Xiaomi rolls out power banks with fast charging, a Bluetooth speaker, and a Wi-Fi repeater in India

Xiaomi rolls out a Wi-Fi repeater, Bluetooth speaker, and two new power banks in India.

Alongside phones, Xiaomi makes a wide array of accessories, and today the manufacturer rolled out several new products in India. Notable among the additions are two new power banks with two-way fast charging — the 10000mAh and 20000mAh variants of the Mi Power Bank 2.

The main issue with the first-gen variant of the Mi Power Bank was that it took too long to charge up the battery, but two-way fast charging allows you to top up your phones quickly (up to 15W), and charge up the power bank when it runs out of battery at 18W.

Mi Power Bank 2

The 10000mAh Mi Power Bank 2 features an anodized aluminum housing, and comes with nine layers of circuit chip protection to ensure it doesn’t fry your gadgets, including temperature protection, input/output overvoltage protection, output overcurrent protection, and hardware-level short circuit protection.

The 10000mAh Mi Power Bank 2 costs ₹1,199, and will go up for sale on Mi.com and at Xiaomi’s Mi Home retail store in Bangalore starting June 20. You’ll be able to pick it up on Amazon and Flipkart starting July 7.

See at Mi.com

Xiaomi is also rolling out an updated variant of the 20000mAh Mi Power Bank that retains its ABS plastic housing and textured pattern. The power bank can charge two devices simultaneously, and has the same circuit-level protection as the 10000mAh Mi Power Bank 2.

The 20000mAh Mi Power Bank 2 will retail for ₹2,199, and you can pick it up at Mi.com and at Mi Home starting June 20. It’ll similarly be up for sale on Amazon and Flipkart starting July 7.

See at Mi.com

Mi Bluetooth Speaker Mini

The Mi Bluetooth Speaker Mini is a puck-sized device that runs off of Bluetooth 4.0. The device produces sound that belies its size, and there’s a built-in microphone with noise reduction tech that lets you take calls. The device comes in at just 58g, and offers four hours of battery life on a full charge.

Xiaomi says that the exterior of the Mi Bluetooth Speaker Mini goes through a series of manufacturing steps to achieve its smooth finish. The speaker will be available in gold and grey for ₹1,299, and you’ll be able to purchase it from Mi.com and Mi Home starting June 21. You can also pick it up from GearBest for just $12.

See at Gearbest

Mi Wi-Fi Repeater 2

Finally, Xiaomi’s Mi Wi-Fi Repeater 2 is designed to boost Wi-Fi signal in your house. The device has two built-in high performance antennas, and can handle up to 16 connections. It’ll suggest the optimal Wi-Fi channels for faster download speeds, and you can pair it to the Mi Home app to identify Wi-Fi dead zones in your house.

The Mi Wi-Fi Repeater 2 works with most routers available in the market today, and you can pick it up for ₹999. It’ll be going up for sale on Mi.com and Mi Home starting June 20.

See at Mi.com

Moto C Plus with 4000mAh battery debuts in India for ₹6,999

The Moto C series is designed to provide all-day battery life and an unencumbered software experience.

The Moto C Plus is now official in India for ₹6,999 ($110). With plenty of new devices in the budget segment, Motorola is positioning the Moto C Plus as a phone with all-day battery life, bloat-free software experience, and an “advanced” front camera. Or as Motorola puts it, “Yes, it is that cool.”

The Moto C plus features a 5.0-inch 720p display, and is powered by a MediaTek MT6737 SoC with four 1.3GHz Cortex A53 cores and a Mali T720 GPU. There’s 2GB of RAM, 16GB internal storage, microSD slot, 8MP camera at the back, 2MP front shooter, dual-SIM connectivity, Bluetooth 4.2, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, LTE, and the aforementioned 4000mAh battery with fast charging (up to 10W).

The phone goes up against the Redmi 4 in this segment, which is powered by a Snapdragon 430. The Redmi 4 builds on the successes of the Redmi 3S, and is one of the best phones in the entry-level category. It’ll be interesting to see how the Moto C Plus fares next to it, but the promise of quick updates and a long-lasting battery makes it a decent option.

