4 major iPhone 7 features that started with Android.

Apple fans focked to apple stores to get their hands on the newly released iPhone 7 . This year;s iteration of the iPhone had some significant new features over the previous generation of iPhones. However there is no company out there that does not take "Inspiration" from other companies in the same market and Apple is definitely included in the list of companies. Here are some features that Apple adopted this year that had their beginnings on android

1. No 3.5mm Headphone Port

When rumors sprung up on the internet that the iPhone 7 duo would be ditching the 3.5mm headphone port, people went crazy over it. This was perhaps the most controversial features of the iPhone 7 and many people including Apple fans bashed Apple for it. However many did not realize that there was an android phone released not long ago that did the same thing but did not receive as much attention as Apple did with its iPhone 7. Motorola was the first mainstream company ever to remove the industry standard headphone jack from one of its phones , and that too from its 2016 flagship, the Moto z. 

other small companies (when compared to some of the other conglomerates) like Oppo also ditched the headphone jack back in October 2014 ,with its super thin Android phone, the Oppo R5. 

2. Stereo Speakers

The iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 plus boast dual speakers , Although only one of the speaker's is front firing. What many of the Apple fans dont realize is that Android once again beat Apple to it , in regards to dual audio speaker technology. Htc was the first company in the android market to release a phone that had phenomenal dual "Front firing" speakers. The HTC One M7 was hte phone released by HTC changed the design language of the One Series of Smartphones.  After the HTC One M7 , the company released its successor the One M8, also with excellent dual front facing speakers and released the M9 the year after that with the same design language. This had become a signature look and HTC gave the speakers a name that they deserved. therefore they are referred to as the "Boom Sound Speakers"

3. Dual Rear Cameras

The first major smartphones to come with dual cameras were the LG optimus 3D in 2011 and the HTC Evo 3D which followed just a few months later. However these cameras were different from the cameras on the iPhone 7 as these used the cameras to capture 3D audio and video.

Then in 2014, HTC released the HTC One M8 with a main camera and a second sensor which accompanied the main camera. Although there was still only one main camera present the idea was the same. the second sensor was used for features like giving the photo more depth of field and you could even choose where you could blur the image. Then in 2016 , Lg released the Lg G5. This was the first real phone to have dual cameras for the purpose that they are used now. It had a normal camera and another camera that was a wide angled one. Also in April of 2016 ,Huawei released the P9 which also had dual cameras. This however worked a bit differently than the cameras on the G5. rather than switching between cameras, the P9 used both the cameras to take a single shot thus giving it more detail and depth of field. 

The cameras on the iPhone 7 Plus are very similar to the cameras found on the P9 and the only difference is that one of the cameras on the iPhone 7 Plus is a telephoto lens used to zoom in more. 

4. Water Resistance

Both the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus are rated IP67 which essentially means that they are dust proof and water proof for 1 hour in a depth of 1 meter of water.  However this too was first adopted by Android devices. The first phone to have the IP67 rating was the Motorola defy all the back in 2010, a half a decade ago. Also Sony released their Z series of smartphones which had some sort of IP rating. More recently the Samsung Galaxy S7 and S7 edge came with the IP68 rating , a rating even above that of the iPhones. This means the Samsung flagship phones could withstand being submerged in under 1.5 meters of water for 30 minutes.

Read More

Hack Android and you could win $200,000.

There are essentially two types of hackers out there. Those who use their skills for good and those who use them for evil. Google has recently called upon the former group for an extremely important bit of research; to see if there's an exploit that can remotely affect a wide variety of android devices over the globe, with no information about the target devices given except the phone numbers and Gmail addresses.

However Google does not expect from the hackers to give up this information out of the kindness of their hearts. Google is offering $200,000 for the next six months to whoever finds such a flaw , while the second will get $100,000. Google already rewards people who find bugs and exploits in Google's software but this is on another level. Google's Project Zero team , on Google's blog posted about this contest. What makes this contest special is that before this , the most a person could win after finding a bug was $10,000.

Since there is a lot of money involved , google firstly advises researchers to submit each bug as soon as they find it , rather than waiting until several bugs are found and then strung together into an exploit chain. Google will only allow the person who first submitted the bug to use it as a part of their exploit chain later on. 

The exploit must work on Google's current flagships , The nexus 6p and 5, and they must be running any Android  (7.x) build. The contest includes users to begin with nothing but phone number and email addresses and then compromise that phone without having any kind of physical access to it. 

While the first and the second person to submit the complete exploit bug will win $200,000 and $100,000 respectively, there's another $50,000 to be won by people who come up with other clever bugs.

