CES 2016: Intel & Segway announce robot-segway, Hoverbutler

Intel and Segway have announced a new hoverbot called ‘Hoverbutler’, at the ongoing CES 2016. Unlike hoverboards that transport the user from one place to another, this new hoverbot can transform into an actual robot. The rideable robot comes with a display that can make expressions and stream videos. That’s not all – the cute little guy can also be fitted with arms to perform tasks, like opening doors. When this was done during the demo, the robot said, “are those my arms? Awesome!” It uses Intel’s RealSense technology to keep track of the world around it, and the company says that it will be open-platform, starting second half of the year. Segway may be planning to make the Hoverbutler commercially available, and the developer kit for the same will also be available in the second half of the year.

The Hoverbutler isn’t the only robot that consumers may get to buy this year.Sharp’s RoBoHon may be available for purchase in 2016 as well. For those who do not know, Sharp unveiled the tiny smartphone/robot in October last year. It is powered by a 1.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 SoC, with a small, 2-inch QVGA screen located on its back. The phone runs on Android OS, and is 3G and LTE enabled. There is also a camera located between the the robot’s eyes along with a pico projector located on its forehead. In addition, RoBoHon can read out text messages and answer calls via speakerphone.

If you prefer robots to be larger and meaner, then the upcoming robot battle between the US and Japan may tickle your fancy. Last year, America’s Megabots challenged Japan’s Suidobashi to battle their respective robots – the Mk.II and the Kuratas. Both teams have given each other a year to prepare the robots for battle. However, the American team realised that its needs to upgrade its robot, in order to be more competitive. The company launched a Kickstarter campaignlast year, and has managed to reach its minimum target. Hence, the upgraded version of the Mk.II is expected to be faster, and more powerful.

It seems like 2016 may just turn out to be the year of the robot.

Source: The Verge

CES 2016: Sony expands its lineup of Hi-Res audio and 4K HDR TVs

Sony has just delivered its keynote at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2016. Of all the major announcements, Sony’s stance on better audio will particularly please audiophiles. The Japanese tech giant announced the PS-HX500 Hi-Res Vinyl Turntable. While it functions like most other compatriot vinyl players around, what Sony claims to be the difference-maker is its ability to play Hi-Res audio, either in Sony’s proprietary DSD format, or 24-bit WAV files. The HX500 converts analog signal to digital files, which can also be edited via an app synced with the device.

Also launched at CES 2016 is the Sony Walkman A26 – a lossless audio player following up to 2014’s Walkman A17. Unlike last year’s premium Walkman, the Android-powered Sony ZX2, the Sony Walkman A26 features a more functional interface, support for Bluetooth audio streaming and NFC connectivity, and FLAC, AIFF, Apple Lossless, WAV, MP3 and AAC formats. It has 32GB of storage, along with a microSD slot to expand storage by upto 128GB.

                                  Sony Walkman A26 – a dash of colour, with high fidelity audio

To add to its portfolio of hi-res audio products, Sony has launched a lineup of H.ear headphones and speakers. The Sony H.ear Go has been described by Sony as the world’s smallest hi-res audio speaker. There are two new pairs of wireless headphones – the on-ear H.ear On, and behind-the-neck H.ear In. The new pair of headphones have digital noise cancellation technology, alongside Sony’s DSEE technology, which allows audiophiles to listen to mp3 tracks in upgraded CD-quality. The digital noise cancellation technology has a component which Sony is calling “Automatic AI”, which will detect the ambient noise around to adjust its noise cancellation degree. All of these – the Walkman A26 and the H.ear lineup – come in a variety of colours to appeal to the style-conscious. The HX500 vinyl turntable, however, sticks to an elegant black finish, and it does exude a sense of class on photographs.

The H.ear On pair of hi-res wireless headphones

Sony's ultra-slim 4K HDR TVs at CES 2016

Moving over to televisions, Sony has played along to the HDR (High Dynamic Range) theme at CES 2016, unveiling three new ultra-thin 4K HDR Android TVs at its conference. The televisions are Sony BRAVIA XBR-930D (55” and 65” variants), XBR-940D (55”, 65” and 75” variants) and XBR-850D (55”, 65”, 75” and 85” variants). Sony is incorporating its Slim Backlight Drive technology in its new televisions to facilitate better distribution of the backlit LEDs, thereby giving a more balanced light output. To complement the 4K televisions, Sony is also launching its own 4K HDR content service – Ultra. Launching first in the United States, Ultra will allow 4K TV owners to buy, stream or preview ultra high resolution content licensed under Sony Pictures.

