Xiaomi Mi Mix smartphone launched with zero bezels and edgeless design

By tech2 News Staff /  25 Oct 2016 , 16:10

Looks like those rumours about a bezel-less smartphone from Xiaomi indeed turned out to be true. After the launch of Xiaomi’s Note 7 lookalike, the Mi Note 2, the company also unveiled what it called a “concept smartphone”. The phablet-sized device is called the Mi Mix and as of now it seems like the perfect mix of smartphone, software and some impressive technology. Basically, it is the stuff we wanted to see from Xiaomi all along and it will go on sale in China starting 4 November.

In a sea of flagship smartphones that seems like the same old boring stuff all over again, it was indeed refreshing to see a new take on design and some impressive technology showcased by Xiaomi at their China launch today.

The design does look jaw-dropping. While we have yet to see some live images of the device (concept smartphone), the phablet will be available for sale and has been priced at RMB 3499 (roughly Rs 34,513) for the 4GB RAM and 128GB storage, while there is also RMB 3999 Mi MIX (roughly Rs 39,445) with 18k gold inserts near the camera along with 6GB RAM and 256GB storage.

While the design does look refreshing, it takes some inspiration from the Sharp Aquos Crystal 2. There’s a 6.4-inch display with an edge to edge design, meaning there are no bezels at the top and sides. What you also get is a high screen-to-body ratio at 91.3 percent (the iPhone 7 Plus comes in a 67.7 percent).

The body which includes the frame, buttons and the front and back screens is all made of ceramic. Renowned designer Philippe Starck is said to be involved with the design process of the smartphone.

Talking about ceramic, what do you do when you have a no bezels at top? Well, Xiaomi seems to have come up with a solution for this and it called piezoelectric ceramic acoustic technology.

The technology basically allows for conversion of electrical signals into mechanical energy, which then transmits the waves into the ceramic body allowing the user to hear the audio without the need for a speaker.

Coming to the specifications, the smartphone seems to pack in details that are similar to the Mi Note 2. It features a Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 chipset (Daydream compatible) with 4GB/6GB RAM and is available in both 128GB and 256GB options. There is a 16MP PDAF rear camera and 5MP front facing camera. Apart from the usual Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, there is also full NFC functionality with a high-precision GPS module.

Lei Jun, CEO and co-founder of Xiaomi said, “Xiaomi is in a position to explore the frontiers of innovation and deliver even more amazing features to our users. We are truly excited at the limitless possibilities that technology presents to us. Mi Note 2 takes our flagship lineup to the next level, and Mi MIX is a glimpse at what the phone of the future looks like.”

New Apple MacBook Pro announced in 3 new flavours; pricing starts from Rs 1,29,900

By tech2 News Staff /  28 Oct 2016 , 00:59

At its Special Event today, Apple announced its all-new MacBook Pro. As expected, Apple went with a complete redesign to make its new MacBook Pro lighter, thinner and more powerful than the previous ones. The new MacBook Pro will be available in three flavours, a 13-inch new MacBook Pro with traditional function keys (available right away), a 13-inch MacBook Pro with the new Touch Bar and the bigger and more powerful 15-inch model (both shipping in two to three weeks).

The new 13-inch MacBook Pro with traditional function keys will start from Rs 1,29,900 while the 13-inch and 15-inch models with the new Touch Bar start from Rs 1,55,900 and Rs 2,05,900 respectively.

The 13-inch MacBook Pro with traditional function keys will offer:

• 13.3-inch (diagonal) LED-backlit Retina display
• 2.0GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 or 2.4GHz dual-core Intel Core i7 processor
• Turbo Boost up to 3.4GHz
• Up to 10 hours battery life
• Up to 1TB SSD
• Force Touch trackpad
• weighs just 3.02 pounds

The 13-inch MacBook Pro with the new Touch Bar offers:

• Touch Bar and Touch ID
• 13.3-inch (diagonal) LED-backlit Retina display
• 2.9GHz or 3.1GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 or 3.3GHz dual-core Intel Core i7 processor
• Turbo Boost up to 3.6GHz
• Up to 10 hours battery life
• Up to 1TB SSD
• Force Touch trackpad
• and weighs 3.02 pounds

Coming to the most powerful MacBook Pro in the line up, the 15-inch MacBook Pro with the Touch Bar, you get:

• Touch Bar and Touch ID
• 15.4-inch (diagonal) LED-backlit Retina display
• 2.6GHz, 2.7GHz, or 2.9GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 processor
• Turbo Boost up to 3.8GHz
• Up to 10 hours battery life
• Up to 2TB SSD
• Force Touch trackpad
• and it weighs in at 4.02 pounds

Indeed the highlight of the new MacBook Pro models, would be the Touch Bar, which basically acts like an additional layer of touch-based interaction similar to 3D Touch.

