Sony Xperia XZs first impressions: It’s a good phone, but it’s also not much of an upgrade

Sony announced two new flagships this year at Mobile World Congress this year including the Xperia XZ Premium and the Xperia XZs. While the Premium will launch in a couple of months in most markets, the company has launched the XZs in India.

The Xperia XZs is a bumped up version of the Xperia XZ which was launched last year including a new camera and more RAM. While most of the features remain the same, I was tempted to try out the new camera features. So here is a quick look at the new Xperia XZs.

Body and design

Sony is probably one of the few companies that try really hard to be different when it comes to designing their smartphones. There aren’t any prominent changes. The design and looks are exactly the same as the Xperia XZ. This means you get Sony’s new Loop design language which honestly looks impressive. It’s a flat design with rounded edges, giving you a nice grip.

Sony has used its patented Alkaleido metal for the back which just a fancy term for a kind of aluminium it uses. It gives off a slight plastic feel, just like the XZ, but it is definitely a premium handset.

The front is all glass with the 5.2-inch display sitting underneath it. The front also has a loudspeaker slit, the earpiece, front camera and the usual light and proximity sensors. At the back is the new 19 MP camera with an LED flash, an RGB light sensor and laser AF. The curved right edge houses the power-button with an embedded fingerprint scanner, the volume rocker and a dedicated camera shutter button. The headphone jack is at the top, the hybrid SIM tray is on the left edge and the USB Type-C port is at the bottom.

Sony has got new colours. While the XZ came in Mineral black, Platinum, Forest blue and Deep pink, the new XZs comes in Black, Warm Silver, Ice Blue. Of course it is also dust and waterproof with IP65/68 certifications.

Display

There is no change in the display. You still get a 5.2-inch Full HD IPS LCD panel with Sony’s Triluminos display and X-Reality Engine technologies. The resolution is Full HD (1920×1080) with a pixel density of 424 ppi. The display is quite good and sharp. Colours look excellent and even brightness is good even while using it outdoors. Even the glass on top of the display has a nice finish and the touch response is on spot.

Chipset, Storage and RAM

The Xperia XZs borrows most of its hardware from its predecessor. So you get a 64-bit, Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 (MSM8996) chipset clocked at 2.15 GHz, but there is 4 GB RAM on this one compared to 3 GB on the last one. An Adreno 530 GPU takes care of the graphics. Internal storage remains at 64 GB which is expandable up to 256 GB via the hybrid SIM slot.

We are moving from Snapdragon 821 to the 835, and I know sometimes specifications don’t matter, but there is a population which just ignores a smartphone if it has older hardware. Something to think about.

OS and Software

The Xperia XZs arrives with the latest Android 7.1.1 Nougat update with Sony’s light skinning on top. The UI runs smooth. Sony has added new ‘Actions’ feature which basically automate certain features by learning the user’s habits. For instance, it can turn on ‘Do not disturb’ mode when you are at a certain location, or at a certain time of the day, or turns on/off roaming when you are going abroad.

Sadly, Sony still has loaded the OS with a lot of bloatware, which can be annoying for certain users.

Camera

Here is where the real changes are. Sony has got a brand new camera which is also loaded on the Xperia XZ Premium. It’s a 19 MP sensor (1/2.3-inch) with a 25 mm f/2.0 lens, a dual-tone flash, predictive and laser auto-focus and an RGBC-IR sensor for natural colour rendering. This new sensor which the company calls ‘Motion Eye’ comes with super slow motion video recording at 960 fps, which is a first on a smartphone. This lets you shoot slow-mo videos that are four times slower than traditional smartphone cameras. Apart from this, there is predictive capture, which can shoot a moment and three frames right before you hit the shutter button.

I tried out these features and they are actually good. The super slow-mo can get tricky as it requires a well lit environment. The predictive capture feature is pretty good and I managed to get some moving subjects without missing the moment. However, the overall quality of the pictures was not as good as I expected from a flagship smartphone. I still need to test the camera thoroughly.

The primary camera can also record 4K video with SteadyShot 5-axis digital stabilisation. The front camera is the same as last year, a 13 MP (1/3.06-inch) sensor with a 22 mm wide-angle lens.

Battery and connectivity

The smartphone still gets a 2,900 mAh battery with support for Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0 and Sony’s Qnovo battery tech which elongates the battery’s life. There is also Sony’s Stamina mode that lowers performance to increase the battery time. I need to properly test the battery before I can comment about its performance.