Sony’s foray into the Internet of Things (IoT) began with its television remote control, which Sony has stated can be used to control more than 270,000 devices. There are a wider range of products that Sony has unveiled at CES 2016, more of which we will follow up on, soon. As for its main focus, Sony’s highlight has been in high content quality, with both audio and television.

Source- The verge.com

Nextbit Robin smartphone to start shipping in February

The Nextbit Robin, a smartphone that began its journey on crowd funding platform Kickstarter, will now start shipping to the people who backed its campaign on the platform.  At CES 2016, Nextbit’s Chief Designer Scott Croyle announced that customers can expect their GSM variant of the Nextbit Robin in their hands by February 16. So, if you are one who funded Nextbit's campaign on Kickstarter, your Robin will soon take flight to come see you. The Nextbit Robin's USP is its cloud-first philosophy. Instead of storing user's pictures, videos and apps on the device or the micro-SD card, the Robin backs up all the data on a 100GB free cloud platform that it has integrated onto the phone.

The phone also comes with 32GB of built-in storage. When it comes to the specifications, Robin sports a 5.2 inch 1080p IPS LCD display, runs on the Qualcomm Snapdragon 808 processor, houses a 13 MP primary camera along with a 5 MP front-facing shooter. The Robin houses a 2680 mAh battery, which the company claims, "is engineered for efficiency to get you through the day." It is difficult to believe that the battery will last users and entire day, especially with the phone constantly backing up data on the cloud, but that is something we will have to wait and watch out for. Additional specs of the Nextbit Robin include- dual front facing speakers, fingerprint sensor, NFC, quick charging support, Bluetooth 4.0, WiFi A/B/G/N/AC. The Robin's unlocked bootloader and open source drivers make it easy to load CyanogenMod or any other ROM you want and Robin will still be under warranty.

Nextbit was started by former employees of Apple, Google, HTC and Amazon. The startup had put the smartphone up on Kickstarter for financial support. The company had set a goal of $500,000, which is about Rs. 3.26 crores which it raised in about 12 hours. The Nextbit Robin is definitely an interesting phone and those who purchase the phone will most probably never have to worry about storage issues ever again. Not to mention the fact that it looks unlike any other phone in the market right now. The only problem Indian users can face is that because of poor network connectivity, it may be difficult to download content from the cloud all the time.

The Robin is priced at $399 and shipping it to India will cost $70. So, for a total of $469, which is about Rs. 31,366 by direct conversion, the Nexbit Robin can be pre-ordered from its website. The phone will be available in Mint and Midnight colour variants. 

Dell's new Wireless Monitors can charge your phone, wirelessly

Dell has announced its new range of wireless monitors at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2016. Amongst these is a 23-inch FHD Wireless Monitor, which has a built-in charging pad for mobile phones. The device also supports casting from both Windows and Android-based devices, using Bluetooth or Miracast. The charging pad on the device also doubles up as a vertical stand for the monitor. The monitor is equipped with a 3 Watt speakers and has viewing angles of about 178 degree along with HDMI and USB-2.0 ports.

Further, both the 23 and 24 inch models with work with Qi and PMA compatible devices and will be available in the US from March 31 onwards. They will cost $429 (approx. Rs. 29,000) and $469 (approx. Rs. 32,000) respectively. Reports say that while the smaller 23-inch model is meant to be a consumer model, Dell will push the 24-inch version as an enterprise monitor. The difference in pricing though doesn’t seem to be a lot.

Dell also announced its new Latitude 11 5000 series 2-in-1 device at CES 2016. The device has a 10.8-inch Full HD display and will be priced at $749 (approx. Rs. 51,000) in the US. The Latitude 5000 series however, is meant for business users and comes with up to 512 GB of storage. The Latitude 11 5000 is accompanied by the Dell Latitude 11, which is a thin and lightweight laptop. It weighs about 1.5 kg and comes with a 12.5 inch display. It runs on Intel’s Core i-series processor and can hold up to 16GB of RAM.

