Samsung Unveiles World’s First Tizen Smartphone

Samsung has introduced its first Tizen-based smartphone, the Samsung Z. The phone will be on display at the Tizen Developer Conference in San Francisco, which starts from June 3.

The Samsung Z features a 4.8-inch HD Super AMOLED display and is powered by a 2.3 GHz quad-core processor. According to the company, the phone features a distinctive home and application layout. Using Dynamic Box and Colour Theme settings, users can tailor their device to what suits them best.

It has an Ultra Power Saving Mode that lets the phone stay operational even at minimal battery levels in emergencies. The Samsung Z will be available in two colours - Black and Gold.

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Samsung Plans To Launch Its First Tizen Smartphone In India

Samsung Electronics Co is preparing to launch a new smartphone in Russia and India based on its homegrown operating system Tizen, people familiar with the matter said, according to the Wall Street Journal on Sunday.

Officials at Samsung were not immediately available for comment Sunday afternoon.

The paper said this was the latest step in Samsung's push to compete more directly in mobile software and services with Google Inc and Apple Inc.

The South Korean technology giant is planning an event in Moscow in the coming weeks to introduce a smartphone running on the Tizen operating system, the people told the Journal.

The launch in Russia would be presented at an "Unpacked" event, similar to the format that Samsung uses to unveil its flagship devices, one person told the paper.

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Google To Launch Android TV

Close on the heels of the Amazon Fire TV launch, a new report emerged claiming that Google is working on its own version of Android TV, which in all likelihood will compete with Apple TV, Amazon's Fire TV and Roku.

Reportedly, major video app providers have started building for the platform. Technology website The Verge claims that it has exclusively received some documents which read, "Android TV is an entertainment interface, not a computing platform".

It's all about finding and enjoying content with the least amount of friction." It will be "cinematic, fun, fluid, and fast."

The company is asking developers to build simple TV apps for what is claimed to be an extremely simple set-top-box interface. The interface will have a set of scrolling "cards" that represent movies, shows, apps, and games.

Using a remote control, you will be able to scroll left and right through different suggestions, or up and down through different categories of content.

The controller will also have Enter, Home, and Back buttons. Also, there will be "optional" game controllers. Quite like the Amazon Fire TV, Google' upcoming Android TV is rumoured to support voice inputs.

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Dendroid Virus Threatening Android Phones In India

Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) has issued an alert asking all Android smartphone users to beware of a deadly virus ‘Dendroid,’ “the malicious application” through which an attacker can “completely compromise the affected smartphone and control it remotely.”

The warning by the Indian cyber security agency is significant as over 90 per cent of smartphones in India are loaded with Google's mobile operating system.

“It has been reported that a malicious toolkit called Dendroid is being used to create Trojanised applications that infects Android-based smartphones. The malware is created by modifying the required permissions by any clean APK (Android Application Package) with Dendroid RAT functionality that allows detailed management of the infected devices,” says an advisory by CERT-In that comes under the Department of Electronics and IT.

The CERT-In notes that the virus can perform a number of malicious activities. The “attack toolkit” can delete all call logs, open web pages, dial any number, record calls and audio, intercept SMS, upload images and video to remote location and open applications, it adds.

The agency has asked Android-phone users not to download and install applications from untrusted sources and install applications downloaded from reputed application market only.

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Google Announces New Operating System For Wearable Devices

Google Inc said on Tuesday that smartwatches based on its Android mobile software will be available later this year, significantly expanding the Internet company's push into the nascent market for wearable devices.

Google said the effort to extend Android to watches is called Android Wear.

The company said it was partnering with several consumer electronics and technology companies, including Samsung Electronics Co, LG Electronics and Intel Corp, as well as with fashion company Fossil Group to develop the new line of watches.

"We've barely scratched the surface of what's possible with mobile technology," Google said in a post on its official blog on Tuesday. "That's why we're so excited about wearables-they understand the context of the world around you, and you can interact with them simply and efficiently, with just a glance or a spoken word."

