Samsung will start testing the Galaxy S8 in January 2017 and might actually ship the device by March

By tech2 News Staff /  09 Nov 2016 , 11:45

It’s not been a good year for Samsung, what with their other flagship, the Note 7, going up in flames the world over and even its washing machines punching through walls.

Samsung needs a win and it needs it badly. As far as the Note 7 is concerned, the company decided to swallow the bitter pill and just can the product. Shifting their focus to the Galaxy S8 and a potential Note 8 does seem like the right move.

It’s now come to light the company intends to begin testing the Galaxy S8 smartphone in January. A report on The Investor says, “Key suppliers are required to provide an initial batch of their parts for the Galaxy S8 from January.” The report also quoted a supplier as saying that “full volume” shipping will start in February.

It was earlier rumoured that Samsung would forgo its traditional MWC announcement and launch the phone in April, but suppliers apparently think that the phone will make its MWC debut in February and ship soon after, in March.

As far as the device itself is concerned, the most prevalent rumours describe a phone with a Snapdragon 830 SoC, a 5.1-inch 2K display, a dual-camera setup on the rear and a screen to body ratio of a whopping 90 percent. Another highlight is expected to be the debut of Samsung’s own AI assistant, a la Siri, Alexa and Google Assistant. This assistant is also rumoured to get a button all to itself on the S8.

BlackBerry officially announces the DTEK50 and DTEK60 at Rs 21,990 and Rs 46,990 in India

By tech2 News Staff /  07 Nov 2016 , 15:21

BlackBerry has fully embraced its new Android avatar with the official launch of two new handsets in India. The two devices, called the DTEK50 and DTEK60 are priced at Rs 21,990 and Rs 46,990 respectively. Both the devices will start selling by early December.

The DTEK50 is a few months old and is already on sale in some countries. The devices packs in a 5.2-inch IPS LCD screen with a resolution of Full HD (441 ppi). Under the hood you’ll find a Snapdragon 617 SoC and 3GB of RAM. Onboard storage is limited to 16GB, but it’s expandable by up to 256GB via the microSD card slot. A 13MP f/2.0 rear camera and 8MP f/2.2 front camera make up the camera system. It has a 2,610 mAh battery, which supports Qualcomm’s QuickCharge 2.0 standard.

The more powerful DTEK60 was unveiled in October this year and packs in flagship specs, featuring a Snapdragon 820 SoC (clocked at 2.15GHz), 4GB of RAM and 32GB of onboard storage. This is also expandable by up to 256GB via the microSD card slot.

The screen on the DTEK60 is a 5.5-inch AMOLED display with a resolution of 2K (2560×1440 or 534ppi). The camera unit consists of a 21MP f/2.0 rear camera and an 8MP f/2.2 front camera. The battery is a 3,000 mAh unit with QuickCharge 3.0 support.

Both phones run Android 6.0 Marshmallow with a custom BlackBerry skin and BlackBerry’s own, custom DTEK security suite.

Connectivity comes in the form of 4G support, 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 4.2 with A2DP with GPS, GLONASS, etc. also supported.

Interestingly, the DTEK60 uses a USB Type-C connector whereas the DTEK50 uses a microUSB connector. The DTEK50 also lacks a fingerprint sensor.

ZTE Nubia Z11 Mini review: Features good hardware but kills it with outdated software

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• By Sheldon Pinto /  28 Oct 2016 , 13:36

Head to an online shopping website these days and you will notice plenty of new smartphones popping up online in the Rs 10,000 to Rs 14,000 segment. They may not offer the most exciting designs or flawless construction quality, but you do get great hardware inside (in terms of raw processing power) which should be good enough for day to day WhatsApp messages, the occasional photograph and bit of gaming with a focus that is always on battery life.

The ZTE Nubia Z11 Mini is one such smartphone. The Chinese smartphone maker is indeed looking for its niche in the budget smartphone segment with the Z11 Mini but with so many options from so many brands, it is going to to be a tough sell even with a capable specifications sheet.

Add to this smartphones like the Xiaomi Redmi Note 3, the legendary Motorola Moto G4 Plus and others and it gets really tough to settle down on one. So is the ZTE Nubia Z11 Mini worth its Rs 12,999 price tag? Well, that’s exactly what I am going to conclude by the end of this review.

Build and Design: 7.5/10

A short glance at the ZTE Nubia Z11 Mini and you will notice how similar it looks to the iPhone 6s from the front and the sides (see images below). The design looks simple but comes with some classy touches that will make it stand out from the current crop of budget-friendly smartphones like the plasticky Moto G4 Plus and the Redmi Note 3.

The Nubia Z11 mini features a glass and metal design with rounded corners and it also features 2.5D glass on the front and back.

The front facing glass which also protects the display, is made of Gorilla Glass 3 and features an oleophobic coating. The one on the back however does not and due to the lack of the same coating, makes it a smudgy mess. This is more so for

Rumour: New Apple MacBook Air and Pro lineup to launch by October end

Image: Martin Hajek

By tech2 News Staff /  18 Oct 2016 , 15:31

Apple has been hitting the right notes this year with its iPhone 7 and 7 Plus models. However, its MacBook line-up has not been updated for years. They still feature the same old designs with some updated fifth-generation chipsets, that will still burn a hole in your pocket when compared to similarly priced Windows 10 offerings. But things may change soon, and according to a new rumour, Apple could launch its new range of MacBooks as soon as the end of October.

Japanese blog, Macotakara points out that Apple is already geared up to release its new range of MacBook Pros and a new MacBook Air by end of October as conveyed by a reliable Chinese supplier. In fact, retailers are readying themselves to receive the new shipments which will also drop in by the end of the month.

Diving into the details, the new MacBooks will be skipping on the standard USB ports and will go in for the USB Type C ports instead, along with support for the Thunderbolt 3 standard. The USB C ports will be used for charging, so it is indeed time to wave goodbye to the MagSafe connector.

While the MacBook Pros are expected to arrive in 13-inch and 15-inch models, the same source also points out that Apple will kill the 11-inch MacBook Air. The reasons for the same seem to be related to the existence of the iPad Pro series. The 13-inch MacBook Air model is expected to see a complete redesign.

Last we heard, the MacBook Pro lineup was expected to feature Touch ID and an OLED touch panel that sits over the keyboard. The options displayed would change according to application in use. In addition to the usual improvements, some reports indicate that Apple may be dropping Intel chipsets in favour for AMD chips.