Xiaomi Redmi 3 Will Sport 4100mAh Battery, Company Reveals

99techture.blogspot.com Staff

Xiaomi, ahead of the Redmi 3 launch on Tuesday, has confirmed that the handset will pack a 4100mAh battery. Additionally, a Chinese analyst has claimed that the Xiaomi Redmi 3 will include Snapdragon 616 processor under-the-hood.

The Chinese company took to Weiboto reveal the battery capacity. To compare, the Xiaomi Redmi 2 came with a 2200mAh battery. In its first teaser image, Xiaomi had confirmed that the Redmi 3 will sport a 5-inch display and will feature a metal unibody chassis.

In separate news, a China-basedanalyst named Sun Changxu has claimed on Weibo that the Redmi 3 will pack an octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 616 processor clocked at 1.7GHz and Adreno 405 GPU. The analyst has further claimed that the Redmi 3 will be priced "higher than expected."

Notably, this is the first time that pricing of the Xiaomi Redmi 3 has been tipped. The analyst however has not suggested any price details. Considering, Xiaomi's Redmi range is a budget smartphone series, it is unlikely that the company will price it on the higher side. To recall, Xiaomi Redmi 2 was launched in January last year and was priced in China at CNY 699 (roughly Rs. 7,100).

The Xiaomi Redmi 3 last week reportedly passed Tenaa, the Chinese telecommunications certification authority, with some innards detailed. Bearing model name Mi 2015811, the listing confirmed most of the specifications such as a 5-inch HD (720x1280 pixels) resolution TFT display; an octa-core CPU under-the-hood clocked at 1.5GHz clubbed with 2GB of RAM; 4G LTE support; a 13-megapixel rear camera; 5-megapixel front-facing camera; 16GB of inbuilt storage; expandable via microSD card up to 128GB; 139.3x69.6x8.5mm, and weigh 143 grams. It runs Android 5.1.1 Lollipop and is said to come in Silver colour variant.

 

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US Court Rules Selfie Monkey Can't Own Photo Copyright

99techture.blogspot.com ,

A US judge has ruled that a macaque monkey who snapped grinning selfies that went viral last year online does not own the copyright to the photographs.

Activist group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals brought the case in San Francisco on behalf of Indonesian simian Naruto, who shot to fame last year after a photographer published pictures taken by the monkey with his camera.

Peta petitioned the court to have the macaque "declared the author and owner of his photograph."

But in a preliminary ruling Wednesday, Judge William Orrick said that "while Congress and the President can extend the protection of law to animals as well as humans, there is no indication that they did so in the Copyright Act."

The photos were taken in 2011 on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi by British nature photographer David Slater. He later published a book of his photographs, which included two selfies taken by six-year-old Naruto.

The San Francisco-based company that published the book - Blurb - was named as a co-defendant in the case.

In filing the lawsuit, Peta had argued that "US copyright law doesn't prohibit an animal from owning a copyright, and since Naruto took the photo, he owns the copyright, as any human would."

Slater insists he owns the rights since he set up the tripod and walked away for a few minutes only to find out that the monkey had grabbed his camera and snapped away.

When the copyright controversy erupted, he said that the widespread distribution of the photos on the Internet had cost him a lot of money by robbing his book of potential sales.

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iPhone 7 to Be 'Waterproof', Support Wireless Charging: Report

by 99techture.blogspot.com Staff , 8 January 2016

Earlier this week, it was rumoured that Apple will do away with the 3.5mm headphone jack on the iPhone 7, and release wireless earphones alongside. Now, a few more details have been reported regarding the headphones, water-resistant design, and wireless charging. The report once again suggests that the company will ditch the 3.5mm headphone jack.

According to a recent report by Fast Company, the upcoming iPhone model might ditch the 3.5mm headphone jack and instead use the Lightning port for wired headphones. The piece of information has been rumoured previously as well. However, there is no confirmation on the news as of yet. The previous report added that Apple will make available a Lightning "convert up" to allow headphones with a 3.5mm outlet to be used with the Lightning connector. The new report added that Apple is working with Cirrus Logic to "adapt the audio chipset in the iPhone to work with the Lightning port."

