IHS: Galaxy S8 and Xiaomi Mi 6 to be first with Snapdragon 835, release dates set for March

Not that it comes as a huge surprise, but allegedly the first phones with the freshly-announced Snapdragon 835 will be Samsung’s Galaxy S8 and the Xiaomi Mi 6, according to Keving Wong, the CEO of research shop IHS for China. Qualcomm announced that the powerful 10nm chipset is already sampling with customers, and it will apparently be produced in Samsung’s foundries with engineering input from the world’s largest phone maker.
Furthermore, Kevin Wong discloses that both the Galaxy S8 and Mi 6 are expected to be released in March, which, coincidentally, is … – Source

IHS: Galaxy S8 and Xiaomi Mi 6 to be first with Snapdragon 835, release dates set for March

Here's everything Google Assistant can do on the Pixel

OK Google, let’s see what you can do.

While currently in its infancy, Google Assistant is still capable of doing a lot of pretty cool things to make life that much easier.

From helping to book reservations and find transportation for your night out to setting your morning alarm without having to stare at a bright screen in a dark room, here’s just some of the ways to use Google Assistant throughout your day. And it all starts by saying “OK Google”.

Music

Reminders

Alarms and timers

News and weather

Sports

Answer questions

Going out

Translation

Calls, texts, and emails

Open apps

Control phone settings

Navigation

Music

You can use Google Assistant to find and play music, but app support is pretty limited at this point. By default, Google Assistant will try to fulfill your requests using Google Play Music and YouTube. If you search for a specific song or artist, such as “Play Can’t Stop by the Red Hot Chili Peppers”, your request will be completed with YouTube. If you request a genre, such as “Play hip hop music”, Google Assistant will find a relevant Google Play Music radio station. Alternatively, you can simply say “Play music” to have Google Assistant pull up the I’m Feeling Lucky station in Google Play Music.

Pandora and Spotify are already supported by Google Assistant, you’ll just have to include the third-party app in your request. If you use another third-party app for music, you can ask the Assistant to open the app, but from there you’ll have to get the party started with some old-fashioned on-screen input.

Reminders

Google Assistant can be used to create quick reminders for yourself. Depending on your request, Google Assistant will create a time-based or location based reminders. For example, if you ask “Remind me to take out the garbage when I’m leaving the house”, you’ll get the option of creating that reminder based on time of day (morning, afternoon or evening) or based on your GPS location —

Google will ping your saved locations, such as your home or work).

Google will then pop up with a reminder depending on the parameters you selected, whether that’s when your phone detects you’re leaving the house, or at the specified time.

Alarms and timers

If you use your phone for your morning alarm clock (and who doesn’t these days?), setting alarms with Google Assistant will quickly become the feature you use most frequently. You can set a daily alarm for yourself (“Wake me up every day at 7 a.m.”) or schedule yourself a quick nap (“Set an alarm for 2 hours from now”). You can be fairly conversational when setting alarms with Google Assistant, but you’ll always want to specify morning or evening if you don’t want to accidentally set that important morning alarm for p.m. instead of a.m.

You can also use Google Assistant – Source

Here's everything Google Assistant can do on the Pixel

Paytm suspends POS app a day after release due to security concerns

India’s Paytm has withdrawn its POS app a day after it was released amid security concerns.

Paytm released a new point-of-sale app dubbed Paytm POS to much fanfare on Wednesday, addressing the inadequate availability of POS machines in India. Founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma was expecting over 10 million downloads of Paytm POS app by the weekend.

SEE ALSO: India’s futile attempt to go cashless is a reality check for our dream epayments future

However, the ecommerce company announced last evening it is rolling back the app, a decision it reached after talking with several stakeholders and realising its app needed to be more secure. Shortly after its release, payment network giants MasterCard and Visa …

More about India, Paytm, and Tech – Source

Paytm suspends POS app a day after release due to security concerns

Rumor: Apple to debut a 10.5-Inch iPad in March 2017

We’ve already heard rumors that Apple is going to launch three new iPad models in March next year. According to the Digitimes, a 10.5-inch screen variant will join the familiar 9.7-inch and 12.9-inch devices. The publication cites sources from Apple’s supply chain and says the 10.5-inch model will tackle the enterprise and education sectors in the United States, as the 9.7-inch one is deemed too small, and the 12.9-inch iPad is too big and expensive. The 10.5-inch screen diagonal should be optimal for these sectors’ needs, and some consumers will find it a handy proposition, too.

