Xiaomi teams up with Google to launch its first Android One phone, the $230 Mi A1

Android One reboot kicks off with the Xiaomi Mi A1.

Late last week, Xiaomi said that it would launch a phone in a brand-new series, and that the device would make its debut in India. At a media event in New Delhi, Xiaomi unveiled the Mi A1, its first Android One phone. The device is a variant of the Mi 5X, which was unveiled in China back in July. What makes the Mi A1 particularly interesting is the fact that it runs stock Android out of the box.

Before we discuss the software, a quick look at the specs on offer: the Mi A1 has a 5.5-inch Full HD display, Snapdragon 625, 4GB of RAM, 64GB storage, dual 12MP cameras with a primary wide-angle lens and a secondary telephoto lens, Wi-Fi ac, Bluetooth 4.2, and a 3080mAh battery. Like all Xiaomi phones sold in India, the Mi A1 will be assembled locally in the country.

• Xiaomi Mi A1 specs
• Xiaomi Mi A1 preview: Android One at its best

The phone doesn’t come with Oreo out of the box — it is running Android 7.1.2 Nougat with the August security patch, but Google says that the Oreo update will be rolled out before the end of the year. Google also says that the Mi A1 will be one of the first devices to pick up the Android P update next year.

And unlike previous Android One devices, which received updates directly from Google, Xiaomi will be rolling out the updates to the Mi A1.

That’s because of the dual camera setup at the back — to take full advantage of the dual imaging sensors, Xiaomi bundled its own camera app with the phone, and that means any new update will have to go through Xiaomi to make sure it doesn’t break the camera. Xiaomi is also offering an IR blaster on the Mi A1, and has bundled its Mi Remote utility as well. Aside from that, you’ll get a clean software experience.

The Mi A1 will be available on Mi.com as well as Flipkart for ₹14,999 ($230), and will be up for purchase at Mi Home stores as well as Xiaomi’s retail partner network. The phone will go up for sale on September 12 and will be heading to over 25 global markets shortly.

Xiaomi Mi A1 specs: Snapdragon 625, dual cameras, and stock Android for $230

The Mi 5X is Xiaomi’s first Android One phone.

Xiaomi unveiled the Mi A1 earlier today in New Delhi, and the phone marks a shift in strategy for the manufacturer. While all Xiaomi phones thus far have featured MIUI, the Mi A1 offers stock Android. The phone is the first in a new lineup of Android One devices, with Google looking to aggressively target the budget segment in emerging markets.

There’s a lot to like about the phone — you get a Full HD display, Snapdragon 625, 4GB RAM, 64GB storage, 3080mAh battery, and Android 7.1.2 Nougat out of the box with the August security patch. The highlight is the dual 12MP cameras at the back, with Xiaomi offering a similar configuration as the flagship Mi 6. Here’s a detailed look at the hardware:

The Mi A1 will be sold exclusively on Flipkart online, and will also be available at Mi Home stores as well as through Xiaomi’s partner stores throughout the country. Interested in knowing more about the device? Head here:

Xiaomi Mi A1 preview: The Android One phone we’ve been waiting for

Xiaomi Mi A1 preview: This is the Android One phone we deserve

This is what Android One should have been from the beginning.

Google launched the Android One initiative back in 2014, partnering with local manufacturers to build $100 phones that received updates directly from the search giant. That premise made a lot of sense considering most budget phones don’t even see a single platform update, but the execution was far from faultless. At a time when offline sales outnumbered online retail three to one, Google decided to offer Android One devices exclusively online.

The company didn’t do enough to promote Android One, which meant that a majority of customers the program was targeting never even knew it existed. Thankfully, that’s all changing with the Xiaomi Mi A1.

Whereas the first batch of Android One phones debuted at the $100 figure, Google is now aiming for the $200-$250 price point. The Mi A1 will retail initially in India for ₹14,999 ($230), and will make its way to other Asian markets before the end of the month. The phone will be available in Russia, Ukraine, Greece, and Mexico by the end of the year.

Now onto the phone itself — the Mi A1 is a rebranded edition of the Mi 5X, which made its debut in China in July. The phone sports an aluminum unibody chassis, with the antenna bands tucked away at the top and bottom of the device. The back is fairly busy thanks to the Android One logo, the Mi logo, and all the regulatory signage.