If you’re interested, the first “limited sale” is kicking off tomorrow, June 20, on Flipkart.

See at Flipkart

How to fix Google Pixel battery life problems

How do I extend battery life on my Google Pixel?

Google’s Pixel XL offers impressive battery life for a phone of its size, but determined users can definitely drain it over the course of a hectic day. The smaller 5-inch Pixel with its 2770 mAh battery doesn’t always offer the same longevity, giving you less wiggle room if you have heavier-than-usual use or forget to charge overnight.

Though both should be able to make it through an average day for most people, if you’re finding your Pixel’s battery coming up short sometimes, you’ll want to follow a few of these handy tips to make the most of what you have.

Check for battery-draining apps

The Pixel really uses its systemwide battery-saving function called Doze, which puts the system and apps into a low-power state to help save battery when the phone isn’t in use. A vast majority of the time the system can handle all sorts of apps and manage them so you still get notifications even while other apps are “sleeping,” but in some cases a poorly coded app can keep the system awake when it’s not supposed to, draining your battery in the process.

Doze does a great job, but you can always check on individual apps.

To find if there are any apps causing issues, head into your Settings, tap on Battery and look at the list of apps under “Use since last charge.” You’ll see most of the usual suspects like the screen, Android OS and Bluetooth or Voice calls, but if you see a seldom-used app taking up more than a couple percent of your battery drain, you should investigate to see if it’s doing things it shouldn’t be.

Use Battery optimization features

The “Battery optimization” feature in Android is a tad bit complicated, and in most cases will simply work as intended without your management, but if you’re having battery life troubles it’s worth checking out. Battery optimization builds on the battery-saving features of Doze to identify how and when you use apps to put forcibly them to sleep when they shouldn’t be awake draining your battery. Go into Settings, tap on Battery and then tap the Menu button and tap Battery optimization to get started with this.

The system does a great job on its own, but you can still check in on it.

By default, the system has been analyzing how you use your phone since the minute you started installing apps, optimizing usage on the apps to get the most battery out of the phone while keeping your most-used apps available when you need them. In the main screen of the Battery optimization settings you’ll see the “Not optimized” list, which you can see will include some apps that can’t be optimized, along with some stragglers that may not be optimized yet.

If you see an app that you want to be optimized, tap it and switch to “Optimize.” If you want to switch to a full apps list, tap the top bar and you’ll see the option to view “All apps.” Here you can tap on individual apps and switch them to “Don’t optimize” if you wish to let the app have free reign to run as it pleases. You may choose to do this for critically important apps like those for travel or banking — just know that most of the time, the system will handle these functions exactly as you want, with the added benefit of optimizing them for battery savings.

Use Battery saver

Though it isn’t nearly as comprehensive as similar features on other phones, the Pixel includes a Battery saver mode that can help extend your battery life with the flip of a switch. With Battery saver turned on, your phone will have reduced performance, limited vibration, limited location services and reduced background data. Together the limitations don’t have a huge effect on the usability of the phone, but they do save precious battery drain.

Battery saver can add a couple hours of life in a pinch.

Pull down the notification shade, tap on your battery icon and you’ll see a “Battery saver” toggle you can turn on and off as you please when you know you need a bit more longevity. If you prefer, you can also have it come on automatically at 15 or 5% battery, which is what most people will be more comfortable with. Battery saver automatically turns off when you start charging your Pixel.

Battery saver isn’t something you’ll want to leave on all the time, but in a pinch it can help you get through the end of the day or a tough time away from the charger — it’s just another tool to make the most of the Pixel’s battery.

Uninstall unused apps

Of course you can mitigate the issues from the prior situations by simply uninstalling apps that you’re not using that often (or at all). When you have a little free time, sit down and open up your app drawer — check out your apps and see which ones you’ve honestly opened in the past couple weeks. Chances are you’re going to find more than a few you haven’t even touched since you got your Pixel.