As for connectivity you get a dual-nano SIM hybrid tray, 4G LTE with VoLTE, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, NFC, FM radio, USB Type-C with OTG support.

Conclusion

Sony has been struggling with its smartphones even though they seem to offer an interesting handsets. The updated Xperia XZs doesn’t seem like a game changer to me and I think it would take a beating from most of the flagships out there. I am not saying this is a bad smartphone and I need to test it thoroughly to come to a conclusion, though. My initial few hours with the handset have been decent but not as good as one would feel with a flagship phone.

And then there is the price. At Rs 49,990 it isn’t cheap. Considering its package, it sounds at par with a few flagships, but can it match up to them? Stay tuned for my full review.

Publish date: April 3, 2017 9:00 pm| Modified date: April 4, 2017 10:15 am

WhatsApp is preparing to launch a UPI-based digital payment service this year: Report

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WhatsApp is reportedly working on a digital payment system using UPI. The service is expected to launch this year.

The report was published on The Ken and we haven’t yet been able to independently confirm the report. If the report is to be believed, however, WhatsApp is hiring someone to head a digital transaction business in India, someone with expertise in Aadhaar, UPI and Bhim. The report suggests that the WhatsApp-based peer-to-peer payment system will launch in about 6 months’ time.

Facebook-owned WhatsApp is among the largest digital communication platforms in India and is ubiquitous. With over 200 million users aboard the platform, digital transactions can only get a boost from such a move.

However, one must never forget that this is Facebook we’re talking about. Given the company’s incessant demands for user data, it’s quite possible that details of your transactions will be sent to Facebook for analysis, helping them to better target ads.

Regardless, yet another digital payment platform will be welcome, if only because WhatsApp’s popularity might eliminate the need to use some of the other, less popular apps. It’s also good to hear that WhatsApp is working on integrating Bhim and UPI rather than developing a payment service of its own.

Publish date: April 4, 2017 10:46 am| Modified date: April 4, 2017 10:46 am

Moto G5 first impressions: The younger sibling that seems to pack a punch

The G series from Motorola has been quite successful over the years and just last month we saw the Moto G5 Plus launching in India. Today the company announced the Moto G5 which is the younger sibling.

While it looks similar as the Moto G5 Plus, it comes with more entry level specifications. I got my hands for a quick look at the smartphone and here is what I think about the smartphone.

Build and Design

On first look, the G5 looks very similar to the G5 Plus. The design is actually identical but there are a few differences. The G5 comes with a 5-inch display as opposed to the 5.2-inch on the G5 Plus. It makes the handset compact but hardly so.

The biggest difference is that the G5 doesn’t come with a sealed back. The back panel is removable, so is the battery. The microSD and SIM card slots are present under the back panel.

The Moto G5 is thicker as well, measuring at 9.5 mm while the G5 Plus has 7.7 mm of thickness.

At the front there is the display, the oval shaped fingerprint scanner below it and the front camera, earpiece and sensors above it. The right edge has the volume rocker keys and the power button, the headphone jack is at the top and the microUSB port is at the bottom. The back panel is a mix of metal and plastic. The back also has the round camera module, the secondary microphone and the Moto logo.

The build quality on the G5 doesn’t feel as good as its big brother. I am not saying its bad, it is definitely better than its predecessors. Considering I’ve already played with the G5 Plus, this one feels lower in quality.

Display

As I said the display on the Moto G5 is smaller. Its a 5-inch IPS LCD which offers Full HD resolution (1920×1080) which translates to a pixel density of 441 ppi. The panel seems to be similar to the one on the G5 Plus which was pretty decent. Sharpness is really good although I wanted to test it under the sunlight as the brightness seemed to be on the lower side.

Chipset, RAM and storage

The Moto G5 comes with a lower tier processor. It is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 SoC which was seen on the Xiaomi Redmi 3S and 3S Prime. It is an octa-core processor clocked at 1.4 GHz and has an Adreno 505 GPU.

The SoC is paired with 3GB of RAM. While the G5 was originally announced in 2GB and 3GB RAM variants, the company has only introduced the latter.

For storage there is 16GB of internal memory which can be expanded further using a microSD card of up to 128GB.

OS and software

The Moto G5 comes with Android 7.0 Nougat and the UI is stock. I didn’t see any difference on the software and it is exactly the same as the Moto G5 Plus. You also get Moto’s special features like Moto Display, double chop to turn on the flashlight and so on. It felt smooth for the few minutes I used the smartphone.