The highlight of the phone is the dual cameras at the back — a primary 12MP wide-angle camera augmented by a secondary 12MP telephoto lens. The camera configuration is the same as that of the Mi 6, but Xiaomi is using different sensors this time around, and there’s no OIS in the primary camera. And as the Mi A1 is 0.2mm thinner than the Mi 6, there’s a camera hump at the back.

The phone is unmistakably premium, and Xiaomi has done a fantastic job refining its design aesthetic over the last 12 months. There are chunky bezels at the front, but the overall in-hand feel is excellent. Xiaomi also got the placement of the fingerprint sensor just right — it’s located at the exact spot where your index finger rests at the back of the device. The sensor itself is quick to authenticate and didn’t have any issues recognizing my fingerprints.

The power and volume buttons are located on the left, there’s a 3.5mm jack at the bottom, along with a USB-C charging port and a single speaker. The speaker gets sufficiently loud, but the sound is distorted at higher frequencies. There’s also an IR blaster located up top, and you get Mi Remote bundled with the phone.

The only issue I have on the hardware front is the button layout for the navigation keys — the Mi A1 has the back key to the right of the home key, with the recents pane taking up the leftmost button. Aside from that design faux pas, the Mi A1 is the most feature-rich budget phones available today.

Xiaomi Mi A1 specs

Xiaomi didn’t cut any corners when it comes to the internal hardware as well. The Mi A1 features a 5.5-inch Full HD display, Snapdragon 625, 4GB of RAM, 64GB storage, microSD slot, dual 12MP cameras, 5MP front camera, Wi-Fi ac, Bluetooth 4.2, LTE with VoLTE, and a 3080mAh battery.

After three years of using MIUI, it’s bizarre to see stock Android running on a Xiaomi phone. It’s certainly a welcome change, as the addition of stock Android makes the Mi A1 one of the best devices in this segment. You’re not going to notice any lags or slowdowns.

I don’t see how budget phones can get any better.

If there’s a defining trend in the handset segment in 2017, it’s dual cameras. Xiaomi rolled out dual rear cameras last year with the Mi 5s Plus, but changed out the configuration in this year’s Mi 6, opting to go with a telephoto lens for the secondary camera instead of a monochrome sensor.

With the Mi 5X, Xiaomi is looking to bring that same experience to the budget segment. With a secondary telephoto lens, Xiaomi is able to offer 2x optical zoom. The primary sensor by itself does a great job when it comes to taking photos in daylight conditions, and the secondary lens lets you zoom into subjects without losing out on quality.

The phone comes with Android 7.1.2 Nougat out of the box, and Xiaomi says it’ll deliver the Oreo update before the end of the year. Although the Mi A1 is a part of the Android One initiative, Xiaomi will be handling the updates. The phone features Xiaomi’s own camera app and not Google Camera, and as such Xiaomi needs to test the camera’s compatibility with new updates.

The Mi A1 has top-notch build quality, decent internal specs, and a dual camera that’s head and shoulders above anything available in this segment. Combine a clean software experience with the promise of quick updates and Xiaomi’s hardware chops, and it’s easy to see that the Mi A1 is the most uncompromising budget phone in the market today.

The phone will be available in black and gold color options at launch, with the rose gold variant making its debut at a later date. The phone will go up for sale at Mi.com and Flipkart next week for ₹14,999 ($230), and will be heading to Mi Home stores along with thousands of “Mi Preferred Partner” retail stores across the country.

Xiaomi will be in charge of after-sales service for the Mi A1, and going by Google’s non-existent support for Nexus and Pixel devices in the country, that’s a good thing. Xiaomi now has over 500 service centers across India, and is regularly adding more in tier 2 and tier 3 cities.

Xiaomi has a clear winner in the Mi A1, and now it’s time to see if the company can meet the demand for the phone. If it can do so successfully, it is well on its way to solidifying its place as the second-largest smartphone manufacturer in India.