Going forward, when you’re setting up a new phone a good rule to follow is to just install the basic apps you need from the start, and only install additional apps when you find you need them. After using several different phones we often fall into the trap of installing dozens of apps we think we’ll need, but in reality never touch — and in the end we have to end up uninstalling them later.

Last resort: A mobile battery pack

Yes, we know, a portable battery pack doesn’t fix the root problem of bad battery life on a phone, but it does fix the issue of a low battery. If you can’t manage making it through a heavy day without needing a charge, and can’t spend time plugged in at any point, you’ll want to invest in a mobile battery pack.

There are plenty out there that will charge up your Pixel super quickly, and top up your friends’ phones as well, like the Anker PowerCore 10,000 mAh battery, or this 20,100 mAh battery from Jackery that has USB-C. For a relatively inexpensive purchase, these batteries can be a great backup solution when you can’t spend time at a power outlet.

How have you been finding battery life on the Pixel and Pixel XL? Did any of these tips help extend its life? Let us know in the comments!

Google Pixel + Pixel XL

• Google Pixel and Pixel XL review
• Google Pixel XL review: A U.S. perspective
• Google Pixel FAQ: Should you upgrade?
• Pixel + Pixel XL specs
• Understanding Android 7.1 Nougat
• Join the discussion in the forums!

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Why I’m switching from Apple Music to Spotify

While it might seem like an obvious move to make, I kept holding out hope that Apple would properly support its Android subscribers.

It’s been just over two years since Apple announced it was jumping into music streaming business with its Apple Music service. I was an early adopter to the service and even decided to stay loyal after otherwise jumping ship over to Android from iOS — but the lack of meaningful support for the Android app has slowly worn me down and left me with little choice but to switch over to Spotify.

Despite the Android app’s shortcomings, I stuck with Apple Music because its curated playlists and suggestions were on point.

I was able to overlook most of Apple Music’s most glaring Android shortcomings — the lacking support for Android tablets, Android TV, and Chromecast — because the music recommendation engine and curated playlists were on point. I was more than comfortable with the user interface, which featured a bottom row for quickly switching between the “For You” tab for discovering playlists and album recommendations, and the “My Music” tab for accessing my ever-growing library of tunes and custom playlists, though it’s worth noting that I could not care less about the “Radio” or “Connect” features.

The “For You” tab was a joy to check each day, with fresh playlists and a great mix of new suggestions and classic album recommendations from my personal library. Everything was stored in the iCloud, which meant that I could bring my music library with me when switching between phones (and that happens a lot with this job).

A quick comparison of the old app design (on iOS) vs the hot garbage Apple decided to include in the recommendations tab in the latest Apple Music update.

But the real problems started when Apple Music version 2.0 dropped in the Google Play Store back in April, which completely changed the design of the app — without addressing or adding any of the missing features. Some people may have liked the new look and layout but I hate it. I could have lived with the menu moving to the top left corner, but Apple decided to also integrate the “Connect” feature into the “For You” section, so you scroll through way fewer recommendations and then hit a wall of “social posts” from the artists I follow.

I canceled my subscription to Apple Music once it became abundantly clear that Apple didn’t care about it’s Android subscribers.

Thanks to creepy targeted advertising, the more I openly bitched about Apple Music the more I kept seeing ads for Spotify’s deal for 3 months of Spotify Premium for just $0.99. So I took the plunge and realized that not only did Spotify have a nearly-identical library of music, the app design was a throwback to what I used to love about Apple Music.

Oh, and Spotify also offers proper support for Android including an Android TV app, support for Google Home and Alexa, and even a section for podcasts. Essentially, I realized Apple had been playing me a fool and doing the bare minimum to keep me subscribed as an Android user.

My Apple Music subscription will expire four days before the two-year anniversary of the service’s launch. It makes me wonder how many of the over 10 million app downloads are people like me who switched from iOS to Android and wanted to keep enjoy Apple Music — but ultimately go elsewhere when it becomes clear that supporting Android is a low priority for Apple.

