MWC 2017 - Action packed as expected

Mobile World Congress 2017 or MWC 2017 as it is called was held in Barcelona this time from February 27 - March 2. As expected, it was action packed as ever. The biggest names from the mobile industry came out with their best launches of the year.

Huawei, LG, Motorola and Sony launched their flagships while Samsung launched tablets. What was great to see was Nokia being back in the smartphone race.

MWC 2017 Launches

Huawei P10

Huawei P10 is a 5.1 inch Kirin 960 powered smartphone with 20 MP main camera, 4 GB RAM, 32/64/128 GB storage. It runs Android 7.0 Nougat out of the box. Its camera supports dual tone flash and 4K Video Recording. 

Xperia XZ Premium

Xperia XZ Premium is an upgrade to last year's Xperia XZ. The premium version sports a 5.5 inch 4K display. Powered by Snapdragon 835 chipset, 4 GB RAM, 64 GB storage. The primary camera is 19 MP with laser auto-focus support, secondary camera is 13 MP which promises stunning selfies. Runs Android 7.1 Nougat and one of the features that sets this device class apart is the support for LTE Cat16 which can deliver download speeds of up to 1 Gbps.

Some of the other launches at MWC 2017 are Moto G5, Moto G5 Plus, BlackBerry KeyOne, Nokia 3310, Nokia 6, Samsung Galaxy Tab S3, Samsung Galaxy Book. 

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Moto G Plus | 4th Generation

Motorola launched 4th generation Moto G earlier this year. The device comes in two versions - Moto G Play and Moto G Plus. We got our hands on Moto G Plus.

Lenovo acquired Motorola mobility from Google in January 2016 and this is the first Moto G after the acquisition. The technology sphere was extremely excited and curious to see what value Lenovo could add to an already successful Moto G line up. Right from the 1st generation, the G series has been a budget line but never felt like one. Always packed the best hardware in that price range, decent camera, great quality screen, etc. 4th Generation Moto G Plus is no different. Lenovo has done great, the device is fast, responsive and exciting.

Some of the key features:

• Android™ 6.0.1, Marshmallow
• Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 617 octa-core processor upto 1.5 GHz
• 2 GB / 3 GB RAM
• 16 GB / 32 GB  internal, up to 128 GB microSD 
• 5.5" Full HD screen, 1920 x 1080, 401 PPI
• 3000 mAh Battery, TurboPower support
• 4G LTE, Cat6
• 16 MP Rear Camera, 5 MP Front Camera

Throughout our usage, the phone did not even hang once and we are quite happy with the performance. Camera is great too, lacks OIS though. On the downside, there is no magnetometer - no compass, the phone heats up a little with extensive usage. Nevertheless, the specifications and the performance is way too good for a budget smartphone. 

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AMD FirePro S-Series offers Hardware based GPU Virtualization

AMD has unveiled the new FirePro S-Series graphics cards. This series is the first one to have GPU Virtualization. AMD calls it the Multi-User GPU (MxGPU) technology.

To simplify further, these cards can be installed on a server to cater to the graphics needs of several PCs simultaneously. Remote computers can connect to the server which has FirePro S-Series cards installed and make use of the unmatched graphics processing capabilities.

The new cards come in two versions - FirePro S7150 and S7150 X2. While the S7150 can support 16 simultaneous users, the S7150 X2 can support up to 32 simultaneous users.

These cards will offer support  for OpenGL, OpenCL and DirectX.

Other than single server support, this series can be installed in a data center to perform heavy duty computations.

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Sony announced the flashy new Xperia Z5 line

Sony has unveiled the latest Xperia Z series - Sony Xperia Z5. This line will include 3 different phones - Xperia Z5 compact, Xperia Z5 and Xperia Z5 Premium. All phones will be available for purchase starting October 2015.

One of the striking features of the flagship Xperia line is the camera and this time is no different. This series will be shipped with a 23MP 1/2.3-inch Exmor RS rear camera sensor with F2.0 G Lens. Snapdragon 810 will be powering these phones with Android Lollipop 5.1.1. Technical specifications wise all 3 phones are similar except for the display. The Z5 compact will have a 4.6 inch display, the Z5 will have a 5.2 inch display and the Z5 premium will have a 5.5 inch screen and a 4K display achieving an astonishing 806 ppi. The power button will now serve as a finger print scanner.