While many researchers will be down with Google's contest , there will also surely be people that realize that these exploits, to the right party, could mean a lot more than $200,000. Google has posted the rules for its contest on this site as well as a short FAQ. The contest will be over in March 2017, Specifically the 14th of March. Well then, get cracking!

Read More

Android Nougat 7.0 has 4 hidden treasures.

Excited to download Nougat?Once you get past the core new features , you'll find that theres even more that you can do. There are a series of hidden features that you can explore to tune up your phone. Some of you might already know these features but for those who dont, here are the 4 big hidden features in Android Nougat 7.0.

1.Clear all button for apps

In previous versions of android whenever you pressed the overview button (recents button) , you would get a list of apps that are currently open and you had to swipe one by one to clear every single app. This could be fine at first but over time could get really annoying. However Android Nougat has a fix for that. The "Clear all" button. Although available in custom android roms, stock android never had this feature baked into it.  

2.System UI Tuner

The system Ui Tuner gives you even more power to customize your phone. To enable it, pull down the notifications bar and go tot he quick setting menu. From there press and hold the settings icon until it spins and you'll get a prompt to enable System UI Tuner. From there you can adjust what you want to see in your status bar and in which order should the icons appear. While marshmallow also had the System UI Tuner, android nougat steps it up a bit and lets you rank different types of notifications in order of importance. 

  
3.Emergency info and contacts screen.

Android Nougat comes with a neat new feature which is also very practical in real life situations. It lets you input some information on an emergency screen and then once you save it , anyone can view that info even if the phone is locked.

You access it by clicking on "users" in your main settings menu and then tapping "emergency information"   

Once there you will have two screens, on the first you can input a variety of information for emergency purposes , such as your blood type , medications you take etc. The second screen lets you list your emergency contacts. Apple had made this feature available in 2014 but this is the first time the feature has natively arrived on android.

  
4.Make any app work in split screen mode

A major new feature that android nougat came with was the multi window function. However now all apps were supported to run in this split screen mode, but theres a way you can do that too. 

Just go into your settings , then go to about phone and software info. Then tap the "build no" repeatedly until a popup shows that you are now a developer. You have now successfully enabled the developer options in your settings. Now go back to the main settings page and go to the developer options. 

At the bottom of the page you will see an option to make all activities resizable. Now you can use any app in split screen mode whether or not its supported.

One of the main attractions of Android is that you can customize the user interface according to your liking and these features will further help you do just that.


 

Read More

Android Vs iOS. How should you Choose your next phone?

Apple's recently unveiled iPhone 7 is a very tempting upgrade , whether you currently have an iPhone or have been considering buying one. But for a lot of people the yearly bazaar encompassing Apple's iPhone event is a reminder that they aren't really certain where they stand between the Android versus iOS debate.

It has been a tradition of Google to make a few jabs at Apple when ever it releases a new version of Android or a new nexus. On the Flip side, not a single Apple event passes by without Apple bragging about how iOS is better than Android. Each smartphone company , whether it be Apple, HTC, Samsung, LG or Huawei, has their own style of building phones and presenting them to the consumers. 

So the question a hand here. iOS or Android? Nowadays the answer to this question depends on less concrete factors. For example the phone's features, specs ad price. People look more at the theoretical factors while looking to buy their phone like a specific operating system that suits them best. This is because on paper , all flagship phones are looking increasingly alike, with comparable specs and focused competitive price points.

In the end it boild down to your own preference, whether you like a particular OS over the other, since most smartphones are capable of doing all the required tasks anyways. Its about the ecosystem that you perform those tasks in , and that matters most these days. For example if you opt for an android phone, you will have to choose from literally hundreds of option and each phone will have a different user interface on top of android, because the only "pure Android" are the nexus devices.

The question about iOS versus Android is a pretty personal one , and while you'll find opinionated people on both sides of the spectrum, its not until you consider your priorities and your preferences that you'll be able to make the decision thats right for you.

 

Read More

Remix Os is now available as simple to use Android emulator for Windows

Remix Os is basically a desktop version of Android , with floating windows and start menu style app drawer. However previously, Remix Os was only available as a separate OS that you could install on your PC. Jide , the company behind Remix OS, thus decided that they should also release the OS as an emulator for your PC.

Enter Remix OS player, a free downloadable emulator of Android for Windows running PCs. Its always been very simple to install Remix OS on your PC by creating a bootable USB stick  , However now you don't need to do any of that to experience The OS on your PC. Just download an .exe file and run it. Its that simple.