Besides the introductory pricing offer, you may be asking why I choose to switch to Spotify. Well, to be honest, the options are kind of slim for us up here in Canada. A Google Play Music subscription does not include YouTube Red, which is just another service that isn’t available to Canucks, along with Amazon Music and Pandora. Spotify was really the only other gig in town, so I guess I’m fortunate that it also happens to be the best music service for Android.

Are there any other Apple Music fans out there who feel the same way? Should I give Google Music another shot or am I best off sticking with Spotify? Tell me what you think in the comments!

The Morning After: Monday, June 19th 2017

Hey, good morning!

Monday’s back again. Elon Musk is talking to LA authorities about using his traffic tunnels, we play even more games from E3 2017, and Bill Nye is teaming up with Netflix.

Talks are ‘promising’.Elon Musk says Los Angeles is open to using his traffic tunnels

Musk might just his first boring customer. The tech entrepreneur says he’s having “promising conversations” with Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti about using The Boring Company’s technology as part of a larger underground network that would shuttle cars, bikes and people.

Ferris wheels, energy drinks and drumlines.
All the weird things you missed at E3

Here, try some Mystery Drink.

The science guy isn’t quite done debunking myths yet.
Bill Nye will save the world with science and Netflix

Bill Nye’s Netflix talk show is coming back for another season. The streaming platform has released an official teaser for Bill Nye Saves the World’s second season, which the science educator has posted on Facebook. It starts by showing anti-science tweets and those calling Nye a “totalitarian eugenicist in a fake lab coat,” “Bill Lie the Pseudoscience Guy,” a quack and even Satan, to drive home the point that the world needs more saving.

The hero’s next game is more about the man behind the mask than the web slinger.Insomniac’s ‘Spider-Man’ gets what it means to be Peter Parker

When Sony revealed that Insomniac games was working on a PlayStation 4 exclusive Spider-Man game set in an original universe, the specter of another game hung over the announcement — 2004’s Spider-Man 2. This movie tie-in is widely regarded as the game that perfected web swinging, as well as the title that no subsequent Spider-Man game ever lived up to. Creative director Bryan Intihar is aware of the stigma, but he doesn’t seem worried. He’s confident the new game will make players feel like Spider-Man. His goal is more complicated, however: He wants players to feel like Peter Parker.

But wait, there’s more…

• ‘Dragonball FighterZ’ looks dangerously close to the anime
• ‘The Last Night’ is a stunning take on 16-bit games for the 4K generation
• Microsoft expects consumers to ‘figure out’ which Xbox is which
• A chat with the 76ers’ first all-female eSports team, Dignitas

Light-sensitive bacteria could save you during a heart attack

Heart attacks are frightening by themselves, but they’re made worse by the potential for lasting damage. Even a brief interruption to blood flow could permanently destroy vital tissue that keeps your heart beating as usual. However, there might be a way to mitigate or even prevent that damage. Scientists have discovered that a light-sensitive bacteria, synechococcus elongatus, can keep oxygen coming in the midst of a heart attack. Much like a plant, the bacteria both draws on photosynthesis for energy and turns both CO2 and water into oxygen. If you expose it to light soon after the attack, you can maintain oxygen levels and increase the heart’s blood-pumping ability after the attack is over.

In lab rats, the results were dramatic. Oxygen levels were 25 times higher 10 minutes after the attack, and the hearts pumped 60 percent more blood 45 minutes after the attack. If you could use this as an emergency treatment in humans, it could mean the difference between outright heart failure and a reasonably healthy patient.

The emphasis is on “if,” however. It’s easy to shine light into the small body of a rat; it’s tougher to do that with humans, who have thicker heart muscles (and are much larger, of course). There’s also the question of whether or not the bacteria are completely safe. Don’t count on this solution reaching hospitals soon, if at all. Nonetheless, the discovery is promising: it suggests that there’s a way to protect your heart against long-term harm even as doctors race to save you from the immediate threat.