Apple also showcased with third-party software developers like Adobe’s Photoshop, how useful the new Touch Bar really is and how it allows for proper full screen editing also exposing hidden menus at times. The same Touch Bar also feature Touch ID hidden under the power button.

Support for the new Touch Bar with these apps should be available by the end of the year.

At the end of presentation it was easy to notice how Apple has conveniently upped the price range of its MacBooks. Tim Cook showed off the new line up:

12-inch 2016 MacBook : Rs 92,810

13-inch MacBook Pro with traditional function keys : Rs 1,29,900

13-inch new MacBook Pro with Touch Bar : Rs 1,55,900

15-inch new MacBook Pro with Touch Bar : Rs 2,05,900

Which also meant that the current and outdated Apple MacBook Air lineup could be phased out soon with the pricey 2016 MacBook taking its place.

LG Electronics registers drop in profits as smartphone business bleeds money

  27 Oct 2016 , 18:40

LG Electronics Inc said on Thursday its third-quarter operating profit fell 3.7 percent from a year earlier, hit by sluggish sales in its money-losing smartphone business. LG said in a regulatory filing that the operating profit for the July-September quarter stood at 283.2 billion won ($250.9 million), compared with a profit of 293.9 billion won for the same quarter last year, Yonhap news agency reported.

Compared to the previous quarter, LG’s operating profit sank 51.6 percent. Revenue for the third quarter fell 5.7 percent on year to 13.2 trillion won, according to the filing. LG’s mobile division posted an operating loss of 463.4 billion won for the third quarter, marking its sixth consecutive quarterly loss for its smartphone business. In a statement, LG attributed “lower sales of premium devices and expenses related to business structure improvement activities” to the third-quarter loss in its smartphone business.

“Priorities for the final quarter of the year will include increasing sales of the new LG V20 smartphone and mass-tier K and X series and finalizing business structural improvements in the mobile division to be better prepared for the challenges ahead,” LG said. LG’s home appliance division reported an operating profit of 342.8 billion won and its TV division posted an operating profit of 381.5 billion won.

Reuters

Qualcomm agrees to buy NXP Semiconductors for $47 billion as it expands its reach beyond phones

Image: Reuters

  27 Oct 2016 , 18:16

Qualcomm Inc said on Thursday it agreed to buy NXP Semiconductors NV for about $47 billion, including debt, as it seeks to expand the reach of its chips from phones to cars. The deal would make Qualcomm, which supplies chips to Android smartphone makers and Apple Inc, one of the biggest suppliers to the fast-growing market of chips used by the automotive industry.

Qualcomm said it would offer $110 per share in cash, a premium of 11.5 percent to NXP Semiconductor’s Wednesday’s close. The equity value of the deal is $37.88 billion, according to Reuters calculations based on the company’s 344.4 million diluted shares as of Oct. 2. Qualcomm intends to fund the transaction with cash on hand and new debt.

The company gets the bulk of its revenue from chip sales but most of its profit comes from wireless patents it licenses to the mobile industry. The transaction, which is expected to close by the end of 2017, is structured to use offshore cash flow in a tax-efficient manner to rapidly reduce leverage, Qualcomm said. The company expects the deal to significantly add to adjusted earnings immediately upon its close and generate $500 million of cost savings annually within two years after the deal closes.

Qualcomm had sat out the transformative consolidation sweeping the industry, which has seen mega-deals such as Avago buying Broadcom for $37 billion last year. NXP closed a nearly $12 billion deal to buy U.S.-based Freescale Semiconductor last December, creating the world’s top maker of automotive electronics and doubling the percentage of its auto-related revenue to 40 percent.

The combined company is expected to have annual revenue of more than $30 billion, the companies said. San Diego-based Qualcomm is facing slowing smartphone sales and stiff competition from Chinese and Taiwanese rivals. The company is currently ranked third in terms of revenue among global semiconductor companies in 2015, while Eindhoven-based NXP is ranked seventh, according to research firm IHS.

Goldman Sachs and Evercore were financial advisers to Qualcomm while Centerview Partners LLC advised its board. Qatalyst Partners, Barclays and Credit Suisse were financial advisers to NXP and Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP and De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek were legal counsels. NXP’s shares rose 2.4 percent to $101, while Qualcomm shares were up nearly 2 percent to $69.50 in premarket trading.