As a special partnership with Amazon.in, the Moto G5 comes pre-loaded with the Amazon.in, Amazon Prime Video and the Amazon Kindle apps.

Camera

The primary camera is also different. The G5 comes with a 13 MP camera with an f/2.0 aperture, phase detection autofocus and an LED flash. At the front there is a 5MP camera with an f/2.2 aperture. The camera app comes with features like HDR, panorama, pro mode and so on. The camera feels fast in terms of shutter speeds and focusing but quality is just average.

I took a few pictures which were lacking details and didn’t feel as good as the 12 MP on the G5 Plus. Of course a proper testing is required to see if the camera performance is any good.

Battery and connectivity

The Moto G5 comes with a removable 2,800 mAh battery. This is again smaller when compared to the G5 Plus which has a 3,000 mAh battery. It doesnt come with Moto’s Turbo charging technology which is said to offer up to six hours of backup on just 15 minutes of charge.

In the connectivity department you get 4G LTE network support, dual SIM card slot, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 4.2, NFC, GPS/A-GPS/GLONASS, microUSB with USB OTG and FM Radio.

Conclusion

The Moto G5 is a solid device and its nice to see Moto evolving with the times. My only issue with the smartphone is its price tag of Rs 11,999 which seems a bit high. Now the Xiaomi Redmi 3S Prime comes with similar set of features at Rs 9,000. Then there is also the Lenovo K6 Power which again offers a similar package at Rs 10,000.

Moto is however offering some attractive launch offers so that kind of makes up for the slightly higher price.

I think the Moto G5 won’t be a bad seller, but then it won’t have it easy as the above mentioned smartphones offer a bang for the buck.

Publish date: April 4, 2017 5:36 pm| Modified date: April 4, 2017 5:37 pm

Facebook is testing a second news feed with ‘Rocket’ icon; show users content that may interest them

Image: Reuters

Social networking giant Facebook recently added a new icon – that of a rocket – on selected users’ home screens without any hint about what to do with it or what it means, said a media report on Tuesday. On clicking on the rocket, it leads the user to an altered version of the News Feed while the traditional one also exists alongside it.

“The test was a way of trying out a complementary feed of popular articles, video and photos customised for each person based on content that might be interesting to them,” the Independent quoted a Facebook spokesperson as saying. “It was intended as a way of giving people an easy way to explore new content they haven’t connected with yet,” the spokesperson added.

The rocket icon is appearing for selected users on iOS and Android at the bottom of the app’s view. Facebook often secretly tests out potential new features on a selected number of users and the button appears to be part of such a test. “Many of those features don’t make it to the public version of the app and this might never be seen by normal users,” the report added. The icon appears to be similar to Instagram’s ‘Explore tab’ which shows posts that the company’s algorithms have determined to be relevant to users’ interests.

Publish date: April 4, 2017 5:13 pm| Modified date: April 4, 2017 5:27 pm

Android has overtaken Windows as the most used operating system on the internet

For years the tech industry has believed in the dominance of the almighty Microsoft Windows. Windows is one of the most used operating system in the desktop space with more than 90.45 percent of devices powered by the operating system according to data by NetMarketShare.

However, according to a recent report by StatCounter, Android has dethroned Microsoft Windows as the most popular operating system (OS) for internet usage across product segments such as desktop, tablets, laptops and mobile devices.

Image Credit: StatCounter

The interesting thing is that Android overtook Windows last month with internet usage market share across the world at 37.93 percent in comparison to the 37.91 percent usage on Windows OS.

Aodhan Cullen, the CEO of StatCounter termed this to be a “milestone in technology history” and “the end of an era.” He goes on to say that, “It marks the end of Microsoft’s leadership worldwide of the OS market which it has held since the 1980s.”

This statement might not hold true entirely since we are only talking about the OS preferred to access the internet. Windows is the preferred choice for desktops. But the results do point to a definite trend in the market where PCs are observing a continuous decline in overall market share when compared to mobile devices.

The report notes that Windows holds about 84 percent internet usage market share in the desktop market which includes PC and laptops.

Cullen correctly points out, “Windows won the desktop war but the battlefield has moved on.” Windows 10 Mobile OS is nowhere close to be competitve. It has a minuscule 0.3 percent market share as compared to over 80 percent of Android market share. There is no way Windows is making any inroads in the mobile sector.

