Blackberry KeyOne

                              Blackberry KeyOne

“Blackberry” we all know this company. Blackberry was once the No.1 smartphone selling company. There was a time when it could sell almost anything to everyone. Owning a BlackBerry phone was a sign of power, on which you could boast. BlackBerry was the first choice of corporate employees.

In offices or in meeting rooms you would find people busy on their BlackBerry phones, these things were common those days. Having black thumb (due excessive typing on BB’s classic keyboard) was something you could show off.

Then the iPhone was born and created a new segment of smartphones “the touchscreen smartphone”. It shook the whole mobile market and on other hand, Android phones started their own era. A powerful camera on phones, mp3 player, video games, new hardware and amazing features made the phone turn into a God of personal devices.

The BlackBerry couldn’t sense the danger and threat from the iPhone and Android phones and continued to make those non-innovative phones. Its executives never came out of the shell and failed to adapt. At last, they understand the urge for the changes and did some changes and made some good phones but it became too late. Even when they did get the phone right, they priced them wrong. They ultimately became a master of screwing things and did some bizarre changes in the phone’s ergonomics. In this way, the legacy continued to fade away.

The death of BlackBerry was certain but they did not die really! They kept making some sort of comeback every time. This time with BB KeyOne they really want to leave some footprint in the smartphones world.

Rebirth of Blackberry

The failure of the most of the blackberry handsets leads to bankruptcy of the company and people started thinking that “Will BlackBerry continue to make phones”?

Licensing gives the second life to Blackberry. Nokia also resurfaced through licensing. Nokia made a great start and Blackberry is trying the same. Thanks to licensing agreement with TCL, the new BlackBerry phones are coming out.

Licensing has some advantages, it gives freedom to think new and different and to start from the scratch thus a new hardware and new pricing. TCL don’t have to carry the legacy baggage and have a chance to rectify the earlier mistakes.

Advantages of BlackBerry

The first question that comes to our mind is, “Why will we buy a BB android phone”? There is already so many android phone brands which are making great phones.

There are two things that make BlackBerry special, one is Keyboard and the other is security. Typing on the real physical keyboard is a fun and joyful, if you haven’t typed on the real physical keyboard, you may not understand the feelings.

BlackBerry brings unparalleled world-class security to your phone this is something you don’t want to compromise with. Some recent revelations show that the CIA and many other government bodies spying on citizen phones. iPhone and Android phones cannot provide as strong security as BlackBerry. We all know the hacking story of Apple’s cloud storage which leads to the exposure of private pictures and videos of many celebrities. We are not the exception we all are vulnerable to hacking and BlackBerry level encrypted phones could be the only solution against this.

If BlackBerry has to compete with other brands it has to price their phones better, and have to provide good features, look, hardware like other Android phone and guarantees security. If it does all the things right I am sure it brings back the era of keyboard phones and the return of BB can be guaranteed.

BlackBerry KeyOne

BB KeyOne was showcased at MWC and it seemed to be a perfect phone. It was absolutely gorgeous phone with some great new features and strong hardware that can compete with any other android phones and beat it. It has differentiators like fingerprint scanner in space bar and many other good features. TCL just have to price it right so it can compete and beat other android phones in its segment.

Features of KeyOne

•  Under the chassis, BB KeyOne is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 Octa-Core processor which clocks up to 2.0 GHz speed.

• It has 3GB of RAM and 32GB flash storage and expandable up to 2TB.

• BB KeyOne gets the power from a 3505 mAh lithium-ion battery and also has quick charging facility. It charged up to 50% in just 36 minutes.

• It has 12 MP auto-focus large pixel rear camera which can shoot 4k videos at 30fps. KeyOne has a 8 MP front camera with Sony IMX378 sensor which is the industry leading camera sensor.

• It has USB type-C port.

• It has a 4.5 inches screen with a pixel density of 433ppi.

• It runs on latest Android version 7.1 Nougat.

• The last but not the least the most secured android smartphone secured with BlackBerry security software.

Android 7.0: Nougat

Android 7.0 Nougat is the seventh version of Android Operating System. It was officially released on 22 August 2016 and LG V20 was the first device launched with Nougat. Nougat is much more improved and smoother than it’s predecessor.

