge, and Google added a glass element to its Pixel smartphones too so glass isn’t an unreasonable suggestion to opt for over all metal again, though nor is ceramic.

Android Pure

A dual-camera setup has also been thrown about, which is plausible too given LG, Huawei and Apple all offer dual cameras on their flagship smartphones. India Today Tech said the next OnePlus device would come with a dual rear camera and no rear-mounted fingerprint sensor, while the leaked sketches also suggests a dual rear and dual front camera.

According to India Today Tech, the fingerprint sensor would instead be placed under the screen at the front in place of the physical button, suggesting the new device may have an all-screen front like the latest Samsung devices.

Geekbuying

That said, the leaked posting on Geekbuying.com shows a device with a dual-rear camera but there is a fingerprint sensor on the front of the device beneath the screen. It is not yet clear how legitimate this leak is though so we’d advise you grab the salt rather than take it as gospel.

• Samsung Galaxy S8+ review

OnePlus 5: Display

• Size reduction to 5.3-inches suggested
• Resolution increase to Quad HD claimed

The OnePlus 3 and OnePlus 3T both feature a 5.5-inch display sporting a Full HD resolution, as does the OnePlus 2. The OnePlus 2 has an LCD screen, while the two newer models have Optic AMOLED, but all three have a pixel density of 401ppi. 

It is thought the OnePlus 5 might reduce the screen size to 5.3-inches, which will put it between the OnePlus 3T and the OnePlus X in terms of size, though 5.5-inches has also been claimed. It has also been suggested the resolution will increase to Quad HD, which would result in a pixel density of 554ppi if the screen size is reduced. A smaller display would seem like an odd move though, especially given its competitors are all opting for larger.

Apart from Sony Mobile, almost all the flagship smartphones the OnePlus goes up against also feature a 2K display or slightly higher, so despite the OnePlus 3 delivering a fabulous display, this is the area where the OnePlus devices lose marks in terms of the numbers.

Whether its noticeable to the human eye or not is another story entirely, but if OnePlus wants to remain a flagship killer, an increase in resolution is probably essential, especially given Sony’s flagship has a 4K display, Samsung’s has a 2960 x 1440 and LG’s has a 2880 x 1440 resolution.

• OnePlus 3T vs Google Pixel XL: What’s the difference?

OnePlus 5: Camera

• Dual-camera for augmented reality touted
• Larger pixels or wider aperture possibilities
• Possible dual camera on front

A dual-camera setup has been suggested for the OnePlus 5, as we mentioned previously. Several companies have already taken this path, all of which use different technologies in order to deliver different features. Huawei has an RGB and a monochrome sensor for example, while LG has a standard lens and a wide-angle lens.

True-Tech

A dual-rear setup has been supported by some leaked sample shots, said to be from the new device, as well as the leaked sketches which also show a dual front camera. Website True-Tech posted the sample shots which appear to show optical zoom and the bokeh effect, like the iPhone 7 Plus, but these images could have been faked of course.

It has also been claimed the two cameras on the rear of the OnePlus 5 might be used for a type of augmented reality or mixed reality feature, which would add yet another feature variation of the dual camera setup. This could be just fans hoping however so take this with a pinch of salt for now.

In terms of camera resolutions, the Geekbuying.com post suggests there would be 23-megapixel sensors on the rear and 16-megapixels on the front, while India Tech Today also claims the front will remain at 16-megapixels, like the OnePlus 3T, but it didn’t mention the rear.

• OnePlus 3 review

OnePlus 5: Hardware

• Qualcomm SD830 or SD835 chip suggested
• 6GB or 8GB RAM, 128GB storage
• 4000mAh battery capacity rumoured

Claims suggest the OnePlus 5 could feature a Qualcomm Snapdragon 830 or 835 processor, along with 6GB or 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage though there has also been talk of 64GB. The SD835 chip comes with Quick Charge 4.0 and it has been used in Sony’s Xperia XZ Premium and some Samsung S8 and S8+ devices, depending on the region, meaning it is the more likely choice for OnePlus as the company doesn’t tend to opt for anything less than the latest processor.

As for the RAM and storage suggestions, both seem plausible. The current OnePlus 3T has 6GB of RAM and 64GB or 128GB storage options so they aren’t numbers we haven’t seen before. An increase to 8GB of RAM would most likely see OnePlus win points on the numbers chart against competitors and if it is going down some sort of augmented reality route with its rear camera, it will probably need it.

A 4000mAh battery capacity has also been suggested, which would be pretty significant for a device of its purported size. The OnePlus 3T currently offers a 3400mAh battery. 