Remix OS Player is based on the virtual machine in Android Studio and runs inside a dedicated window. It runs on top of Android Marshmallow and comes with access to the Google Play Store. You can do anything on it that you could previously do on an android phone, but Jide recommends that you use it primarily as a gaming emulator for android meaning you could play clash of clans right from your desktop or your laptop.The specs requirements are also very accessible. The Minimum requirement starts off at having Windows 7 , a Core i3 processor, 8GB of storage and 4Gb of RAM. Remix Os is a very simple to use clean OS running Android. SO what are you waiting for. Try this out!
   

Read More

DualToy Windows Trojan Attacks Android, iOS Devices

 

A Windows Trojan called DualToy has been discovered that can side load malicious apps onto Android and iOS devices via a USB connection from an infected computer. Researchers from Palo Alto Networks said DualToy has been in existence since January 2015, and it originally was limited to installing unwanted apps and displaying mobile ads on Android devices. About six months later, the Trojan morphed and began targeting iOS devices by installing a third-party App Store in hopes of nabbing iTunes usernames and passwords.

See more at: DualToy Windows Trojan Attacks Android, iOS Devices https://wp.me/p3AjUX-vms

A Windows Trojan has been discovered that can sideload malicious apps onto your iOS or android running devices. The Trojan is transferred to your phone when you connect it to the infected computer via a USB cable

Researchers say that this Trojan has been around for quite some time, Specifically from January of 2015, However it was initially only limited to installing unwanted apps and displaying mobile ads on Android devices. 6 months later the Trojan changed and began targeting iOS devices by installing a third party app store in hopes of gaining access to iTunes usernames and passwords.

Researchers say that once Dual Toy, The Trojan, infects a windows machine, it looks for the Android debug bridge (ADB) and iTunes . and downloads drivers for both if they're missing in order to infect mobile devices once connected. According to the team of researchers, they have encountered approximately over 8,000 unique samples of the Dual Toy variant to date and are still not sure how many mobile devices were affected because of this malicious bug.

During the past two years there have been similar cases of windows and iOS malware designed to attack mobile devices via side loading techniques.So far the Trojan only affects Chinese users but researchers say that users from the United States, United Kingdom,Thailand,Spain and Ireland have also been affected.

Its still unclear as to how the Dual Toy Trojan actually infects a Windows machine. But once its on a windows PC it downloads from a command and control server file called adb.exe , which is standard Android Debug Bridge on Windows clients. However more recent variants of Dual Toy drop a custom ADB client called tadb.exe, onto the victim's PC. The malware also downloads two installers, "AppleMobileDevicesSupport64.msi" and "AppleApplicationSupport64.msi" , which is part of Apple's official iTunes for windows software.

On Android devices , Dual Toy installs several Chinese language apps that researchers suspect attackers are getting paid per install by the game developers. On iOS devices the Trojan installs a fake iOS app store , trying to trick users into giving their iTunes email and password.

The use of a fake iOS app store is not unique. There are several other examples of a malware like Dual Toy including ZergHelper and AceDeciever. What these do is , as soon as the user opens the fake app, they are prompted to provide the app with their iTunes i.d and password and not knowing that this is a scam, they willingly give the attackers their account.

 

A Windows Trojan called DualToy has been discovered that can side load malicious apps onto Android and iOS devices via a USB connection from an infected computer. Researchers from Palo Alto Networks said DualToy has been in existence since January 2015, and it originally was limited to installing unwanted apps and displaying mobile ads on Android devices. About six months later, the Trojan morphed and began targeting iOS devices by installing a third-party App Store in hopes of nabbing iTunes usernames and passwords.

See more at: DualToy Windows Trojan Attacks Android, iOS Devices https://wp.me/p3AjUX-vms

A Windows Trojan called DualToy has been discovered that can side load malicious apps onto Android and iOS devices via a USB connection from an infected computer. Researchers from Palo Alto Networks said DualToy has been in existence since January 2015, and it originally was limited to installing unwanted apps and displaying mobile ads on Android devices. About six months later, the Trojan morphed and began targeting iOS devices by installing a third-party App Store in hopes of nabbing iTunes usernames and passwords.

See more at: DualToy Windows Trojan Attacks Android, iOS Devices https://wp.me/p3AjUX-vms

A Windows Trojan called DualToy has been discovered that can side load malicious apps onto Android and iOS devices via a USB connection from an infected computer. Researchers from Palo Alto Networks said DualToy has been in existence since January 2015, and it originally was limited to installing unwanted apps and displaying mobile ads on Android devices. About six months later, the Trojan morphed and began targeting iOS devices by installing a third-party App Store in hopes of nabbing iTunes usernames and passwords.

