Techmag360: February 2017

Monday, 13 February 2017

Google and other search engines may have finally agreed to ban torrent websites

Torrent aggregating websites may have to deal with their greatest challenge so far. According to a new report by TorrentFreak, representatives from search engine companies like Google, Bing and Yahoo, met representatives from the entertainment industry, in a meeting facilitated by the British Intellectual Property Office. TF’s report says a deal is very close to being signed, which sees Google and other search engines ban torrent aggregators from their search results.

Nokia is reportedly planning to relaunch smartphones with N-series branding. The Finnish company has filed a trademark for "NSERIES" with China's patent office. The filing hints at comeback of one of the most popular smartphone series.

The prices for quad core AMD Ryzen processors may start as low as $129 (Rs. 8,700 approx) and go up to $499 (Rs. 33,500 approx)

Samsung Galaxy C5 Pro to be launched on February 28

Samsung Galaxy C5 Pro surfaced in reports late last year, but the smartphone is yet to be announced. Now, a Retail Mode demo video of the smartphone has emerged online. The video is a promotional one used in the Samsung and third-party retail stores to show the features of the device.

Lenovo Thinkpad X1 Carbon 6th gen Intel Specification

BASIC INFORMATION

2017 Honda CB Shine SP launched with BS IV compliance; priced at Rs. 60,674

The 2017 Honda CB Shine SP receives whole new body graphics, very different from what we see in the standard CB Shine.The instrument cluster wears a semi digital look along with automatic headlamps, which would also become a norm soon. It has a decent ground clearance of 160 mm along with a light 124 kgs overall kerb weight.

Apple is expected to launch three new iPhones in 2017, and one of the key new features rumoured to be standard across all the variants is wireless charging. A new report from KGI Securities' analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, who has had a particular proclivity for iPhone predictions, state that all the new iPhones will support wireless charging.

After updating the OnePlus 3 and the OnePlus 3T smartphones to Nougat just last month, OnePlus has started rolling out a new stability update for both phones. The new update, namely Oxygen OS 4.0.3 has started rolling out in waves to OnePlus 3 and 3T owners. OnePlus says Indian users will start getting the update in a few days. The latest update brings changes to the Wi-Fi settings, camera app and fixes some OS stability issues.

Samsung has been expected to showcase its new foldable smartphone prototype to limited audiences at Mobile World Congress 2017, later this month. Earlier rumours indicated that Samsung will launch foldable phones in Q4 2017, but now a report says that the device will be put up for production at the end of this year, and will only be available next year.

Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus will reportedly come with a 3000mAh and 3500mAh battery. While rumours in the past have mostly detailed the upcoming Galaxy S8's display and other specifications, this is the most concrete detail about the battery. The battery capacity of the Galaxy S8 Plus is same as that of the ill-fated Galaxy Note 7 smartphone.

LG G6 launching in the US on April 7: Report

LG G6 is reportedly coming to the US on April 7, more than a month later its release at MWC 2017. LG will announce the device at Mobile World Congress on February 26 and according to planning material obtained by VentureBeat, the smartphone will go on sale starting March 9 in South Korea.

Oppo, Huawei and Vivo have snatched the smartphone lead from Apple and Xiaomi in China. The three Chinese smartphone makers now control nearly 50 percent of the market share in world's largest smartphone market.

TDSAT has asked telecom regulator TRAI to clarify its position on Reliance Jio's free offers. The move comes after Airtel and Idea Cellular filed fresh appeals against TRAI's clean chit to Jio's free offer. TDSAT has asked TRAI to clarify whether Jio informed the telecom regulator and its subscribers about Jio Welcome Offer and Happy New Year Offer being distinct.

Google and LG are rumoured to introduce Android Wear 2.0 with two new smartwatches running the wearable platform on February 8. The first wearables to run the new OS are being dubbed the LG Watch Sport and LG Watch Style. While renders of these wearables have leaked in the past, the new image leak shows the retail packaging of the devices.

It won't be an exaggeration to say that Intex is on a launching spree as the manufacturer launched three smartphones in the last week. Within a few days, the company has added two more smartphones to its portfolio
.

Toyota India has opened its 303rd dealership in the country, with the inauguration of Rudra Toyota in Muzaffarpur, Bihar. The state-of-the-art dealership was inaugurated by Mr. Akito Tachibana, Managing Director - Toyota Kirloskar Motor in the presence of Mr. Ritwik Prakash, Dealer Principal - Rudra Toyota. Rudra Toyota dealership is conveniently located at Ramdayalu Nagar in Muzaffarpur, Bihar. Being a 3S facility, it would provide offer Sales, Service and Spare parts service to buyers under one roof. It is the record 303rd dealership facility of the Japanese automaker in India.

Lenovo Yoga A12 Android convertible launched with 'Halo' keyboard at $299

Lenovo is bringing the 'Halo' keyboard, first seen on the Yoga Book down to sub $300 price tag. The company has announced a new Android convertible featuring Halo keyboard at $299. The 2-in-1 convertible device will be available from Amazon in the US starting February 7 and from Lenovo's website starting February 8.