Reuters

Researchers develop prototype of next-generation lithium-sulphur battery

  27 Oct 2016 , 17:59

Researchers, including one of Indian-origin, have developed a prototype of a next-generation lithium-sulphur battery which takes its inspiration in part from the cells lining the human intestine. The batteries, if commercially developed, would have five times the energy density of the lithium-ion batteries used in smartphones and other electronics, the study said.

Working with collaborators at the Beijing Institute of Technology, the Cambridge University researchers based in Vasant Kumar’s team in the Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy developed and tested a lightweight nanostructured material which resembles villi, the finger-like protrusions which line the small intestine. In the human body, villi are used to absorb the products of digestion and increase the surface area over which this process can take place.

In the new lithium-sulphur battery, a layer of material with a villi-like structure, made from tiny zinc oxide wires, is placed on the surface of one of the battery’s electrodes. This can trap fragments of the active material when they break off, keeping them electrochemically accessible and allowing the material to be reused. “This gets us a long way through the bottleneck which is preventing the development of better batteries,” said study co-author Paul Coxon from Cambridge’s Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy.

Sulphur and lithium react differently, via a multi-electron transfer mechanism meaning that elemental sulphur can offer a much higher theoretical capacity, resulting in a lithium-sulphur battery with much higher energy density. However, when the battery discharges, the lithium and sulphur interact and the ring-like sulphur molecules transform into chain-like structures, known as a poly-sulphides. As the battery undergoes several charge-discharge cycles, bits of the poly-sulphide can go into the electrolyte, so that over time the battery gradually loses active material.

By preventing the degradation of the battery caused by the loss of material within it, the new design, reported in the journal Advanced Functional Materials, overcomes one of the key technical problems hindering the commercial development of lithium-sulphur batteries.

IANS

Airtel to approach Trai to clear confusion over the proposed Rs 1,000 cr penalty

Image: Reuters

  27 Oct 2016 , 17:57

Telecom operator Bharti Airtel today said that it will approach government and telecom regulator Trai to clear the “confusion” that led to proposed penalty of over Rs 1,000 crore on it for not providing interconnection facility to Reliance JIO Infocomm.

“We are aware of proposed penalty. We believe there is confusion here. We will find way to go back to Trai and DoT. We are very confident that government will take a very objective position in the Herculean efforts we have put to resolve this issue,” Bharti Airtel MD and CEO for India and South Asia Gopal Vittal said during analyst call today.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has recommended the Department of Telecom to slap total penalty of Rs 3,050 crore on Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and Idea Cellular for not resolving interconnection issue with Reliance Jio despite its direction that led to high call failure on latter’s network.

“It is part of our regulatory obligation that we provide connect. At the end of the day it is our job to fight in the market and serve customers better. So this is a non-issue,” Vittal said. He said that Jio announced on 31 August, that they would launch services on 5 September.

“There is lot of augmentation that we have done on points of interconnect. We have never seen that kind of augmentation that we have ever done in the past,” Vittal said. He said that the interconnection ports that Airtel has provided per million of customers is more that 2.5 times than of any other operator in India.

“The regulation allows you 90 days to all these augmentation. We have done it literally in 5 weeks,” Vittal said.

Talking about Airtel strategy to counter Reliance Jio’s free 4G mobile service, Vittal said that it is very difficult to offer free service in response but company will look at offering more bundled service like Jio is offering to counter threat from it.

“We believe that when something is free there is only way to compete is to go and give it for free. It is very difficult. In that sense we are watching that space. Free stuff also has impact on quality of network. We are keeping track on that,” Vittal said.

PTI

Disclaimer: Reliance Jio is owned by Reliance Industries, who also own Network18, the publisher of Firstpost and tech2.

Olx redesigns app for a simpler, safer and social experience

By tech2 News Staff /  27 Oct 2016 , 17:35

The Olx app gets an overhaul with a simpler, social and safer user interface. The aim is to help deeper penetration of online classifieds across regions, age-groups and categories. The new changes, Olx claims, are rolled out on leveraging innovative technology and deep consumer understanding.

The new app will make it mandatory for sellers and buyers to register online for accessing the platform. You can register using social channels or a phone number. With social media in place, you will also be able to see mutual friends. This is aimed at safety for users. The new OLX App has reduced the Ad posting time by more than 50% by introducing the image recognition technology. It generates an auto-title and auto-category for the item being posted. All one needs to do is to take a photograph of the item, state the price, and it’s good to go.