See more at: DualToy Windows Trojan Attacks Android, iOS Devices https://wp.me/p3AjUX-vms

Read More

Run Android Marshmallow on your Pc. Android x86 Project unveils first stable release.

to tun

The movement to get android on your pc is still strong and the folks over at the Android x86 project - who basically code android to run on x86 platforms like desktop PCs rather than common ARM based mobile devices, have another feature on  their hat as they release their first stable version of android Marshmallow , for your desktop PC.

The Android x86 project has released two release candidate builds , one in June and the other one in August, thus its all good news as we welcome Android x86 6.0 for our laptops and PCs. The build contains most of the recent security patches and seems to be based on Android 6.0 AOSP (Android Open Source Project).

Digging a bit deep into the build, we learned that Both modern UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) and legacy BIOS PCs are supported. So no need to worry as the guys over at the Android x86 project have got you covered. The build also uses a updated graphics stack based on the Mesa 12.0.2 3D Graphics Library. It also supports Samsung's F2FS file system for SSD drives and better wifi support after resume and suspend. Audio through HDMI is also supported so you can connect to a bigger display for consuming media.

Another thing that you would notice on this build is that the cursor/mouse pointer is taken out directly from Android Nougat instead of the circle cursor used in the previous beta releases. Android x86 is distributed as 32-bit(x86) and 64-bit(x86_64) Live ISO images , and you can download them from the official Android x86 download page. 

Read More

Pokemon Go coming to Android wear watches.

It was recently reveled by Niantic labs , creators of the very popular game Pokemon Go, that their game was coming to the Apple watch. However there was no mention of watches powered by Android wear and so many android wear users were left staring a their watches in disappointment.

However now the company's CEO , John Hanke, has hinted that the game will also be released on the Android wear platform in the near future. However the answer to questions about the arrival of Pokemon Go on android wear, were not clear and so many were still left wondering whether the game would actually be coming to Android wear.

Expanding out to new platforms will be a key move from Niantic to keep te interest in Pokemon Go alive. The Game might have the records of the fastest mobile game to reach $500 million in revenue and the most downloaded game in the first week of launch but recent reports suggest that interest in the game is slowly decreasing as Niantic did not properly optimize the app for real world usage. Many users experienced bugs and some couldn't even play the game due to the servers crashing all the time.

However the folks at Niantic are not at all worried about this. They say that they can improve the game overtime with future updates improving the overall experience. Th recent update where players can add their favorite Pokemon to their avatar while walking was just the beginning. According to the CEO at Niantic, Once the game is launched worldwide, we'll be seeing a new feature called events. This feature would allow trainers to catch even more Pokemon now as the Pokemon count has been increased from a total of 150.  Another feature that will release in future updates is the player vs player Pokemon battles. Battling other players outside of gyms is a huge part of the Pokemon universe and Niantic made a mistake by not including this feature in the game initially when it launched.

John Hanke,  did not make it clear on when we would be seeing these awesome features and this still remains a mystery. He did however say that the current version of the game was just the tip of the iceberg" for his vision on where he wants the game to go and that he thinks "it will change substantially over the years".
 

Read More

Removal of the headphone jack. Samsung might do it soon.

One of the most eye catching features of the Apple iPhone 7 is that it is missing the 3.5mm headphone jack. So because of this, the iPhone uses an adapter for connecting normal headphones to it. this feature was very controversial among Apple customers. However now that Apple has made headlines and the attention is slowly moving away from the iPhone 7, it seems that Samsung will be following in Apple's footsteps. 

 According to a recent report, Samsung might be next to ditch the headphone jack. Samsung, along with other Android manufacturers , might not just release a proprietary headphone jack of its own, but also block Apple from licensing it.

This could very well be seen as revenge by the Android community, potentially forcing headphone manufacturers to choose between Android or iPhone, and with more Samsung/Android users out there, Samsung might just win the battle. However this could be bad news for Apple and Android users as this would force them to use an adapter with their desired headphones.

Its not all bad though. Removing the headphone jack can mean new technology being adopted on smartphones. Smartphones , undoubtedly , are a man's best friend and will be in the near future. So why not improve it and make it more future proof. Many people think that removing the proprietary port was a good thing as it would make way for new things they could now benefit from.

Furthermore, one of the reports also states that Samsung aims to improve audio quality with any new headphone port. This would mean that the wireless headphone industry would then get the much needed attention and this would make it more appealing.

For now though, this is all just a rumor and while many say that the 3.5mm headphone port is a thing of the past, its still one of the most widely used ports anywhere in the world.

Read More

Is the nexus brand dead? Nexus launcher now the Pixel launcher.