‘Secret of Mana’ remake gameplay video delivers throwback fun

Less than two weeks since it was announced, Square Enix is offering the first look at gameplay from the Secret of Mana remake. The clip is from the demo unveiled as part of the developer’s Pax West showcase, which was captured in a Twitch livestream. It boasts almost ten minutes of in-game footage from the highly anticipated remaster of the classic RPG.

As you can see from the vid, the game is as close to a remake as we’re going to get — with 3D visuals to boot. It retains the characters (only with actual voices), enemies (rabites), objects (treasure chests are back), and items (candy and chocolate bars) that fans fondly remember from the original.

The clip starts from the game’s opening sequence, and follows protagonist Randi as he slashes his way through those bouncing rabites, concluding with the first boss fight against Mantis Ant. All the while you can hear that iconic original score (with some slight modifications) in the background. And, there’s even a cool mini map – – which as some keen observers have already pointed out — is a replica of the original 2D game.

Although the announcement trailer gave us a good look at the characters and style of the game, it also left us with a bunch of questions. Thankfully, the livestream cleared some of those up. Firstly, the game will include a local co-op mode for up to three players (who will assume the roles of Randi, Primm, and Popoi). Aside from the outfits DLC that’s available with pre-orders, more updates are also planned for the future. And, arguably the most exciting tidbit: It seems Square Enix may even be considering a remake of the Secret of Mana follow-up Seiken Densetsu 3. The third in the Mana series was only released in Japan (although an english translation is available as a ROM), so the thought of it making it to these shores is good news indeed.

Before then, you’ll be able to get your hands on the Secret of Mana 3D remake for Playstation 4, PS Vita, and PC on 15 February 2018.

Source: WoWo Game (YouTube)

Apple Takes Early Step Towards iPhones With ‘Above 12-Megapixel’ Rear Cameras

Apple reportedly has booked production capacity for “above 12-megapixel” camera lens modules at a new factory being built by smartphone lens maker Largan Precision in Taichung, Taiwan, according to DigiTimes.

The report, citing “market rumors,” claims Largan is the only supplier that can meet Apple’s minimum yield rate. The new factory is reportedly designed to accommodate monthly production of 600 million lens modules.

Largan will allegedly start production in October 2017, suggesting the camera lens modules could be destined for future iPhone models released in 2018 or later, rather than the so-called iPhone 8 this fall.

It is widely rumored that the iPhone 8 will have a vertically-aligned dual-lens rear camera, with optical image stabilization for both the wide-angle and telephoto lenses, but no credible rumors have surfaced about its quality.

Apple improves its iPhone cameras each year, so an increased megapixel count of some kind is certainly still possible this year.

Apple’s latest iPhone and iPad models, including the iPhone 7, iPhone 7 Plus, 10.5-inch iPad Pro, and 12.9-inch iPad Pro, are all equipped with 12-megapixel rear-facing cameras and 7-megapixel front-facing cameras.

Keep in mind that megapixels don’t always matter, as even a TV or monitor with 4K Ultra HD resolution of 3,840×2,160 pixels only has roughly 8.3 megapixels, which isn’t enough to display a 12-megapixel photo at full resolution.

Nevertheless, if this rumor is accurate, then perhaps we’ll see an iPhone with a 16- or 18-megapixel rear camera or higher in the future.

Related Roundup: iPhone 8
Tags: digitimes.com, Largan
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America’s longest-orbiting female astronaut has safely returned home

After spending 665 days whizzing 254 miles above the surface of Earth aboard the International Space Station, Astronaut Peggy Whitson has successfully reentered the atmosphere and set down safely in Kazakhstan. That’s the longest time spent on the ISS for any woman astronaut in history — or any American astronaut for that matter.

After the 9:21pm ET landing, @AstroPeggy has a total of 665 days in space, the U.S. record and places 8th on all-time space endurance list pic.twitter.com/grVIRo3SmX

— NASA (@NASA) September 3, 2017

Whitson arrived on the ISS on November 18th, 2016, her third time aboard the ISS since her initial stay during Expedition 5 in 2002. She had racked up more than 375 days in space during her two previous missions and had already set the record for longest time in orbit during a single flight, spending 288 consecutive days at LEO. Amazingly, Whitson broke the duration record back in April. But she stayed on for an extra three months just because she felt like it.