Source: Science, Science Advances

New Jay Z Album ‘4:44’ Will Be Sprint-Tidal Exclusive

Rapper Jay Z has confirmed that his new album, 4:44, will be released on June 30 and will be available exclusively to Sprint customers and existing Tidal subscribers (via Variety). The album is the first major project between the streaming music service and Sprint, which acquired 33 percent of the company in January in a deal reportedly worth $200 million.

Tidal has recently been promoting 4:44 with videos on YouTube featuring actors Mahershala Ali, Lupita Nyong’o, and Danny Glover, suggesting video content could accompany the album.

Based on the performance of previous Tidal-only releases, how long the album remains an exclusive could have a big effect on its chart success. Beyonce’s album Lemonade reportedly suffered because of its exclusivity to Tidal, which claims as many as 3 million subscribers. That contrasts with Spotify’s claimed 50 million paying subscribers, with Apple Music now on 27 million subscribers, as revealed earlier this month at the Worldwide Developers Conference.

Apple was rumored to be interested in buying Tidal last year as a way to bolster Apple Music, but the company later denied the reports and said it wasn’t looking to acquire any existing streaming services. The rivalry between Apple Music and Tidal has been criticized for their promotion of exclusive artist deals, which Kanye West said was negatively affecting the music industry.

As part of the Sprint-Tidal deal, Sprint customers are eligible to receive a free six-month Tidal trial subscription to the streaming service.

Tags: Sprint, Tidal
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LG unveils G6+ with B&O Play headphones, rolls out software updates for G6

Four months after the G6 was first unveiled, LG has now introduced a G6+ model, with more onboard storage, B&O Play headphones and new colour options. Unlike some other phone manufacturers that increase the screen size when they introduce a Plus model, the screen on the G6+ remains at 5.7-inches.

• LG G6 review: The first truly great flagship phone for 2017
• LG G6: Release date, specifications and everything you need to know

The G6+ comes with 128GB of internal storage, double the highest amount available in the regular G6, and a pair of B&O Play headphones to take full advantage of the 32-bit Quad Hi-Fi DAC fitted to the phone. LG hasn’t said exactly which pair of B&O Play headphones you’ll get.

LG has also added wireless charging to the Plus model, something that we would have liked to have seen on the regular G6.The G6+ will also arrive with new colour options: Optical Astro Black, Optical Marine Blue and Optical Terra Gold. The Optical finish gives the back of the G6+ a reflective look, but the colour doesn’t wrap around to the front, instead the front bezels will be all black.

The G6 hasn’t gone completely unloved though, as LG has announced some software enhancements for the current model, which include Face Print.

Face Print is a new facial recognition technology to unlock the G6, but works without you having to press any buttons. Simply raise the phone to your face, where the camera will automatically detect you want to unlock the phone and do so in seconds and Covered Lens will alert you if your finger or fingers happen to obstruct the camera lens before you take a photo.

The LG G6 will also be available in Optical Marine Blue and Optical Terra Gold colour finishes. LG has yet to confirm when the software updates and the G6+ will be available in global markets.

EU Proposes Enforcing Data Encryption and Banning Backdoors

The European Parliament’s Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice, and Home Affairs has published draft proposals that would enforce end-to-end encryption on all digital communications and forbid backdoors that enable law enforcement to access private message data.

The proposed amendment relates to Article 7 of the EU’s Charter of Fundamental Rights, which says that EU citizens have a right to personal privacy, as well as privacy in their family life and at home. By extension, the “confidentiality and safety” of EU citizens’ electronic communications needs to be “guaranteed” in the same manner.

Confidentiality of electronic communications ensures that information exchanged between parties and the external elements of such communication, including when the information has been sent, from where, to whom, is not to be revealed to anyone other than to the parties involved in a communication.

The principle of confidentiality should apply to current and future means of communication, including calls, internet access, instant messaging applications, e-mail, internet phone calls and messaging provided through social media.

