iPhone SE Hands On It may be Small but it sure is powerful

Hate big phones? Among today’s Sequoia sized devices, Apple has introduced the diminutive iPhone SE, a 4-inch device that pales next to the iPhone 6s Plus. But buoyed by the 30 million 4-inch iPhones it sold in 2015, Apple thought, “Hey, people still want small phones. Here is a small phone. Here is the ‘new’ iPhone SE.”

To be clear, the iPhone SE is essentially the iPhone 5s with guts that are high-end in Apple Land: A faster A9 chip, an improved camera, an NFC module for Apple Pay, and a little scribble on the back indicating that, yes, this is the iPhone SE, not to be confused with the iPhone 5s. It still comes with 16GB of storage, reminding iPhone owners that they will likely be haunted by the low storage option forever.

But, hey, it starts at just $399, or just over $13/month if you do installments. That’s a pretty enticing price for anyone looking to get their first smartphone, but it is by no means the cheapest device around—the 32GB Nexus 6P, a great and powerful handset, is the same price as the 64GB iPhone SE. Jump down a bracket and the Nexus 5X is just $299 (for a limited time).

Seeing this form factor emerge is like running into an old friend; there’s a familiarity here. I’d call it a happy reunion, because the iPhone 5 and iPhone 5s were both terrific—great size, great build, great experience. But if you’re looking for the latest technology, you won’t find it here. Sure, the iPhone SE sports the same guts as the iPhone 6s, but it doesn’t have 3D Touch, something that will no doubt be a big part of Apple’s handset future.

Pre-orders for the iPhone SE kick off on March 24, with shipments expected to go out on March 31, or exactly ten days from now. If you want to pick one up, it’ll cost you $399 for the 16GB model, or $499 for the 64GB model.

Article source from Technobuffalo.

Get to know the Galaxy S7's Always On Display

According to Samsung, the average smartphone owner checks his or her device nearly 150 times a day: A quick press of the power button to view the time here, and double tap not the screen to view notifications there, apparently adds up fast.

Samsung's solution for this obsessive checking and waking our smartphones is through a feature it calls Always-On Display.

As the name implies, Samsung's latest Galaxy devices are equipped with the fancy new feature.

After locking your device, the screen will remain dimly lit. The default setting is to display the current time, with the information moving around on the screen every few seconds. Alerts for missed calls and text messages are also placed on the screen, with a few caveats (more on that in a minute).

The basics

The easiest way to familiarize yourself with the feature is to dive into its settings. On your Galaxy S7 or S7 Edge, open the Settings app, tap on Display and Wallpaper followed by Always On Display.

At the top of the settings screen, you'll find the option to disable the feature altogether.

Select the Content to show from the list, to display a drop-down menu with three options: Clock, Calendar and Image.

If you opted for a clock or calendar, you can then further change the look by tapping on the respective clock or calendar style button. There are a total of eight different clocks, ranging from basic digital and analog clocks to a dual-clock view. Additionally, clock users can set a background image for the clock on the display.

There are two different calendar options, both of which include a digital clock.

Selecting Image turns the feature into a screensaver-like feature you would expect on a computer and not a smartphone. Currently there are three different images included on the S7.

Play around with the various items and background images to find something that works best for you.

Further customization is possible

Samsung's theme store for the Galaxy S7 offers themes that include a custom Always On Display image. Currently, when you open the theme store (Settings > Themes on your S7) the first category are "AOD" themes, which is the acronym for Always-On Demand.

Unfortunately, it doesn't appear that you can download just the AOD portion of a theme. Instead, you'll need to download and apply the entire theme. Adding to the disappointment is that you can't set an AOD image or clock from one theme while using a different theme.

Notifications

Right now, the only notifications that will appear on the screen seem to be from Samsung's own apps. Missed calls, messages and calendar notifications in particular. Meaning, don't expect to see Gmail or Facebook notifications out of the box, hopefully that's a feature added in a future update.