“This is great news,” Whitson said in a statement. “I love being up here. Living and working aboard the space station is where I feel like I make the greatest contribution, so I am constantly trying to squeeze every drop out of my time here. Having three more months to squeeze is just what I would wish for.”

While she was in orbit this last time, at age 56, Whitson became the oldest woman astronaut to complete a spacewalk. It was also her tenth extra-vehicular activity, marking another astronautical record to go along with her other record for most time spent outside the ISS: 60-plus hours of space-walkabouts.

But she did more than just spend time in zero-G, Whitson commanded the ISS during her second mission in 2008. And, when she returned to command for a second time in 2016, she became the only woman to do so more than once.

What’s more, her scientific contributions can’t be overlooked. During the 4,623 orbits she completed around the planet, Whitson helped investigate everything from the effects of microgravity on the human eye to antibody experiments “that could increase the effectiveness of chemotherapy drugs for cancer treatment, and the study of plant physiology and growth in space using an advanced plant habitat.” You know, just in case anybody was still looking for alternative statue subjects.

Source: NASA

Samsung’s second dual-camera phone is much more affordable

Samsung has revealed its second dual-camera phone, and while it’s not exactly a budget device, it’s definitely more affordable than its first one. The Korean conglomerate’s Thai website has officially launched the Galaxy J7+, which has one 13-megapixel f/1.7 sensor and one 5-megapixel f/1.9 sensor on its rear. That dual rear camera is also complemented by an impressive front-facing 16-megapixel sensor for HD selfies, videos and some quality livestreaming.

Its dual camera is definitely the phone’s star offering — its other features are pretty standard for a mid-range device. The J7+ is powered by a 2.4GHz octacore MediaTek Helio P20 processor and has 4G LTE, WiFi, 4GB of RAM, 32GB of (expandable) storage, a 5.5-inch 1,920 x 1,080 display and a USB Type-C port. Unfortunately, it doesn’t sound like it has swappable battery like the J7 does. The J7+ is now available for pre-order in Thailand for around $390, which is considerably more than the J7. It’s not clear if it’s making its way to the US, but if it is, let’s hope it’s better than its basic sibling.

Via: Sammobile, Phone Arena

Source: Samsung

Panasonic’s GH5 can now shoot widescreen 6K video

When Panasonic first unveiled its 4K powerhouse GH5 camera, it seemed to promise 6K, 30fps video. That only turned out to be a burst mode for stills, but now, Panasonic has actually made good by unveiling a 6K anamorphic, 4,992 x 3,744, 10-bit resolution video mode. On top of that, it made 4K more useful by unveiling an “intra-frame,” full 4K, 10-bit option that compresses each frame individually at a robust 400 Mbps data rate.

What Panasonic calls 6K (4,992 x 3,774 pixels) might seem like 5K, but that’s not quite how it works. For 6K anamorphic, the GH5 actually reads out nearly its entire 20.3-megapixel sensor. The resulting 3:2, 18.9-megapixel images have the same number of pixels as 2:1 6K anamorphic (6,144 x 3,072). To shoot that way, you need an anamorphic lens, which squishes the widescreen image to 2:1, and during post-production, it’s stretched back to the correct ratio. (Those lenses produce a unique look, most notoriously the “JJ Abrams lens flares.”)

With the release of this option, the GH5 becomes one of the highest-resolution 6K anamorphic cameras, despite costing tens of thousands less than models from RED and Alexa, EOS HD points out. While the images are 10-bit, the data rate is low for this mode (200 Mbps) compared to rival cameras, however. If you want more data, you can shoot 4K anamorphic (3,328 x 2,496 resolution) at 400 Mbps. Hopefully, Panasonic will bump the 6K anamorphic data rate at some point.

The other new feature, 4K intra-frame capture, may be more valuable, even though it sounds less interesting than “6K.” Most consumer cameras capture video in a so-called “inter-frame” format, like H.264, MPEG-4 or Sony’s XAVC, saving data by recording how one image differs from the next. Intra-frame compresses each file individually, without regard to others, much like how JPEG files work.

