The Eye-Plug Camera Lets You Create 3D Videos

Cameras are a big focus with smartphones these days both for the consumer and the manufacturer, but not all devices are created equal and some phones come with more camera features than others. While the most important thing in regards to the camera is always going to be picture quality for most users, there is a handful that enjoy having more functionality through quirky features. Today at Computex 2016, a tiny little device called the Eye-Plug aims to bring some of that quirkiness to a wider range of users, as it lets you record and create 3D videos quite easily by the looks of it.

The Eye-Plug is a small camera that connects to your Android device as an additional camera sensor and it plugs directly into the phone's charging port. The Eye-Plug looks to come in both USB Type-C variants and a microUSB model so it can be used with just about any Android smartphone, although Weeview Inc does note that it is only compatible with Android devices at the moment. Utilizing this type of plug, though, allows it to be used with either the front or the back camera. USB C models can be plugged in on either side and the microUSB model has a swivel that allows it to be turned around. While 3D videos are going to be its main functionality and the purpose that the Eye-Plug was designed for, you can also use it for depth of field effects on photos and you can preset the focus on pictures before you've taken them.

When the Eye-Plug launches which is supposed to be sometime later in 2016, it's said to cost only $35 which seems like a fairly low cost for this type of accessory, but should the $35 price tag turn out to be correct, it will be extremely attainable by a wide range of consumers due to its affordability. Once videos are created users will be able to view them in 3D through the use of Cardboard viewers like the Google Cardboard headset using an app that was designed to interface with the camera. Although there is no availability or pricing information yet, the Eye-Plug does appear to come in a range of different colors including white, black, and an orange.

Source: The Eye-Plug Camera Lets You Create 3D Videos

Sony Xperia X vs Xperia Z5 vs Samsung Galaxy S7 camera review

We compare the camera tech on Sony's Xperia X and Xperia Z5 mobiles, and see how they stand up to the excellent camera on the Samsung Galaxy S7. Here's our full Xperia X vs Z5 vs S7 camera review and supertest.

Sony's latest smartphone, the Xperia X, trims some of Sony's usual features such as water resistance to make it a more affordable handset than last year's Xperia Z5. However, Sony knows only too well how most people now use their mobile as a full-time camera, so the Xperia X still packs in a class-leading 23-megapixel rear camera and all-new 13-megapixel selfie camera to compete with the very best out there.

So how does the Xperia X's camera compare with the Xperia Z5's, and are they tough competition for our favourite smartphone snapper of 2016 so far, the Galaxy S7's 12-megapixel camera? Here's our full Xperia X camera review supertest.

Read next: Xperia X vs Xperia Z5, what else has changed?

Xperia X vs Xperia Z5 vs Galaxy S7 camera review: Rear camera tests

For this camera comparison, we set all three phone cameras to maximum resolution and kept them on auto mode, the mode that most users will stick with for everyday shots.

The Galaxy S7's 12-megapixel rear camera is one of the best we've ever wielded thanks to its ease of use; you get gorgeous results almost every time, with no effort whatsoever. Still, the Xperia Z5 was already strong competition and now the Xperia X is muscling into the fray with its own excellent 23-megapixel rear camera.

First off, the Xperia Z5 and Xperia X produce almost identical photos in almost every circumstances. Photos boast natural colours and are packed with detail, while both Xperias handle moving subjects well. The Xperia X has a 'predictive focus' object tracking feature that is supposed to cut down the time needed to snap a pet, child or anything else that refuses to stand still. In practice this is a little hit-and-miss, but the Z5 was already pretty good at fast focus so usually the difference is negligible.

The S7's lens is also pleasingly fast at snapping onto your subject and taking rapid-fire shots, although you do occasionally get motion blur, especially in softer light. Besides this minor quibble, it's hard to find a complaint with the S7's photos. Detail levels are a match for the Xperia shots and colours are more vibrant, which makes for a more stand-out (if less realistic) picture.

Xperia X photo samples:

Xperia Z5 photo samples:

Galaxy S7 photo samples:

When it comes to low light, the Galaxy S7 is still just about the champion. With no flash, the Galaxy S7 captures impressively sharp photos that aren't marred by grain. The Xperia Z5 and Xperia X produce solid results too, but there's definitely more grain and a little less detail compared with the S7 snaps.

As for flash photography, we prefer the Galaxy S7's results once again. The flash does a great job of lighting up your subject while keeping skin tones natural, but the Xperia phones tend to make things a little too bright, with slightly over-exposed photos.

For more info and samples, check out our Xperia X camera review, Xperia Z5 camera review and Galaxy S7 camera review.

Xperia X vs Xperia Z5 vs Galaxy S7 camera review: Video tests

All three phones here can shoot Full HD video at up to 60 frames-per-second. However, while the Xperia X maxes out there, the Galaxy S7 can also shoot in Quad HD and 4K, while the Xperia Z5 also boasts a 4K mode.

Resolution aside, the Xperias and the Galaxy S7 all shoot crisp, attractive footage, helped along by the excellent built-in image stabilisation and fast-snap focus. Changes in lighting are handled well and the phones' mics do an admirable job of picking up audio in all three cases.

Here's our Full HD test footage with the Xperia X, Xperia Z5 and Galaxy S7, so you can compare directly. Check out the Recombu YouTube account for more sample videos.

Full HD Xperia X video sample:

Full HD Xperia Z5 video sample:

Full HD Galaxy S7 video sample:

Xperia X vs Xperia Z5 vs Galaxy S7 camera review: Selfie camera tests

When it comes to the selfie cameras, the differences between the two Sony phones are much more obvious.

The Xperia Z5's 5.1-megapixel camera is still a decent snapper, capturing detailed photos of your mug on demand. Sony's lens copes well with low light photography too, great news if you're a fanatical FB poster when you hit the club.

However, the Xperia X boosts that camera to a 13-megapixel shooter, with a wider-angle lens to get more heads into each pic. The Xperia X's low light performance is even more impressive, capturing smooth, grain-free images and more natural skin tones thanks to its unique habit of taking lots of snaps and stitching them together.

Samsung's Galaxy S7 boasts a dependable 5-megapixel selfie camera which also captures plenty of detail in almost any conditions. In our tests, we found that skin tones were less rich in the S7 photos compared with the Xperia X shots. In low light the S7 pics were also a little more grainy, but Samsung has a special power to help out: the S7's flash screen mode. If you're in a dingy environment, the screen can light up as you take a shot, which results in a bright and colourful selfie.

Xperia X selfies:

Xperia Z5 selfies:

Galaxy S7 selfies:

Read next: HTC 10 vs LG G5 vs Sony Xperia Z5 vs Samsung Galaxy S7

Source: Sony Xperia X vs Xperia Z5 vs Samsung Galaxy S7 camera review

First Impressions: Sony Xperia X – Is it All About the Camera?

Sony is trying hard to swim out of troubled waters and stay relevant in the smartphone game, and to that effect, it seem to be making some big decisions like abandoning the Xperia Z series for the new X series and streamlining the offerings with a neat onus on the unique selling point of each phone. In that regard, the Xperia X is aimed squarely at being one of the best Android camera smartphones. Does it have the potential to be amongst the best? Here are our first impressions.

The Xperia X is pitched as the flagship smartphone, at least here in India. But globally, it sits in between the real flagship – Xperia X Performance and the mid-ranger, Xperia XA. For reasons best known to Sony, the Japanese company thinks that Xperia X has enough to be a flagship and take on the likes of Samsung Galaxy S7, the LG G5 and the HTC 10, and the Indian market isn't ready yet for the Xperia X Performance, which comes with the same camera module, but much better hardware overall.

Before we get into the specifications, a couple of things about the design of Xperia X. Sony has stuck to its roots in terms of the design. From a distance, one can easily tell it's a Sony phone, thanks to the candybar design with nice curves on the four corners. But for the first time, Sony has opted for a unified color design, which means that the color on the back flows into the front as well, which makes it look really pretty. We got the Graphite Black color variant which looks stunning. Sony has ditched the glass back for full metal, and must say we like this in terms of looks as well as in-hand feel.

As for the internals, the Xperia X has a 5-inch 1080p (FHD) display based on Sony's Triluminous technology, and is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 650 Hexacore processor paired with 3GB of RAM and 64GB of internal storage. Thankfully, there's a dedicated microSD slot which can take up to 200GB of additional storage. Being a Sony phone, the Xperia X boasts of Hi-Res audio with digital noise cancellation and support for LDAC. Connectivity options include NFC, Bluetooth 4.2, 4G LTE (cat 6) and WiFi 802.11ac. The power button on the right doubles up as a fingerprint scanner. Juicing up all these is the 2,620mAh battery which Sony claims is good enough to provide 2 days of battery life for most people, and has QuickCharge 2.0 support along with Qnovo adaptive charging.