As usual, this flagship series is dust and water resistant with IP68 certification.

Following are some of the press images by Sony.

Xperia Z5 Compact

Xperia Z5

Xperia Z5 Premium

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The flip phones are back in town

Samsung and LG have decided to bring back the flip phones - Samsung Galaxy Folder and LG Gentle; and this time, they come with Android. Both Korean electronic giants announced the launch of their flip phones this month. An android flip phone is something else! We cannot wait to get our hands on one of these phones.

Samsung Galaxy Folder

Key features of Samsung Galaxy Folder:

• 3.8 inches TFT capacitive touch screen
• 480x800 resolution
• 8 GB internal storage with 1.5 GB RAM
• Micro SD slot
• 8 MP rear camera and 2 MP front camera
• Wifi, Bluetooth, GPS
• Android 5.1 Lollipop 
• Quad Core 1.2 GHz processor

While Samsung Galaxy Folder will be available for the global market, it seems as though LG Gentle will be limited to South Korea.

LG Gentle

Key features of LG Gentle:

• 3.2 inches HVGA touch screen
• 1 GB RAM
• 4 GB internal storage 
• Micro SD card slot
• 3 MP front camera
• Android 5.1 Lollipop
• Quad Core 1.1 GHz processor 

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Sony launches Xperia Z4 tablet

Sony announced the launch of Xperia Z4 Tablet at MWC 2015 in Barcelona. Although Sony delayed the launch it's flagship device Xperia Z4, we are not all too disappointed as we can't wait to get our hands on this 10.1 inch tablet. As usual, this is going to be a waterproof tablet.

Some of the key features of this tablet are:

• GSM/HSPA/LTE Support
• 10.1 inches IPS LCD Capacitive touchscreen
• Multi-touch support
• Scratch-resistant glass
• Android v5.0 Lollipop
• Qualcomm MSM8994 Snapdragon 810 Chipset
• Quad-core 1.5 GHz Cortex-A53 & Quad-core 2 GHz Cortex-A57 CPU
• microSD, up to 128 GB
• 32 GB Internal storage and 3 GB RAM
• 8.1 MP Primary camera and 5.1 MP secondary camera
• Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac support

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AirAsia flight QZ8501's black box found 14 days after it's disappearance. Wish technology could do more.

Year 2014 was a bad year for aviation, 5 planes belonging to international airlines crashed. The latest one being AirAsia flight QZ8501 which disappeared on December 28, 2014 while en route to Singapore from Surabaya, Indonesia.

The concerned search and rescue agencies did not have a clue about the plane's whereabouts for 2 days. On December 30th, the plane's wreckage was spotted for the first time and three bodies were recovered. More wreckage was spotted and a few more bodies were recovered on the following days.

On 11th January - 14 days after the flight disappeared, it's black box was found by deep sea rescue divers. We will soon know why the plane went down after investigators examine the data from the black box. Some sort of closure for everyone associated with AirAsia flight QZ8501.

Could advanced technologies have done more to locate the crashed plane if not to save it from crashing? Consider Malaysian Airlines flight MH 370 which disappeared on March 8th, 2014. It has been 10 months now and no one knows what happened to the flight.

The questions we are asking are - Why cannot black boxes have a longer battery life? Why cannot planes report their GPS location on a real time basis even when they are about to crash? Why rely only on radars so much? It was revealed that Malaysian Airlines flight MH 370 tried sending engine data to Boeing's maintenance cell via a British satellite. If that data had also contained GPS information then the probability of finding the missing jet would have been high and probably we would have known what had happened to the flight.

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A major WhatsApp bug - remote crash

There is a major bug in the Android version of WhatsApp. The bug works until Version 2.11.432. Remote crashing someone's app certainly sounds catchy. Here is how it works - you have to send a 2 KB message of special characters to a WhatsApp user. Every time that person opens the conversation his/her WhatsApp will crash. The only solution to this is to delete the conversation. If you send it to a group, all the members will have to exit the group as the moment they will try to open it, the app will crash.