Netflix officially available in India, plans start at Rs. 500 per month

At CES 2016, Netflix CEO, Reed Hastings announced the commencement of Netflix in India. Subscription plans begin at Rs. 500 for the basic plan without HD, Rs. 650 for HD and Rs. 800 for Ultra HD. The basic plan allows you to stream onto one screen at any given time. Standard allows for two simultaneous streams and Premium makes that to four. All plans allow streaming to laptops, TV, phones, tablets and streaming dongles (like Chromecast and Roku) that plug into your display. And the best part? The first month’s free!

Aside from India, Netflix has commenced services in Azerbaijan, Nigeria, Poland, Russia, Singapore, Indonesia, etc,. totalling up to 130 new countries except China, obviously. You can head over to their website to figure out if your country is among the lucky ones.

Netflix has evolved from being an offline media distribution service to an online streaming service that has since then evolved to become the biggest in the market. The service was only available to subscribers in North and South America, Australia, New Zealand, Japan and certain European countries till now.

Netflix boasts of an immensely huge library of international movies and TV shows, and quite an impressive set of original productions including House of Cards, Narcos, Marvel’s Daredevil and Jessica Jones, and Orange Is the New Black.

Subscription Plans and Content

Netflix’s subscription plans are quite decently priced given that they offer more content than any other provider in the Indian market, most of which is available in Full HD (1080p) or better. There are plenty of Indian streaming services like BoxTV, Spuul, BIGFlix, Eros Now, HotStar, Hungama Play etc., and they have a lot of regional content. It seems like Netflix has teamed up with regional production houses to bring Indian content onto the platform. So it’ll be worth knowing how these Indian services will adapt to the threat that Netflix now poses to their subscriber base. The basic plan of Rs. 500 is quite comparable to all the all-encompassing subscription plans that Indian DTH services currently provide. We've listed the pricing for HD packs offered by Indian DTH service providers below.

Provider	Pack Name	Cost (Rs.)
Videocon	Platinum HD	608
DishTV	New Titanium	499
TataSKY	Ultra HD	730
Airtel	Magnum	675
SunDirect	HD+ Mega	500

It is necessary to note that all of these packs include Sports channels that Netflix does not have. Also, all of the above service providers provide a certain discount if one subscribes to their annual package. And lastly, existing exclusivity agreements with TV channels in India will ensure that certain content remains, well, exclusive to TV channels only. So that's another thing you won't have on Netflix at launch. But contracts are re-negotiated on an annual basis and hopefully, within a year we should see some of these exclusive agreements ending.

What is the competition saying?

Hungama Play
Speaking on behalf of Hungama Play, Mr. Siddhartha Roy, CEO, Hungama said,“Within a short span of five months, Hungama Play has seen aggressive growth in consumption of video, driven on the back of the largest movie library of over 7500 titles on offer. This has led us to recently add our catalog of over 15,000 music videos to the existing movies offering on Hungama Play. Till recently video streaming services were pegged back due to the inadequate data infrastructure in India. With telcos rolling out 4G services Pan-India, 2016 will be a year for growth of video consumption. The incredible growth of smartphones in India has made the market big enough for multiple video streaming services to thrive simultaneously. We are glad that global players like Netflix are keen on entering the Indian market, since this will contribute in raising awareness about the streaming services as well as grow the market as a whole.”

Payment problems

As of writing this, subscribing to Netflix requires a credit card. Indian debit cards will not work because of the two-step verification process (OTP / VBV / MasterCard SecureCode) that takes place each time a payment is initiated.

Lenovo-Google to launch $500 Project Tango smartphone this summer

Lenovo and Google have announced a Summer 2016 deadline for bringing their Project Tango smartphone to consumers. Project Tango by Google uses a host of sensors and cameras to lend smartphones the ability to perceive space and movement in 3D, much like we humans do. With this smartphone, Lenovo will bring Google’s technology to the mass consumers, and will hope to make an impact in the augmented reality market.