LG's G5 also offers an always-on display, and it supports all alerts, so one has to think Samsung could as well.

What about battery life?

Part of the magic that makes this feature possible is the type of screen used in the Galaxy S7 (AMOLED) and Qualcomm's Snapdragon 820 processor. The combination of the two work in tandem to minimize battery usage when the feature is enabled, and should have a minimal impact on overall daily battery life.


Source from CNet.com.

As Apple vs FBI looms, WhatsApp and others look to increase encryption

As the battle between Apple and the FBI heats up over encryption, it's increasingly clear this isn't just about one iPhone. A New York Times article on Saturday reported that the Department of Justice is worried about the encryption on apps such as WhatsApp.

According to The Times, the encryption built into WhatsApp has stymied Justice Department attempts at wiretapping. Even with a judge's wiretap order, WhatsApp's encryption prevents law enforcement from reading or intercepting messages sent on its platform.

This is a problem for the Department of Justice, and it's one without a clear solution. 

This is a problem for the Department of Justice, and it's one without a clear solution. A court could order WhatsApp — which is owned by Facebook — to comply with wiretap orders, but it would face technical and legal challenges.

The problem, at least for the Justice Department, may only be getting tougher.

The Guardian reported on Monday that Facebook, Google and Snapchat are all working to increase their own encryption and privacy in the wake of the Apple vs. FBI showdown.

According to The Guardian, WhatsApp plans on adding encryption to its voice calls in a few weeks. The Guardian says Facebook is also looking at increasing the encryption used for Facebook Messenger.

Snapchat is reportedly also at creating more secure messages, though let's be clear: Snapchat hardly has the best track record with securing user data. Google too is said to be looking at ways use its encryption technology in more places.

Tech companies getting serious about encryption

Last week, Medium's Steven Levy wrote an extraordinary piece chronicling the Crypto Wars from the '90s. Two decades ago, law enforcement and technologists battled over the ideas of encryption.

For a time, it looked like cryptography won, with the Clinton administration basically accepting that for the digital revolution to happen, it would have to happen with crypto.

Standards such as AES-128 (and, later, AES-256), SSL and public keys became part of the tech lexicon and the modern computer security industry was born.

Still, as Levy writes, winning the war doesn't mean everything has been great for consumers (emphasis added):

But here's something that didn't happen: a strong crypto infrastructure that protected our information and privacy. The fact is that while the security industry has boomed, our information really isn't much safer than it was when we were fighting the first crypto war. This is because the tech world has been slow to build strong encryption into our systems as a default. It's been too hard to use, and all too often businesses and institutions don't even take obvious steps to secure data. Chronic lapses in our communications software and disasters happen on almost a daily basis.

We simply haven't used our capabilities to make our electrical grids, our credit card systems, and our ISPs bulletproof. As a result, the public has not fully reaped the spoils from winning that first crypto war.

But slowly but surely, that has been changing. Maybe it's the public realization that so much of our data is now stored on the cloud. Or perhaps it's the increase in hacks that leave private information vulnerable.

Whatever the reason, even before the most recent Apple vs. FBI nonsense, we've seen tech companies start to get more serious about building better encryption into their products.

If companies want consumers to trust them with their data, they increasingly have to prove that they are capable of protecting that data. And that's possible with encryption.

Which of course, is the big rub for law enforcement.

Two decades ago, the government agreed that the promises of the Clipper Chip — a chip that was designed to protect communications except if there was a government request for access — were simply infeasible (the Clipper Chip project was dropped in 1996 after its encryption technology was hacked). Today, it does seem that we're having similar conversations, although the stakes are different.

What's next

If Google, Facebook, Snapachat, Apple and other companies do continue to add better encryption to their platforms by default — and it seems like that is absolutely going to happen — we're going to have to have a much broader discussion in Congress about encryption and its role.

There aren't easy answers, and in a perfect world there could be concessions both sides make that balance the underlying challenges of personal information security versus homeland security.