A video posted on Google's blog showed people speaking into their watches to check sports scores, control music, send replies to text messages and even open their home garages.

Google's Android operating system is used in more than three out every four smartphones sold worldwide.

The world's No.1 Internet search engine, Google has also been developing Google Glass, a small stamp-sized screen attached to a pair of eyeglass frames.

Shares of Google were up 1 per cent at $1204.66 in midday trading on Tuesday.

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Google testing new search page

Google has reportedly changed the way its search results page looks in a new experiment that shows larger fonts and the ads links are no longer shown with yellow background.

The large 'bucket' test currently underway has also got rid of the underlined search result links.

According to reports, ad links are now simply flagged with a small yellow label that says 'Ads,' a feature that had been originally introduced on tablet and mobile, before being tested on the desktop.

Google's experimental runs are to determine whether or not a change is either financially viable, benefits its user base, or, in the best case, both.

The report said that the changes to the search result look could be seen as an extension of a broader series of changes already in the works, which are meant to better unify the desktop and mobile experience.

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Samsung Unveiles Free Streaming Radio Service

Samsung on Friday unveiled a new free music service for its phones that it touts as a significant improvement from the apps already on the market.

The South Korean gadget maker's Milk Music service, which launched in the US on Friday, includes over 200 stations and 13 million songs. It's designed to be extremely fast, easy to use and highly customizable.But the new service enters an already crowded space. There are numerous streaming music services, including Pandora, Spotify and Apple Inc.'s iTunes Radio.

"We feel that while the music space is very competitive there is room for improvement," said Daren Tsui, vice president of music at Samsung Media Solutions.

Samsung's app features a large wheel reminiscent of an old-fashioned radio tuner. Users can spin through various genres of music to find something they like. Favourite stations can be added to a "My Stations" section, while individual songs can be tagged as favourites or put on a list never to be played.

Milk is powered by Slacker, which operates its own streaming music service. But unlike Slacker, Milk is ad-free at no cost. While Slacker does offer a basic service for free, it charges users $4 a month to remove advertising.

US users can now download the Milk app from Google Play. It works on most of Samsung's Galaxy line of phones, but isn't compatible with devices made by other companies.

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Micromax Canvas Knight A350 Specification Review

Micromax has launched its next flagship dubbed the Canvas Knight A350, for the Indian market. Just like most Micromax devices, it is a budget device with superior features. For Rs 19,999, the spec sheet of the Canvas Knight could put any sub-Rs 20,000 device to shame. Here’s a quick look at its tech specs.

• User Interface – Android 4.2.2

While the hardware appears to be brilliant, the Canvas Knight is disappointing when it comes to the OS running on the device.  The Canvas Knight runs Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean, similar to its previous flagship Canvas Turbo. With the nifty specs the phone holds, it appears to be more than capable of running Android 4.4 KitKat. What we don’t understand is what’s stopping Micromax from launching it with 4.3 at the very least, if not KitKat?

One should also expect pre-loaded apps from the company such as M! Security, M! Live, M! Unlock as well as third party vendors like Spuul, Hike, Opera Mini and more. Micromax had also signed a deal with BlackBerry to preload BBM on its Canvas phones. So, you can expect BBM for Android too. One can also expect Micromax’s software gimmickry like ifloat that serves as a quick launcher for calls, messages, browser, settings, etc. from any screen, blow to unlock, popup video, popup browser, and more.  You will also find Truecaller, GetIt, M!Vault pre-installed along with games such as RealSteel WRB, Where’s My Perry and Where’s My Water.

• Cellular Connectivity – GSM, 3G

The Canvas Knight supports GSM and 3G networks. However, it should be noted that the company has started testing 4G-enabled devices, which are expected to be launched later this year. May be its too early to say, but we could possibly see a 4G variant of the device in the future.