The Project Tango smartphone has been confirmed to run on a Qualcomm processor, feature a screen size of less than 6.5 inches, and have three cameras for regular imaging and 3D mapping purposes. While a standard RGB camera will lend colour details, the two depth-sensing and fisheye cameras will perceive space, motion and area, which will be further used to map and scale rooms and arenas. This technology can then be applied to gaming and shopping experiences. For instance, you can use your home furniture as an obstacle within a game, and literally hide behind it to avoid or shoot your enemies. In shopping, the Project Tango smartphone will map your room, and AR-ready shopping sites will allow you  to pick up a product, place it within your room’s map, and tell you whether it will suit or fit your room.

"You can literally hide behind your furniture to avoid in-game enemies"

Google had previously released the Project Tango Development Kit to encourage developers to make apps for the platform. To aid the idea further, an App Incubator Program is also being announced, which will support interesting developer ideas with engineering and monetary assistance. In the on-stage demonstration of the technology at the ongoing CES 2016, Project Tango lead Johnny Lee showed how the prototype device could scale rooms, gauge the height of a wall, and even play a round of digital Jenga with his colleague. Lee also demonstrated real-time 3D mapping in front of the crowd, by mapping the arena, fitting suitable furniture in that space, and even showcased a virtual pet that could interact with the 3D objects in the virtual world.

“With Project Tango, the smartphone becomes a magic window into the physical world by enabling it to perceive space and motion that goes beyond the boundaries of a touch screen. By working with Lenovo, we’ll be able to make Project Tango more accessible to users and developers all over the world to both enjoy and create new experiences that blends the virtual and real world,” Lee said at the demonstration. Exact specifications of Lenovo’s Project Tango smartphone have not yet been revealed, but it seems like a lucrative prospect in the growing world of connected, interactive regular objects aided by Augmented Reality (AR), which itself has been touted to become a $120bn industry by the year 2020.

"Virtual objects can interact with each other within real space"

While Lenovo might become the first company to mass produce a Project Tango-powered device, it is not the first. 3D-sensing smartphones powered by Google's technology have been picked up by NASA to aid its International Space Station robots. Intel has previously demonstrated its own Project Tango smartphone powered by its own RealSense technology at its 2015 Developer Forum. Intel’s Project Tango smartphone is available for pre-order on its own website, for a price of $399 (Rs. 26,610). Alongside speaking of a Summer 2016 launch of the device, Lenovo has also stated that the device will be priced at around $500 (Rs. 33,340). We wait to see how Lenovo and Google actually tangoes with this new piece of technology.

Motorola to be rebranded as 'Moto by Lenovo'

Chinese tech giant, Lenovo bought Motorola Mobility from Google in 2014. Lenovo is unifying the two smartphone businesses under one name. The Moto brand name will be used for high-end smartphones. The Vibe brand will be used for its budget smartphones. So technically Moto will live, but ‘rola’ will die. In an Interview with CNET, Motorola Chief Operating Officer Rick Osterloh said, “We'll slowly phase out Motorola and focus on Moto”. 

Motorola was the company that pioneered the smartphone business and the company was purchased by Google in 2011. In an official statement released to 9to5 Google, Motorola said, “Motorola Mobility continues to exist as a Lenovo company and is the engineering and design engine for all of our mobile products. However, for our product branding we will utilize a dual brand strategy across smartphone and wearables going forward using Moto and Vibe globally. “Motorola” hasn’t been used on our products since the launch of the original Moto X in 2013.”

It will be sad to see the name Motorola drift into history, but hey, we will still see the launch of the Next generation Moto X, Moto Play, Moto G smartphones and more. In the recent past we have seen a number of smartphones launch in India by Motorola including the Moto G Turbo, Moto X Style, and more. Lenovo on the other hand has launched smartphones like the Lenovo Vibe P1, Vibe S1 and more. The company also announced the launch of the Lenovo K4 Note in India. It would be an understatement to call the K4 Note one of the most anticipated smartphones in India. 