But for now, it will be interesting to see how law enforcement handles the reality that the tools we use to communicate are going to be more and more difficult to intercept.

This article and image source from Mashable.

Samsung's Android flagships get February security update

Samsung has begun rolling out Android’s February security update for all of its recent flagships. The release is currently reaching unlocked units in most markets, and should be available to those branded by carriers soon.

The updates are available for the Galaxy S5, Galaxy S6, Galaxy S6 edge, Galaxy S6 edge+, Galaxy Note 4, and Galaxy Note 5, according to SamMobile — and they’re currently rolling out in markets throughout Asia, Australia, Europe, and the Americas.

This is the same security update that Google rolled out to its own Nexus smartphones at the beginning of the month, and it’s a pretty significant one as far as security updates go, fixing ten security loopholes and seven major vulnerabilities.

“There’s also a dedicated patch for the faulty Qualcomm Wi-Fi drivers and a repair for a critical error that could have allowed remote access to a device by way of a simple text message,” adds SamMobile.

If you own one of the handsets listed above and it is unlocked, it is recommended that you install this update as soon as you can. You should get a notification when it’s available, but you can search for it manually from the software update section in the Settings app.

If your handset is carrier branded, keep your eyes peeled for the update’s arrival soon.

Source : Technobuffalo.

Google Exec Posts Photos Taken With Nexus 10

Google's Vic Gundotra is having a nice time trying out some new hardware during his beach vacation. At least that's the view from his profile on Google+, where he posted two pictures taken with something called the "Nexus 10."

There currently is no product with that name, but it's been rumored that Google will introduce a new Nexus tablet at the company's event on Monday morning. Also, Korean site Seeko on Thursday posted images of what appears to be a manual for the tablet.

The photos Gundotra posted have a resolution of 2,048 x 1,536 (3.1 megapixels), but that's simply the maximum resolution for photos uploaded to Google+ via the service's instant upload, and not necessarily the resolution of the camera on board the device. 

This isn't the first time Gundotra — Google's senior vice president of engineering who and the key executive behind Google+ — has tipped a new product or service on his Google+ feed. Earlier this month he posted a photo taken with Snapseed, an app made by Nik software, which Google acquired last month. But the Snapseed app for iOS didn't have the ability to export to Google+. Sure enough, an Android preview appeared last week (and has been taken down).

At Google's Monday event, the company is expected to reveal the Nexus 10 tablet — a larger version of its Nexus 7 tablet — along with Android 4.2 "Key Lime Pie" software. There may also be a new Nexus smartphone made by LG.

This Article Source From Mashable.

Hands-On With the Apple iPhone 6S and 6S Plus

At least, not until you press a little harder on the Camera icon. That’s when you get 3D Touch, which is what’s really worth talking about. 3D Touch basically enables the phone to measure not just when you move your finger up and down, left and right, but now also through. When you press a little harder, you get what’s called “Peek”—a pop-up of the contents of an email, or the status of a flight, or a quick way to call the business you’re tapping on in Maps.

Press more, and you “Pop.” That’s when you jump to a new place in the operating system. You can press on icons on the homescreen, too, and jump straight to the selfie cam or call your mom without ever actually opening the Phone app. It’s an over-branded way of giving you quick access to the things you’re probably looking for by opening that app, or flipping into that email. I’d call it right-click for the iPhone, but that feels like a dig, so…actually yeah, it’s right-click for the iPhone.

But that’s great! For a lot of users, it might remain a completely invisible piece of the software, an interface shortcut you never discover. If you never use it, your iPhone will work as it always has. But when you discover it, everything feels faster, more direct—it makes the iPhone a less like a collection of apps and more like a single, cohesive thing. 

That’s not always true, though. The problem with 3D Touch is that you never know where the hidden menus are—some apps don’t support it, neither do some menus, and you never get a hint. So you’re forced to hunt around looking for this buried treasure, which I’m worried I’d just stop doing after a while. 3D Touch lets you “see” what’s inside whatever you’re looking at; but how far it will let you look is difficult to say so far.

