Intelligent scan is a combination of both Iris and Facial recognition. A month ahead of Galaxy S9 launch, a new feature has been surfaced in the Settings APK called of Oreo Beta build called – Intelligent Scan, which combines iris scanner and facial recognition for unlocking the phone. According to SamCentral, the researcher claims “I used APKTool on the Settings APK for the Note8 Oreo beta. I found something very interesting, Intelligent scan! According to the strings in the Settings apk, the Intelligent scan is a combination of both Iris and Facial recognition. It uses Iris Scanner and Face Recognition together for better results even in the low or very bright light. This is currently not in the Note8, S8, or S8 active Oreo beta builds. The video in there is below is a copy of the Settings apk. It also uses "face and iris recognition together for better accuracy and security." According to the video, Intelligent Scan might combine information in the iris scanner and your front camera, which can each extract to piece together a fuller picture of whoever is trying to unlock the phone. The iris scanner might control in darker situations, but the facial recognition is still superior if your eyes aren't aimed directly at the iris scanner or if they're semi-closed. This feature is likely to debut with Galaxy S9 next month.
The Galaxy S9 is expected to sport a variable aperture rear camera and a ‘super slo-mo’ feature. At this year’s CES, Samsung gave out the tentative date by which we can expect the rumoured Galaxy S9 to break cover — the MWC 2018 in Barcelona towards the end of February. This leaves us with almost a month’s time, which means the rumours of Samsung’s popular flagship offering will start offering believable information. And we already have one that’s hard to term as fake — someone on the Internet has got hold of the Galaxy S9’s retail package, holding all the specifications. GizChina’s report gives out an in-detail leak of the alleged Galaxy S9, showing the phone in all its glory. The Galaxy S9 and the S9 Plus are shown from the rear — the ‘standard’ S9 confirms the initial rumours of the smaller model sporting only a single rear camera whereas the bigger S9 Plus will sport dual camera setup aligned vertically like the iPhone X. Both of them sport the fingerprint sensor underneath the camera module, just like the recently launched Galaxy A8 models. However, the report also showcases another leaked photo that gives us a glimpse of the official retail box, holding all the specifications. The box states that the Galaxy S9 will come with a 5.8-inch quad HD+ sAMOLED display, a 12MP Dual Pixel rear camera with (f/1.5 and f/2.4) aperture, a super Slow-mo camera, 8MP AF selfie camera, AKG-tuned stereo speakers, iris scanner, 4GB RAM and 64GB storage. The camera seems to have a variable aperture, which could drastically improve the low light performance of the Galaxy S9. So there you have it — if we are to believe this leak, then the Galaxy S9 is going to be a strong contender for 2018’s best smartphone, as usual. However, since this is a leak, we will ask you to hold your hopes leap forward.
After a bunch of leaks and rumours, HMD Global has now formally announced the Nokia 6 (2018) as its first smartphone of the new year. The new Nokia smartphone is the successor to the last year's Nokia 6 and is debuting in China. Details about its global rollout are yet to emerge. However, the smartphone is quite likely to go on sale in India following the initial availability in the Chinese market. China's Suning has started taking pre-orders for the Nokia 6 (2018), and its sale will begin starting January 10. The 32GB Nokia 6 (2018) variant will be available with a price tag of CNY 1,499 (roughly Rs. 14,600), whereas its 64GB variant will come at CNY 1,699 (approximately Rs. 16,600). Both the variants will come in Black and Silver colour options.