•  Display – 5-inch SHARP Full HD

Samsung has retained the 5-inch display size seen in the Turbo as well as the full HD 1920 x 1080 resolution, with a pixel count that goes all the way up to 443 ppi. Moreover, it’s the full HD CGS (Continuous Grain Silicon) IPS display built by SHARP, just like its predecessor. This means, we can expect crisp and clear images.

•  Form-factor– Anodised aluminium body

The official site doesn’t mention the weight or dimensions, but it appears to be pretty slim. In terms of design, it doesn’t follow the Turbo, instead looks like an iPhone. The Canvas Knight gets a brushed metal styling with champagne gold bezels while the rear panel comes with a glass finish. The device is available in three colours – black, white and gold and black and gold.

•  Wi-Fi

The Canvas Turbo supports Wi-Fi, but so far there has been no mention of the connectivity options. There is no word on dual-band support either or if it supports the ‘ac’ draft either.

•  Processor – Mediatek Octa-core , 2GB RAM

The Canvas Knight is first smartphone from Micromax to feature an octa-core processor.  It is powered by a MediaTek MT6592T SoC, that clocks in at 2GHz. It also includes an ARM Mali-450 GPU and 2GB of RAM.  The Canvas Knight joins the Gionee Elife E7 Mini, Intex Aqua Octa and the iBerry Auxus Nuclea N2, which also sport octa-core chipsets.

• Internal storage – 32GB, no room for expansion

While the Canvas Turbo was available with 16GB onboard storage option, the Knight gets a whopping 32GB built-in storage. It doesn’t offer other online storage support or a memory card slot.  However, 32GB storage could suffice your daily storage needs.

•  Camera - 16-megapxiel BSI sensor, 8-megapixel front-facing camera

On the camera front, the Knight comes with major improvement. It gets 16-megapxiel sensor on the rear side with support for auto-focus and flash. The rear shooter is paired with OmniVision’s CameraChip sensor and a new generation M8 Largan Lens, allowing 1080p video recording at 30 frames per second. Users can also control the camera with their voice and the OmniVision CameraChip sensors also enable HD burst mode.

 The device also gets an 8-megapixel front-facing camera. The company has included its quirky-named “Camerazzi” camera app that adds several features such as 360 Degree Panorama, Cinemagraph and Object Eraser.

•  Sensors – All the usual suspects

The Canvas Knight won’t disappoint when it comes to sensors. It gets all the usual suspects such as accelerometer, light, gravity, gyroscope, proximity and compass.

•  GPS

The Canvas Knight comes with support for GPS and A-GPS. Though the official site doesn’t mention, we are hoping it also supports GLONASS.

•  Battery – Li-Ion 2350 mAh

Coming to the battery, we get a measly 2350 mAh battery. The rated battery life promised is 175 hours of standby time and 7.5 hours of talk time. Given the specifications of the phone, this could be the Achilles heel of the Knight.

• The bottom line

The Canvas Knight comes with an incredibly powerful specs sheet. It appears to be one of the best value-for-money Android smartphones under Rs 20,000 with an octa-core processor, 2GB RAM, 16MP rear camera, 8MP front-facing camera and 32GB onboard storage. The only disappointment so far, is the older Android Jelly version that the device runs on and the tiny battery.  While it all sounds good on paper and has the potential to be one of the best budget smartphone by an Indian brand, we will have to wait and see how well the device performs once we get out hands on it.

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Yahoo To Stop Users Logging Into Its Services With Google And Facebook

Yahoo will stop letting consumers access its various online services, including Fantasy Sports and photo-sharing site Flickr, by signing-in with their Facebook or Google credentials.

The change, which will be rolled out gradually according to a Yahoo spokeswoman, will require users to register for a Yahoo ID in order to use any of the Internet portal's services.

The move marks the latest change to Yahoo by Chief Executive Marissa Mayer, who is striving to spark fresh interest in the company's Web products and to revive its stagnant revenue.