You can try it out yourself. Please note that TechPositivity.com shall not be held responsible for your actions. This information is for education purpose only.

Go to: http://pastebin.com/3efiBva4 and copy the raw data of special characters. Open WhatsApp and send it to a person whose WhatsApp you want to crash. The moment you send it, your app will crash too. Delete the conversation after sending the message. iPhone and Windows phone users are not vulnerable to this bug.

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About 5 million Gmail accounts compromised

Hackers have stolen passwords of about 5 million Google accounts. The list was also posted online. Google however says that there is no evidence of accounts being compromised. Security experts say that it's not Google that was actually attacked, but other sites where users registered their Gmail addresses. If you have used your Gmail password, may be your account is compromised.

It is a good idea to change your password as a security measure.

The website https://isleaked.com/results/en shows if your account is compromised. We cannot confirm the authenticity of any information/results found on isitleakead.com.

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iPhone 6 finally shows it's face

 Apple has finally launched the most awaited iPhone 6. The company has long been criticized for coming up with small sized screens. We believe as a response to the criticism, iPhone 6 has a 4.7 inch screen and along with that, Apple has launched another variant of iPhone called iPhone 6 plus which has a 5.5 inch screen.

There was a lot of news about Apple planning to develop iPhones with bigger screens leading up to the launch event.

iPhone 6 is powered by the Apple A8 processor, carries a 8 MP camera with support for 1080p video recording .

Apple says that the battery life will be better than that of iPhone 5s. It will support GSM, 3G & LTE with support for Voice over LTE. The connectivity also features 802.11ac Wi-Fi chip-set which supports speeds of upto 1000 Mbps.

With a contract of 2 years, the Apple iPhone 6 will cost $199 for the 16 GB model, $399 for the 64 GB model and $399 for the 128 GB model. The unlocked versions will cost between $900 and $1100. Pre order will start on September 12 in the US and the UK and the deliveries will start from September 19.

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Samsung and Apple decide to call off pending patent disputes outside US

Samsung on Wednesday said that Apple and Samsung have decided to call off patent disputes pending in courts outside US. The tech giants have been involved in a patent war in about countries relating to mobile phones and tablet products.

"Samsung and Apple have agreed to drop all litigation between the two companies outside the United States," Samsung said in a statement.

This agreement does not involve any licensing arrangements, and the companies are continuing to pursue the existing cases in US courts," it added.

What happens to US cases?

Both companies will actively fight patent cases in US courts; a probable reason for this could be that Apple has a huge customer base in the US.

A boost to sales

Amidst all this legal battle both companies ended up gaining in sales.

It should be noted that Samsung supplies many semiconductor devices for Apple's products. Can these companies let such a partnership get into jeopardy?

"Samsung and Apple have agreed to drop all litigation between the two companies outside the United States," Samsung said in a statement.

Read more at:
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/39735503.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst

"Samsung and Apple have agreed to drop all litigation between the two companies outside the United States," Samsung said in a statement.

Read more at:
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/39735503.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst

"Samsung and Apple have agreed to drop all litigation between the two companies outside the United States," Samsung said in a statement.

Read more at:
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/39735503.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst

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New HTC J Butterfly unveiled

Taiwanese phone maker HTC has unveiled the new J Butterfly handset in Japan.

The new HTC J Butterfly comes with 2.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 quad-core processor, 2GB RAM, 32GB inbuilt memory, memory card support, 13 MP main camera and 5 MP secondary camera.

The new handset will be available in Japan, there is no intimation on its availability in the global markets.

Here are the specifications:

Model: HTC Butterfly HTL23
Display: 5.0-inch super LCD 3 full HD screen
OS: Android 4.4 KitKat
Processor: 2.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 quad-core processor
RAM: 2GB
Storage capacity: 32GB
Expandable upto: 128GB
Main Camera: 13 MP
Secondary Camera: 5 MP
Battery: 2,700 mAh

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