One interesting thing to note here is that Windows has maintained its lead in North America and Europe with 39.5 percent and 51.7 percent internet usage market share while Android held around 21.2 percent and 23.6 market share respectively.

Asia was the deciding factor to give Android a marginal bump by holding 52.2 percent as Windows slumped to 29.2 percentage. The reason for Asia being so contrasting in terms of market share can be because of the fact that most people would opt to choose a smartphone rather going for a PC or a laptop.

Publish date: April 4, 2017 5:03 pm| Modified date: April 4, 2017 5:16 pm

Twitter will now allow brands to request and share their location data with users using direct messages

Representational image

Microblogging site Twitter has launched a new tool that allows brands to request and share location data with users via direct messages in order to provide better customer service, the media reported on Tuesday. “It is no longer about social marketing teams, but core customer care teams [that are responding on Twitter]. Companies are running a serious business here and looking for help in scaling it,” Ian Cairns, product manager, Twitter was quoted as saying to VentureBeat.

Users have complete control over this new feature, the brand manager will get user’s permission to receive location data to direct users to the closest store, the report said. This new feature is available through Twitter’s developer programme to its partners offering customer service tools for brands. It can also be used in a customer interaction, within an automated message, or anywhere else.

Location data is also one of the most recent update to direct messages for brands. Support for location data comes days after Facebook announced that live location could be shared with friends and contacts within its Messenger app. This comes right after Twitter lost its head of Asia-Pacific business Aliza Knox after she decided to move on after a near-five year stint. Knox built out Twitter’s presence in Asia with an office in Singapore that currently spans nine locations with over 100 people on the payroll.

Publish date: April 4, 2017 3:16 pm| Modified date: April 4, 2017 3:15 pm

Yahoo and AOL will merge to form a new company called Oath

Image Credit: Twitter, Tim Armstrong, @timarmstrongaol

AOL and Yahoo will be combined into a unit called Oath after telecom titan Verizon buys the pioneering internet firm, according to a tweet Monday by the AOL chief. Confirmation of a new name for what the world has long known as Yahoo was tweeted from a verified @timarmstrongaol account after reports of the new name leaked in US media reports.

“Billion+ Consumers, 20+ Brands, Unstoppable Team. #TakeTheOath. Summer 2017,” the Twitter post read. A price cut early this year kept Verizon on track to consummate the purchase of Yahoo’s internet business, and share the costs from a pair of epic hacks that threatened to derail the deal.

Yahoo slashed the price of its core internet business by $350 million. Under revised terms of the delayed deal, Verizon’s purchase of Yahoo assets will total $4.48 billion. Yahoo announced in September that hackers in 2014 stole personal data from more than 500 million of its user accounts. And in December it admitted to another cyber attack from 2013 affecting more than a billion users.

The US Justice Department last month charged two Russian intelligence operatives and a pair of hackers over one of the largest cyber attacks in history, which had apparent twin goals of espionage and financial gain. The Kremlin denied any official Russian involvement in cybercrimes after the US indicted two FSB intelligence agents over cyber attacks on Yahoo that compromised 500 million accounts.

Under the terms of the revised acquisition agreement, Yahoo will continue to cover the cost of a US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) probe into the breaches as well as shareholder lawsuits. However, other government investigations and third-party litigation related to the hacks will be shared by Verizon and Yahoo.

The deal with Verizon was expected to close by July, and will end Yahoo’s run of more than 20 years as an independent company. Yahoo is selling its main operating business as a way to separate that from its more valuable stake in Chinese internet giant Alibaba, which will become a new entity, to be renamed Altaba, Inc., and will act as an investment company.

Yahoo boasted having more than a billion users monthly in 2016. Yahoo’s most recent earnings report showed the company swung to profit in the final three months of last year, after a massive $4.4 billion loss in the same period of 2015. Yahoo reported a loss of $214 million for 2016 on revenue that inched up to $5.2 billion from $5 billion in 2015.

Yahoo chief Marissa Mayer will quit the company’s board after the merger with Verizon that creates Oath, according to an SEC filing, though she is expected to remain with the core Yahoo business.

AFP

Publish date: April 4, 2017 2:49 pm| Modified date: April 4, 2017 2:49 pm

WhatsApp now allows you to pick and send multiple contacts in one go

Image: AFP

WhatsApp has introduced the ability to pick and attach multiple contacts in one go without having to send the contacts one at a time. This feature is currently available in the beta version of the app, but it will roll out to other users soon.

