Monthly Archives: April 2018

Nokia 7 Plus and Nokia 6 (2018) start receiving Android 8.1 Oreo update in India

HMD Global has now rolled out Android Oreo 8.1 update to its Nokia 7 Plus and Nokia 6 (2018) smartphones. Both the smartphones were recently launched in India with Android 8.0 Oreo operating system. The Nokia 7 Plus and Nokia 6 (2018) are priced at  25,999 and 16,999 respectively.

As per the reports of NokiaPowerUser(1) and NokiaPowerUser(2), the Nokia 7 Plus and Nokia 6 (2018) update is currently rolling out in India. It is now expected that the update will be rolled out in other markets in the next few days.

The update for Nokia 7 Plus is 509MB in size while the Nokia 6 (2018) update is around 802 MB in size with firmware version v2.13B. It includes the April Android security update along with multiple changes as well.  In order to check for the latest update, the user needs to go Settings > System > About Phone > System Update.

While there aren’t any major changes in the new update, the new update brings a bunch of new features which includes redesigned settings and power menus, battery saving navigation buttons and the Bluetooth battery percentage display.

Here you can here see the complete specs of Nokia 7 Plus and Nokia 6 (2018).

Source: https://www.themobileindian.com/news/nokia-7-plus-and-nokia-6-2018-start-receiving-android-81-oreo-update-in-india-21761

Apple gives red iPhone 8 that, um, sexy ’80s nightclub feel

Who says charity can’t be sexy?

Apple on Friday will release a remarkably bright red iPhone 8 (and an 8 Plus) as part of its annual Product Red program.

Part of the profits go to Global Fund, a charitable organization that funds programs that combat HIV and AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa.

On Tuesday, Apple released an ad to coincide with the new phones, but it isn’t exactly demure.

To the pulsating beat of Sofi Tucker’s “That It (I’m Crazy)”, the ad reeks of the luscious red and black of the phone.

As with seemingly all phone ads at launch, here we have extreme close-up shots of the phone, making it look like a sophisticated machine.

MORE TECHNICALLY INCORRECT

In this case, however, it’s something of a sex machine, it seems.

Source: https://www.cnet.com/news/apple-gives-red-iphone-8-that-sexy-70s-nightclub-feel/

This upcoming Android phone didn’t just beat the iPhone X’s benchmark scores, it crushed them

Apple’s iPhone lineup has a long history of confusing Android fans. By that, we mean that new iPhone specs don’t typically appear all too impressive on paper. They always have processors with fewer cores and lower clock speeds than the latest Android flagships, and they typically have less RAM as well. Despite the edge Android phones have always had on paper, iPhones have absolutely crushed every Android-powered rival in real-life speed tests and in benchmark tests. In fact, previous-generation iPhone models typically beat brand new Android phones in these tests, that’s how far ahead of the competition Apple’s iPhones have always been… until now.

Android phone makers and key component suppliers like Qualcomm have made huge strides over the past year. Couple that with RAM management problems and other performance issues in iOS 11, and a changing of the guard has taken place that continues to surprise us all.

Apple’s latest iPhones continue to have the edge in some key areas. For example, no Android phone on the planet comes anywhere close to touching the iPhone 8 or iPhone X where single-core processor performance is concerned. But multiple Android flagships have managed to top Apple’s iPhone in some important benchmark tests like AnTuTu. What’s more, several recent Android phones have managed to outperform the iPhone 8 and iPhone X in real-world speed tests, which is something we never thought we would see happen.

Moving back to the AnTuTu benchmark test, a score achieved by an upcoming Android phone has absolutely obliterated Apple’s latest iPhones. The iPhone 8 and iPhone X were among the first phones in the world to ever score more than 200,000 on AnTuTu’s popular test, and we’ve seen their scores climb as high as nearly 230,000. That’s impressive, of course, but it’s nothing compared to the upcoming Huawei Mate 20.

A new leak from Chinese tech news blog CNMO supposedly reveals AnTuTu benchmark scores for the Mate 20, which is powered by Huawei’s own Kirin 980 chipset. How did the phone do? Well, see for yourself:

Source: http://bgr.com/2018/04/10/iphone-x-vs-android-huawei-mate-20-benchmarks/

Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9+ Q&A

PA: Gaming aside, the Galaxy S9/S9+ perform rather similarly to their precursors. Surely, synthetic benchmarks will tell you a pretty telltale of a 30% better performance, but don’t expect the phone to perform 30% better in mundane day-to-day tasks. Granted, the Galaxy S8 was already an able performer on its own, and the Galaxy S9 further builds onto that strong foundation. Unfortunately, even with the speedy Snapdragon 845 and Exynos 9810, the Galaxy S9 and S9+ can sometimes exhibit hiccups and jitter. The phone stutters slightly and drops frames in some places. This is something that you notice once you use the phone, not something that you can see in benchmarks. It’s not a hardware but a software problem, yet the two go hand in had.
The audio quality coming out of the stereo speakers is good but the recent iPhones sound better to us. Granted, this is Samsung’s first crack at stereo speakers and things are only going to get better in the future.