In its lifetime, Motorola has announced a number of interesting smartphones. One of my personal favorites has to be the Moto Razr. The flip phone was not only one of the sleekest and slimmest smartphone around, but also boasted of iTunes support. One of the few devices to have iTunes sync in an era dominated by Apple’s closed ecosystem. 

Source- Cnet.com

Microsoft to launch its own SIM card?

Microsoft may release its own SIM card, soon. The company is currently testing a cellular data app simply called ‘Cellular Data’, that lets Windows 10 devices connect to mobile network operators. The app has been published on Windows Store, and in its description, it is stated that the app “requires a Microsoft SIM card.” Microsoft has not yet announced such plans. It is possible that the company is planning to launch its own virtual mobile network, to allow Windows 10 users to connect with partner carriers.

This could be similar to what Apple does with its Apple SIM. Microsoft will most probably have to sign deals with a number of partners, which could mean that the service could be available only in select countries. The app will most likely be tied to the users' Microsoft account, and will offer different plans via the Windows Store.

As of now, there are only three phones which come with Windows 10 installed, namely the Lumia 950XL, 950 and 550. The company had launched the Lumia 950 and 950XL in India for Rs. 43,699 and Rs. 49,399 respectively, and have been available for purchase from December 11. A few weeks later, Microsoft launched its budget Windows 10-powered device in India, the Lumia 550. The device is priced at Rs. 9,399, and unlike the Lumia 950 and 950XL, the Lumia 550 does not support the Continuum feature. It seems like these three phones will be the only ones with Windows 10 for Mobile for a while, as Microsoft has delayed the update. The company was supposed to launch the update for older Lumia phones late last week.

Yesterday, Microsoft finally launched its Surface tablets in India. The company announced that not only was it bringing its the Surface Pro 4 in India, but also the Surface Pro 3. The Surface Pro 4 is available in four variants, with prices starting from Rs. 89,990. The Microsoft Surface Pro 3 is priced at Rs. 73,990.

CES 2016: Panasonic's new display will make you feel like Tony Stark

Panasonic has unveiled a transparent display at the ongoing CES event in Las Vegas. The display uses micro LEDs to display images on a glass panel. While the glass panel itself isn’t completely transparent, Panasonic’s engineers say that the eventual aim is to make it so. Even without complete transparency, the technology is quite impressive to say the least. When the display is turned off, it appears as any other tinted glass panel. For the demonstration, Panasonic had placed the display in front of a shelf and showed a variety of videos, music, and artwork. However, the maximum resolution currently possible on the display is only 1080p, but the technology is pretty darn cool nonetheless! Can’t wait for a completely transparent display with 4K or even 8K resolution in the future

This isn’t the first time the company has showcased transparent displays at CES. Last year, the company had showcased transparent display windows at the event. The company said that the aim of these displays is to advertise products on walls and other areas. Another company, ZUK, had earlier showcased a smartphone with a transparent display back in August 2015.

LG is another company which showcased cool display technology at CES 2016. The company showed off an OLED display that can be rolled up like a newspaper. While LG had displayed similar technology back in 2014, it is still very impressive. After curved displays, it seems like the rollable and transparent displays will be the next big step in display technology.

Source: The Verge

Xiaomi officially reveals Redmi 3 ahead of its scheduled launch

Xiaomi has officially revealed the Redmi 3 ahead of its scheduled launch tomorrow. The device has been listed on the website in China and is priced at CNY 699, which is about Rs. 7,100. The device comes with a 5-inch display with a resolution of 720 x 1280 pixels. It is powered by Qualcomm’s octa-core Snapdragon 616 processor with four cores clocked 1.5Ghz and the other 4 clocked at 1.2GHz. The smartphone also comes equipped with 2GB of RAM with 16GB of onboard storage which can be expanded by up to 128GB via a microSD card. There is a 13MP camera located on the back of the device with a 5MP front facing camera. The device comes with a large 4100mAh battery and runs MIUI 7 layered over Android Lollipop. It also  features an all-metal body with a textured rear panel and is available in Gold, Grey, and Silver colour variants. 