The other big upgrade seems to be the camera, as per usual. The new 12-megapixel camera and 4K video recording are hard to measure in any useful way inside this gigantic demo room. But the photos and videos I’ve seen look insane. Like, incredible. But again, hard to say for sure what they’ll be like in the real world. Live Photos are another interesting update, giving 1.5 seconds of video on either end of the photo you’ve shot. (Apple picked that amount of time figuring that any longer, and you’re catching people turning away from the shot, or doing something else.

1.5 seconds is about how long they’ll stay engaged.) It’s a pretty small feature compared to the attention it received, but it’s a neat way to make your photo gallery feel a little more interactive. (How much these animated compilations—which are turned on by default—kill your storage remains to be seen.) Despite the noteworthy bits, this is the same S cycle upgrade we’re used to: You’re getting a lot more power, a few new ways to go about using your device, and a couple of small things that make the phone more fun. Oh, and that rose gold looks pretty good [Source :Wired].

iPhone 6S and 6S Plus Cameras Will Take Your Photos to The Next Level

Apple held a huge event in San Francisco on Wednesday to announce the new iPad Pro, new Apple TV and, of course, the new iPhone 6S and 6S Plus. Like every year, the iPhone 6S and 6S Plus, are the most powerful iPhones yet. They've got faster processors, run iOS 9 and support 3D Touch — all amazing new features. But the new cameras have us more excited than ever before.

Both the iPhone 6S and 6S Plus have higher resolution 12-megapixel iSight cameras (that's the camera on the back) with dual-LED flash. The megapixel bump means your photos will look even sharper than before with more details when you zoom in on them.

The aperture on the back camera lens is f/2.2, which is a little disappointing since the Galaxy S6/Note 5/GS6 Edge+ and LG G4 have f/1.9 and f/1.8 apertures, respectively. The aperture controls how much light the camera absorbs, which affects how well the camera performs in low-light situations. Still, Apple says the back camera will take better low-light photos than those on its other phones.

It's not just the back camera that's better — the front-facing FaceTime HD camera has received its biggest update ever, jumping from a 1.2-megapixel camera to a 5-megapixel one. To help capture even better selfies, Apple's incorporating a new software function it calls Retina Flash. Basically, right before the front camera snaps a shot, the screen will quickly flash a white screen to help illuminate your face. Apple says selfies will have "true-to-life colors and more natural-looking skin tones."

Another new camera feature is called Live Photos. When you take a photo, the camera records a few seconds of video before and after — complete with sound. It's basically a GIF (not a video), or if you really want to go into the geek world, it's like a live photo from Harry Potter. The downside to Live Photos is that they'll only be viewable on iOS devices on Macs through the Photos app. The Facebook app will also support Live Photos.

And finally, for the first time on any iPhone, the iPhone 6S and 6S Plus can record video in 4K resolution at 3,840 x 2,160 resolution at 30 frames per second — four times the resolution of full HD's 1,920 x 1,080 resolution. This brings the iPhone on par with Android phones that have been able to record 4K video for years.

Frankly, we're skeptic of 4K video recording; to really appreciate the 4x amount of details over HD, you need to own a 4K TV or computer display. And from previous experiences, 4K video recording is a big battery drainer. While recording 4K video, you'll be able to snap 8-megapixel still photos.

The two cameras retain the iPhone 6/6 Plus's slow-motion video recording at 1080p resolution at 120 fps and 720p at 240 fps and timelapse recording. Fans holding out for Apple putting optical image stabilization (OIS) on the smaller iPhone 6S won't find it there. OIS is exclusive to the larger iPhone 6S Plus [Source : Mashable].

Upgrading Your iPhone Just Got Easier on Another Carrier

With the new iPhone to be announced next month, Sprint has introduced a new iPhone Forever plan that will let its customers upgrade your old iPhone whenever there is a new iPhone out at no additional cost. Of course, while there are no upgrade fees, the plan will start at $22 per month for the handset itself on top of your normal plan costs when you trade in your old iPhone for a new one.