Earlier, the app would force you to share only one contact at a time, making the process of sharing a large number of contacts very tedious.

This brings the attach contact section at par with other options like the Document and Gallery options, where you could select multiple documents, pictures, GIFs or videos to send them in a group or a conversation. I certainly wish that the company could do the same while sharing ‘Audio’ files or even ‘Location’. The company is working on introducing ‘Pinned Chats‘, an ‘Internal video player’, ‘Unsend‘, ‘Live locations‘, business tools and other features like ‘vCards indexing’ in future versions.

This update comes right after a report detailed that WhatsApp may be working on integrating UPI payments in the app to send money to friends and family without leaving the app. The last major update that WhatsApp introduced to its users was the ‘WhatsApp Status‘ which was panned by its users. The company had to bring back the ‘Text’ only Status in the form of ‘About’.

Publish date: April 4, 2017 1:40 pm| Modified date: April 4, 2017 1:40 pm

Apps on your smartphone could be talking to teach other and breaching your privacy: Study

Do you use smartphone apps to organise lunch dates, make convenient online purchases or communicate the most intimate details of your existence? Beware, these apps may be secretly talking to each other and potentially breaching your security, researchers warn.

A study showed that applications on the android phones are able to talk to one another and trade information. The biggest security risks were some of the least utilitarian — apps that pertained to personalisation of ringtones, widgets, and emojis, the researchers said. “Researchers were aware that apps may talk to one another in some way, shape, or form,” said Gang Wang, assistant professor at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, US.

But “this study shows undeniably with real-world evidence over and over again is that app behaviour, whether it is intentional or not, can pose a security breach depending on the kinds of apps you have on your phone”, Wang added. The types of threats fall into two major categories, either a malware app that is specifically designed to launch a cyber-attack or apps that simply allow for collusion and privilege escalation.

In the latter category, it is not possible to quantify the intention of the developer, so collusion, while still a security breach, can in many cases be unintentional, the researchers said. The findings were presented at the Association for Computing Machinery Asia Computer and Communications Security Conference in Dubai.

The team examined a whopping 110,150 apps over three years including 100,206 of Google Play’s most popular apps and 9,994 malware apps from Virus Share a private collection of malware app samples. “Of the apps we studied, we found thousands of pairs of apps that could potentially leak sensitive phone or personal information and allow unauthorised apps to gain access to privileged data,” commented Daphne Yao, associate professor at Virginia Tech.

“We hope this study will be a source for the industry to consider re-examining their software development practices and incorporate safeguards on the front end,” Wang added.

Publish date: April 4, 2017 10:47 am| Modified date: April 4, 2017 10:47 am

Samsung to produce 70 million flexible Oled displays for Apple, to invest $9 bn to boost production

Image: Reuters

Reports suggest that Apple is has ordered 70 million flexible Oled (Organic Light Emitting Diode) screens from Samsung for 2017.

Apple’s upcoming iPhone 8 is widely expected to feature a curved Oled display unit and as far as we’ve heard, Samsung seems to be the only supplier. Nikkei, which first reported this, also adds that Samsung is preparing to manufacture 95 million units for Apple, just in case.

Contracts with Apple earn Samsung big bucks, especially one that makes Samsung the sole supplier for Apple’s iPhone displays. Last year, Bloomberg has reported that Samsung was looking to invest around $9 billion in Samsung Display, the unit that will manufacture the iPhone’s displays.

A recent report in The Investor confirmed that Samsung was indeed making this investment. Considering the fact that Samsung commands 95 percent of the smartphone market, it’s not like Apple had a choice here. Samsung’s flagship A3 flexible Oled production plant is expected to ramp up production from 30,000-45,000 units a year to over 1,20,000 units a year.

The iPhone 8 is set to be an iPhone unlike any other. Meant to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the iPhone, Apple is apparently throwing everything it can into the project. We’ve heard that the device will feature a curved Oled True Tone display, that Apple will integrate a TouchID sensor under the front display unit, that the body will have an all-glass finish, that bezels will be non-existent and more.

We’ve also heard that it’ll be the most expensive iPhone ever made.

Given Samsung’s position, it has as much to gain from an expensive, sold-out iPhone as Apple.

Publish date: April 4, 2017 9:58 am| Modified date: April 4, 2017 9:58 am