The audio quality from the 3.5mm jack is pretty clear and satisfying. However, the phone doesn’t have much oomph to power high-impedance headphones. We tested it out with a pair of oldschool Fostex T40 over-ears (50 ohms). With Dolby Atmos on, the sound was full, crystal-clear, and detailed, with a max volume that is soft on the ears, but wouldn’t muffle out the noises of a busy street. Moving down to a 32 ohm pair, we got a bit of extra oomph.

Don’t regard Project Treble as something magical that will grant you software updates as soon as a new Android version gets released, but in theory, manufacturers should be able to push out updates faster as they will have to write significantly less new code. However, in practice, we will have to wait to see how the first wave of Treble-compliant devices will benefit from the feature – once Android P goes official, the countdown will be started and the major Android makers around will be carefully scrutinized.
Source:https://www.phonearena.com/news/Samsung-Galaxy-S9-Plus-Q-A-Your-questions-answered_id103937

LG G7 ThinQ Name, Launch Date Confirmed, Leaked Press Renders Show iPhone X-Like Notch and Colours

LG G7 ThinQ, the South Korean electronic giant’s upcoming flagship, has been leaked in its entirety in all available colours of the handset. According to the leak, the smartphone will arrive with the famous iPhone X-like notch along with an edge-to-edge display. It is said to be made available in Raspberry Rose, Moroccan Blue, Moroccan Blue (Matte), Platinum Grey, and Aurora Black colour variants – availability to vary depending on region and carrier. However, Aurora Black might be available by default in all regions. Additionally, LG has also confirmed the naming and launch date for the LG G7 ThinQ.

AndroidHeadlines has reportedly obtained an exclusive look at press renders of the upcoming LG G7 ThinQ, which is due to launch later this year. On the back of the handset, one can spot a new vertical dual camera setup, an LED flash, a rear-mounted fingerprint sensor, and standard LG branding (without the G7 brand name). On the right, there is a single lock button; on the left is the volume control and an extra button – possibly for activating a virtual assistant.

Separately, LG has announced that it will unveil the LG G7 ThinQ at a launch event slated for May 2 in New York, followed by a South Korean launch in Seoul on May 3. While the company did not reveal much, it did state the phone would feature certain AI capabilities.

A previous report suggests that this might be LG’s first smartphone to sport an f/1.5 aperture to offer enhanced photography and videography in low light conditions. Apart from that, the LG G7 ThinQ is claimed to be powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 SoC, coupled with 6GB of RAM and 64GB of inbuilt storage.

Just recently, LG unveiled its latest V30S ThinQ and V30S+ ThinQ ahead of the 2018 edition of Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. Both smartphones come with similar specifications, albeit with differences in inbuilt storage and RAM capacity.

SNL sketch scorches Mark Zuckerberg in hilarious ‘Weekend Update’ segment

While Facebook has certainly had its fair share of privacy scandals over the years, the recent controversy involving Cambridge Analytica undoubtedly represents the biggest challenge the social networking giant has faced to date. Cambridge Analytica, as a quick refresher, is a consulting firm that stealthily acquired information about 87 million Facebook users for political advertising purposes.

Over the past few weeks, Facebook has been in full-on damage control. Not only did Mark Zuckerberg issue an apology a few weeks back, various Facebook executives have been making the rounds in the media in an effort to assure the masses that their private data will remain just that, private. What’s more, Zuckerberg is slated to testify before congress on the matter this coming Tuesday.

In anticipation of Zuckerberg’s testimony before seasoned lawmakers, Saturday Night Live over the weekend had a little bit of fun at Zuckerberg’s expense by poking fun at his somewhat offbeat persona. During the Weekend Updateportion of the show, Zuckerberg — played ably by Alex Moffat — addressed the company’s ongoing privacy issues in a hilarious manner.

Right off the bat, the show pokes fun at Zuckerberg’s allegedly robotic demeanor. Upon being introduced, Zuckerberg, in an effort to appear more human, recites his inner monologue aloud and says: “Begin eye contact. One, two, three. Nailed it.”

When asked if he was going to resign, Zuckerberg responded: “No way homie. Because according to our data sets, I don’t have to and you can’t make me.”

The best part of the sketch, in my opinion, is when Zuckerberg briefly recalls the site’s ‘Poke’ feature, something Zuckerberg categorizes as “flirting for cowards.”

Source: http://bgr.com/2018/04/09/snl-mark-zuckerberg-sketch-video-poke-flirting/