Further on the security front, the default settings of the new Olx App do not reveal the phone number of the seller. Olx Chat is the only way to get in touch with the sellers until they decide to reveal their phone number. Olx has also added the hyper local experience to allow users to find great products in their vicinity.

Amarjit Singh Batra, CEO, Olx India, “Consumer insights played a pivotal role in conceptualizing and introducing these changes. The annual Olx Consumer Research on Used Goods and Selling Trends (CRUST) for 2015-16, revealed that Indians are stocking unused goods worth INR 78,300 Crore. This, along with other consumer insights, pushed us to think about the unmet needs of the users and the new ways in which we could make selling and buying of unused goods simpler for them. We also looked at some of the broader challenges confronting the industry. Since online is still a very nascent industry in India, users do have trust and comfort issues. Women and the new-to-net population particularly finds it hard to navigate around these. We decided to deal with the problem head-on by providing simple and tech-led solutions.”

The new app will begin rolling out today for Android users, and in the coming weeks to the rest of its user base.

Nokia posts a sharp drop in earnings as downturn hits telecom equipment business

Image Credit: REUTERS

  27 Oct 2016 , 17:24

Nokia has succumbed to a downturn in the telecoms equipment business, posting a sharp drop in quarterly earnings and warning that demand for the kit which drives global network traffic would shrink further in the coming year. Its shares fell more than 7 percent to their lowest in three years.

The network gear market is in decline after demand for 4G equipment peaked last year and a new cycle of 5G network upgrades is not expected to begin until around 2020, a trend which earlier this month pummeled rival Ericsson. So far Nokia is seeing scant benefit from the purchase of Franco-American Alcatel Lucent, bought in a 15.6 billion euro ($17 billion) all-share deal earlier this year, though the company said integration efforts were on track.

“Although their underlying profitability is solid, it does not compensate for reported figures being weak… It’s a bit better than Ericsson’s, but it is not a good report,” said Swedbank analyst Mathias Lundberg, who rates the stock “neutral”. “In the near term, Nokia will have tough time ahead … But given time, and with the successful integration of Alcatel Lucent, Nokia could be a very forceful company,” Lundberg added.

Nokia’s third-quarter network sales fell 12 percent from a year ago to 5.32 billion euros against an average expectation of 5.39 billion. Operating profit for the unit fell 36 percent to 432 million. The company said network sales were set to decline at a similar rate in the fourth quarter as in the third, and the market would continue to shrink next year.

“As we look forward, we expect (market) conditions to stabilize somewhat in 2017, with the primary addressable market in which Nokia competes likely to decline in the low single- digits for that year,” Chief Executive Rajeev Suri told a conference call.

Synergy Programmes

Sweden’s Ericsson earlier this month reported a more than 90 percent plunge in third-quarter profit and replaced its chief executive. Yet Nokia is less dependent than Ericsson on mobile broadband demand, as the Alcatel-Lucent merger gave it a larger fixed-line network business. Nokia’s Suri said the company, which is cutting thousands of jobs worldwide, was on track with its Alcatel synergy programme which targets savings of 1.2 billion euros in 2018.

“Challenging networks markets are nothing new to Nokia and I believe we remain well positioned … with our disciplinced operating model, focus on efficiences and costs and our broad portfolio,” Suri said. Nokia’s total third-quarter operating profit fell 18 percent to 556 million euros, but that figure was buoyed by a one-off patent licensing payment.

The company also said Chief Financial Officer Timo Ihamuotila, hailed for Nokia’s succesful recent M&A moves, would quit to join Swiss engineering group ABB, to be replaced by insider Kristian Pullola. Once known for its mobile phones, Nokia sold the handset business to Microsoft in 2014, leaving it with the networks business and a portfolio of technology patents.

Reuters

Finance Minister Jaitley emphasises that India needs to undergo rapid urbanisation in next 2 decades

Image: Urban Engines

  27 Oct 2016 , 19:00

Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Thursday stressed on India’s need to urbanise rapidly in the next two decades in line with its present development in order to relieve the pressure on agriculture. “In the next two decades, India will have to go for rapid urbanisation, in line with what we see already — the growth of satellite towns, of suburbanization around metros, etc,” Jaitley said.

The Minister was addressing the ADB-Asian Think Tank Development Forum here on sustainable urbanisation organised by the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy, ADB and ICRIER. “Urbanisation is inevitable to relieve agriculture from the number of people still living off the land. Urban India is now 31 percent of the country’s population..urban centres have become engines of growth in the states,” he added.