In addition, it has been mentioned that the rumoured iPhone 7 audio system will include new noise-cancellation technology from UK-based company, Wolfson Microelectronics, now a part of Cirrus Logic. This software from Wolfson "will be backed into the phone and the headphones that plug into it," the report added, helping reduce background noise during calls and music playback. The report carries on to say that third-party manufacturers will have to buy a licence to use the technology in their headsets.

Fast Company said while recent reports claim Apple will bundle Lightning-connected EarPod earphones with the iPhone 7, its sources add that is "more likely" Apple will sell a costlier pair earphones separately that's complete with noise-cancellation and a Lightning port, apart from the Beats brand.

It is worth adding that last year also, a report claimed that Apple was planning to ditch the 3.5mm headphone jack in an attempt to make the iPhone thinner by 1mm.

The Fast Company report adds that the rumoured iPhone 7 will boast of a "completely waterproof" design, using nanocoating. However, we feel it is more likely to be water-resistant in reality. The iPhone 7 will reportedly also feature wireless charging support, though the method of its implementation was not detailed. The report concluded that both these features may be pulled from the design before launch, Apple known to ditch features very late into the development process.

For full coverage from the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, visit our CES 2016 hub.

How to Download Your Instagram Photos and Videos

by 99techture.blogspot.com ,

Instagram, the photo-sharing service, has become one of the most popular platforms for users sharing moments captured with friends, family, and others. In September, the service passed the 400 million user mark with over 80 million pictures shared daily. Last month, Instagram claimed that the numbers of monthly active Indian users had more than doubled over the past year.

But have you ever tried downloading a copy of the photos shared on Instagram? As you may have discovered, the social network only lets users post photos and videos - it doesn't allow anyone (even you) to save or download the photos from within the app. This way the service tries to protect the rights of the Instagram users who share photos on the app. But there are few workarounds that can help users to save the photos they have uploaded to Instagram.

Via third-party apps on the phone
One of the most widely used third-party Android apps to download Instagram photos is InstaSave, which allows you to save Instagram photos to your device storage, so you can see the pictures anytime, anywhere. The InstaSave app can be downloaded via Google Play.

Note that this and the other apps and services mentioned in this article are third-party software not affiliated to Instagram. These apps use Instagram Oauth for login, which means that although your password remains secure, the entire feed is accessible to the apps. And it's important to note that you can't always be sure about the password security either - see instances of rogue apps later in the article. If you understand this, it's safe to proceed with use of these services.

To save your Instagram pictures, download the InstaSave app on your Android device, and sign in with your Instagram credentials. Once signed-in, the InstaSave app will show the photo stream and will allow images to be selected for download. Users can then choose the photos to download and tap the save button, which appears below the photo with a download icon. On tapping the icon, users will be offered with the location where the photos will be saved on the mobile device. You can then find the photos using the Gallery app on your device. InstaSave also allows you to search for users and tags to find images to save.

Android users can also use other apps, such as Photo Saver For Instagram, for downloading Instagram photos. On the other hand, iOS users can download InstaGrab - a new way to view all your Instagram pics from the App Store, to download Instagram photos to the camera roll on the device. The iOS app functions similarly to the Android apps mentioned above.

While the apps mentioned above worked at the time of filing this report, it's possible that Instagram policy changes may break them in the future. Instagram recently limited third-party apps after an app named InstaAgent was found to 'harvest' user names and passwords and send them to an unknown server. The app called "Who Viewed Your Profile - InstaAgent" was available for download via Google Play and App Store was able to send user credentials to a remote server in clear text.

Download Instagram Photos on PCUsers can also download Instagram photos on their PCs to keep a copy of the shared photos on the desktop. Note that like the apps mentioned above, this is a third-party website, and not affiliated with Instagram. To download the photos from Instagram, users will need to go to the Instaport website on their browsers of the computer.

1) Log-in to Instagram using sign-in details.

2) On signing-in, users can either choose to download entire photos or just some of the select ones.

3) On selecting the photos to download, Instaport will ask for a location to keep the photos.

It's worth noting that users will download the Instagram photos using the Instaport website in .zip files.