I won’t go very deep into it, I only talked about the highlighted features of Nougat.

10 Highlighted Features of Nougat

   1. Nougat is smaller than it’s predecessor and it takes only 49.5 MB if you update from Marshmallow compared to 1GB.

    2. It has a Split-screen mode, so you work on two or more apps simultaneously.

    3. Quick switching app, this mode enables you to switch between two recent apps. Simply double tap the app overview button and you’ll switch between your two most recent apps in your secondary window.

    4. Nougat is quite complicated and hard to use as compare to other android versions.

   5. Notification can be optimised. You can decide how many notifications you want to see on notification bar or you don’t want to see.

    6. Customizable quick setting.

   7. Multi-language support, emoji and app links.

   8. Faster and smoother.

   9.  New setting menu.

  10. Do not disturb and data saving mode.

Samsung Galaxy X: A Foldable Smartphone

 Foldable Phones are not new because we have seen many from Motorola but those were keypad phones and to make them foldable was not a difficult task. But to make touch screen phones foldable, indeed take a lot more effort to make it possible and foldable phones are the next in smartphone evolution.

Samsung has been working on the foldable phone for last two years and their hard work paid off. They have already hinted about foldable phones several times and this time they may reveal it to MWC in Barcelona. Samsung may roll out 100k units in the third or fourth quarter of this year.

Samsung Galaxy X

According to report Samsung Galaxy X will have a size of 7- inches (a tablet) when completely fold out, quite big but don’t worry it will easily fit in your pocket after folding it. It becomes almost half of its’ original size. This phone has an OLED screen. I don’t have much information about its specification but I think it will release as a Samsung’s Flagship phone.

Other Competitor

Besides Samsung, Lenovo and LG are also working on foldable phones. The source also said that LG is expected to launch 100k foldable phones in the fourth quarter of this and LG has more advanced technology as compare to Samsung. However, LG might use its technology to develop components for its client like Apple and Huawei instead of releasing its own product.

Despite all we don’t know how useful this technology will prove to be, so don’t waste your energy and let the time decide it.

Apple MacBook Pro with 32GB RAM

                                       

Apple’s Macbook Pro will come up with 32GB RAM

I don’t think Apple needs any introduction, we all know about this company. Apple is known for its’ beautiful and smooth performing devices.

We eagerly wait for its’ new devices but sometimes I feel Apple compromise with the hardware of the devices, when you compare with other devices you find Apple’s devices are short of something. Take an example like RAM, window devices have higher RAM as compared to MacBooks, you can even expand the RAM in many window devices but you cannot expand it in Apple’s devices as they are built end to end. But whatever they provide us that are enough because we can see how smoothly the devices run. But we are humans we always want something more.

So no need to worry because Apple has tightened its belt. In this calendar year, we will see MacBooks with 32GB RAM. To serve the need of professional user apple will launch high- end MacBook Pro models with 32GB RAM and focus on internal component updates like the adoption of Kaby Lake architecture.

It is predicted that Apple will manufacture 15-inch MacBook Pro with up to 32GB of RAM and also expect to produce new 13 and 15-inch MacBook Pro in the fourth and third quarter of this year respectively.

Samsung Galaxy S8: A Phone Out of this World!

                       

Samsung a South Korea-based giant company, mostly known for its’ smartphones. With the debacle of Note 7, the company loses billions of dollars and the controversy created a fuzzy image of the company in the global market. Despite all Samsung coming back strong with Samsung Galaxy S8 and trying to hit the market hard. With the kind of hype Samsung has created, it seems like Samsung has not left even a single stone unturned. With Samsung Galaxy S8 company image and reputation will be at stake and as usual, it will prove to be a tough competitor for Apple.