"Yahoo is continually working on improving the user experience," the company said in a statement, noting that the new process "will allow us to offer the best personalised experience to everyone".

The first Yahoo service to require the new sign-in process is Yahoo Sports Tourney Pick'Em, a service focused on the NCAA college basketball tournament which begins later this month. News of the change to Yahoo's Tourney Pick'Em sign-in process was first reported by the technology blog Betanews.

Since Mayer took the reins in 2012, the company has rolled out new versions of many of its key products, including Yahoo Mail and Yahoo Finance. Last year, Yahoo announced a program to recycle inactive Yahoo user IDs, letting new users claim email addresses that have not been used for more than 12 months.

In eliminating the Facebook and Google sign-in features, Mayer, a former Google executive, is effectively reversing a strategy that Yahoo adopted in 2010 and 2011 under then CEO Carol Bartz.

The change to the Tourney Pick'Em sign-in process began on Monday, the Yahoo spokeswoman said, noting that users could still access other services with Google or Facebook IDs.

The sign-in buttons for Facebook and Google will eventually be removed from all Yahoo properties, the Yahoo spokeswoman, though she declined to provide a timeframe.

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BBM To Let You Share Photos In Multi-Person Chats And Transfer Larger Files

Bringing new features and improvements to BBM, BlackBerry has now announced that BBM will soon support photo sharing in multi-person chats. This comes as an addition to existing sharing options that exist in multi-person chats - sending voice notes, sharing your location powered by Glympse, and sending files from your Dropbox account.

BBM will also soon allow users to send larger files. "While our file size limit on shared files has historically been set at 6MB, we're increasing this to 16MB in the next release of BBM," said the company in a blog post. It means users will soon be able to exchange bigger pictures, larger documents and longer videos on BBM.

For example, the 6MB transfer limit allows users to send approximately 6 seconds of 1080p HD video. With the increase to 16MB, users will be able to send 16 seconds of video using the same settings. The company has also slightly increased the size of the emoticons.

BlackBerry last month said it will make its messaging service BBM available to Microsoft's Windows Phone and the upcoming Nokia X platforms in the coming months. BBM will be available as a free download from the Windows Phone Store this summer, while BBM for Nokia X will be available from the Nokia Store when the Nokia X platform launches.

BlackBerry recently had rolled out a major update for its iconic BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) app for iPhone, Android and BlackBerry. As part of the update, the most prominent addition was the addition of BBM Voice for Android and iPhone users.

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Microsoft Reportedly Plans To Offer A Free OS

Microsoft which is already struggling with shrinking popularity of its Windows 8 operating system is now planning to release a free or low-cost version of Windows 8.1 OS. The operating system also known as Windows 8.1 with Bing will be offered to the users of Windows XP, Vista, and 7.

Redmond giant expects to overcome the massive loss in its income by pushing more users towards services like Bing, OneDrive, and Office.  On April 8 Microsoft is ending its support for XP and post April 8 users will be offered Windows 8.1 update according to Neowin, citing a tweet from Supersite for Windows. April 8 is also known as Microsoft’s “Patch Tuesday,” when it releases updates and fixes for a variety of Windows products. A week before April 8, on April 2, MSDN users may be able to get the update, according to the same report.

As reported by ZDNet Microsoft insiders revealed that Windows 8.1 with Bing “is key to Microsoft’s experimentation with monetization.” As for why there doesn’t yet appear to be any money-grabbing monetization, it’s likely that this is just a very early build. We have no idea if Windows 8.1 with Bing will debut at the same time as Update 1 (due to be released on April 8), or whether it’s following its own separate schedule.

This week saw Microsoft offering users Bing Rewards program 100GB of OneDrive cloud storage in exchange for 100 Rewards credits, which is worth $50. Microsoft offered the deal as a “perk for our most consistent and loyal Bing users.”

Still the bigger question remains open that how Microsoft will cope-up with massive financial loss by offering Windows 8.1 for free.