The regulation states that the disclosure of contents in electronic communications may reveal highly sensitive information about citizens, from personal experiences and emotions to medical conditions, sexual preferences and political views, which could result in personal and social harm, economic loss or embarrassment.

In addition, the committee argues that not only the content of communications needs to be protected, but also the metadata associated with it, including numbers called, websites visited, geographical location, and the time, date, and duration of calls, which might otherwise be used to draw conclusions about the private lives of persons involved.

The regulations would apply to providers of electronic communication services as well as software providers that enable electronic communications and the retrieval of information on the internet. However, the amendment goes further by stating that the use of software backdoors by EU member states should be outlawed.

When encryption of electronic communications data is used, decryption, reverse engineering or monitoring of such communications shall be prohibited.  

Member states shall not impose any obligations on electronic communications service providers that would result in the weakening of the security and encryption of their networks and services.

The proposals appear to have been tabled in response to comments made by EU member states such as the U.K., which has argued that encrypted online channels such as WhatsApp and Telegram provide a “safe haven” for terrorists because governments governments and even the companies that host the services cannot read them.

The U.K. home secretary Amber Rudd recently claimed that it is “completely unacceptable” that authorities cannot gain access to messages stored on mobile applications protected by end-to-end encryption. A leaked draft technical paper prepared by the U.K. government was leaked shortly after Rudd’s comments, containing proposals related to the removal of encryption from private communications.

The EU proposals could also put European security policy at odds with federal legislators in the U.S., who recently called on technology companies to compromise the encryption built into their mobile software. Last year, Apple and the FBI were involved in a public dispute over the latter’s demands to provide a backdoor into iPhones, following the December 2015 shooter incidents in San Bernardino.

Apple said the software the FBI asked for could serve as a “master key” able to be used to get information from any iPhone or iPad – including its most recent devices – while the FBI claimed it only wanted access to a single iPhone.

The European Union proposals have to be approved by MEPs and reviewed by the EU council before the amendments can pass. It remains unclear how the laws would apply in the U.K. after Brexit, initial negotiations for which begin on Monday. 

Note: Due to the political nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Politics, Religion, Social Issues forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

Tags: security, European Union, United Kingdom, privacy
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Here’s one way to grab the perfect selfie with your favorite pooch

Why it matters to you

If your dog or cat has a treat that it goes crazy for, then the Flexy Paw is going to be an effective tool for grabbing a selfie with your precious pet.

Pet owners know only too well how tricky it can be to get a decent photo of their four-legged buddy, the animal’s attention span often wandering before you have a chance to press the shutter.

That’s why LA-based Paw Champs decided to create the Flexy Paw, a bendy smartphone attachment that’ll ensure you have your dog or cat’s full and undivided attention. Well, for a few seconds longer than usual, at least.

The simple device features a clip at either end, one to attach to your phone and the other to hold your pet’s favorite snack. Yes, that’s how you get their full and undivided attention.

The two clips are joined by a flexible arm similar in design to the one seen with Joby’s popular Gorillapod or its GripTight One device. This means you can easily move the snack around, positioning it just out of shot to get Rover or Tigger looking almost directly into the lens.

While it’s true that you could hold the treat in one hand and press the shutter with the other, the Flexy Paw aims to offer more stability for your shots by freeing up both hands so you can steady your smartphone, and also guarantees your fingers won’t enter the frame and spoil the picture.

But the Flexy Paw really comes into its own when you want to grab a selfie with your favorite four-legged friend. On these occasions, there’s no easy way to hold the smartphone and the snack in your hands at the same time, so the attachment gives you a much better chance of capturing an image worth keeping.

Any downsides? Well, if you use the Flexy Paw a lot, then the mere act of reaching for your smartphone might end up sending your mutt into a tail-wagging, salivating frenzy. But apart from that, you should be just fine.

The Flexy Paw is currently a Kickstarter project and you can pre-order it for $16. Assuming the campaign runs as planned, shipping worldwide will start in November, 2017, with free delivery available for U.S.-based customers.