But the real star is the camera. It's one of the first smartphones to come with the latest Sony IMX 318 module, with 22.5 Megapixel resolution and Exmor RS sensor paired with 24mm wide G-lens. Sony has worked hard to better the camera performance on the X series. Sony claims that it needs just 0.6 seconds for launching the camera (when the phone is on sleep) and capturing an image, thanks to the new Predictive Hybrid AF technology. To put in layman terms, Sony is using some AI to predict what the subject in the image is doing and keep it in focus so that it doesn't take forever to launch the camera and capture the moment. In our experience, this was pretty much a hit, although there were occasional misses. Focusing is super fast and the dedicated camera button is a boon to utilize the fast capture feature and not miss that important moment you'd want to capture. The front camera too gets a big bump in terms of resolution. It's now 13 Megapixels and has a wide angle lens wi th improved low light performance.

So how do we like the new camera module on Sony Xperia X? It's been pretty good so far, but has a long way to go to challenge the Samsung Galaxy S7, which we think is the gold standard when it comes to Mobile photography. While being super quick to focus and capture images, the Sony Xperia X struggles with the auto mode. Sony has persisted with its "intelligent auto" (iA+) mode which automatically decides to change the modes and parameters depending upon the lighting and scene. While this is handy for most people, we felt that the software isn't doing justice to the camera hardware. We had much more success with the Manual Mode of the camera. If you know the basics of photography, you can easily take some stunning pictures with minor changes done to the settings. We shall be doing a detailed camera review of Xperia X, but for now, below are some sample images which are mostly taken with the auto (iA+) mode.

Going beyond the camera, things look a bit tough for Sony Xperia X. The processor and display aren't really the best around to be considered 'flagship'. Specially considering the pricing of Rs 48,990 which falls right into the category of Samsung Galaxy S7, HTC 10 and LG G5, Sony has its task cut out to convince people to consider the Xperia X over the competition. For now, it does look to be heavily dependent on the camera. We have seen in the past that specs alone doesn't define a flagship, so we shall be testing out the device over the next few days and will be looking at the camera as well as the actual performance, including the battery life, which is usually good with Sony flagship phones.

Disclosure: The author is in Thailand to cover the launch of this phone on invitation of Sony.

Source: First Impressions: Sony Xperia X – Is it All About the Camera?

ZenFone 3 Deluxe: All hail Asus' new flagship phone (hands-on)

The company's most impressive looking flagship to date, the Asus ZenFone 3 Deluxe overpowers the ZenFone 3 and large-screened ZenFone 3 Ultra phones it was announced alongside at Computex in Taipei. It looks like it has the chops to match up with other flagship phones in the market, too.

Sporting a monster 6GB of RAM, the base 64GB model will cost $499 (£340, AU$695). The competitively priced phone will be available in Q3, sometime after July.

Own looks

Unlike the glass-clad ZenFone 3, the Deluxe model has a curved aluminium back, though it shares the same rear camera design and a fingerprint sensor on the back.

The phone is comfortable to hold and has a slightly larger 5.7-inch Super AMOLED display as compared to the ZenFone 3's 5.5-inch screen. Some may have a little bit of trouble reaching over with their thumb due to the slightly wider screen, but for me each corner was reachable with a bit of a stretch.

Asus has also worke d on removing antenna lines to give the phone a clean looking back. We're told that the antenna is located around the sides of the phone instead. If you look closely, you'll see little antenna bands on the small chamfered edges near the display. Asus' engineers said the Deluxe won't have the "grip of death"/Antennagate issue found on the iPhone 4, as the chamfered edges aren't likely to be in contact with your hands while holding it.

If you look carefully, you should be able to see a small tiny white antenna banding on the chamfered edges.

Aloysius Low/CNET Top grade hardware

Like the Samsung Galaxy S7 and the Xiaomi Mi 5, the ZenFone 3 Deluxe sports a Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor. Unlike those devices, it houses a whopping 6GB of RAM.

The Deluxe will come with different storage capacities that go all the way up to 256GB. It blows my mind that a smartphone will soon have more onboard storage than the laptop I'm using to write this right now.

Like the ZenFone 3, the Deluxe's camera will have four-axis optical image stabilization, but it's on a 23-megapixel camera instead of a 16-megapixel camera. Asus is using the Sony IMX318 sensor, which features a super quick 0.03s autofocus and three-axis electronic image stabilization for video. The phone can shoot 4K 3,840x2,160-pixel video, and there's also two tone flash, a colour sensor and laser autofocus.

The fingerprint sensor is located at the back.

Aloysius Low/CNET Should you get it?

The ZenFone 3 Deluxe seems like great addition to Asus' ZenFone line. I'm glad the company is finally budging its focus from budget and midrange handsets, which its ZenFone 2 line was largely comprised of, to make this high-specced device.

If you're due for a smartphone upgrade, the ZenFone 3 Deluxe is a device to keep your eyes on.

Key specs

5.7-inch Super AMOLED display, full HD resolution (1,920x1,080-pixels)

3,000mAh battery

Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 quad-core processor

Five magnet speaker and NXT amp

Three colours: Grey, Silver and Gold.

Source: ZenFone 3 Deluxe: All hail Asus' new flagship phone (hands-on)

Acer's Liquid Zest Plus phone offers a little extra spice

Acer

For a phone that's going to cost just $199 or £199 (around AU$275) Acer sure has tried put a lot into the 5.5-inch frame of the Liquid Zest Plus.

Big battery and big camera are the two initial stand outs. The 5,000 mAh battery is significantly bigger than some flagship phones that have been renowned for their lifespan: Samsung's latest Note, for example, has just 3,000 mAh. Similarly the 13-megapixel rear camera isn't what you'd expect from a sub-$200 phone.

But they aren't the only tricks the Zest Plus has up its fairly plain sleeve. The battery has a quick charge system that'll get it to 50 percent capacity in just one hour and it can even be used to charge other phones.

The camera has what Acer is calling a "hybrid tri-focusing system" which means it pulls focus fast: In just 0.3 seconds, in fact. Selfie fans (and aren't we all these days) should get a kick from the 85-degree angle on the 5-megapixel front facing camer a. There's even an automatic selfie mode that uses face detection and you can shake the handset to start an automatic selfie timer.

Acer

The Liquid Zest Plus even comes with DTS-HD sound, dual-SIM capacity and a bluelight shield for night use. Of course, the real question is what did Acer leave out to get that low price tag?

We should get some deeper information on the Acer Liquid Zest Plus in a few days when Computex 2016 in in full swing, so stand by for some hands-on impressions later this week.

Source: Acer's Liquid Zest Plus phone offers a little extra spice

Caught on camera: Farooq Abdullah talking over phone during National Anthem

Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah was today caught on camera talking on his mobile phone when the National Anthem was being played during Mamata Banerjee's swearing-in ceremony.

State chief secretary Basudeb Banerjee requested all to stand up for the National Anthem at Red Road where the ceremony was being held.

Abdullah, also the National Conference president, was seen talking over his mobile phone when everyone was standing in attention. Standing next to him was RJD leader Lalu Prasad.

A galaxy of political leaders were present at the ceremony. Among them were Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, his Bihar counterpart Nitish Kumar and DMK leader Kanimozhi.

Reacting to the incident, Senior Congress leader Ambika Soni said "I really don't know what happened. But, whenever the national anthem is being played, we all should stand in attention." 

Source: Caught on camera: Farooq Abdullah talking over phone during National Anthem

Huawei P9 camera is nice, but it's still a smartphone camera

To dismiss the Huawei P9's imager as 'just another smartphone camera' would be unfair. Its dual 12MP cameras aren't your average dual cameras – Huawei claims that by using one monochrome and one RGB sensor, the camera is 100% more sensitive to light than your standard smartphone camera. It offers Raw capture, full manual exposure control and laser-assisted autofocus. Oh, and Leica had a hand in designing the module. All-in-all, there's plenty going for it camera-wise. 

Huawei P9 real-world sample gallery

We approached the P9 eager to give it a try, but with a healthy dose of skepticism. And keeping our expectations measured, we were pleased by the Huawei P9's results. For one thing, shooting with is a nice experience. There are multiple grid overlay options, a level gauge (praise hands emoji!) and you can easily toggle between full manual and full auto shooting. It's also possible to shoot exclusively with the monochrome camera, which opens up other creative possibilities.