The 10.5-inch … – Source

Rumor: Apple to debut a 10.5-Inch iPad in March 2017

Orders for the newly announced OnePlus 3T are shipping

The OnePlus 3 made quite an impression with all of us at PhoneArena, surpassing all-comers to the flagship segment in 2016. Even among the latest crop of devices to come to market in the latter part of the year, the OnePlus 3 is still no slouch, especially when its price tag was only $399.

More than that however, OnePlus managed a near perfect launch of the device this past summer, without the need for that dreaded invitation system from days’ past.

Now, just a couple days after OnePlus started taking orders for the same-but-different OnePlus 3T, those that ponied up a small premium … – Source

Orders for the newly announced OnePlus 3T are shipping

BLU may be facing a class-action lawsuit over sending user data to China

BLU Products is now possibly facing a class-action lawsuit over its role in the leaking of personal user data to a company in China. As reported last week, several BLU phones were discovered to have been sending a variety of information back to a company in China via a pre-installed ‘bloatware’ app. BLU has since patched the problem.

But that hasn’t stopped a law firm from approaching affected BLU users to potentially join in a class action lawsuit against the company. In response, BLU has rather aggressively characterized the firm, Rosen Legal, as an “ambulance chaser who dismisses details and is uneducated on the subject”.

Speaking to Fortune, BLU’s senior marketing director, Carmen Gonzalez, told the publication that “this is a non issue and there is no wrong doing from BLU to warrant any such claim. There were no damages that anyone suffered”. Whether specific damages were suffered or not, it is not a wise customer service maneuver to so casually dismiss consumers’ privacy, especially when they’ve just had their data leaked.

The app in question was periodically delivering text messages, phone call information, location and app usage data to a Chinese server. This isn’t the first time we’ve heard of an app doing this, nor of a pre-installed app doing this, so we’re probably more inclined to side with BLU on this one. But the company is going to have a hard time winning back consumer trust after this.

For now at least, the law firm is only proposing an investigation that could lead to a class action suit, so we’ll just have to wait and see if BLU is guilty of any wrongdoing or was simply careless in its business dealings. As always, pay close attention to app permissions, including those for apps that came with your phone.

Do you think BLU is guilty of anything? Or do you think the law firm is just chasing money?

– Source

BLU may be facing a class-action lawsuit over sending user data to China

Australians are pretty hooked on Snapchat, company figures reveal

Snapchat is doing remarkably well in Australia, new figures released by Snap Inc. show.

For the first time, the company has revealed how many Australians are daily active users on the platform. And it’s a cool 4 million.

According to a 2015 report from Deloitte, Australia has 15 million smartphone users, making the market’s active Snapchat audience a pretty significant one. No wonder we’re getting slapped with all those branded lenses on the daily.

SEE ALSO: Snapchat Spectacles: The teardown

Demographics-wise, Australia imitates global trends almost identically, with 18-to-24-year-olds dominating the platform at 31 percent and 25-to-34-year-olds coming in a close second at 28 percent. …

More about Daily Active Users, Snap Inc, Snapchat, Australia, and Social Media – Source

Australians are pretty hooked on Snapchat, company figures reveal

Arrow Launcher update makes it even more efficient, adds search gesture

Microsoft continues to deploy small but meaningful updates for its Android launcher, Arrow. The application is updated regularly, about one per month, but the beta version receives updates even more frequently.

We’ve reported in the past about Arrow Launcher’s achievements, as developers seem to be focusing on making it as efficient and soft on memory as possible.

Today’s update marks another step towards making Arrow Launcher one of the light on resources Android launchers available in the Google Play store.