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Jaitley mentioned Bengaluru and Gurgaon as two rapidly developing centres in recent times. He noted the hitherto “unorganised construction” involved in this urbanisation process and stressed on the need for more “participation of organised construction to create organised townships.”

Asking, “Are we ready for this massive urbanisation in terms of infrastructure like water, transport, roads and sanitation,” Jaitley said that more resources were likely to be given to the states under the Smart Cities initiative.

“The Smart City initiative has prompted substantial competition among cities, themselves organised around the basis of objective criteria. More resources are soon likely to be given to the cities,” Jaitley said. “The Swachch Bharat — Clean India campaign will be integral to the urbanisation process,” he added.

IANS

2017 Mini Cooper SE Countryman ALL4 is the largest Mini ever; it’s also a plug-in hybrid

By tech2 News Staff /  27 Oct 2016 , 16:44

Mini has unveiled its largest vehicle ever in form of the 2017 Mini Countryman. Apart from the 2017 Countryman, Mini also announced the new Cooper and Cooper S which are expected to go on sale in March 2017. The Cooper SE Countryman ALL4 plug-in hybrid will arrive in markets starting June 2017. All three variants of the Cooper will go official at Los Angeles International Auto Show, which takes place on 16 November.

Out of these the Cooper SE ALL4 plug-in hybrid is the most interesting one. “The Mini Cooper SE Countryman ALL4 will be powered by both a three-cylinder Mini TwinPower Turbo Technology gasoline engine and

German Chancellor Angela Merkel asks Google and Facebook to release privately-developed algorithms

  27 Oct 2016 , 16:08

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has accused technology giants Facebook and Google of “narrowing perspective” and demanded that they make public their privately-developed algorithms, media reported. Merkel, who had previously blamed the social media for anti-immigrant sentiment, said: “The algorithms must be made public, so that one can inform oneself as an interested citizen on questions like, ‘what influences my behaviour on the internet and that of others?’.”

“These algorithms, when they are not transparent, can lead to a distortion of our perception, they narrow our breadth of information,” RT.com quoted Merkel as saying in Berlin this week. Google and Facebook use algorithms to decide which search results are shown first and the order of the news feed respectively. The companies decide to include posts from a user’s liked pages and friends and also promote links to news articles, often based on a user’s own media interests.

According to the report, these algorithms comprise some of the most highly protected trade secrets in the world, potentially worth billions. No internet giant has ever revealed its inner workings. “The big internet platforms, via their algorithms, have become an eye of a needle which diverse media must pass through to reach users. This is a development that we need to pay careful attention to,” Merkel noted.

IANS

OnePlus may launch OnePlus 3T with Snapdragon 821 and Sony IMX398 sensor ; to cost $80 more

By tech2 News Staff /  27 Oct 2016 , 15:55

OnePlus is currently working on an enhanced version of the OnePlus 3 with a newer processor and a better display. The new version is known as OnePlus 3T and could launch is expected as soon as December this year. OnePlus 3T will come with Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 and a larger LCD as reported earlier. However, the new device will not come at the same price as the OnePlus 3. Instead, it will cost $80 more than the OnePlus 3 as hinted by tipster Evans Blass.

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The hardware refresh for the OnePlus 3 is in response to newer smartphone flagships like the Google Pixel, Asus Zenfone 3 Deluxe, Xiaomi Mi Note 2, Xiaomi Mi MIX and other smartphones. Snapdragon 821 will keep OnePlus flagship stay competitive until the time Snapdragon 830 launches next year. This move will give time for people to wait for the OnePlus 4 that is likely to be equipped with Snapdragon 830. In addition to the processor upgrade, there are rumours that the company may switch to LCD screen panels as it faces a shortage of AMOLED display panels. But OnePlus co-founder, Carl Pei took to Twitter to clarify that the company is not moving away from Optic AMOLED display panel.

OnePlus will be staying with Optic AMOLED displays for the foreseeable future. — Carl Pei (@getpeid) October 13, 2016

Though it is not clear if the company will stick to the Full HD display or it will upgrade to a 2K display, which is ideal for the upcoming Google VR technology, DayDream.

Additionally in another Weibo discussion, a user revealed that the OnePlus 3 may pack in a Sony IMX398 sensor. The new sensor is currently featured in the Oppo R9s and even though it sticks to the traditional phase detection autofocus, it is supposed to be quicker when it comes to focusing on moving objects.