OnePlus 5: Software

• OxygenOS likely, probably based on Android Nougat

The OnePlus 5 will most likely launch on OxygenOS, like its predecessor, but the software is likely to be a customised version of Android Nougat, rather than Android Marshmallow, as the OnePlus 3T arrived on.

What features will come with that have yet to be seen, but we’d expect a similar experience to what is already offered to OnePlus 3T users, such as the Shelf, dark and light themes and an enhanced doze mode. There is also an update incoming that will allow users to take longer, expanded screenshots, so we’d fully expect to see that on the new device too.

• OnePlus 3T: Release date, price, specs and everything you need to know

OnePlus 5: Conclusion

For now, the OnePlus 5 is based on guess work. More rumours and leaks will no doubt appear over the coming months however, all of which could help shape a picture of what we might see appear.

Don’t expect anything concrete until early Summer, but watch this space and we will continue to bring you the latest speculation as it appears.

• OnePlus 3T vs OnePlus 3 vs OnePlus 2: What’s the difference?
• OnePlus 3T vs Samsung Galaxy S7 edge: What’s the difference?

Amazon Fire 7 and Fire HD 8 tablets get hardware refresh, larger tablet drops to £79.99

Amazon has made a couple of updates to its family of Kindle Fire tablets, updating the new Fire 7 and dropping the price of the refreshed Fire HD 8.

The Fire 7 tablet, that’s the smallest of the bunch, has a new display. The dispaly doesn’t change in size or resolution, but Amazon says there have been changes at the pixel level to make the display clearer and sharper, and to boost the contrast, in a body that’s now thinner and lighter, but with a slightly extended 8-hour battery life. 

The Fire 7 comes in four colours, black, blue, red and yellow. The price remains the same at £49.99 for the 8GB storage option with Amazon’s “special offers”, which is basically lock screen advertising. 

The Fire has been the best-selling tablet in Amazon’s Fire family and we’re not surprised: it’s durable, it’s affordable, and it makes a great buy if you’re after a tablet for home or travels.

• Pre-order the Fire 7 on Amazon UK or Amazon US

Pocket-lint

The Fire HD 8 has also had an update, again with new colours and now faster than the version it replaces. This larger tablet is now even more tempting as Amazon has reduced the price, so it will start from £79.99, £10 cheaper than it previously was.

• Pre-order the Fire HD 8 on Amazon UK or Amazon US

Amazon is also offering a kids version of both these tablets, for the first time offering the Fire HD 8 with a bumper cover, 2-year warranty and a 1-year subscription to Kindle for Kids Unlimited. 

Finally for those in the UK, Alexa for tablets will now be available, meaning you can ask your tablet to do a whole range of things, like turn your lights off, play music or set timers. Alexa for Fire tablets has been available in the US for the last 6 months.

Both tablets will be available from 7 June.

• Amazon Fire 7 vs Fire HD 8 vs Fire HD 10: Which tablet should you choose?

Amazon now offers an even better Fire tablet for kids

Amazon has updated its Fire tablets and in the process has expanded the Kids Edition to the Fire HD 8, meaning there’s now a larger tablet designed specifically for your kids.

The updated Fire HD 8 tablet sits at the heart of the package and as the name suggests it has an 8-inch HD display, giving you even more play space over the regular 7-inch model. 

The new Kids Edition will come with a foam bumper case that’s practically indestructible, meaning it’s easy to grip and protected against drops. If that wasn’t enough the Kids Edition comes with a 2-year quibble-free warranty, so if your child destroys the tablet, Amazon will replace it. 

However, it’s on the content side where Amazon’s Fire for Kids really appeals. The new larger tablet, like the original 7-inch version, both come with a 1-year subscription to Kindle for Kids. 

This subscription (normally £3.99 a month) means that you can access a whole range of content specifically for children from apps, to videos, to books. The great thing is that you can setup the child’s profile to ensure you get age-appropriate content. 

The new Kindle Fire HD 8 Kids Edition is good value for money too, as you get everything or £129.99 – the some total of the tablet, cover and subscription would take you over that if you bought them separately.

Finally, because this is a normal tablet in a case, if you want use it without, or your child grows out of it, you simply remove the cover.

It will be shipping from 7 June.

• Tablets for kids: How to setup an Amazon Fire tablet for children

Alexa is now available on Fire tablets in the UK

Amazon is pushing an update to its Fire tablets enabling the Alexa service in the UK. This has been available in the US since October last year, but now makes its way to users this side of the pond. 

Alexa will be available on a wide range of Fire tablets, so if you’ve bought one recently you’ll be getting it on your tablet. Note that this is different to the Alexa app that is used to manage an Echo: Alexa on your tablet is fully integrated. 