Xiaomi aims to sell 7 million units of the Redmi Note 4 smartphone in India. The company surpassed $1 billion revenues in India last year and now aims to become the number one smartphone maker in the next 3-5 years.

Nokia is expected to announce two new smartphones at Mobile World Congress later this month. One of these devices is expected to be a budget smartphone, codenamed 'Nokia D1C', while the second device is rumoured to be a Snapdragon 835-powered flagship. The Nokia P1 was recently spotted in the form of a leaked video and it hints at a metal and glass design, and dedicated camera shutter.

These Samsung Galaxy S8 show a fresh design [IN PICS]

Usually, we come across numerous concepts of upcoming smartphones. While of these concepts will emphasize on the features those were leaked by numerous sources, the others mostly focus on the details of the devices.

One of the smartphones that has been heavily rumored lately is the Samsung Galaxy S8 and some concept renders of the smartphone have hit the web showing what the South Korean tech giant might be launching next month.

An unnamed Huawei smartphone with model number MYA-L03 has appeared on GFX bench. Reports suggest that this device could be "Huawei Maya". In addition, various reports also reveal that the device has already cleared FCC certification last year.
However, considering the GFX Bench listing, Huawei's device is running Android 6.0, is powered by MediaTek MT6737T (1.44GHz, 1 processor, 4 cores) and is paired with 2GB of RAM. SEE ALSO: Mysterious LG smartphone spotted on FCC The FCC filing, on the other hand, reveals a second model with the number MYA-L23.

2017 is expected to be a turning point for the telecom industry, shows reports. The telecom giants are all geared up to counter threat the new entrant - Reliance Jio by introducing several attracting tariff plans, and BSNL is heading the race.
BSNL starts offering 1GB data at Rs. 36
The telcos are working on offering more services at a lesser cost. In line with the same, state-run telecom firm Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) today announced a tariff plan which will offer 1GB data at Rs. 36. This is probably the lowest tariff plan that the telecom operator has come up with.

As we get closer to the MWC 2017 more and more details regarding the 5th generation Moto G phones are being unraveled. Today is not any different. However, today’s leak (or an indirect message) comes directly from the horses mouth in a rather cryptic way. Motorola’s German website, all of sudden, turned into a countdown for some unknown reason.
Hello Moto! What’s up with this mystery countdown?

TRAI gives clean chit to Jio's Happy New Year Offer

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has given a clean chit to Reliance Jio’s offer of free voice calling and data plans on its services. PTI reports that the authority sent a letter to Bharti Airtel and Idea Cellular informing them that Jio’s Happy New Year offer was not violating the principles of non-discrimination, inter-connect rule compliance, and non-predation.

ZTE has launched the Blade A2 Plus smartphone in India. Priced at Rs. 11,999, the smartphone will be available exclusively on Flipkart from February 6. The device sports a 5.5-inch Full HD display and is powered by a 1.5GHz MediaTek MT6750T octa-core processor with 4GB of RAM. It also offers 32GB of onboard storage along with 13MP and 8MP cameras. However, the highlight of the device is the large 4900mAh battery. The phone runs MiFavor 3.5 UI based on Android Marshmallow. At its price, the device will be up against similarly priced smartphones like the Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 and the Coolpad Cool 1.

The Xiaomi Mi 5C has been spotted once again in the form of live images. The smartphone is expected to be a cheaper variant of company's existing flagship Mi 5. Xiaomi recently updated Mi 5 with an 's' version and now the 'c' version of the model has made its way through China's 3C certification.

Apple will soon start manufacturing its iPhones in India. Yes, we can soon expect to see iPhones with laser engraving on the back depicting that they are "Designed by Apple in California. Assembled in India." Apple has been considering India as its next base for manufacturing for some time now and it has received the nod from the Karnataka government to commence its operations.

Honor 8 Lite launched with 5.2-inch display and Kirin 655 processor

Honor 8 Lite, the cheaper and slightly low-powered variant of Honor 8 smartphone has been launched in Finland. The smartphone appeared in the form of renders before and has specifications similar to that of 2017 Huawei P8 Lite. The smartphone features metal and glass design and will be available in black, white, blue and gold colour options.

Samsung has launched two new curved gaming monitors in India, the C24FG70 and the C27FG70. The two monitors are priced at Rs. 32,000 and Rs. 42,000 respectively and come with Samsung’s Quantum Dot technology. The Samsung C24FG70 sports a 23.6-inch display while the C27FG70 comes with a 27-inch display. Both offer a Full HD resolution of 1920x1080 pixels along with a refresh rate of 144Hz. You also get two HDMI ports, one display port, and one headphone jack on each of the devices.

Google started rolling out Android 7.1.2 Nougat beta for eligible Pixel and Nexus devices on Monday. The update reportedly brings one of the most requested features from Pixel, to the Nexus series. According to 9to5Google, the update adds gesture support for swipe to reveal notifications from the fingerprint sensor.

After a slew of new features in recent times, another major update is almost certainly headed to your Instagram - multi-image posts. As of now, only advertisers can create posts with multiple photos which users can then scroll through horizontally. This feature, available to advertisers since 2015, has been spotted by Droidlife and a few others - which indicates it might be a limited test.