Nokia 6 (2018) specifications, featuresUnlike the original Nokia 6 model that was launched back in January last year with a front-facing fingerprint scanner, the Nokia 6 (2018) features a fingerprint scanner on the back. The new smartphone has also dropped the capacitive keys that were available on alongside the frontal fingerprint scanner on the previous Nokia handset. The Finnish manufacturer has apparently chosen on-screen navigation to make the interface of the new Nokia 6 closer to stock Android UI. The decision is conspicuous as it has maintained a 16:9 display aspect ratio, and not used a 18:9 aspect ratio that was the primary cause of other manufacturers ditching front fingerprint scanners and hardware capacitive buttons. Further, the Nokia 6 (2018) has a metal unibody build that is made of 6000 series aluminium. The dual-SIM (Nano) Nokia 6 (2018) runs Android 7.1.1 Nougat out of the box. The handset is also expected to receive an update to Android 8.0 Oreo sometime in the future. But the company hasn't so far provided any official details on the latest Android update. On the display part, the Nokia 6 (2018) features a 5.5-inch IPS display with a full-HD (1080x1920 pixels) resolution and 16:9 aspect ratio. The smartphone is powered by an octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 630 SoC, which is clocked at 2.2GHz, coupled with 4GB of LPDDR4 RAM. Also, the internal storage of the new Nokia 6 is upgradable via microSD card slot (up to 128GB) in a hybrid dual-SIM configuration. HMD Global has provided a 16-megapixel rear camera sensor on the Nokia 6 (2018) with dual-tone LED flash and PDAF lens that has f/2.0 aperture. Similarly, an 8-megapixel camera is available on the front with an f/2.0, 84-degree wide-angle lens. The smartphone also supports the company's proprietary Dual-Sight technology that allows you to capture simultaneous shots from the rear and front camera sensors to create a Bothie. In terms of connectivity, the smartphone has FM radio, 4G VoLTE, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, Bluetooth v5, GPS/ A-GPS, USB Type-C, and 3.5mm audio jack. Besides, the Nokia 6 (2018) packs a 3000mAh battery that supports fast charging technology. It measures 148.8x75.8x8.6mm and weighs 172 grams. An Android malware is reportedly targeting over 232 banking apps including a few banks in India. The Trojan malware, named 'Android.banker.A9480', is designed to steal personal data from users, Quick Heal Security Labs reports. Similar to other banking malware, this one also sneaks into login data, SMS, contact lists and uploads them to a malicious server. Additionally, apart from the banking apps, this Trojan also targets cryptocurrency apps present on a user's phone.
Quick Heal lists the Indian banking apps that are targeted by the Android banking Trojan malware: Axis mobile, HDFC Bank MobileBanking, SBI Anywhere Personal, HDFC Bank MobileBanking LITE, iMobile by ICICI Bank, IDBI Bank GO Mobile+, Abhay by IDBI Bank Ltd, IDBI Bank GO Mobile, IDBI Bank mPassbook, Baroda mPassbook, Union Bank Mobile Banking, and Union Bank Commercial Clients. Android.banker.A9480 malware gets circulated via a fake Flash Player app on third-party stores, Quick Heal said. The Flash Player app is a popular target for cybercriminals due to its prevalence. Once users download the malicious application, they get several prompts to activate administrative rights. The app sends numerous pop-ups to victims until the administrative privileges are activated, the report added. Once the app is installed on a smartphone, the icon gets hidden when the user taps on it. The malicious app keeps working in the background while checking for one of the 232 banking apps. Further, if the app finds one of the targeted apps, it sends a fake notification that resembles the banking app. When users open the notification, they get a fake login window that is then used by the attackers to extract confidential data like login ID and password. As per the blog posted by Quick Heal, the malware can process commands like sending and collecting SMS, upload contact list and location, display fake notification, accessibility and GPS permission, and more. Since the malware can intercept incoming and outgoing SMS from an infected smartphone, it is also able to bypass the OTP based two-factor authentication on the user's bank account. K320t smartphone comes with rear dual cameras and a 3000mAh battery. Chinese tech company Lenovo enters the new age screen resolution of 18:9 full wide-screen with their K- Series line up — the Lenovo K320t. The company made their official announcement on 2nd January, 2018 and will go on sale on 4th January in China and will be priced at Yuan - (approx Rs 9,990).