The P9 offers many of the comforts of an advanced point-and-shoot. So how's the image quality? It's pretty much as we expected. Good light JPEGs look just peachy on phone-sized screens, but at 100% they don't look exactly '100 emoji' 100. Grass turns mushy and halos start appearing around high contrast edges. Things obviously get quite noisy by the time you get to ISO 3200.

But wait, there's Raw! You can see some of the benefits in terms of detail retention in the studio scene widget, but definitely check out the difference it makes in some of our real-world samples. It should be noted that Raw capture is only available in Pro mode, and can't be used when shooting with the monochrome camera.

TL;DR, I'd be pretty happy if the Huawei P9 camera was the camera I had with me all the time. But the dual camera system hasn't solved the low light troubles inherent to small sensors.

Source: Huawei P9 camera is nice, but it's still a smartphone camera

Moto G4 Plus has best camera; beats Galaxy J7 (2016), OnePlus X, Lenovo Vibe S1, Xiaomi Mi4

Motorola's latest offering, Moto G4 Plus, may not be the best under-Rs. 15,000 mobile phone currently available in Indian market in terms of specifications but it is said to be a device with the best camera. It can easily beat other devices in its price bracket, like the Samsung Galaxy J7 (2016), OnePlus X, Lenovo Vibe S1, Xiaomi Mi4 and others hands down as far as this specification is concerned.

The Moto G4 Plus comes in two versions, one with a 16GB internal storage and 2GB RAM with a price tag of Rs. 13,499, and the other with 32GB internal memory and 3GB RAM priced at Rs. 14,999.

The Moto G4 Plus boasts of a 16MP camera with OmniVision Pure Cel Plus sensor, PDAF (Phase Detection Auto Focus) and dual-LED flash, and a 5MP camera with wide-angle lens, whereas the Galaxy J7 (2016) has a 13MP main camera with f/1.9 aperture, 28mm, autofocus and LED flash and a 5MP front-snapper with f/1.9 aperture.

The OnePlus X has a 13MP rear camera with f/2.2 aperture, 1/3" sensor size and 1.14 µm pixel size features, and an 8MP front-snapper with f/2.4 aperture, while the Lenovo Vibe S1 mounts a 13MP main camera with f/2.2 aperture and an 8MP + 2 MP (DOF) front-snappers.

Most smartphones have a camera with high mega-pixel but that doesn't guarantee a high quality picture. In fact, picture quality depends more on aperture, lens and other features. Now, DxOMark which is known for mobile phone camera reviews, has given Moto G4 Plus a score of 84 for exposure and contrast, 85 for colour, 91 for autofocus, 85 for texture, 86 for noise, 85 for artifacts and 77 for flash, taking the total still image score to 85. 

Interestingly, the score of Moto G4 Plus given by the website is higher than that of several flagship smartphones, including the iPhone 6s (83), iPhone 6s Plus (84), Samsung Galaxy Note 4 (84), and Samsung Galaxy S5 (80). Going by the DxOMark score, the mid-range smartphone will easily beat its competitors like the Samsung Galaxy J7 (2016), OnePlus X, Lenovo Vibe S1, Xiaomi Mi4 and others in the camera department.

The Moto G4 Plus sports a 5.5-inch display with 1,080x1,920 pixels (401 ppi pixel density), powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 617 processor, and runs on Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow. It comes packed with a 32GB internal storage (expandable up to 128GB via microSD card), a 3GB RAM, and a 3,000mAh battery with Turbo charger.

Source: Moto G4 Plus has best camera; beats Galaxy J7 (2016), OnePlus X, Lenovo Vibe S1, Xiaomi Mi4

Hillary Clinton picks up on Donald Trump’s media strategy — by picking up the phone

Phones haven't always been good to Hillary Clinton. Eight years ago, during her first White House run, she thought voters' faith in her ability to handle some calamitous 3 a.m. phone call would help her defeat Barack Obama in the Democratic primary. She was wrong.

As secretary of state, Clinton wanted so badly to use her personal BlackBerry for official business that she set up the private email server that today is the biggest headache of her second presidential campaign.

[How Clinton's email scandal took root]

Now it appears Clinton might be trying one more time to make phones work to her advantage. Barring an epic collapse in the final stages of her primary contest against Bernie Sanders, she is headed for a general election showdown with Donald Trump, who seems to love phoning in to TV news programs almost as much as he loves tweeting.

Clinton rarely calls in. In fact, she does far fewer TV interviews than Trump, period. But she did two TV interviews by phone in a single afternoon on Thursday, suggesting she might try to beat Trump at his own game — or, at least, not be left on the sidelines.

It's too early to call this a trend, of course, and the Clinton campaign did not respond to a Fix inquiry about whether the candidate plans to make these appearances a regular thing. We'll just have to watch and see.

But it would make a lot of sense. As noted, Trump does many more interviews than Clinton, helping to make him more visible to voters. A presidential candidate is never far from a camera, but there are surely times when the most convenient thing is to simply pick up the phone and call in to make a point.

Networks don't love this — theirs is a visual medium, after all — and some shows such as "CBS This Morning" and "Fox News Sunday" have refused to conduct phone interviews. But many others have allowed Trump to call in and would likely feel obligated to let Clinton do the same, should she want to.

Phone interviews can give candidates an edge in tough interviews, as CNN's Chris Cuomo explained to the Erik Wemple Blog in the fall:

"I would suggest it's a tactic, a strategy more than it is convenience," [Cuomo] says. Here are the various advantages that Trump derives, in the view of the host:

* "He doesn't have to pick up on any visual cues. He doesn't have to worry about the body language that is coming from somewhere else."

* "It's easy for him to over-talk the questioner."

* It's tricky for interviewers because they're not looking at their interviewee; they're looking into a camera.

It's worth noting that Clinton picked the occasion of a critical report on her private email use by the State Department inspector general to call in to CNN and MSNBC. Perhaps her campaign recognized some of the same tactical benefits identified by Cuomo.

If that's the case, then Clinton's Thursday phoners might be more of a response to specific circumstances than a sign of things to come. But in either case, they appear to be yet another example of Trump's effect on other candidates and the media in 2016.

Source: Hillary Clinton picks up on Donald Trump's media strategy — by picking up the phone

Farooq Abdullah caught on camera 'talking on phone' during national anthem

Summary: Kolkata, May 27 (ANI): In what may trigger a fresh controversy, National Conference chief Farooq Abdullah was on Friday caught on camera talking on phone during the national anthem at Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief Mamata Banerjee's swearing-in ceremony as the West Bengal Chief Minister. In a star studded event, graced by Bollywood celebrities and politicians alike, Mamata was sworn-in as the Chief Minister of West Bengal for the second consecutive term. Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley , Minister of State for Urban Development Babul Supriyo, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad Yadav, Bhutan's Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar , Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav attended the swearing-in ceremony besides others. Former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly and many former cricket and football players were also present on the occasion. This was the first time that Bengal witnessed a swear ing-in-ceremony of a government outside the Raj Bhavan.

Kolkata, May 27 (ANI): In what may trigger a fresh controversy, National Conference chief Farooq Abdullah was on Friday caught on camera talking on phone during the national anthem at Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief Mamata Banerjee's swearing-in ceremony as the West Bengal Chief Minister. In a star studded event, graced by Bollywood celebrities and politicians alike, Mamata was sworn-in as the Chief Minister of West Bengal for the second consecutive term. This was the first time that Bengal witnessed a swearing-in-ceremony of a government outside the Raj Bhavan. Kolkata Mayor Shovan Chatterjee, former Indian cricketer Laxmi Ratan Shukla and singer Indranil Sen are among the 17 new faces in the 42-member ministry. Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley , Minister of State for Urban Development Babul Supriyo, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad Yadav, Bhutan's Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar , Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Uttar Prad esh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav attended the swearing-in ceremony besides others. Former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly and many former cricket and football players were also present on the occasion. (ANI). .

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Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata/Farooq-Abdullah-caught-on-camera-talking-on-phone-during-national-anthem/articleshow/52465922.cms

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Source: Farooq Abdullah caught on camera 'talking on phone' during national anthem

HTC 10 with Ultra Pixel camera launched in India for Rs 52,990

Taiwanese handset-maker has launched its flagship, HTC 10 in India for Rs 52,990. The phone will however, only be available from June 5.

The 5.2 inch HTC 10 has Qualcomm Snapdragon processor with computing speed of up to 2.2 Ghz. It has 32GB internal memory and supports external storage of up to 2 terabyte or about 2,000GB. Other notable features in the HTC 10 include a powerful battery — promised at two days — and the ability to customize the home screen so that app icons don't all have to stay in a grid. There will be stickers of different sizes to move around and create a personalised design.