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NASA To Launch Water Related Satellite In Collaboration With ISRO

US space agency NASA today said it would launch a water-related satellite in collaboration with India's ISRO.The NASA-Indian Space Research Organisation Synthetic Aperture Radar mission is a part of its plan to launch in the next seven years a series of satellite related to water and draught, the agency said.

Among others include the Ice, Cloud, and land Elevation Satellite-2 (ICESat-2); Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) Follow-on and Surface Water Ocean Topography mission.

"These satellite missions join more than a dozen NASA airborne sensors focused on regional-scale issues, understanding detailed Earth science processes and calibrating and validating NASA satellites," the space agency said.

"NASA monitors Earth's vital signs from land, air and space with a fleet of satellites and ambitious airborne and ground-based observation campaigns. NASA develops new ways to observe and study Earth's interconnected natural systems with long-term data records and computer analysis tools to better see how our planet is changing," it said.

"The agency shares this unique knowledge with the global community and works with institutions in the United States and around the world that contribute to understanding and protecting our home planet," it said.

NASA said it is scheduled to launch three new Earth science missions this year, which will contribute to water cycle research and water-related national policy decisions.The Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Core Observatory, a joint satellite project with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency scheduled for launch Thursday, February 27, will inaugurate an unprecedented international satellite constellation that will produce the first nearly global observations of rainfall and snowfall. The new information will help answer questions about our planet's life-sustaining water cycle, and improve water resource management and weather forecasting.

"ISS-RapidScat, scheduled to launch to the International Space Station (ISS) in June, will extend the data record of ocean winds around the globe. The data are a key factor in climate research, weather and marine forecasting and tracking of storms and hurricanes," NASA said.

"The Soil Moisture Active Passive , launching in November, will inform water resource management decisions on water availability. SMAP data also will aid in predictions of plant growth and agricultural productivity, improve short-term weather forecasts and long-term climate change projections, and advance our ability to monitor droughts and predict floods and mitigate their related impacts on people's lives," the space agency said.

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Nokia Launches Its First Android Based Budget Phones

Nokia introduced a new family of smartphones, the Nokia X series of phones. The first three phones in the family - the Nokia X, X+ and XL - run on the new Nokia X software platform, that is based on Google's Android.

The phones under the Nokia X family are not pure Android phones; these phones instead run a forked variant of Android, similar to the way Amazon does for its Kindle Fire lineup. Nokia has taken the open-source elements of Android and has pulled in other elements of Asha and Windows Phone to offer users a different experience.

The downside here is that Nokia X users can't have access to the Google Play Store for apps. However, the phone will run Android apps, but Nokia will curate a list of such apps. A recommended source for the apps is the Nokia store, says the company. In other words, the new platform, Nokia X, is based on the Android Open Source project .

Nokia ditches many of the Google services that come with Android, which Google lets phone makers customise at will. Instead, the new Nokia X phone announced will emphasise Microsoft services such as Bing search, Skype communications and OneDrive file storage. Its home screen sports larger, resizable tiles resembling those on Windows phone.

Nokia X, Nokia X+ and Nokia XL form a new family of Nokia's affordable smartphones. The Nokia X is the entry-level model in the family, will cost 89 euros, and will be available immediately in select markets. The Nokia X+ offers more memory and storage. It's priced at 99 euros and will be available in early Q2 2014. Finally, the Nokia XL packs a 5-inch screen, 5 megapixel rear-facing and 2 megapixel front-facing camera. It will be priced at 109 euros and be available in early Q2 2014.

These phones feature a brand new, tile-based home screen. The new OS also reintroduces a redesigned version of its Fastlane notifications centre - a second Home screen if you like - from the latest Asha devices.

"The X family boasts Nokia's exciting, high quality hardware design and a range of bright colours. The brand new, tile-based Home screen offers you a simple, elegant way to manage your apps and phone functions and also reintroduces a redesigned version of the enormously popular Fastlane notifications centre - a second Home screen if you like - from the latest Asha devices," said Nokia.