Save your own Instagram photos while postingOne of the easiest ways to keep a copy of your Instagram photos on your mobile is by opting to save both photos as well as videos on the device while posting available. The feature is available to all users in the app settings.

1) Go to your profile.

2) Tap on Options icon (Settings icon on iOS, hamburger menu on Android).

3) Slide the Save Original Photos setting to on.

Once Save Original Photos option is set to on, photos will automatically saved to your phone's photo roll every time you post something on Instagram.

Note that people using Instagram on Android may see a delay in photos appearing in their phone's Instagram photo album.

Did these steps help in downloading your videos and pictures from Instagram? Do you know any other apps or services to achieve the same? Let us know via the comments. For more tutorials, visit our How To section.

For full coverage from the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, visit our CES 2016 hub

Google, Lenovo Unveil First Project Tango Smartphone at CES 2016

by 99techture.blogspot.com , 8 January 2016

As teased earlier this week, Google and Lenovo in collaboration announced their first consumer-targeted product with Project Tango technology at the ongoing CES 2016 trade show - smartphone. The Chinese tech firm plans to launch the smartphone "this summer" with a "less than $500" price tag.

Lenovo demonstrated some applications of Project Tango at its joint event, showcasing the indoor area mapping that's possible with the 3D machine vision technology. Three vertically stacked lenses in the smartphone camera will deliver colour and depth information, while a fisheye lens is supposed to give a wide-angle peripheral vision around the device. All the data gathered by the camera are then compiled by the Lenovo smartphone's processor, about which the company failed to give details, to build a 3D map of the area. The technology will allow near real-time mapping, with measurements down to the centimetre.

The Lenovo-made Project Tango-based handset will run on Android OS and will feature a display size that will be less than 6.5-inches. As for the developers, they can submit their Project Tango application ideas to Google until February 15. Selected developers will get funding for their idea, and their apps will be preloaded on the Lenovo smartphone. The search giant will be shipping the smartphone to select developers based on their app ideas.

"This was not designed as a niche device," said Lenovo vice president Jeff Meredith. "We want this to be accessible to a large audience," he added.

Project Tango leader Johnny Lee, who joined in the Las Vegas announcement, said the technology "transforms the smartphone into a magical window on the world."

Lee, who demonstrated various uses of the technology, said it could help consumers find their way in a large hotel or mall, or take precise measurements of a room before shopping for furnishings.

He showed how to get instant measurements of ceiling height, square footage and more, and then tested how certain furniture pieces would look in a room.

"There is much more in the space around us that we can see with our eyes," Lee said.

Project Tango is an imaging technology that uses a combination of various sensors to view the environment around you and generate spatial awareness for your phone. Developed by a team led by former Kinect lead Johnny Lee, Tango was created by Google's Advanced Technology And Projects group, and uses a number of different sensors on your phone or tablet to create a sophisticated picture of the world around it.

An infrared emitter and infrared camera act as a range-finder to measure the distance between your phone and various objects, allowing them to be mapped in three dimensions. A wide angle camera adds details about the location, and other phone sensors including accelerometers, gyroscopes, and barometers combine to help Tango calculate not just what is around your phone or tablet, but also the angle at which you are looking at an object, how far away it is, and what it looks like. Project Tango partners include Nvidia, Qualcomm, and Intel.

To recall, Lenovo in late 2014 acquired Motorola Mobility from Google, though the Internet giantretained the mobile firm's Advanced Technology and Projects (ATAP) group.

Written with inputs from AFP

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Samsung Flags 15 Percent Increase in Q4 Operating Profit

99techture.blogspot.com , 8 January 2016

Samsung Electronics on Friday flagged a 15 percent increase in 2015 Q4 operating profit, rounding off a year in which the world's largest smartphone producer struggled with fierce competition from arch-rival Apple and cut-price Chinese competitors.

In an earnings estimate, the South Korean tech giant predicted an operating profit of SKW 6.1 trillion ($5.1 billion) for the October-December period, up from SKW 5.4 trillion a year earlier.

The figure was below the estimate of SKW 6.64 trillion, given by analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News, and also marked a 7.5 percent drop from the previous quarter.