The Lenovo K320t comes with a 5.7-inch IPS LCD HD display with an aspect ratio of 18:9 and has screen to body ratio of 73.5 per cent. The phone is powered by a 1.3GHz quad core Spreadtrum processor and comes in two variants — 16GB storage with 2GB of RAM and 32GB storage with 3GB of RAM and supports micro-SD card up to 128GB. The Lenovo K320t smartphone has a decent 3000mAh battery and ships with Android 7.0 Nougat out of the box. The K320t supports dual-SIM 4G and is equipped with 8MP + 2MP dual rear cameras with f/2.0 and f /2.2 aperture respectively and has a front facing 8MP selfie camera with f/2.2 aperture. These dual cameras are capable of recording videos at 1080p@30fps and features face detection, geo-tagging, and auto-focus. The fingerprint sensor is featured on the rear panel. The K320t weighs around 153.8g and measures 155.2 x 73.5 x 8.5mm. This phone is also equipped with 3.5mm audio jack, Bluetooth 4.2, GPS, FM Radio and microUSB 2.0 The smartphone is expected to be a mid-range phablet from Sony and might be launched at MWC 2018 in Barcelona. Rumours of Sony Xperia XA2 Ultra are already doing rounds and now a new report suggests that the phone will have a dual camera setup on the front. The smartphone is expected to be a mid-range phablet from Sony and might be launched at MWC 2018 in Barcelona. The handset is the successor to the Xperia XA1 Ultra.
The leaked images suggest that the placement of the rear camera is going to be different than what we have seen in the previous handsets and the fingerprint sensor might be placed on the back panel. The phone is expected to come with Snapdragon 630 chipset clocked at the speed of 2.2GHz. It might have an Adreno 508GPU that is seen in most of the mid-range phones. It is believed that the company might drop the stereo speakers. The smartphone might feature a 6-inch display with a resolution of 1920 x 1080pixels and 16:9 aspect ratio. OnePlus 5T is likely to revive the sandstone material which was away for the past two smartphones. OnePlus might be bringing back the sandstone variant which it used for its OnePlus One and OnePlus 2. Company’s latest flagship — OnePlus 5T is likely to revive the sandstone material which was away for the past two smartphones. OnePlus has teased a new video that says “What’s in the Box?” on YouTube showing users holding a mystery box. While the video doesn’t reveal anything about the new variant, the people in the video mention words such as “stone,” “sand,” “grippy,” “smooth.” The video also teases “Unbox the mystery. January 2018.” OnePlus also recently launched the OnePlus 5T Star Wars Limited Edition priced at Rs 38,999. The company is also bundling the device with a special Star Wars themed cover. The new limited edition comes with a White finish, alongside the Star Wars logo and the OnePlus branding below the fingerprint sensor. The slider button now comes in Red colour, and we might see some pre-loaded Star Wars theme and ringtones on the device. To recall, the original OnePlus 5T sports a 6.01-inch full HD with 1080 x 1920 pixels resolution, protected by 2.5D Corning Gorilla Glass. The OnePlus 5T is powered by an octa-core Snapdragon 835 processor clocked up to 2.45GHz. The smartphone runs on OxygenOS 4.7 based on Android 7.1.1 Nougat. The display also supports sRGB and DCI-P3 colour gamuts. The OnePlus 5T sports Face Unlock feature which the company claims that it is based on advanced facial recognition system and also feature a fingerprint scanner at the back panel. On the photography front, the OnePlus 5T sports a 16MP primary sensor with 1.12-micron pixels and a 20MP Sony IMX376K front shooter. The device is fuelled by 3300mAh non-removable battery. The smartphone will be available in a Midnight Black colour variant. The Mi A1 is receiving Android Oreo 8.0 in batches across the world. Xiaomi created a lot of hype in the market last year with their first smartphone running a stock version of Android. Falling under Google’s revamped Android One programme, the Mi A1 got a lot of positive response from the consumers, acknowledged for bringing good hardware with slick software. Xiaomi also promised timely updates with the phone, with Oreo 8.0 before the end of 2017. and, they did deliver, rolling out a stable version of Oreo for the Mi A1.