Last week, the company had posted a teaser on its official Weibo account which showed the textured rear panel of Redmi 3 along with is launch date, January 12. The smartphone had also appeared on Chinese certification website, TENAA, last month. It is not known if and when the device will be released in India. The Xiaomi Redmi 3’s predecessor, the Redmi 2 was launched in India in March. At launch, the device was priced at Rs. 6,999 and offered a 1.2GHz Snapdragon 410 SoC with 1GB of RAM and 16GB of storage. It also featured a 4.7-inch HD screen and had an 8MP rear camera with 2MP front camera. There was also a limited edition variant of the device which had 2GB of RAM. 

In August, Xiaomi launched the Redmi 2 Prime in India. The device was the company's first ‘Made in India’ smartphone and is manufactured in Foxconn’s plant located in Andhra Pradesh. However, it isn’t the company’s only smartphone to be made in the country. The company launched the Redmi Note Prime in India last month. The phone is priced at Rs. 8,499 and is available on Amazon and Mi.com. The device comes with a 5.5-inch HD IPS display and is powered by a Snapdragon 410 processor with 2GB of RAM. It also comes with 3100mAh battery and 16GB of storage that can be expanded by up to 32GB. At the back of the device is a 13MP camera with a 5MP front facing camera. 

Xiaomi is also expected to finally launch the Mi 5 next month. The company's co-founder and VP, Liwan Jiang has finally confirmed that device will launch in February and that it will be powered by a Snapdragon 820 processor. In his personal Weibo account, he said that the Mi 5 will be released after the Spring Festival, which is scheduled to be held on February 8. The Mi 5 is expected to come with a 5.2-inch QHD screen with 3GB or 4GB of RAM. Leaked renders suggest that the device will be available in Black, Gold, Pink, and White variants. Xiaomi’s CEO, Lei Jun had earlier said that the company was not focused being the first to come with a Snapdragon 820 SoC. It was instead focusing on user experience. It was believed that the Samsung Galaxy S7 would be the first smartphone to come with the processor, but it was in fact, LeTV who would launch the first Snapdragon 820 powered smartphone. It’s  Le Max Pro is the first to come with Qualcomm’s new flagship chipset.

New Remix OS promises to run Android on any PC

Imagine if you could run Android on any existing PC. Imagine bringing the mobility and functionality of your smartphone to your PC. Now, Imagine if you had the familiar interface of a Windows or Mac PC along with the functionality of an Android smartphone. With all this and more, Jide Technology, a company founded by three ex-Googlers, is all set to release a very special new operating system called Remix OS for PC. As the name suggests, this seems to be an ultimate remix of various operating sysytems, under one roof. Remix OS will work on an array of Intel-based PCs, including even some Macs. The Remix OS will give users access to Android's 1.6 million strong app library. It will also give users an option of booting with the Remix OS or the original OS natively installed on the user's machine. The Remix OS can also be housed on a USB pendrive, which can be plugged into and installed on any PC powered by x86 chipsets. x86 is a family of backward compatible instruction set architectures, based on the Intel 8086 CPU and its Intel 8088 variant. The architecture has been implemented in processors from Intel, Cyrix, AMD, VIA and many other companies. So, according to Jide Technology, most computers today run on x86 chipsets, which will make the installation of the operating system extremely easy.
 
Termed as 'Android re-engineered for PC',  the Remix OS for PC is a custom engineered version of Android Lollipop and Remix OS 2.0. Minimum requirements of running the Remix OS include- A USB 3.0 flash drive that supports FAT32 format, with a minimum capacity of 8GB and a recommended writing speed of 20MB/s along with a PC with USB legacy boot option.

As far as some of the features of Remix OS 2.0 are concerned, the UI will include a taskbar for Android to help users switch between apps with the touch of an icon or click of a mouse. The taskbar will come with a Start Menu (which resembles a Windows 10 Start Menu) and a system Tray for accessing system settings. Notifications will appear from the right side of your desktop. For those on a device with a touchscreen, a swipe will bring up the notifications menu, while an icon on the System Tray will allow notification access with the click of a mouse. 
 