HTC is also giving a slight boost to the selfie camera — to 5 megapixels, matching the Apple and Samsung phones. It also joins its rivals in letting the screen serve as a front-facing flash.

The camera unit tries to strikes balance — larger individual pixels, but not as large as before. The rear camera is now 12 megapixels, the same as the latest Apple iPhones 6s and Samsung Galaxy S7 phones.

"What we tried to do ... is to get the best of both worlds," said Nigel Newby-House, HTC's associate vice president for product planning in North America. In last year's HTC One M9 phone, "the imaging performance was not up to the kind of spec of what we really like to see in a flagship."

HTC's flagship phones have drawn good reviews in the past, but it's had trouble translating those into sales. The company doesn't currently rank as one of the top five phone manufacturers worldwide, according to the market-research firm Gartner. In recent months, HTC has branched out to fitness and virtual-reality devices. But it isn't giving up on phones.

It has very little UI enhancements and sticks mostly to a stock Android look. This should make it easier for HTC to upgrade the 10 from its present version of Marshmallow 6.0 to Android N much more quickly. For audiophiles, the phone can now handle higher-quality sound files, and the two external speakers have been tweaked so that one focuses on high end notes, while the other emphasises bass.

Source: HTC 10 with Ultra Pixel camera launched in India for Rs 52,990

Hands On: ZTE Axon 7, the First Google Daydream VR Phone

ZTE's new Axon 7 may be a Daydream become real: Google's Daydream VR platform, to be exact. The newest flagship from the sometimes No. 4, sometimes No. 5 US smartphone maker is the first official Google Daydream VR compatible handset and the only unlocked Snapdragon 820-powered phone you can get in the US for under $500.

Those are some good flags to plant in the ground for ZTE, which does well at selling affordable phones but not so well in the premium segment. Last-year's model, the Axon Pro, was quickly eclipsed even in the unlocked-phone niche by Google's Nexus 6P.

The Axon 7, ZTE's new premium model announced today, is a second try at raising the company's profile. Designed in part by Designworks, a subsidiary of BMW, it's slimmer than last year's phone, with a big fingerprint sensor on the back and thoroughly updated specs.

The Axon 7 will come in gold and gray. It measures 6 by 2.95 by 0.34 inches and weighs a hefty 6.5 ounces. On the front, there's a 5.5-inch, 2,560-by-1,440 AMOLED screen using Gorilla Glass 4, an 8-megapixel camera and dual stereo speakers. On the back, there's a fingerprint sensor and a 20-megapixel f/1.8 Samsung camera. The phone has a sealed-in 3140mAh battery, and one of those witty SIM card slots that lets you put in either two SIMs, or a SIM and a MicroSD card. Inside, there's a 2.2GHz Snapdragon 820 processor, 4GB of RAM, and 64GB of storage. There's a USB-C port on the bottom.

The Axon 7 still feels like a big phone, but it doesn't feel like a giant boat the way the Axon Pro did. ZTE got rid of the idiosyncratic imprinted triangles for more conventional drilled speaker holes, and the effect of the whole thing is to be softer, rounder, and a little kinder than last year's phone. The fingerprint sensor on the back is indeed very well-placed for your index finger, the dual stereo speakers are loud, and the AMOLED colors are vibrant.

As for performance, I only used the phone for a few minutes, but Snapdragon 820 devices so far have had pretty similar, very good performance. I'm especially impressed with the 820's modem performance, both on Wi-Fi and cellular, compared to last year's phones.

The phone ships with Android Marshmallow, but it'll get Android N.

"We have early access to Android N like some other OEMs, with the anticipation that this will be updated as quickly as possible," ZTE USA VP Jeff Yee said.

It'll also be the first phone we've heard of to support the new Daydream VR platform, which Google said was coming in phones this fall.

Axon Pro at left, Axon 7 at right.

"There's a spec now from Google that you have to match to be VR ready," Yee said. "VR is a key selling point this year."

A 128GB variant, which probably won't be available in the US, will also support force touch, which Google will enable with an update to Android N, Yee said.

The fact that ZTE is coming in with a Snapdragon 820 phone under $500 says a lot about ZTE's place in the US market. While there are other Chinese makers with cheaper phones running Qualcomm's speedy premium processor, Xiaomi and LeTV just can't get their acts together to figure out how to sell phones here. But ZTE, unlike those much-talked-about competitors, has managed to get in with major US carriers, and is fluent with selling phones here.

"ZTE is continuing to grow, as we go from prepaid to midrange," ZTE USA VP Jeff Yee said. "Our midrange phones did very well last year ... those sell into the millions."

ZTE's reign as the only lower-cost, unlocked premium device in the US may be short lived. The upcoming Moto Z may offer stiff competition in a similar price range when it's announced on June 9, and the OnePlus 3 is coming around June 14.

The phone will initially be compatible with AT&T and T-Mobile, with Sprint and Verizon compatibility appearing in a later firmware update once those networks approve the device. It has frequency bands for everyone.

Yee said the Axon 7 will sell for roughly what the original Axon Pro did, so, $450 or less. It'll go on sale in mid-June. Its price undercuts the unlocked HTC 10 and iPhone 6s by $200, but that's still a tough unlocked price point here in the US, because people willing to pay that much typically jump up to a more popular Samsung, LG, or Apple design.

So the Axon line's impact in the US may be showing technologies, like dual-lens cameras and hi-fi audio, which will appear in midrange devices later. The new ZTE Grand X Max 2 for Cricket has last year's Axon Pro's dual-lens camera, for instance, and it costs only $199.

"Spinoffs of these technologies will be sold by the carriers," Yee said. "Everything trickles down. The flagship technology from two years ago is now in those $50 prepaid phones."

Where's the Moon Shot?I've been following ZTE for five years now, and it's always worth comparing it to its big Chinese rival, Huawei. Huawei and ZTE are like the Samsung and LG of China—gigantic telecom conglomerates with huge staff and huge profiles, especially outside the U.S.

Huawei builds higher and higher quality products through stepwise innovation. ZTE is at its most interesting when it throws Hail Marys, moon shots. Take the Spro, the smart projector. Maybe it wasn't a best-seller, but it sure was fascinating, and I'm glad someone is taking those kinds of risks. With its new product categories, ZTE is a bit more like vibrant Xiaomi or LeTV, which are always striking out in new directions.

The latest crazy ZTE idea is "Project CSX," its community-supported technology, where it's supposed to be crowdsourcing an idea for a product to be released in early 2017. Will it be a phone? A camera? A Coolest Cooler? It's up to us.

After some delays, ZTE's Z-Community website launches later today, and the company will start taking input on Project CSX "within two months," Yee said. "We haven't changed our plans to announce something in early 2017."

Source: Hands On: ZTE Axon 7, the First Google Daydream VR Phone

The Lynda Steele Show: Do police have the right to seize your phone if you record a crime?

Yesterday's police involved shooting in East Vancouver raised new questions about property rights and police powers, after officers demanded witnesses to the incident turn their phones over to investigators.

But can police really force you to give up your device?

Doug King, the police accountability campaigner with the Pivot Legal Society says the issue is a lot more complicated than police make it out to be.

King says he's not surprised to hear about police asking people for their phones, and that this has been an ongoing issue for the last decade.

In response to questions about the incident, VPD Constable Brian Montague issued a statement to CKNW explaining the force's position.

"Police are able to seize electronic equipment including camera equipped cellphones that may afford evidence in a criminal investigation. Camera owners are encouraged to voluntarily provide the footage to police negating the need to seize the phone, the tech crime unit will then work quickly to obtain any relevant footage and then return the camera as soon as possible, but in the rare circumstance where police believe the camera owner may destroy the images the officer has the lawful authority to seize the camera."

King says that's mostly correct, but that the police are perhaps overestimating their powers.

He says in the wake of the death of Robert Dziekanski at YVR, the law has come down more clearly on the side of property owners.

"[The person who shot the video of Dziekanski's tazering] had to go to grave lengths to get it back, but it was clearly established that it is the property rights and the ownership rights of the person who owns the camera and took the video. I think the police are correct in saying that they have the ability to get a copy of the video for the purposes of the investigation. I don't know whether or not its so clear to say that they have the ability to seize it."

King rather than a person having to work to get their device back, it should be the police who need to prove why they should have the phone.

King says the legal battle over the video of Robert Dziekanski's fatal tazering helped answer some questions about police powers vs. property rights

No need to surrender

He says in the case of this week's shooting, people refusing to give up their phones were well within their rights.