The company officially rolled out Android 8.0 Oreo for the Mi A1 on 31st December 2017. The stable version is made available with the December 2017 security patch as of now, which should have been coming out with the January security patch. Since this is an Android One phone, all the new features associated with stock Android 8.0, such as Picture-in-Picture mode, notification dots and more, will be available straight off the go. With the Oreo update, Xiaomi has made the Mi A1 one of the very few phones to get the latest version of Android. Their own flagship model Mi MIX 2 has only started seeing beta builds testing as of now in limited numbers in the Chinese market. The midrange smartphone segment hasn’t seen many smartphone models tasting Android Oreo, thus making the Mi A1 a better proposition for those looking to get the latest software on a budget. The Mi A1 is built on a Snapdragon 625 chipset, which is backed by 4GB of RAM and 64GB of onboard storage. It sports a 12MP dual rear camera and a 5MP front camera. The phone was recently unveiled in a limited edition Red colour for the festive period. The current beta build of MIUI 9 brings gesture-based navigation from the iPhone X. If we are to convey our honest opinion about Xiaomi, the company takes a lot of inspiration from Apple products for its entire product lineup. Right from the MacBook ‘inspired’ Mi Notebook to the iPad ‘inspired’ Mi Pad to the iOS ‘inspired’ MIUI, every product and service in Xiaomi’s lineup smells ‘so-Apple’. If you adore this idea, then good news for you — Xiaomi is again taking inspiration for its next MIUI 9 update, this time from their flagship iPhone X.
The latest beta build for MIUI 9 brings iPhone-X-like gesture-based navigation for selected Xiaomi smartphones, namely the Mi MIX, MI MIX 2, Redmi 5 and Redmi 5 Plus models. If you are a Mi fan, then you will notice that all the devices mentioned here sport an 18:9 display with no physical buttons on the front. The gestures include swipe up from the bottom of the screen to go back to the home screen, swiping from the bottom and then holding for one second to open up the Recents tab, and swiping left or right from the screen to the middle to switch between apps. All of these gestures are currently present on the iPhone X. However, it will be interesting to see how Xiaomi manages to integrate these gesture-based control on Android, a platform that natively supports navigation through software-based buttons at the bottom. Will the new gestures require app developers to adapt their apps accordingly for MIUI 9-powered handsets? Will it work as flawlessly as iOS? We will have to wait for until the stable ROM rolls out to find out. THE NEW PHOTOGRAPHY APPLICATIONS ARE STORYBOARD, SELFISSIMO! AND SCRUBBIES. Google has introduced three photography apps which are part of a new series that it has dubbed as photography "appsperiments". "We're launching the first installment of a series of photography appsperiments: Usable and useful mobile photography experiences built on experimental technology. Our 'appsperimental' approach was inspired in part by 'Motion Stills'," the company wrote in a research blog late on Monday. These apps use several technologies, which are now in development at Google, including those focused on object recognition, person segmentation, stylization algorithms, efficient image encoding and decoding technologies. "'Motion Stills' is an app developed by researchers that converts short videos into cinemagraphs and time lapses using experimental stabilisation and rendering technologies," Google added. The new photography applications are "Storyboard" (available on Android only), "Selfissimo!" (available on iOS and Android) and "Scrubbies" (available on iOS only). The "Storyboard" app takes video clips and automatically pulls out six frames that it lays out in a comic book-style template. To get new layouts and frames, a user has to refresh the app. Google claims that there are over 1.6 trillion combinations. "Selfissimo!" is an automated selfie photographer that snaps a black and white photograph each time the user poses. Once a user taps the screen to start a shoot, Selfissimo! will snap a picture every time you pose. The idea is to move around into different poses, with the app taking a picture every time you stop moving. "Scrubbies" lets the user easily manipulate the speed and direction of video playback to produce video loops that highlight actions, capture funny faces and replay moments. It lets you remix videos by quickly scrubbing back and forth through a clip to create video loops.
The tech giant has also urged users to try out the new apps and provide feedback via the in-app feedback links. The three apps are currently available on iOS and Android. |
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