Highlighted Features of Samsung Galaxy S8

                                    

1.     Samsung Galaxy S8 will have a dual-edged curved screen and it will feature a 5.5 inch 4K Super AMOLED display with an amazing pixel density of 806ppi.
2.   Galaxy S8 will not have a home button instead have a company’s logo.
3.    It will feature an iris scanner which is not a new thing as we have earlier seen this feature in Samsung Galaxy Note 7.
4.    . The fingerprint scanner will be at the back of the phone as there is no home button.
5.     Bixby is the new "intelligent assistant" for Samsung S8, like Siri in iPhone.
6.   This flagship phone will probably be powered by latest Snapdragon 835 SoC while an Exynos 8895-based variant is also being rumoured.
7.     It will come with a 6GB of RAM or an 8GB of RAM.
8.    Like Apple Iphone S8 may have a pressure-sensitive display which will be able to distinguish between a light tap and a deep press. It expected to work like Apple’s 3D touch.
9.     Earlier there was a rumour that Samsung Galaxy S8 have a dual camera at the back but I don’t think it’ll be possible with such large screen but S8 will be the first smartphone to feature autofocus front  camera.
10. 1    Just like Apple, Samsung may ditch the 3.5mm jack and follow the footprint of Apple.
11.    S8 will also have “Heat pipe cooling system” which helps in getting rid of overheating. It takes the heat from the chipset and transfers the heat to back plate.

Expected Price of Samsung Galaxy S8

                              

The price of S8 has not been announced officially yet but due to some changes and such great feature, it is expected that S8 price will be higher than S7. The expected price of S8 will be around $900 while S8 will cost $1000.

Launch Date

                              

Samsung unveiling date is March 29, with the launch date rumoured as April 18. 

Hyundai H-MEX Exoskeleton: Boon for Paraplegics

Hyundai H-MEX Exoskeleton: Boon for Paraplegics

Hyundai which is mostly known for cars but this time it’s not their car that creating the buzz. It is their gadget known as H-MEX Exoskeleton reason behind the buzz. This year at the CES, Hyundai puts emphasis at the self-driving or driverless concept car but the real innovation is H-MEX Exoskeleton.

What is H-MEX Exoskeleton?

H-MEX Exoskeleton is a type of wearable suit, while wearing the suit paraplegics can walk as well as climb stairs. The users still needs to use the walking canes, the canes have buttons to control the suit and make the suit to take a step to walk, sit or climb. Max speed is 2.5km per hour and the rechargeable battery can deliver power for 4 hours on a single charge. This device seems like a boon for paraplegics which give them a chance to walk again.

It looks like an old-style leg braces and user have to carry bulgy battery on their back. Exoskeleton is adjustable to fit any user.

What So Special About H-MEX

Hyundai is not the first company to create exoskeleton but their vision to make it more accessible and affordable to larger audience is appreciable.

The H-MEX (Hyundai Medical Exoskeleton) not only allows people paralyzed below waist to walk but also improves their blood circulation. It can be used in rehabilitation for patients with spine injuries.

Hurdles Ahead

H-MEX is actually in the developing stage so it’s likely to take some time before they are available commercially. Model shown in the CES were just the prototypes. They have just started doing clinical trial with the goal of getting FDA certification in the United States and that doesn’t seem to get the certificate before 2018.

I must say it is not for everyone, users must not be shorter than 5 foot 4 inches. Price of this device is not announced yet.

Hyundai is not the single company in this segment there are other companies like Rex Bionics, ReWalk (RWLK) which give H-MEX tough competition. ReWalk was the first company to receive FDA clearance for personal and rehabilitative use in USA.  ReWalk Personal has a least price of $77000, which is really expensive. But Hyundai may not keep its’ device that costly.

Hyundai has also developed H-WEX, which gave extra support to back and designed particularly for factories worker with the help of this device workers can lift heavy objects.

Energous WattUp: True Wireless Charging

Energous WattUp

A decade ago wireless charging was an alien word for us but as science progress we became familiar to this piece of technology. But we only get familiar to this technology. Few mobile phones companies use this technology in their phones but I don’t think that is what we call wireless charging because we have to plug the wire of charging mat and put the phone on that mat. Even the most premium brand only provided turbo or fast charging. Even today when science is at the peak this technology seems like a dream but Energous breaking this myth with its’ Energous Wattup gadget. Wattup is delivering the true meaning of wireless charging.