You can access Alexa on your Fire tablet with a long press on the home button and you’ll get a blue listening line appear at the bottom of your screen. There’s no hotword activation on tablets.

Pocket-lint

Then you speak to Alexa as you would speak to an Echo, with full support for the services that the Echo offers.

• Amazon Echo: What can Alexa do and what services are compatible?

That means you’ll be able to set timers, ask about the weather, ask Alexa to play music, check your weight with Fitbit, turn off your heating and so on. 

The best thing is that if you already have an Alexa device (Echo, Echo Dot) already setup, then you won’t have to do it all again, as Alexa on your tablet will know what skills you have and what links you’ve already made. 

Information delivered by Alexa on your tablet comes in the form of cards and it can open apps to serve you the information you want.

Alexa will be on the new Fire 7 and Fire HD 8 tablets, as well as the Fire HD 8. It will also be pushed out to the existing Fire HD 8 via a software update in the coming weeks. Amazon has also confirmed that it will be coming to older Fire tablets in the future.

Amazon Fire 7 vs Fire HD 8 vs Fire HD 10: Which Fire tablet should you buy?

Amazon’s Fire tablets continue to offer a popular alternative to the iPad, and with the choices of Android tablets slowly reducing over the past few years, the Fire family has offered affordable tablets that do just about everything you need. 

But with three tablets in the offering, there’s a decision to be made about which tablet best suits your needs. Is the size worth the increase in price, and exactly what do you get for your money?

We’re breaking down the differences to make it easy for you.

Amazon Fire tablet design

• Fire 7: 115 x 192 x 9.6mm, 295g
• Fire HD 8: 214 x 128 x 9.7mm, 369g
• Fire HD 10: 262 x 159 x 7.7mm, 432g

The Fire tablets are designed to be sturdy, offering plastic backs in a range of colours. The sizes and weights step up progressively as you’d expect along with the size of the display on offer. The build quality is very much the same across all the devices, with curved rears and a bezel around the display that gives you plenty of space to grip the tablet. 

The Fire 7 and the Fire 8 HD are available in black, blue, red and yellow. The HD 10 is available in black, silver and white. 

Amazon Fire tablet display

• Fire 7: 7-inch, 1024 x 600 pixels, 171ppi
• Fire HD 8: 8-inch, 1280 x 800 pixels, 189ppi
• Fire HD 10: 10-inch, 1280 x 800 pixels, 149ppi

The big difference between the Fire tablets is the display. As the name suggests, the Fire HD has an high definition display, but it’s not quite as simple as it sounds.

The Fire 7 has a 1024 x 600 pixel resolution display, which equates to 171ppi across its 7-inches. That means it packs in pixels tighter than the larger HD model and in this newly refreshed model, Amazon has improved the contrast, clarity and the sharpness over the older versions.

The 8-inch model has a 1280 x 800 pixel resolution, which comes out at 189ppi. The Fire HD 10 has the same resolution display as the HD 8, meaning a drop to 149ppi, which is pretty low for a tablet of this size, so some content might look at little softer as it’s spread across the display. 

The result is that the Fire HD 8 is likely to look the best in many conditions, because it can make best use of the content it is provided.

Amazon Fire tablet hardware

• Fire 7: 1.3GHz quad-core, 8/16GB storage + microSD
• Fire HD 8: 1.3GHz quad-core, 16/32GB storage + microSD
• Fire HD 10: MediaTek 1.5GHz quad-core, 1GB RAM, 16/32/64GB storage + microSD

When it comes to the internal specs, there’s also a difference in the power that you’ll get from the Fire HD and Fire tablets. The Fire 7 and Fire HD 8 have a new 1.3GHz quad-core processor, while the Fire HD 10 has an older 1.5GHz processor. It’s difficult to tell which will be faster, although Amazon has confirmed that the new 2017 HD 8 is faster than the 2015 model it replaces.

All three models have microSD support for storage expansion (up to 256GB on the Fire 7 and Fire HD 8, “up to 200GB” on the HD 10) , as well as free unlimited cloud storage for Amazon content. In terms of internal memory however, the Fire 7 is offered at 8GB and 16GB, while the HD 8 comes in 16 or 32GB models and the HD 10 in 16, 32 or 64GB options.

The battery life on the Fire 7 comes in at 8 hours, as does the HD 10; the new Fire HD 8 claims 12 hours of battery life. All the tablets offer dual-band Wi-Fi, there is no LTE offering on any of the models. The Fire 7 has a mono speaker, while the HD 8 and HD 10 both offer Dolby Audio and stereo speakers, meaning sound quality is likely to be better on these two latter models.