While the offer will let you currently upgrade to a 16GB iPhone 6 for that monthly price, Sprint also has a special promotion right now as well that will drop the monthly handset cost to $15 per month if you upgrade before 31 December 2015.

"We decided how awesome would it be if anytime customers don't have the latest iPhone, they are eligible to upgrade, and have it be as simple as handing us your existing iPhone and picking up a new one – all included in your monthly rate," Sprint's CEO Marcelo Claure said.

While it looks like Sprint is taking big steps to lure in new customers and take on other carriers, a month ago, it seems as though it is taking its cues from T-Mobile. The Uncarrier had also announced a special iPhone plan that would allow customers to upgrade their iPhone for free with $15 monthly handset repayments [Source : Techradar]

Google Delays its Modular Smartphone Until 2016

Google's modular smartphone project has been delayed. In a series of tweets Monday, the company confirmed the initial market pilot for Project Ara, which was slated to begin in Puerto Rico later this year, will instead be delayed until 2016.

Project Ara began in Google's secretive Advanced Technology and Projects (ATAP) group. The aim is to create an Android-based smartphone platform where nearly every piece of hardware, including the battery, processor and camera, is a separate piece of the handset that can be replaced or customized without upgrading to a completely new device.

Google said the latest plan is to bring its modular smartphones to a "few locations" in the mainland United States for the initial rollout, but did not elaborate on the cause of the delay or the change of location. a spokesperson for Project Ara confirmed the delay to Mashable, but declined to provide additional details around the updated timeline.

The news comes less than a week after the company confirmed it would "re-route" the planned Puerto Rico pilot to a new location, though the company promised the modular smartphones would eventually make its way to the U.S. territory. Google previously said it chose Puerto Rico as a test ground for the experimental phones due to the island's "incredibly diverse" population, which is divided almost equally between smartphone users and more basic feature phone users.

The company had planned to make handsets available through the territory's two largest carriers, with a variety of devices sold via food truck-like storefronts. It's not yet clear how or where Google plans to distribute Project Ara devices during the mainland U.S rollout, but the company says more details about the changes will be coming soon [Source : Mashables].

BlackBerry Deleted A Tweet That it Accidentally Sent From an iPhone

Someone on BlackBerry's social media team just made an embarrassing mistake. A tweet from the company's Twitter account on Tuesday included a small detail at the bottom of the screenshot, revealing it was sent via iPhone. Clearly, even some BlackBerry employees use Apple products.

The tweet, which was first spotted and screenshotted by The Verge, has since been deleted.

This isn't the first time that a BlackBerry representative accidentally gave the iPhone an inadvertent stamp of approval. Alicia Keys, who was once BlackBerry's "Global Creative Director," ignited a mild social media scandal in 2013 when she tweeted from an iPhone instead of a BlackBerry.

Hours later, Keys dubiously blamed the situation on being hacked. She is no longer working with the company. The smartphone manufacturer, which has floundered in recent years amid stiff competition (mostly notably, Apple), is in the throes of an attempted comeback. It recently launched a throwback device called the BlackBerry Classic, tried to catch eyes with "unconventional" devices and even has a hand in the development of a self-destructing phone [Mashable].

The Features That Would Actually Improve the iPhone 6

Apple lovers will finally get their hands on the new iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus on Friday, and the reviews have been glowing. But if you preordered one or plan on waiting in massive lines, you should know: There are a few things missing from the new devices.

CollegeHumor took note of the new features, or lack thereof, and made this bittersweet parody expressing how everybody feels about the new phones (you know, the things nobody actually wants to admit).

Apple lovers will finally get their hands on the new iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus on Friday, and the reviews have been glowing. But if you preordered one or plan on waiting in massive lines, you should know: There are a few things missing from the new devices.

CollegeHumor took note of the new features, or lack thereof, and made this bittersweet parody expressing how everybody feels about the new phones [Mashable]