"A video of something like this is something that can be duplicated. There's no reason why both the individual who took the video and the police who are investigating can't both have a copy."

King says there's no disputing the police's need for evidence of this nature, but that it doesn't mean the issue needs to be a case of surrender the phone or deny police the video.

King says police body mounted cameras could solve many of the issues about phone seizures.

Body cameras

King says there's one easy solution to a conflict like this: technology.

"At the end of the day, all of these questions really can be resolved for the most part if we finally started to move towards implementation of getting body cameras on officers. We rely far too heavily on the public for images of police misconduct."

He says the idea has been held up by problems of cost, storage, and privacy rights.

But King says with initiative on the part of the province, those issues can be ironed out, eliminating the need for police to be aggressive about getting their hands on your phone.

Source: The Lynda Steele Show: Do police have the right to seize your phone if you record a crime?

These 360-Degree Cameras Capture Everything Around You

When you're feeling like king of the world after a vertical mountain hike, a phone snapshot might not do the moment justice. How about a virtual-reality selfie instead?

I climbed in Yosemite National Park this month with a selfie stick and backpack full of new cameras that capture literally everything. Thanks to VR tech, cameras have made the leap to 360 degrees—every direction, front and back, up and down. It happens in a single snap, no spinning like a human merry-go-round to make a panorama.

In 360, my photos and videos could take it all in. Yosemite's epic El Capitan and waterfalls didn't need to compete for space with my own epic mug. In New York City, I captured the buzz in all four corners of Grand Central Terminal at once. And my favorite camera of the bunch, Samsung 's Gear 360, posted my oh-my-goodness spherical shots via my phone right to Facebook and Google Street View.

These first-generation spherical cameras, which the industry calls 360 cams, don't have the image quality or controls of traditional digital cameras. When you zoom in, the image gets fuzzy fast. But they're inexpensive and simple enough to appeal to photo buffs and travelers curious about how tech can change the art of capturing a scene, and how we end up remembering it, too.

We experience life in the round, so why shouldn't our pictures work that way, too? This sunk in while watching the sun set on Half Dome from a meadow: The camera tech Ansel Adams used cropped out at least half the story. My 360 shots let me go back and reframe the moment: I see a climber teetering on a distant ledge, a squirrel angling for my backpack. Imagine using one to relive a wedding or a toddler playdate.

It's a futuristic concept, for sure. Few of us have VR goggles to view 360 photos and video as like-you're-there immersive experiences. But Google, Facebook and other tech giants are putting VR content on the fast track, and these shots are accessible with gear you already have.

On your smartphone, apps such as Google Street View let you upload 360-degree images and look at them just by changing the angle of your phone. On computers you can get the same effect in Web browsers and programs like Kolor Eyes by mousing around. And Facebook just announced it's rolling out the ability for all members to post and view 360 photos, along with video, right in the News Feed. But be prepared for giant files that require ample bandwidth—and patience.

What's remarkable is how quickly this tech has become simple enough for me to take on vacation. Two years ago, creating spherical stills or video required a hefty rig and powerhouse computers to process the images. I tested eight new consumer 360 cameras, most pocket-size and requiring no more than a smartphone.

What's bringing spherical photography to non-pros is the ability to make multiple lenses work together. Traditional panorama shots require the photographer to slowly spin around, taking a new shot every few degrees. These new 360 cameras pack in two or three or up to 36 wide lenses that capture images simultaneously. (One exception, the 360Fly 4K, uses just one super-duper-wide-angle lens. It can't see what's immediately beneath it.)

After the camera grabs all the imagery, software stretches and stitches the data into a single shot. Laid flat, the picture resembles one of those Earth maps that makes Greenland look giant. But viewed through a 360 app, it's a decent facsimile of what you'd see with your own two eyes.

In theory, the more lenses on a spherical camera, the better the image. But on the trail, I learned there are a lot more factors to weigh.

All-Seeing Eyes

My most-detailed spherical shots came from the Panono, the largest and, at $1,500, most expensive of the cameras. It's the one with 36 lenses that looks like a grapefruit-size Death Star. The Panono captures so much image information at once—108 megapixels—that the camera has to upload it to the cloud (via your phone) for a supercomputer to stitch together. If any photo is worth 1,000 words, Panono must be worth 10,000.

Yet I wouldn't recommend the Panono as a starting place for 360 photography. It's only capable of still images, and its stitching is so complicated that it sometimes faltered when objects were too close.

The best-looking video came from the Kodak PixPro SP360 4K, which is actually two wide-angle cameras sold together with a clip for $900. Using a remote control, they start recording at the same time—but you need to stitch the video together on a PC or Mac, and still photo capabilities are limited.

The spherical camera that best balances image quality and portability is the Samsung Gear 360, which combines two lenses into an orb that resembles WALL-E's pal EVE. The Gear 360 camera I tested, announced in February, just went on sale in South Korea for $350. Samsung says it will soon announce a U.S. price.

It's worth the (hopefully short) wait. The Gear 360's shots were bright and colorful, and its video only slightly lower in resolution than the Kodak's. And the Gear 360 is also much less trouble to use. Your phone serves as a wireless viewfinder and the computer to stitch and instantly share online, or view in a Gear VR headset. One huge caveat: It only works with recent Samsung Galaxy phones. You can still download and stitch the files on a Windows PC.

Its biggest downside: The space required for the Gear 360's higher-quality lenses makes it a little too large—and heavy—to fit easily in a jeans pocket.

If the Gear 360's orb is too bulky for you, try LG's teensy $200 360 Cam, a 4-inch stick with two smaller, spherical lenses on the end. To use it, just hold it up and press the shutter button, like the memory-eraser in the "Men In Black" movies. It's a good option for many people, since its companion app runs on both Android and Apple phones—that's how you preview and stitch finished shots. The 360 Cam's pictures and video look OK, though they're a noticeable notch lower in quality than the Gear 360.

The 360 Shooting Challenge

The biggest challenges of using a 360 camera aren't technical, they're creative. Many famous spots are quite boring-looking outside the frame of a traditional camera. Nobody wants to see the parking lot right next to Yosemite's Glacier Point.

And you the photographer are pretty much always going to be in these shots. A few times I tried using a timer and quickly running to hide behind a tree, but then I accepted that my presence is part of the story. Unless you use a tripod, your hands are in it, too, looking giant holding the bottom of the camera. Props to the Panono for one creative solution: It shoots automatically when you toss it up in the air—of course, you also need to be around to catch it.

Video complicates matters further: If you move around too much while you're filming, watching the footage—particularly using VR goggles—could leave your audience seasick.

I quickly learned I needed to throw out my ideas about framing. I put myself in the parts of the scene that were less interesting. For one sunset shot, I stuck a 360 camera in a tree. Viewing it makes me feel like I'm a bird.

I suspect we're not far from a future where it's normal to assume photos have another side. That means we're going to need a new term for 360 selfies where everyone's in a circle. I nominate "globie."

Write to Geoffrey A. Fowler at geoffrey.fowler@wsj.com or on Twitter @geoffreyfowler

Source: These 360-Degree Cameras Capture Everything Around You

Fleeting Moment; An Argument Against the Camera Phone

FOMO: Fear of missing out. Yes, it's a thing. And there are studies that say that in the future, we're all just going to try to record everything and be so busy trying to record it all vs actually experiencing it. Part of this comes from use of a camera phone. Camera phones have enabled this whole instinct to capture the moment, pulling it out and documenting everything around you. In contrast, people generally don't do this with dedicated cameras because there is a much different experience involved with it. It's much more careful with significantly more thought put into the intent of taking photos vs shooting something with a phone and hoping that you don't fill up the storage.

The problem: We miss moments.

So this bring me to a bigger point:

If you are so busy documenting and capturing moments, then you don't have time to experience them.

to that end…

If you are so busy capturing moments and not experiencing, then nothing captured is special anymore because all of it is just captured.

It's the reason why film editors work so hard to telling a specific story when creating cinematic masterpieces.

A future where people will be documenting everything at all moments of the day and night is a time when things won't really be seen as special because we'll have no major emotional connection to the moments so to speak unless it all ends up like that episode of Black Mirror where capturing is just second nature.

It gives us, as photographers, an even bigger problem though. It means that literally everyone is capturing and that drastically changes moment. To that end, you're not needed as a wedding photographer, photojournalist, etc. And part of this problem lies with the fact that perhaps not enough of us as photographers are spending time creating rather than capturing.