Remix OS also comes compatible with various keyboard shortcuts. So, shortcuts like CTRL+N to create a new document to CTRL+S to save it, will help navigate various apps on a PC. Users will also get the right-click facility on a mouse, which will bring up additional features on a particular app. On the software front, Remix OS will have a File Manager, Office for Android, and Google Play support. According to Jide, the Remix OS 2.0 is built on three core design principles- Simplicity, intuition & vitality. The company says, "Inspirations from dynamic forces such as air, water, and light have been intricately weaved into each and every pixel of Remix OS 2.0 so as to make your experience with it that much more alive."
 
We will definitely test out Remix OS when it launches. Remix OS will be free to download starting January 12 and all future updates for the OS will also be free of cost. Tell us what you think of Remix OS and keep watching this space for more.

New images of Xiaomi Mi 5 appear online

The Xiaomi Mi 5 will most likely launch next month, and new images purported to be of the black variant of the device have appeared online. The images were initially posted on Weibo, but have since been removed. The two images show the front panel and the metallic frame of the device, and match the earlier leaked renders and images of the Mi 5, including the thin home button, which may include the fingerprint scanner.

Xiaomi’s upcoming flagship phone has been leaked numerous times by now in the form of renders, specifications, and a video as well. Leaked press renders have suggested that the device will be available in multiple colours like black, gold, pink, and white. It has been tipped to come with a 5.2-inch Quad HD display, and will be powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 820 SoC. It is also expected to feature a 16MP camera at the back, with a 13MP front camera. Rumours suggest that there will be two variants of the device, one with 3GB of RAM and 32GB of storage, while the other may have 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage.

Last week, Xiaomi’s co-founder and VP, Liwan Jiang, had confirmed via his Weibo account that the Mi 5 will launch in February, and will be powered by the Snapdragon 820. In his post, he had written then the phone will be released after the Spring Festival, which is scheduled to be held on February 8. However, the Xiaomi Mi 5 is not the first smartphone to be powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 820. That honour goes to the LeTV Le Max Pro, which was unveiled at CES 2016. The phone comes with a 6.33-inch WQHD display and runs Android Marshmallow v6.0. At the rear is a 21MP camera with a fingerprint sensor located below it. It also comes with a 3400mAh battery with support for Quick Charge 2.0. However, being the first to launch a Snapdragon 820 powered smartphone was not something Xiaomi was aiming for. Last month, the company’s CEO, Lei Jun had said that Xiaomi was more focused on user experience rather than being the first to launch with Snapdragon 820. It was earlier thought that the Samsung Galaxy S7 would be the first to be powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 820, but that didn’t happen. The Galaxy S7 is expected to be announced during the World Mobile Congress event in Barcelona.

Source: Gadgets Arena

Spectranet to offer 100Mbps no-limit broadband plans for Rs. 1,200

Wired broadband provider Spectranet is planning to offer a 100Mbps broadband connection to customers for Rs. 1,200, with no data limit. The service provider has already started trial runs of the service, and is currently offering a 3-month trial offer in Gurgaon. The trial costs Rs. 1,199, and offers a 100Mbps connection speed with no download limit. Currently, the company does offer a similar plan, but for Rs. 1,999 in selected areas such as Gurgaon. Spectranet has said that it wants to provide 100Mbps connection without data caps to all of its customers.

"Our goal is to provide world class broadband service to urban centres in India. Though we are for profit organisation, we want to focus on making impact in life of people. As part of our strategy, we will provide 100Mbps broadband speed with no data download cap to all our customers within a year," Spectranet CEO Udit Mehrotra told PTI.

Spectranet confirmed that it has plans to bring similar schemes to its offering in Gurgaon, to other places in which it operates, by the end of 2016. Currently, Spectranet operates in Delhi, Noida, Ghaziabad, Mumbai, Pune, Chennai and Bangalore. It currently claims to have about 50,000 domestic customers and around 4,000 corporate customers. According to the company, around 4-5 percent homes are connected via its network, and the company has plans to raise the scale to 25-30 percent in the next 4-5 years.

According to Spectranet, its aim is to offer customers the best streaming experience. "We want people to enjoy services like Netflix, use smart TV features which has in built YouTube. Products are available but people are unable to use it because of non-availability of good quality broadband. In US, minimum broadband speed is 25Mbps. We want to bring our customers at par with the global broadband users," Mehrotra said.