In terms of camera performance, the Fire 7 and HD 8 both have a front-facing VGA camera and a 2-megapixel rear snapper, capable of 720p video recording. The HD 10 on the other hand, has a HD front-facing camera and a 5-megapixel rear camera capable of 1080p video recording, meaning this is likely to offer better quality video calls and image results compared to the Fire 7 and HD 8.

Amazon Fire software

• Fire OS
• Alexa

The Fire tablets all run Amazon’s skewed version of Android for a unique experience that’s bespoke to Amazon’s needs. You’re served by the Amazon AppStore, with seamless integration with Amazon’s content, Kindle Books, as well as Music and Video. For Prime members, there’s a whole world of content that you have access to, and that’s before you get to doing your shopping.

New to these tablets in the UK is Alexa: you’ll be able to control your home and ask questions of Alexa through your tablet and get the answers served up as cards, or via voice. The software experience across the models is the same.

Amazon Fire price: Which is the best model?

The Amazon Fire 7 steals the headlines with a price of just £49.99 for the 8GB version. That makes it one of the most affordable tablets you’ll find and it’s a perfect tablet for those who might break it, like kids – although do also consider the Fire Kids Edition too.

The Amazon Fire HD 8 will cost you just £79.99 for a 16GB model so is stunningly good value for money, while the Fire HD 10 is £169.99 for 16GB, so the Fire HD 10 feels much more expensive than the other models and it’s now the oldest tablet in the collection.

We’re drawn to the Fire HD 8. It gives you a little more screen space, power, boosted storage, but still at a price that’s amazingly affordable.

• Buy the Amazon Fire 7 from Amazon
• Buy the Amazon Fire HD 8 from Amazon
• Buy the Amazon Fire HD 10 from Amazon

Elon Musk turned down Uber’s self-driving partnership offer

A new book on Uber by Fortune’s Adam Lashinsky is coming out soon, but Bloomberg has revealed one juicy anecdote ahead of time. CEO Travis Kalanick reportedly called up Tesla CEO Elon Musk to propose a partnership on self-driving cars, but Musk rebuffed the offer and even tried to talk him out of it.

“I said, ‘Look man, we should partner,’ ” Kalanick stated in the book. “Elon spent the rest of the call convincing me that it’s too far out, and it’s not realistic, that I should just stick to what we do best and be focused, or I’m going to fuck it all up. That’s when I knew Tesla was competing.”

Kalanick wasn’t aware that Tesla was already working on autonomous vehicle tech, even though it had unveiled its “Autopilot” driving assistant hardware. Shortly afterwards, Musk detailed a master plan for self-driving Tesla cars, including an autonomous ride-hailing service that would directly compete with Uber. Tesla has done perhaps the most impressive fully autonomous demo yet, steering a car from a customer’s house to Tesla offices and parking without any human intervention.

Uber, meanwhile, has been mired in problems. It was sued by Google’s Waymo self-driving division for intellectual property theft and now risks a criminal prosecution. On top of that, it recently demoted self-driving lead Anthony Levandowski, who was subsequently barred by a judge from working on any projects involving crucial LIDAR tech.

Source: Bloomberg

Latest ‘Futurama’ mobile game is part social sim, part retro action

I have something important to tell you: There’s video proof of the latest Futurama game in development. Executive producer and series creator Matt Groening is involved, as is executive producer David X. Cohen. Futurama: Worlds of Tomorrow is “coming soon” to mobile platforms including Android and iOS. “[It] will blend simulation, combat, galactic exploration, and choose-your-own-adventure mechanics together to bring the escapades of the Planet Express crew to life,” according to a press release. That’s a tall order for a mobile game.

The statement further says that recruiting favorite characters, doing story-driven quests and playing the simulation aspects takes place in New New York. When you head to the stars, things take a turn.

“While traversing the depths of space, players will fight alien enemies in retro arcade-style combat, rendered in beautiful 16-bit graphics, and explore strange lands in which their choices determine their fate.”

Unlike big-budget console-and-PC titles, a good mobile game tends to focus on making one or two mechanics the best they can be, so this seems like an incredibly ambitious project.

Aside from watching reruns or binging through the series for the umpteenth time on Blu-ray and DVD, though, Futurama fans haven’t had much to keep them busy. And they especially haven’t had anything new to occupy their time since the show went off the air in 2013. For their sake, hopefully this isn’t just a free-to-play cash grab rife with a mish-mash of half-baked ideas and in-app purchases.

If you’re itching for Worlds of Tomorrow to just shut up and take your money, there’s a sign-up page so you can get an alert when the game is available.