When you capture an image, you're simply sitting back and waiting for a moment to happen. You typically have some sort of training and experience doing so and that can make you better than others out there. But to that end, you're also probably not exercising your creative freedom. When you create, you actually have more control over the moment. You're working with the light, parts of the scenes, and all aspects of it. You're quite literally taking an environment and making it suite your own creative vision.

Model: Bec Fordyce

Unless some sort of interesting VR or schematics come around, your best bet is to actually start adding your own lights and creative vision to the scene. This makes the work uniquely yours, and separates "photographers" from "Photographers." What will remain is that lots of people still may not exercise the muscles that let us see light and therefore create a scene accordingly.

And just think: all of this stems from a camera phone, capturing way too many moments, not being emotionally connected to them anymore, and changing the way that people feel about images.

The future is scary, huh?

Related

Source: Fleeting Moment; An Argument Against the Camera Phone

Moto G4 Plus performance and camera highlighted in new ads

The latest Moto G4 Plus adverts show off key features of the phone, including the Snapdragon 617 SoC, the 16MP camera with PDAF, laser autofocus, and an f/2.0 lens. The phone's camera app lets you tap to focus on a subject, and you can quickly control the exposure with a slider.

The TurboCharge feature — which lets you quickly top up the phone — is also highlighted. The Moto G4 Plus is currently on sale in India, and will make its way to other markets shortly.

See at Amazon India

Source: Moto G4 Plus performance and camera highlighted in new ads

Huawei Mate 8 review: As compact as a 6in phone can get?

Can a 6-inch smartphone ever be practical? Whether you think it can or not, you'd have to admit Huawei's design engineers have done a stunning job with its new Mate 8, keeping the dimensions as small as possible.

Given the screen size, we can't imagine it being any smaller. But six inches is still six inches whichever way you cut it, and this is a hefty phone.

Design and features

Still, if you're determined to own a phone with as large a screen as possible, the Mate 8 is one of nicest models we've come across. This is mainly due to the incredibly narrow bezels surrounding that enormous screen. The front is mostly all screen. The distance from the edges of the phone to the screen is roughly 3mm from the left and right, 6mm from the top and 9mm from the bottom.

That's an impressive feat of design engineering and, combined with a depth of just 7.9mm, the Mate 8 feels much smaller than it actually is.

It's also a very handsome device, combining elements of its predecessor, the Mate S and the Google Nexus 6P (which is also made by Huawei).

The body of the Mate 8 comes in silver and white or gunmetal-grey and black – and both versions look great. The edges are brushed and have chamfered corners to fool the eye into thinking they're even thinner than they are. The detailing, from the twin speaker grilles to the textured power button, is impeccable.

Even the subtle Huawei logo on the rear doesn't detract from the overall look and feel of the device and, as we've come to expect from top-end Huawei handsets, it's also replete with a goodly selection of features.

There's a circular fingerprint reader in the centre on the rear, just like on the Nexus 6P; the screen is topped with premium Gorilla Glass 4; and the SIM card tray has space for a microSD card (to expand on the Mate 8's 32GB of internal storage) or a second SIM card, depending on your preference.

Software

There's no argument that it's a great-looking handset, but as with so many other Huawei devices, the Mate 8 is a smartphone of extremes. As soon as you switch on the phone, you'll see why. It runs Huawei's proprietary Android skin – EMUI 4 – so although there's Android 6 underneath, you won't see much evidence of its elegant lines and features.

The key point of difference between Huawei's version and stock Android is that there's no App Drawer. As with iOS, all of your apps are shown on the desktop which, for many Android users, adds unnecessary clutter.

Huawei has also fiddled with the appearance of icons, awkwardly squeezing them into a round-cornered box so they all have exactly the same shape.  

Elsewhere, the pull-down notifications menu is inelegantly presented on two tabs, with the brightness slider and shortcut toggles on the second one. EMUI is also stuffed with preloaded apps that you may or may not want.

On the positive side, it has some nice features. The clock app is very neat indeed, and the power-management tools – which can be set to notify you whenever they spot an app using too much power in the background – are undeniably useful. But surely these could be implemented without EMUI's fussy, overbearing design.

Performance, display quality and battery life

All this is a shame because the rest of the Mate 8 is tasty fare, starting with the performance of the processor and graphics. As is usual for a Huawei phone, the processor is a HiSilicon unit. It's the very latest 16nm Kirin 950 – a step up from the Kirin 935 in the Huawei Mate S Press Touch – and backed up by 3GB of RAM.

But far from being sluggish like its predecessor, the Kirin 950 is a cracker. Perhaps this shouldn't be a surprise because the chip is an octa-core unit comprising a pair of quad-core CPUs of ARM design. One is a 2.3GHz Cortex-A72 CPU, used for intensive tasks; the other is a 1.8GHz Cortex-A53 for low-power jobs.

In our benchmark tests, the Huawei Mate 8 couldn't match the might of the Apple iPhone 6s, but it was on a par with the Nexus 6P (with its Qualcomm Snapdragon 810) and well ahead of the Mate S and its Kirin 935. Even graphics performance, which has in the past been a particularly weak area for Kirin chips, is pretty good.

In use, the Mate 8 feels responsive in every way. It restarts and boots in seconds, apps launch at a snap and web pages load, scroll and pan smoothly – just the level of performance you'd expect from a flagship smartphone.

As for the screen, its resolution is only 1,920 x 1,080 pixels, but we don't see this as a problem. Despite what the manufacturers would have you believe, Quad HD and 4K displays aren't really necessary, even on a 6in smartphone.

In fact, we found the Mate 8's screen's quality to be rather good. At no time did we notice any graininess or pixellation. Our display tests revealed the screen was bright, displayed a very impressive range of colours, and had good contrast, ensuring black looks inky and colours really leap out. The only weakness was that colour accuracy is somewhat out of whack, particularly in green and red tones.

But this is easy to forgive in the light of the Mate 8's battery life. Oddly, its runtime of 11 hours 48 minutes in our video-rundown battery test was only on a par with the Nexus 6P, but in day-to-day use, we were able to regularly eke one-and-a-half day's use out of the Mate 8's huge 4,000mAh battery. If you use the phone sparingly, two full days' use wouldn't be out of the question.

Cameras

Unfortunately, the Mate 8's cameras are less impressive than its performance. There's nothing missing in terms of raw capability. On the rear, you get a 16-megapixel shooter with an f/2 aperture, optical image stabilisation, phase-detect autofocus and a dual-LED flash. The front camera is an almost-as-impressive eight megapixels.

Despite the specifications, however, the resulting photographs and videos aren't the best we've seen, with still images looking soft and lacking in detail compared with the best mobile phone cameras on the market.

This is one area where the Nexus 6P stands above the Mate 8, producing shots that are crammed with far more detail, in both good light and poor, with richer colours and generally better all-around exposure.

Conclusion

In all, we like the Huawei Mate 8. It's beautifully designed and, for a phone this size, a pleasure to use. The sluggish performance of past Huawei flagships has been banished, and the Mate 8's battery life is very good too.

Couple that with a competitive outright price of $899 and you have a big-screen smartphone that holds a good deal of appeal.

Unfortunately, it's let down in a couple of areas. So if you want a great camera and native Android experience – and you don't mind a slightly smaller screen – the 5.7-inch Google Nexus 6P could be a better option.

But if you must have a 6-inch phone, the Mate 8 should be on your shortlist. It's available from Huawei Experience Zones, JB HiFi, Harvey Norman and All Phones – so you can try it first to ensure you can live with the Huawei EMUI software. 

This article originally appeared at alphr.com.

Source: Huawei Mate 8 review: As compact as a 6in phone can get?

iPhone 7 Plus leaked dual-lens camera, and possible 256GB storage option

The iPhone 7 Plus has long been rumored to include a dual-lens camera. The larger 5.5-inch variant will see a substantial upgrade while the smaller 4.7-inch variant will be an inferior model, so to speak. However, one thing that remains to be a mystery is storage options for the new iPhones, until now (via  Steven Hemmerstoffer).

The leak shows that Apple will be upping its highest tier iPhone model (currently 128GB for both the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus), to 256GB. Unfortunately, the leaked image does show that Apple will be keeping the 16GB storage option around. As Apple's new storage model may be 16/64/256 according to the leak.

This makes sense, as the new iPad Pros come in 32/128/256 storage options, however 16GB is still unacceptable in this day and age. Especially with the latest generation iPhones being capable of shooting 4K video. As many will agree, the ideal storage configuration for the iPhone, (with Live Photos and 4K video) would be 64/128/256.

In terms of the dual camera, it is highly likely that at least on the Plus model we'll see some sort of storage jump as the extra camera means the iPhone will need additional storage to hold all of the images.