After the popular Bajaj Pulsar NS200 was pulled out of the road, the company promised that the new version of the street fighter naked motorcycle would come with enhanced styling and body graphics. And here it comes. After being spotted on several occasions, Bajaj Auto has now silently put the 2017 version of the Bajaj Pulsar NS200 on sale at an exclusive showroom price of Rs. 96,453 in Delhi.

BMW India, the Indian subsidy of the German luxury car maker, has been under the heat since Mercedes has been planning a E-Class longer wheelbase model for the first time in India. With this in mind, BMW has organised a preview event for its new generation G30 5-series. The event will be held in Delhi and is scheduled for the 3rd of February, 2017.

MILAN -- Italian luxury carmaker Ferrari reported a 38 percent rise in fourth-quarter adjusted core earnings and gave a strong guidance for 2017

Selfies are all the rage in today's time. The selfie trend has given smartphone photography a new dimension and smartphone users a medium to express themselves to the world instantly. And when we talk about smartphones, it reminds us of the OPPO F1 series that started the selfie trend in the market with the OPPO's innovative camera technology. The series comprises of OPPO F1, the F1 Plus and the recently launched OPPO F1s that are leading the selfie trend with their 16MP front-facing camera that effortlessly offers incredible selfies.

Huawei is prepping up to launch a vast range of smartphones at MWC 2017 next month. The company is all geared up to launch the Huawei P10, P10 Plus and P10 Lite along with the Honor 8 Lite and more maybe.

Ahead of the launch, there have been innumerable rumors about the smartphones, especially P10 and P10 Plus. Adding up to the rumor mill, both Huawei P10 and P10 Plus' prices have been leaked. Well, we surely doubt about the accuracy, as the Chinese smartphone vendor hasn't issued any statement as of yet.

Close on the heels of DC Design launching the DC2 Carbon Shot custom kit for the Royal Enfield Classic in black colour, the company has revealed two new colours.

DC Design has revealed Admiral Blue and Cardinal Red along with the previously revealed Carbon-Shot in shades of black. The DC2 Carbon-Shot custom kit features a retro-futuristic design for the Royal Enfield Classic 350 and 500 motorcycles.
The design includes several carbon fibre modifications revealing a large and teardrop shaped fuel tank and a well designed front fender.

Apple removes tool that allowed you to check if an iPhone or iPad was stolen

Apple has removed its Activation Lock status checker on iCloud.com. The removal, which was first discovered by MacRumors, means that if anybody now visits icloud.com/activationlock you'll be greeted by Apple's 404 error page instead of the tool.

If you're looking to pre-order a Nintendo Switch, you've come to the right place to find the latest and best prices.

UPDATE 31 January - it looks like you can pre-order a Nintendo Switch directly from the UK Nintendo Store: Buy Nintendo Switch

If you've got a Google Pixel or Pixel XL smartphone and are part of the public Android Beta Program, then today is your lucky day, as Google has released a beta version of Android Nougat 7.1.2 which, for the first time, can be installed on the company's well-received devices.

Apple announced its full quarterly numbers for the first time since the iPhone 7 was released and in another first it’s made record breaking sales. But it’s a specific sell that suggests the larger iPhone 8 could be the next big hit.

Apple reports that its iPhone 7 Plus had particularly high demand. Bearing in mind this was the quarter when Apple “sold more iPhones than ever before” according to Tim Cook, that bodes well for the larger handset.

HMD is scheduled to hold an event at MWC 2017 and is expected to announce a bunch of new Nokia branded smartphones, including a flagship smartphone tipped to be called the Nokia P1. Now, Concept Creator has created a teaser video for the phone based on the leaks and rumours. The concept video gives us a glimpse at how the phone will look like.

Microsoft is reportedly experimenting with a low-cost operating system called Windows 10 Cloud. The new version of Windows 10 is primarily aimed to compete with the growing popularity of Google's Chrome OS.

According to ZDNet's Mary Jo Foley, Windows 10 Cloud will be a simplified version of Windows 10 designed to run Microsoft's Universal Apps available from the Windows Store. The reference to the OS has started appearing in company's Insider Build for Windows 10. The operating could replace Windows RT, which was designed to work with ARM-based processors.

Xiaomi Redmi Pro 2 could be the next announcement from the Chinese smartphone maker. A purported image of device has appeared on Chinese microblogging site Weibo hinting at the successor to original Redmi Pro. The authenticity of these images are not confirmed but the Weibo user claims it to be a legitimate product poster.

Apple has overtaken Samsung as the number one smartphone maker in the fourth quarter of 2016. According to Strategy Analytics, this is the first time Apple has surpassed Samsung in the last five years. In Q4 2016, Apple sold 78.3 million iPhones as opposed to 77.5 million smartphones sold by Samsung.

Chinese smartphone maker Huawei's sub-brand Honor is said to be working on a toned-down version of its Honor 8. The company will likely launch the Honor 8 'Lite' at the upcoming MWC 2017 conference.