Samsung lost more than $8.0 billion in market value in 2015, with its flagship smartphone business sandwiched by top-end rivals like Apple's iPhone and lower-end devices from fast-growing Chinese outfits like Huawei and Xiaomi.

Sales of the Galaxy S6 (Review | Pictures) the latest edition of Samsung's top-of-the-range handset, launched in April failed to generate much excitement among consumers.

The company's shares posted a third straight annual decline last year, dropping 5.1 percent.

Sales were expected to be SKW 53 trillion in the fourth quarter, the company said, again slightly below analyst estimates.

Friday's forecast, which comes ahead of audited results to be released later this month, did not provide a net income figure or breakdown of divisional earnings.

Chip saviours
Losses in Samsung's mobile division have partially been mitigated by brisk business in chips and displays.

That is because as well as providing the chips for the company's own handsets, Samsung's semiconductor unit also makes the processors for a number of other companies including Apple.

"The profit from semiconductors and display panels offset the weak performances in smartphones and consumer electronics in 2015," said Greg Noh, analyst at HMC Investment Securities.

"But we are expecting a drop in the momentum for demand in all finished goods in 2016, and that will lead to a decrease in earnings in the parts sector," Noh told AFP.

After peaking at SKW 10.1 trillion in the third quarter of 2013, Samsung's operating profit hit a bottom of SKW 4.6 trillion in the corresponding period of 2014 before climbing back up gradually.

As Samsung's reliance on the chipmaking business grew, the firm in May began building a new $14.3 billion chip plant in Pyeongtaek, 65 kilometres (40 miles) south of Seoul.

This investment in the factory, which is to begin production in 2017, is the largest the firm has ever committed to a single plant.

Last month, Samsung replaced the head of its mobile business and promoted the chairman's daughter in an effort to reassert its smartphone dominance amid a generational power transfer in the founding Lee family.

Samsung Group chairman Lee Kun-Hee has remained bedridden since suffering a stroke in 2014.

The Lee family controls the vast conglomerate through a complex web of share cross-holdings in group subsidiaries.

Samsung's share price rose in early trade by as much as 1.1 percent after the announcement before falling back slightly.

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Bye Bye Motorola, Hello 'Moto by Lenovo'

by 99techture.blogspot.com , 8 January 2016

Lenovo, which bought Motorola from Google back in 2014, has announced it will overhaul the brand to "Moto by Lenovo."

The re-branding means we may not see Motorola branding for long on the Moto devices, as confirmed by Motorola Chief Operating Officer Rick Osterloh. Talking at the sidelines on CES 2016, Osterloh revealed plans to CNET's Roger Cheng.

He however pointed that Motorola name will not be completely killed as it will be used in "corporate perspective" in Lenovo. "We'll slowly phase out Motorola and focus on Moto," said Osterloh.

The move will also see a change in the company's strategy for phones which will use Moto branding for high-end handsets while the budget segment will have Vibe.

Lenovo however believes that its move will not to kill the brand but make it stronger. Lenovo's CEO Yang Yuanqing said, "It's our treasure. We plan to not only protect the Motorola brand, but make it stronger." Motorola branding might be going away but the iconic Moto logo or the M symbol will be used on the Moto devices. The company confirmed that going forward smartphones such as Moto X will sport blue Lenovo logo.

Osterloh will be the leader of the combined global smartphone business unit, which will be under Motorola legal entities. Gadgets 360 had exclusively reported back in November about Lenovo integrating its Mobile Business Group (MBG) into Motorola Mobility. Further, Osterloh added that the company intends to introduce Moto product line where Lenovo was popular while do vice versa for other markets where Moto was popular. He also confessed that Lenovo intends to bring Vibe range to the US but it would not happen in 2016.

To recall, a little over three years after Motorola was acquired by Google for $12.5 billion, the company changed hands a second time last year, and was acquired by Lenovo for $2.9 billion. People speculated that the move made sense for Lenovo as an attempt to gain popularity in international markets, where Motorola was a more popular handset brand. Lenovo on the other hand was previously seen largely as a PC maker in most of the world outside of its homeland China.

For full coverage from the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, visit our CES 2016 hub.