Gathering all the previous rumors and such, it seems like Apple will truly be pushing to differentiate its 4.7 and 5.5-inch variants. What are your thoughts?

Source: iPhone 7 Plus leaked dual-lens camera, and possible 256GB storage option

Coolpad Max vs Xiaomi Mi 5 vs Smartron t.phone: Specs battle in premium mid-budget

Written by Karthekayan Iyer | Updated: May 23, 2016 9:03 am CoolPad Max is the new premium mid-budget smartphone from the Chinese player. Here's a quick look at how it stands against the rest of the competition.

Coolpad has officially launched its flagship smartphone, Coolpad Max in India. At Rs 24,999, it's a big leap for Coolpad which is known for its sub-Rs 10,000 smartphones. Coolpad has built a reputation for its Note 3 series smartphones and now it wants to establish itself in the premium mid-segment flagship category.

Coolpad Max, which was launched first in Indonesia, is priced on par with Xiaomi's Mi 5 which in fact beats flagship from Samsung and LG in terms of pure hardware specifications. Coolpad says it's not competing with Xiaomi or any other smartphone brand.

Coolpad, which has transformed from an ODM to OEM, wants to establish its brand in the sub-Rs 25k smartphone space will have a tough road in the form of competition from Xiaomi Mi 5 and new entrant Smartron's t.phone.

Here is how the three devices stack up against each other in terms of just specs

Coolpad Max: Coolpad Max looks just like all other devices available in this space. It has a unibody metal design and sports a fingerprint scanner below the camera module like Google's Nexus 6P. Coolpad Max features a 5.5-inch full HD display with 2.5 curved Corning Gorilla Glass on top. The smartphone looks a more premium version of company's Note 3 with little tweaks in design.

Under the hood, Coolpad Max is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 617 SoC coupled with 4GB RAM and 64GB storage. Coolpad Max, however, claims to be different from all other smartphones with its Dual Space technology.

Also see: Coolpad Note 3 gets a price-cut, now available at Rs 8,499 on Amazon IndiaCoolpad Max's dual space technology offers users option to keep their personal and private things in two separate space. Consider it like keeping a vault for your data. Coolpad claims that the private data is totally encrypted, which is a nice thing to have considering the data privacy issue.

If you like keeping two separate space on one smartphone, Coolpad Max will definitely appeal to you otherwise this phone seems less overwhelming than all other offerings.

Read more: Coolpad Max launched at Rs 24,999: Here are the key specs, features

Smartron Tphone costs Rs 22,999.

Smartron t.phone: Smartron is a relatively new entrant in the smartphone space. For Smartron, t.phone is just the second product but has a huge backing from the man considered 'God of Cricket' himself.

Smartron, a new hardware startup funded by Sachin Tendulkar has launched t.phone, its second hardware product in India. The t.phone features metal unibody design and has a camera module at the left hand top corner, which is very similar to designs we have already seen on Vivo smartphones.

Smartron t.phone runs Android Marshmallow and comes with company's own cloud offering with unlimited free storage space. Smartron t.phone also comes with top of the line specs like Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 SoC, 4GB RAM and 64GB storage.

Smartron t.phone has a 13MP rear camera with phase detection autofocus and supports 4K video recording. Smartron t.phone is 6.98mm thick and weighs just 149 grams inspite of metal unibody design. The smartphone also has a decent 3000mAh battery with USB Type-C port and Quick Charge support.

Xiaomi Mi 5: Xiaomi Mi 5 is undoubtedly the most advanced smartphone with latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 SoC. It scores the highest in Antutu benchmark with its 3GB RAM and 32GB storage version. Xiaomi has not launched 4GB RAM, 128GB storage version in India.

Xiaomi Mi 5 is priced at Rs 24,999.

Xiaomi Mi 5 is the smallest of the pack with its 5.15-inch Full HD display has a 16MP primary camera with 4-axis optical image stabilisation and has a 4MP secondary camera for selfie and video calling. However, Xiaomi Mi 5 is not a perfect smartphone even with such great specifications.

Watch: Xiaomi Mi 5 Video Review

In our review, we noted that 'getting the auto-focus to work in one go was a challenge in some situations. There's also a tendency to oversaturate colours like reds and pinks, and yes it struggles in low-light.'

Another strange thing with Xiaomi Mi 5 is the heating issue. Using the camera or gaming on Xiaomi Mi 5 caused the phone to heat up abnormally. Xiaomi Mi 5 would be a better buy only once the Chinese smartphone company fixes these issues. Read our full review of Xiaomi Mi 5 here.

Also read: Xiaomi Mi 5 review: A great phone, but just not perfect yet

© The Indian Express Online Media Pvt Ltd

Source: Coolpad Max vs Xiaomi Mi 5 vs Smartron t.phone: Specs battle in premium mid-budget

Hot New iPhone 7 Plus Concept Features USB-C, Stereo Speakers, Dual Camera Lens And More – Video

A new iPhone 7 Plus concept has just surfaced on the Web, and boy it looks absolutely insane. Dive right in and see what's on offer!

We have come across a boatload of iPhone 7 concepts in the past that tend to outshine others with a bunch of great, innovative and powerful features. For instance, take a look at this iPhone 7 concept, which is based on all the leaked reports and rumors that are flying around on the Internet. But of course, the designer went one step further and added a bunch of cool additions to make the overall concept stand out from the rest.

But today, we have stumbled upon something new. Something slightly different. Something drool-worthy. Take a look at the mighty new iPhone 7 Plus concept, courtesy of designer Jermaine Smit:

Rather than sticking to all the leaked reports, the designer went one step further with a couple of features which aren't available in many other iPhone 7 concepts. For staters, the iPhone 7 Plus features a USB-C port, which, like Lightning in current iOS devices, is also reversible and packs a lot of functionality if used wisely.

On the software front, the designer went ahead and imagined how iOS 10 would look like on the iPhone 7. There's not much to look at to be quite honest, but the redesigned lock screen really makes us wish we get a major refresh on the aforementioned front this year from Apple.

iPhone 6s and 6s Plus to See Production Cuts "Amid Lackluster Sales"

For audiophiles out there, the iPhone 7 Plus is imagined to feature stereo speakers, for that oh-so awesome cinematic experience while on the go. And to top things off, the handset features an iPhone 6 / 6s like design, but with a lot of refinements. For example, there are lesser antenna lines adorning the handset, and the dual camera lens system, along with the camera bump, look aesthetically pleasing to look at. Props to the designer for throwing in a handful of refinements in this design and not overdoing anything at all.

The real deal iPhone 7, iPhone 7 Plus are going to be different looking handsets when announced. Of course, they might end up bearing some slight resemblance to a bunch of concepts we'll see leading up to the official announcement, but we can't know for sure at this point in time what Apple has in store for us.

What are you expecting to see from Apple this year? Be sure to let us know in the comments section below.

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Source: Hot New iPhone 7 Plus Concept Features USB-C, Stereo Speakers, Dual Camera Lens And More – Video

Reported iPhone 7 leak shows dual-lens camera, 256GB storage option

New images of what are reportedly parts of Apple's upcoming iPhone 7 seem to show a dual-lens camera, along with a 256GB storage option.

The photos were posted on the Chinese social network Weibo (via Steve Hemmerstoffer on Twitter. The images show the two lenses, along with flash storage in 16GB, 64GB and all-new new 256GB. If these images are real, they could indicate Apple will sell a version of the iPhone 7 with its biggest storage option to date.

Some of the other iPhone 7 rumors include the phone getting rid of the standard 3.5mm headphone jack. As always with these types of unofficial leaks, take them with a grain of salt.

Source: Reported iPhone 7 leak shows dual-lens camera, 256GB storage option

iPhone camera lenses to DIY repair kits: the week’s best deals at Cult of Mac [Deals]

After another red letter week at the Cult of Mac Deals Store means we've got some select cuts to share this week. There's something here for everybody — save yourself some cash and a trip to the Genius Bar with a custom set of tools for fixing your electronics. Instantly enhance your iPhone's pictures with a set of detachable lenses. Get an anonymous second phone number or 10 top tier apps for your iPhone and Mac.

Take a look:

iFixit 64 Bit Driver Kit – 30% off

These 64 purpose-specific screwdriver bits are curated from thousands of repair guides by the kings of keeping your own gadgets humming, iFixit. With an ergonomic, aluminum handle, it's a durable and adaptable set of tools for fixing everything from your laptop to your iphone to your favorite game console. These tools are a surefire way to save time, money, and keep your stuff out of the landfill.