Here Maps with turn-by-turn navigation and offline maps are also included. Free cloud storage from Microsoft OneDrive with 7GB of space for free is included out of the box. There's also access to Outlook.com as your email service. And there's Skype with a month's free calls to international landlines in selected markets.

All three devices are powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon dual-core processor and are dual-SIM phones. A range of third-party apps comes pre-installed, including BBM, Plants vs Zombies 2, Viber, Vine and Twitter.

At launch, leading global apps will be available for the Nokia X family of devices, including Facebook, LINE Free Voice and Messages, LINE Camera, LINE Bubble, Picsart, Plants vs Zombies 2, Real Football 2014, Skype, Spotify, Swiftkey, Twitter, Viber, Vine and WeChat, among others. And in a first for Nokia customers around the world, BBM will also be available on the Nokia X family of devices in addition to Windows Phone.

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Samsung Galaxy S5 To Be Unveiled Today

Samsung Electronics will unveil its highly-anticipated Galaxy S5 at the event scheduled at the Mobile World Congress on Monday in Barcelona.

The Galaxy S5 is variously rumoured to have a fingerprint scanner on the home button; a 5.24-inch, full high-definition display; a water and dust-proof case, possibly metallic, and a 16 megapixel camera.

Samsung has already sent out invitations for "Samsung unPacked 5" event on February 24 at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain.

The world's biggest smartphone maker is bracing for its weakest mobile annual profit growth in seven years amid fierce competition from Apple Inc and Chinese vendors, and as growth for high-end smartphones eases due to near saturation in many markets.

The launch at the annual industry gathering is set to reflect a new emphasis on costs, marking a departure from the glitzy marketing Samsung has deployed in the past, including the use of actors and a full live orchestra to launch the S4 at New York's Radio City Music Hall last year.

Meanwhile, Samsung has launched Sunday a new smart watch, the Gear 2, after a first version won over few critics, adding new features and ditching Google`s Android in favour of its own operating system.

Besides an array of features including sports tracking software and a heart rate monitor, the Gear 2 marks an important and widely rumoured step towards independence from Android.

The watch, available in two models -- the Gear 2 and the Gear 2 Neo, which has no camera -- will be powered by the Tizen operating system developed by Samsung with various partners to break free of the Android dominance.

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Samsung To Unveil First Smartwatches With Own Platform

Samsung Electronics Co is to unveil harshly Sunday its first wearable smartwatch powered by its Tizen platform in its latest attempt to distance itself from Google Inc and fasten its software and facilities.
Samsung has been jointly developing its mobile platform considering Intel Corp, as the dominance of Google's understandable Android software, which Samsung uses for its Galaxy origin of products, continues to be credited following and is now used in in the works for 80 per cent of the global smartphone puff.
The South Korean company is due to unveil two auxiliary smartwatches on Sunday, less than six months after it introduced the Galaxy Gear wristwatch, later dispensation around Android, to prove that it is greater than just a hasty aficionado in press on following than opponent Apple Inc.
The Galaxy Gear wristwatch has been criticised for its clunky design and hard-to-use features.
The motivate furthermore underscores Samsung's throbbing forward occurring subsequent to calculation products to revive slowing build going on in its mobile issue, the tech giant's biggest earnings driver, as sales of high-cease smartphones have eased in many avant-garde markets.
For the enlarge Galaxy Gear 2 and Neo 2, to be unveiled at an annual trade fair in Barcelona upon Sunday, Samsung has not significantly upgraded the hardware upon offer.
Instead, it has moved a camera to the watch's main body from the strap and different a couple of enhanced software offerings such as unfriendly TV controlling, a fitness features once heart rate monitoring, and a standalone music artiste charity, Samsung said in a avowal.
The Neo does not have a camera.The add-on devices, which will be followed by Samsung's subsidiary flagship smartphone to be announced upon Monday, will go upon sale globally in April.