What is Energous WattUp

Energous has been a famous name for wireless power. Energous WattUp is a router like gadget that beam electricity up to 15 feet in all directions that means now you don’t need any charger or to put phone on charging mat. The company claims that their long range wireless charging transmitter can deliver power up to 700mAh.

How It Works

The router like gadget which is actually a transmitter, transmits signals and receiver chip in your device receives these radio signals and convert these signals into usable DC power. The company uses 5.850-5.875GHz band to transmit power. We can control the delivery of power through software and give priority to certain device which we want to charge first. There is a speculation that Energous is working to apple to bring wireless charging to future iphones.

 There are companies like Ossia Cota, Wi-charge, WiTricity who are working on the same RF based wireless charging technology.

The Future Phone: Asus Zenfone AR

Asus Zenfone AR

I have been looking for phones which can change the mindset how we look at mobile phones. And I found one “Zenfone AR” it seems like a futuristic smartphone. You might have seen such phone in Bond movies but Asus has actually made it possible with its new phone.

What makes it so special?

Zenfone AR is the world’s first phone which is Tango-enabled as well as Daydream ready. While Lenovo is credited with launching the first smartphone with Tango but Asus went a step ahead with Zenfone AR. Which support Google’s DayDream VR also. It is also the first Android smartphone to offer 8GB RAM along with 515 pixels per inch.

While most of the smartphone makers are not even offering dual camera Asus equipped Zenfone AR with tricam system consisting of three rear cameras, a 23MP camera, a motion-tracking camera and a depth-sensing camera.

The main camera also supports TriTech+ autofocus system, 4-axis OIS (optical image stabilisation) as well as 3- axis EIS (electrical image stabilisation). It has an external five magnet speaker that supports high-resolution audio and DTS virtual sound to give the ultimate AR and VR experience.

What is Tango and Google’s DayDream VR?

Tango is the new technology from Google that enables AR (augmented reality) gaming and utilities and DayDream is Google’s Virtual Reality Programme.

Well, this is how any technician or any computer engineer will explain this technology to you. What does that really mean what I have written in the above context. Take an example, what if you want to know the dimension of your room and you don’t have any length measuring apparatus you cannot do anything but with Tango you can measure it, just open your camera and it will tell the dimension.

Examples of thing one can do with a Tango are visualising furniture like a new sofa or table to see how it looks, playing with virtual objects etc. With Tango, the phone uses the motion tracking camera and depth sensing cameras to know the areas. It is able to map physical spaces, track objects and it can project virtual effect in real world space.    

Asus Zenfone AR specification:

This phone is a combination powerful hardware and sophisticated software.

It has a 5.7inch screen with Quad HD Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen display.  It has 515pixel per inch and the screen is protected by corning gorilla glass. The screen is quite large as compared to other phone but it is necessary to provide a good experience of AR and VR effect.

It has a 23-megapixel rear camera and 8-megapixel front camera. It has a 3300mAh battery. It comes in two variant, one with 6GB RAM and other with 8GB RAM along with snapdragon 821 processor which clocks up to 2.15GHz. External storage is expandable up to 2TB.

The Flagship Phones

You must have heard this term “flagship” either from your friend or colleague. What does that mean?

In this generation phones play a vital role in our daily life. It is like our basic need. Whether you are a tech gig or not you must know these common terms.

Flagship phones are the premium phones loaded with all the latest features and technology. These phones are the best a company can offer to their customers.

It is not just a phone it is a way or a medium through which any company shows in which field of technology it is working on. In which areas it is diverting all its effort.

Take an example like iphone7, which comes with 12 megapixel dual camera which gives you a DSLR like image quality combined with ios 10.

Latest flagship phones

Apple Iphone 7

 

iphone7

I think almost everyone knows about iphone.  The new iphone comes in two variant iphone 7 and 7 plus. The biggest change that you will notice is the lack of 3.5mm jack but the good thing is now iphone  comes with water resistant properties. It has 2GB RAM with A10 processor and 12 megapixel dual camera.