The resulting images are easier to edit and work better for action sequences, but they tend to be much larger than inter-frame files. So, Panasonic introduced a 400Mbps “All-I,” 10bit 4:2:2 codec, doubling the previous data rate. That’s a higher throughput than many pro cameras, including Sony’s $7,500 4K FS7 XDCAM, even though the GH5 costs less than a quarter the price ($1,700). As mentioned, the new data rate doesn’t work yet for 6K anamorphic, and you’ll probably need a high-speed UHS-II class SD card.

If those major new feature additions aren’t enough, Panasonic also improved autofocus for both stills and video, and added a new “hybrid log gamma” shooting mode that can be read by certain types of HDR 4K TVs. The new firmware will be available at Panasonic’s website at the end of September.

Via: No Film School

Source: Panasonic

Artificial intelligence could help us see farther into space than ever before

Why it matters to you

This AI algorithm will enable us to see farther into space, and massively reduce the amount of time it takes to do so.

Distortions in space-time sound like they’d be more of a concern on an episode of Star Trek than they would in the real world. However, that’s not necessarily true: analyzing images of gravitational waves could help enormously extend both the range and resolution of telescopes like Hubble, and allow us to see farther into the universe than has been possible before.

The good news? Applying an artificial intelligence neural network to this problem turns out to accelerate its solution well beyond previous methods — like 10 million times faster. That means that analysis which could take human experts weeks or even months to complete can now be carried out by neural nets in a fraction of a single second.

Developed by researchers at Stanford University and the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, the new neural network is able to analyze images of so-called “gravitational lensing.” This is an effect first hypothesized about by Albert Einstein, who suggested that giant masses such as stars have the effect of curving light around them. This effect is similar to a telescope in that it allows us to examine distant objects with more clarity. However, unlike a telescope, gravitational lenses distort objects into smeared rings and arcs — so making sense of them requires the calculating abilities of a computer.

To train their network, researchers on the project showed it around half a million simulated images of gravitational lenses. After this was done, the neural net was able to spot new lenses and determine their properties — down to how their mass was distributed, and how great the magnification levels of the background galaxy were.

Given that projects like the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST), a 3.2-gigapixel camera currently under construction at SLAC, is expected to increase the number of known strong gravitational lenses from a few hundred to tens of thousands, this work comes at the perfect time.

“We won’t have enough people to analyze all these data in a timely manner with the traditional methods,” said postdoctoral fellow Laurence Perreault Levasseur, a co-author on the associated Nature research paper. “Neural networks will help us identify interesting objects and analyze them quickly. This will give us more time to ask the right questions about the universe.”

Impressively, the neural network doesn’t even need a supercomputer to run on: one of the tested neural nets was designed to work on an iPhone. Studying the universe in greater detail than ever? Turns out there’s an app for that!

Google reveals its most-searched ‘How To’ tips

It’s easy to forget how difficult DIY repairs were just a couple of decades ago, considering how easy the internet makes it to fix very specific product problems. (My biggest personal victory was fixing a 50-inch LG plasma display that borked a week after the warranty expired, following some extensive Googling.) Now, Google has created a new site that shows exactly what you want to fix, do and learn the most, based on where you live.

The need to to fix windows, walls and doors topped lists everywhere, so the team threw out those results to focus on regional patterns. The results? “North Americans and East Asians need their toilets, people in former Soviet countries are fearless enough to attempt fixing their own washing machines, [and] warmer climates can’t live without a fridge,” Xaquin writes.

Other top searches revolve around cooking, dating, money, dressing and health. For instance, many folks want to know how to boil an egg (maybe we’re becoming too reliant on Google), impress a girl, write a check, tie a bow-tie, pick a lock, lose weight, gain weight and get rid of pimples.

Other items, like cooking asparagus, asking someone to the prom and losing weight tend to be seasonal, Google says. Others are viral, peaking and declining over a short period, with subjects like how to make slime and loom-bands.

The data was culled from searches by users on “How To” do and fix things, one of the most common terms used on Google. The site itself was created by Google’s News Lab, working in conjunction with interactive visual journalist Xaquin G.V. It has a rich, responsive design and works well on mobile, a priority for Google Labs experiments, Data Editor Simon Rogers told Techcrunch. The lab, Rogers said, is particularly interested in experimenting with data journalism as a way to tell or summarize interesting stories in new ways.

Via: Techcrunch

Source: Google News Labs