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Facebook Buys Whatsapp Message Service

Social media giant Facebook will acquire mobile messaging company WhatsApp for 19 billion dollars in a cash and stock deal, the largest acquisition by the Mark Zuckerberg-led firm so far that will give it a stronghold in the market for messaging.

The whopping acquisition price includes USD 4 billion in cash, about USD 12 billion worth of Facebook shares and USD 3 billion in restricted stock units to be granted to WhatsApp's founders and employees that will vest over four years following the closing of the deal.

Under the agreement, WhatsApp co-founder and CEO Jan Koum will join Facebook Board of Directors. Facebook said the acquisition will not impact the WhatsApp's brand, which will be maintained and the company's headquarters will remain in California's Mountain View.

WhatsApp's core messaging product and Facebook's existing messenger app will continue to operate as standalone applications. "WhatsApp is on a path to connect one billion people. The services that reach that milestone are all incredibly valuable," Zuckerberg said.

"I've known Jan for a long time and I'm excited to partner with him and his team to make the world more open and connected." WhatsApp, which will continue to operate independently, has built a leading and rapidly growing real-time mobile messaging service with over 450 million people using the service each month.

Of this number, 70 per cent users are active on a given day. The messaging volume of WhatsApp is approaching the entire global telecom SMS volume and the company is currently adding more than one million new registered users per day.

"WhatsApp's extremely high user engagement and rapid growth are driven by the simple, powerful and instantaneous messaging capabilities we provide. We're excited and honored to partner with Mark and Facebook as we continue to bring our product to more people around the world," Koum added.

Koum co-founded WhatsApp in 2009 with Brian Acton, both former Yahoo executives. WhatsApp had received about USD 10 million in funding two years after it was founded. Facebook's most recent acquisition attempt failed when Zuckerberg tried to acquire SnapChat last year for a reported three billion dollars but SnapChat turned down the offer.

In a blog post, Koum said he would not have agreed to the partnership with Facebook if WhatsApp would have had to "compromise" on the core principles of the company.

The deal would give WhatsApp the flexibility to grow and expand and noted that users of the service will not experience any change in usage.

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Nokia Lumia 1320 Review

Design and Build

One glance at the Nokia Lumia 1320 and it’s easy to mistake it for the 625. That’s because it has the same curvy design and interchangeable back panel as the old one. The Lumia 625 made quite a bit of noise when it launched since it was the largest Lumia at that time that was relatively inexpensive. The 1320 follows in its footsteps by offering an even larger 6-inch display. Thankfully, Nokia has upgraded the resolution as well to 1280 x 720, so text and images are a bit crisper. Also, thanks to the addition of a ClearBlack display (which was absent in the 625), the colours are more punchy and blacks are deeper. Sunlight legibility has also improved. Needless to say, the phone feels monstrous in your hand and you can forget about single-handed use. It’s a bit heavy at 220g but manages to stay quite slim at just 9.8mm. The capacitive buttons aren’t backlit for some reason as it seems Nokia is randomly adding this in some models. The matte finish cover snaps off pretty easily and underneath, we have the fixed 3400mAh battery and microSIM and microSD card slots. There’s also a dedicated camera shutter button. Overall, the Lumia 1320 is well built and feels sturdy to hold. However, it’s quite heavy and it’s simple too large to be used comfortably every day.

Features

The Nokia 1320 comes with the Lumia Black update out of the box and is powered by a dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 SoC, running at 1.7GHz. The biggest change however, is the inclusion of 1GB RAM, which opens doors to all the apps in the store. Thanks to the speedier chipset, games and apps run smoothly without a hitch. The Black update all lets you install most of the custom Nokia apps like the Nokia Camera, although some apps like Refocus is still restricted to PureView devices. The Lumia 1320 also comes with a bunch of bundled apps like free global HERE Maps, Nokia Sotoryteller, Office, Evernote, Vimeo, Flipkart, Adidas miCoach, InNote and a couple more.