Google Pixel XL and Google Pixel

Google Pixel

Google has always been in the smart phone race with Google Nexus but it was manufactured by some other brand but with Google Pixel they rebrand it. It has two models but there isn’t much difference except for the screen size and battery life. It is the first android phone with android Noughat and with Google Assistant. It has 12 megapixel rear camera which receives the highest smartphone rating. It has 4GB RAM with snapdragon 821 processor.

Samsung Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge

 

S7 and S7edge

Samsung is the one the best smartphone brand in the world. Samsung flagship phone S7 edge and its sibling S7 edge is a power packed device with 4GB RAM and Snapdragon 820 processor. But the most interesting thing about this phone is it’s 5.5 inch QHD curved edge display with Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen which gives it a sleek and classy look. It has 12 megapixel rear camera and 5 megapixel front camera and 3600mAh battery.

Sony Xperia XZ

 

Xperia XZ

Sony is known for its camera and stylish phone and this phone proves this with 23 megapixel camera with triple image sensing technology and 13 megapixel front camera. It has 5.2 inch full hd triluminos display and as usual it is water and dust resistant. It has Qualcomm Snapdragon 64 bit Quad core processor and 64gb internal memory.

HTC 10

HTC10

HTC is a Taiwan based company and known for its durable phones. It not as famous as Samsung or Sony but it is a reliable brand.  HTC is famous for moving away from the Mega Pixels and launching Ultra Pixels and HTC 10 comes with 12 ultra pixels resolution rear end camera. It has strong inbuilt.

HTC 10 runs on snapdragon 820 and 64 bit processor with 4GB RAM. HTC10 has 5.2 inch Quad HD display. HTC Sense, which is HTC’s personalised skin and one of the quirkiest Android skins runs on HTC 10.

LG G5

LG G5

LG G5 is the first modular phone. You can dislocate the whole back chip and display with ease. Unlike other phones whose displays are glued with adhesive it has just two screws and some pry-able clips. This property makes repairing much cheaper. It also has replaceable batteries.

Apart from iphone7 this in the only flagship phone with 16megapixel dual camera. It has 4GB RAM with 2.15GHz processor and 32GB internal storage.

Motorola Moto X Force

 

Moto X Force

Motorola is one of the most lovable brand in India and I think we are still faithful to this brand. This phone is one of the cheapest flagship phones. What makes this phone special is that it is the world’s first shatterproof display making it a strong contender. It comes with 5.4inch shatterproof QuadHD display. It has Turbo Charge and company claims it gives 8 hour battery life in just 15 minutes charging! Incredible isn’t it but this phone is not waterproof although it has waterproof coating on the screen. It has 21 megapixel camera.

Mi5

Mi5

Xiaomi is a Chinese company and known as apple of China. Mi5 is quiet cheaper than other flagship phones. This brand is the king in the mid range segment. It is quiet cheap but it has all the great feature and specification like other flagship phones. The Xiaomi Mi5 is powered by 1.3GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor and it comes with 3GB of RAM. The phone packs 32GB internal storage cannot be expanded. The Mi5 packs a 16-megapixel primary camera and 4-megapixel back camera.  

 So what are you waiting for! Go and get your favourite flagship phone.

Micromax's Yu Yureka a new geek's phone under 10k.

Micromax has planned to challenge all its competitors with it's new innovative mobile phone Yu Yureka. It is supposed to be best phone under 10K. The phone is packed with all latest feature like 4G connectivity, Corning Gorilla Glass 3, IPS display, 13 MP CMOS camera, 64-bit Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 chipset with a 1.5GHz octa-core processor and 2GB RAM. Apart from all this, the most exciting about this phone is its operating "CYANOGEN OS 11".

Cyanogen is a full customizable android based operating system. It provides OTA (Over the Air) updated, that means you don't have worry about any latest android updates. Micromax is the exclusive partner for Cyanogen OS in India, so there will be no other phone with this OS.

Yureka is exclusively available on Amazon.in and to get it you have to pre-regiter yourself for the sale on 13 Jan 2015. Are you still thinking to go for it or not; I have a the answer after which you won't be having any doubt. Guess What? Registration is already closed for the sale, hehe. You can't get it, doubt clear. Hey no need to cry because our elders says "Ab ka pachtat hot jab chiriya chug gai khet".