Get this killer repair kit for $34.95, which is 30 percent off their normal price.

Choose 10 top notch productivity apps and pay one flat price. Create Your Own Spring Mac Bundle – 95% off

So many apps, so little time (and cash and drive space). From these 34 top tier apps you can choose the 10 you want the most and pay a flat price for the whole thing. Whether you want to edit photos, create feature rich documents, run documents between Windows and Mac machines, work with streaming video or just keep a clean desktop, there's something here for anybody (and at a price nobody can turn down).

Get 10 top apps for $21.99, at a price that's a whopping 95% off what they usually go for.

Bring your iPhone camera a big step closer to DSLR quality with three detachable glass lenses. Acesori 5 Piece Smartphone Camera Lens Kit – 80% off

With these detachable lenses, you can make your iPhone's already awesome camera that much more like a DSLR. With a fisheye, wide angle, and macro lens, you've got options for expanding the visual possibilities of your iPhone in ways that just aren't possible otherwise. Each high quality glass and aluminium connects magnetically to your phone, with no extra gear required.

Get 3 iPhone lenses for $9.99, a massive 80% discount off their normal price.

Whatever your reason for having a second (or third) anonymous phone number, KeepSafe has you covered. KeepSolid Disposable Phone Lines: 1-Year Subscription – 75% off

There are plenty of reasons to have a secondary "burner" phone number, whether you want to keep distance between yourself and a Craigslist buyer, stay anonymous while making business calls or just dodge a bad date. KeepSolid Phones is a VolP-based app that offers up to 3 private US or Canadian phone numbers, with unlimited SMS and calls (US lines only). You can even get local numbers to use while traveling and save on long distance charges, all without a new contract.

Get a year of alternate numbers for $99, a full 75 percent off the regular price.

Source: iPhone camera lenses to DIY repair kits: the week's best deals at Cult of Mac [Deals]

Fix Samsung Galaxy S7 “Warning: Service Error Occurred. Please restart camera.” error

Learn how to troubleshoot your #Samsung Galaxy S7 (#GalaxyS7) that keeps getting the error message "Warning: Service Error Occurred. Please restart camera."

How to troubleshoot your Galaxy S7 camera whose switch isn't working.

Learn how to fix the common Galaxy S7 camera error "Unfortunately, Camera has stopped."

Hey guys. Welcome to our Samsung Galaxy S7 troubleshooting series and in this post I will address some of the camera-related issues owners encountered including the "Warning: Service Error Occurred. Please restart camera." error as well as "Unfortunately, Camera has stopped."

Read on to learn more about these errors and issues so you could understand how they occur and what could possibly fix them. I've provided some information on how to troubleshoot them below.

For those who have other issues, visit our troubleshooting page and see if we already addressed issues that are similar to yours. Feel free to use the solutions we suggested and if they won't work, you may contact us directly by completing our Android issues questionnaire.

Q: "The face camera works sometimes but the back does not work at all. I have tried every method, I even resorted to hard resetting my phone, which I did. But it still didn't work."

A: The owner also indicated she gets the error "Warning: Service Error Occurred. Please restart camera." I understand you already did the master reset to no avail. At this point, it seems like it's a hardware problem, although I really want to know if your third-party apps have something to do with it. That said, try booting your phone in safe mode:

Press and hold the Power key.

As soon as you can see the 'Samsung Galaxy S7' on the screen, release the Power key and immediately hold the Volume Down key.

Continue holding the Volume Down button until the device finishes rebooting.

You may release it when you can see 'Safe mode' in the bottom left corner of the screen.

Now open the camera app and switch back and forth to the front and rear cameras. If the error still occurs, then it must be a hardware problem, otherwise, there's still a chance reflashing the firmware will fix the issue, although you need a technician to do so.

Q: "The camera switch is not working so I cannot switch to the front camera for selfies."

A: We know that when our readers contact us, they often have issues with their phones. We are serious in what we do and all we ask is information…detailed information. Descriptions like "not working" doesn't really help as it could mean a lot of things. So, what does "camera switch is not working" mean?

If it means it appears ok but won't switch between cameras when tapped, then all you got to do is clear the cache and data of the Camera app.

From the Home screen, tap the Apps icon.

Find and tap on Settings.

Touch Applications and then Application manager.

Swipe to ALL tab.

Find and touch Camera.

Touch the Force Close button first.

Then, tap Storage.

Tap Clear cache and then Clear data, Delete.

If it means that the switch actually changes the camera but you get an error, then there's a chance it's a firmware issue and if it started after an update, wiping the cache partition may do the trick:

Turn off your Samsung Galaxy S7.

Press and then hold the Home and Volume UP keys, then press and hold the Power key.

When the Samsung Galaxy S7 shows on the screen, release the Power key but continue holding the Home and Volume Up keys.

When the Android logo shows, you may release both keys and leave the phone be for about 30 to 60 seconds.

Using the Volume Down key, navigate through the options and highlight 'wipe cache partition.'

Once highlighted, you may press the Power key to select it.

Now highlight the option 'Yes' using the Volume Down key and press the Power button to select it.

Wait until your phone is finished wiping the cache partition. Once completed, highlight 'Reboot system now' and press the Power key.

The phone will now reboot longer than usual.

If both procedures failed, then a master reset might be necessary, although you have to backup all your data before following these steps:

Turn off your Samsung Galaxy S7.

Press and then hold the Home and Volume UP keys, then press and hold the Power key.

NOTE: It doesn't matter how long you press and hold the Home and Volume Up keys, it won't affect the phone but by the time you press and hold the Power key, that's when the phone starts to respond.

When the Samsung Galaxy S7 shows on the screen, release the Power key but continue holding the Home and Volume Up keys.

When the Android logo shows, you may release both keys and leave the phone be for about 30 to 60 seconds.

NOTE: The "Installing system update" message may show on the screen for several seconds before displaying the Android system recovery menu. This is just the first phase of the entire process.

Using the Volume Down key, navigate through the options and highlight 'wipe data / factory reset.'

Once highlighted, you may press the Power key to select it.

Now highlight the option 'Yes — delete all user data' using the Volume Down key and press the Power button to select it.

Wait until your phone is finished doing the Master Reset. Once completed, highlight 'Reboot system now' and press the Power key.

The phone will now reboot longer than usual.

Q: "'Unfortunately, Camera has stopped' appears when I tap the camera icon and I cannot use the camera. I've taken the phone to T-mobile store and they performed both a hard and soft reset to no avail."

A: While this error often refers to the camera app crashing, there's a chance that it's also a hardware issue. I understand T-Mobile people already did the reset to no avail but I'm wondering if they tried to restore your settings and apps after the reset. There's a chance that other apps are also causing the problem. So, I suggest you try booting your phone in safe mode first and open the camera. Then clear the cache and data. If the problem remain, do the master reset yourself as I believe T-Mo's techs just did the factory reset.

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Source: Fix Samsung Galaxy S7 "Warning: Service Error Occurred. Please restart camera." error

iPhone 7 may launch with LG-made dual-lens camera because Sony is behind schedule

By Christian Zibreg, May 20, 2016

Remember the rumor, backed by a report from reliable Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, that only a 5.5-inch model of an 'iPhone 7' would have a dual-lens camera while its 4.7-inch brethren would get stuck with a boring single-camera module?

Now we know where that came from: Apple's camera supplier Sony has fallen behind schedule, prompting the iPhone maker to add another dual-camera supplier to the mix: LG's Innotek division. That's the current word on the street, according to a Barron's report citing Nomura Securities analysts.

Sony CFO Kenichiro Yoshida revealed during the company's earnings call last year that its dual-lens camera technology will find its way into gadgets from "major smartphone players" next year, without mentioning Apple by name.

However, Nomura analyst Chris Chang doesn't think Sony will be able to fulfill dual-camera orders from Apple due to lower-than-expected yield and damage to its production facility from the April earthquake in Kumamoto.

"As a result, we think LGI will gain majority share of the initial dual camera orders from Apple," he wrote. The analyst estimated that dual-camera packages are likely to command 2.5x higher average selling price over their single-camera counterparts.

"The dual camera will be used in all new 5.5-inch iPhones," he added.

Image: dual-lens camera on Huawei's P9 smartphone.

Interestingly enough, Chang is adamant that optical image stabilization technology (OIS) will be featured on both 4.7 and 5.5-inch iPhone 7 models, unlike previous rumors which called for OIS being a 5.5-inch model exclusive, as it is currently.

Source: Barron's

Source: iPhone 7 may launch with LG-made dual-lens camera because Sony is behind schedule