Media

The extra-large screen is great for watching videos. Colours are punchy and viewing angles are very good. The same goes for the audio quality through the speakers and earphones. There’s also FM Radio to keep you company when local music is unavailable. The 1320 also features Dolby Headphone enhancement, which adds a nice punch to your audio. There’s 8GB of internal memory which can be expanded by 64GB.

Connectivity

The Lumia 1320 supports LTE, quad-band 3G and GSM networks. Also present are Wi-Fi ‘n’, Bluetooth v4.0, GLONASS and USB 2.0. There’s no wireless charging or NFC present as well. We didn’t have any trouble with call quality however as the earpiece is loud enough even for noisy environments. The mono speaker in the rear is decently loud for alerts but can get muffled easily when you hold it.

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Web Browsers Face Threat Of Mischievous Attacks

Multiple vulnerabilities have been detected in popular web browsers Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox and cyber security sleuths have advised Internet users in the Indian cyberspace to guard against arbitrary activities on their systems.

In view of these suspicious virus-based activities, Internet users have been asked to upgrade their personal versions of these two most used web browsers on their work stations.

"Multiple vulnerabilities have been reported in Mozilla Firefox, Thunderbird and SeaMonkey which could be exploited by a remote attacker to bypass certain security restrictions, disclose potentially sensitive information, gain escalated privileges, execute arbitrary code and causes denial of service condition on the affected system," the Computer Emergency Response Team of India (CERT-IN) said in its latest advisory to online users in the country.

The CERT-In is the nodal agency to combat hacking, phishing and to fortify security-related defences of the Indian Internet arena.

"The two web browsers are an important tool for Internet surfing among Indian online consumers. The anomalies have been detected recently and it would be advised that users upgrade their existing versions sooner than later. These activities are mischiefs on part of hackers or they are harmful viruses," said a cyber security expert.

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New Blackberry OS 10.2.1 Lets You Do More, More Easily

BlackBerry Limited announced 10 OS version 10.2.1, a new software update for BlackBerry 10 smartphones that lets you do more, more easily, and helps you be more productive and stay better connected.

BlackBerry OS 10.2.1 includes hundreds of new enhancements and refinements that will make the things you do every day faster and easier:

• Customize Pinch Gesture to Filter BlackBerry® Hub - BlackBerry Hub lets you access all your messages and notifications in one place. A new feature lets you instantly filter the message list in the Hub. You can customize the Hub to show only Unread Messages, Flagged Messages, Draft Messages, Meeting Invites, Sent Messages or Level 1 Alerts. Once the filter criterion is set, you can simply activate it with a pinch gesture on the Hub's message list.
• Simplified Phone Experience - The phone includes a new incoming call screen that lets you swipe to the left to answer or swipe right to ignore a call. New intuitive icons allow you to instantly silence the call, or send a Reply Now response through BBM™, SMS or email that you can't answer the phone right away. You can choose from a list of standard automated responses or respond with a personalized note.
• SMS and Email Groups - You can now create SMS and email groups for more efficient broadcast communications.

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South African Messaging App Mxit Arrives In India

Trying to bring the heat to WhatsApp in India, African cross-platform messaging app and mobile social network has come to the country. The app was launched officially in India on Wednesday.

Mxit is available for download on not just smartphone OSes like Android, iOS, Windows Phone and BlackBerry, but is also available on Java and Symbian platforms. The company says that about 8,000 different feature phones, smartphones and tablets can run the application. Its USP is the fact that it can work on basic-data enabled feature phones too and can run on even plain-old 2G connections.

The app comes across a mix of multiple mobile based cross-platform messaging apps and social networks like WhatsApp and WeChat. Mxit borrows design elements from WhatsApp heavily, including the double tick to send and receive messages. Unlike WhatsApp, though, you can create a complete social networking profile on the app.

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