We've all heard one thing or the other about the nexus branding to be dead and that Google will be launching its own Pixel brand with the two new Pixel Phones. This rumor now further cements that rumor. According to recent reports the Nexus launcher which was leaked a while back is now named the Pixel launcher.


This comes as no surprise at all as Google gave us several hints at its moving away from the Nexus branding. The new launcher ,by the name of Pixel Launcher, installs in the same way the nexus launcher did. You just sideload the app to install it. Nothing much has changed from the nexus launcher except the name. Just like previous versions of the nexus launcher , it gives you a circle based folder ui, the Google search button rather than the full bar and a slide up from the bottom to open up the app tray. The only major difference now is that the Pixel Launcher will modify the icon of the calendar app to show the correct date, a nice feature indeed.


You'll have to tweak some things here and there to have the Google now page when you slide left from the homepage. otherwise if you don't mind having the Google now page right at your disposal from the home page, you can just install he apk normally and enjoy the new experience.


Here are some screenshots of the Launcher



So, do you deem the Pixel launcher worthy enough to be the default launcher on your daily driver? Let us know down below in the comments section.



Read More

Update to Google Play Store makes it easier to find App size.

Android is a very customizable OS and this is the key difference between ios and Android. MicroSD card expansion is one of the many features that iphones do not support. While many android users can use microSD cards to expand their internal storage, many do not have this luxury. Thus Google is testing out an update to the Play Store where the user can easily find the size of the Android Application.

The size of the app is shown directly on the cards themselves so the user ca decide if the app is worth their precious storage. Previously, you had to go into the app download page, then click read more and scroll all the way down to where it said "App size". This however makes it a lot easier.

Many android users can experience this feature but since this is a server side change, there's not much you can do if you are not one of the people that are seeing this feature.Its still unclear when Google will roll out this update to everyone more broadly, as this would be a nice feature to have. 

Read More

Google Pixel Shown off in new set of leaked renders.

The iPhone 7 is out and it got its fair share of attention from tech geeks all around the world. However now that everyone's over the release of the new iPhone , everyone is anxiously waiting for October 4th, the date when Google is going to release its Pixel phones. There have been countless leaks of the phone over the past few months and this leak just adds to that.

New images have surfaced the net of the Google Pixel, aka sailfish. Being as they are full 360 renders of the phone, we get a pretty good idea of what the phone is going to look like. These renders were leaked by Android Authority and @Oneleaks , and they're ""factory leaks" which mean that they're base o factory CADs used to manufacture the device

From these renders we can see all the details that were previously leaked so this render matches the details of the phone. There is a glass panel in the back with the camera and a fingerprint reader . Antenna lines are also present on the bottom as well as on the metal sides of the phone.

From the front of the phone we can what must be the power/lock button and the volume button positioned on the right side of the device There is also a headphone jack on top (Thank God for that) and a USB type-C port in the bottom.

According to recent reports and rumors , the Google Pixel (Sailfish) and the Google Pixel XL (Marlin) will have the same design but the Pixel XL will just have a bigger display, thus having a larger overall footprint. It has also been suggested that Google will offer an aluminium version with a white front and possibly an electric blue model with a blue back and white front.

To recap the specs of the phones, The Sailfish is rumored to have a 5 inch 1080p display , a 12MP rear camera and an 8MP front facing camera, a quad core Snapdragon processor, 4 gigs of RAM and a 2,770 mAh battery which will be powering the phone. The Marlin will have similar internal specs but a larger 5.5 inch 1440p screen and a 3,450 mAh battery.

Are you looking forward to the release of the new Google Pixel Phones?

Read More

Xiaomi Mii box could soon launch in the U.S for less than $100

The only mainstream android T.V device is the nexus player from google but Xiaomi is planning to change that. There aren't many Xiaomi devices in the U.S but Xiaomi may officialy release its android t.v powered mi box for less than a $100 very soon.

The mi box is rumored to release in the U.S and several other markets by the end of Q4 of 2016 which means that we'll be seeing the device probably by the end of December. The Mi box offers specs like a quad core processor , 2 gigs of RAM , 8 GB of storage , output upto 4k 60 frames per second , HDMI and USB 2.0 ports. Also it has Bluetooth voice remote control. Xiaomi will also offer a game controller for the Mi box but that will be sold separately and will not be included with the whole package.

This will be the very first or one of the very first Xiaomi devices that will be released in the U.S and folks that are fans of Xiaomi products will surely love this device. In addition to a new Xiaomi product in the U.S , there aren't many android t.v devices on the market anyways, so this will be a welcome addition to the family.

Read More