The official changelog mentions the latest update should make Arrow … – Source

Arrow Launcher update makes it even more efficient, adds search gesture

Thousands of people to Trump on Twitter: 'We can't just get along'

So much for coming together on Thanksgiving.

On Thursday morning, “We Can’t Just Get Along” was trending on Twitter, a reference to a fiery column from Charles M. Blow of the New York Times about President-elect Donald Trump. It wasn’t exactly a peace offering.

SEE ALSO: Trump’s America will also be a new golden age of activism

“You are an aberration and abomination who is willing to do and say anything — no matter whom it aligns you with and whom it hurts — to satisfy your ambitions,” he wrote.

“I don’t believe you care much at all about this country or your party or the American people. I believe that the only thing you care about is self-aggrandizement and self-enrichment.” …

More about Charles Blow, New York Times, Donald Trump, and Us World – Source

Thousands of people to Trump on Twitter: 'We can't just get along'

Donald Trump's Christmas ornament made Amazon reviews great again

The Donald J. Trump campaign surprised “Make America Great Again” supporters with a new holiday gift just before Thanksgiving. For $150, you can own a Christmas ornament shaped like the red MAGA hats.

But there’s another surprise — a priceless one — that just keeps on giving. Amazon users took to the product page, where the ornament was unavailable as of Thursday morning, to leave what we can bet to be fake, but nevertheless hilarious reviews.

SEE ALSO: Donald Trump’s first speech as president-elect is surprisingly tame AF

Out of 1,501 customer reviews, 90 percent are for one star while 7 percent are five stars. Here’s some of the best: …

More about Christmas Tree, Christmas, Gift Guide, Gifts, and Amazon – Source

Donald Trump's Christmas ornament made Amazon reviews great again

LeEco Le Pro3 review

LeEco is making it abundantly clear – they are here and are looking to really disrupt multiple segments of the tech world. They have a car concept that turned heads,

The colors are what make us give the camera a nod, with a slight bump up in saturation making pictures look more vivid and pleasing to the eye. Interestingly enough, this didn’t seem to be the case when looking at the pictures on the screen of the phone itself. This is likely due to the screen being a bit muted, as we mentioned in the display section earlier on. General users will be able to enjoy their smartphone photography on the Le Pro3, though prosumers will probably wish that there was more speed in the app and a few more options to get even better shots.

Software

And finally, in software, the EUI brings its Asian styled flavor of Android; this means no app drawer and potentially a few different features that aren’t typically found in western versions of Google’s OS. EUI starts off pleasantly enough, with good design cues that are decidedly smaller in overall elements than other Chinese operating systems, perhaps as a way to avoid anything bleeding over their boundaries (as is rather common with overtly long translations in localized versions of Color OS and such).

The lack of an app drawer is a polarizing choice, with some users really hating the omission and others finding it rather refreshing. I am the former, but I understand that it doesn’t truly change the overall Android experience that much. LeEco, to their credit, tries a few different things in their skin, with the quick settings showing up above the recent apps screen, and the notification shade showing only notifications and a large button on the bottom to manage said notifications, even if it won’t be pressed all that often anyway.

Where LeEco hopes that the EUI will separate itself is through its ties to the LeEco streaming services. LeEco did well to get quite a few different partnerships with networks like SeeSo and Showtime to bring a lot of content to the masses, but it requires subscription and monthly payments to the EcoPass, which has its own digital currency called the EcoPoints which can be used in lieu of cash towards options in the LeMall.

Take a deep breath.

A lot of that content is found in the Le app, but in place of where the app drawer button would be is a wholly different application called Le Live, which brings users to a 3×3 grid of content distributors that all stream content straight to the phone on an ongoing basis. This can include the aforementioned SeeSo but also includes some Asian channels, Vice, and a few smaller outlets like TasteMade, which you might recognize from their Facebook ads or Snapchat. Basically content is consistently played and scheduled at certain time intervals, and is a portal to a lot of different streaming content that is curated, only somewhat expansive, and honestly a little – Source

LeEco Le Pro3 review