In a surprise move, Whatsapp has remove its annual fee of $0.99 making the messaging service free for all on all mediums.
Speaking on the matter, the company post on its blog citing "For many years, we've asked some people to pay a fee for using WhatsApp after their first year. As we've grown, we've found that this approach hasn't worked well. " One of the reason that they mention it's not working well is that most of the users don't even have a credit or a debit card.
You're probably be thinking Oh no, it's only a matter of time before I start seeing advertisements on my Whatsapp because what then would Whatsapp do for revenue? On that matter they said that they would look into tools that would allow us to use Whatsapp to communicate with businesses and organizations that we want to hear from, for example from our banks regarding any transactions or even airlines on our fligh itinerary. Whatsapp might be charging them to use Whatsapp instead of your standard SMS (this move should reduce cost for them).
For those that have already paid, there is no citation on possible refund being made but hey we're only talking about $0.99 cents (used to be around RM3, current new rate should be around RM4~5 if they follow the currency exchange in our country).
This change comes timely as now nearly a billion people are using Whatsapp, and making it free would only help boost it userbase and cement its place as the leading mobile messaging platform. (and maybe one day kill the SMS forever)
Well guess what guys, the news that the headphone jack maybe removed from the iPhone 7 just keeps on strengthening day by day. Not the least slowed down by the fact that Apple has just launched on its online store, a premium headphone with a lightning connector!
By premium I mean a $799.95 (Around RM3,500) headphones made by Audeze. Its full name is Audeze EL-8 Titanium Closed-Back Headphones. For that price you'll get:
World's first ever headphones with a fully integrated lightning cable (yippy #sarcastic)
Built-in amplifier and 24-bit DAC converter in the cables
Superior performance for musics and even calls (mic is built inside the cable as well)
If Apple is thinking that they are giving their users options in the event that they do remove the headphone jack, this is NOT a cheap or affordable one.
Apple is known to be taking bold decisions. For example they were the first ones to get rid of the CD/Flop disk slot. And nowadays most of the laptops have follow suit.
But this reported move is quite controversial, even I don't see a good reason why.
Personally I'm very against the idea of removing the headphone jack but Apple sees this as a stumbling block. To what you ask, most probably to making the iPhones thinner. Note to Apple, we don't need thinner iPhones!
Maybe it's a way to create a new source of income as the report always says that Apple is looking to introduce earphones connecting through the lightning-port. So maybe a solution to use your old headphones with the 3.5mm jack would be to buy sort of adapter to the lightning port (and mind you Apple accessories tend not to be cheap).
The CD drive was slowly being phased out by the introduction of the USB pendrives/thumbdrives but the headphone jack for me is not being wiped out by wireless headphones/earphones. Plus so much of our headphones/earphones are still with wires. Wired headphones/earphones for me sounds better than wireless headphones/earphones. In addition you don't need to charge it (imagine having to add another device to the charging area).
So what do you guys think of this? Are you for it or against it? Let me know in the comments.
What better tp talk about and start this page other than with the up and coming device, the successor to the successful Galaxy S line, the S7.
On this post I’ll be updating on any
possible rumour/gossips relating to Samsung’s next flagship so be sure to tune
in to this post if you’re eagerly awaiting for the device.
Launch Date Rumours circulating are saying that Samsung
is pulling the launch date of the S7 earlier next year as compared to before
with possible dates being in January or even early February (before this they
would usually launch their devices in March). This is said to be a part of
their strategy to minimize the impact of iPhone 6S and 6S Plus sales on them.
The launch date has been leaked by Evan Blass on his twitter account. The Samsung Unpacked Event will be held on Feb 21,2016
The device is also expected to hit shelves quite fast (something Samsung is known for), for example the latest info suggest that the European rollout will begin on March 11 2016
Rumous are circulating that the S7 will maintain the general design of the S6 with little modifications, taking a leaf out of Apple's book where "If it's not broken, don't fix it." But this year's iteration would be a bit thicker than last year's to include some new features. Read on to know what they are.
These are the rumoured displays that are going to be launched
5.1-inci, Edge display
5.5-inci, standard display
6-inci, standard display
6-inci, Edge display
Source: GSMArena There will be 2 versions/size for the S7. 5.1-inch for the standard screen 5.5-inch for the Edge Screen Build material would also be the same as the one used on the S6.
In the first picture you can see all three supposedly colour options for the Samsung S7 Edge (Silver, Black, and Gold)
While in the second picture is the standard screen Samsung Galaxy S7
From Evan Blass and TalkAndroid
In addition, yes there's more,, a user from Weibo uploaded an image of the S7 Edge being turned on albeit being a bit blurry.
Below are images from Android Authority
The only sad part would be that they reported the S7 would not be having a USB-C port :(
From the video, you'll get to see a snippet of the OS with Samsung's refined TouchWiz that comes with the phone. It seems pretty toned down and less bloated than previous versions which should be good and will satisfy many Android users.
Apart from that, there is an older image that popped up. This time it's from PCMag that shows the front and back of a gold S7.
Camera
So far there are 3 possible routes that
Samsung may take in this department
-To upgrade the camera from a
16MP shooter to a 20MP shooter using the same ISOCELL technology. The camera
would still be made by Samsung themselves.
-To decrease the amount of MP
from 16MP to 12MP. What they basically trying to achieve is to place in bigger
sensor capable of capturing more light with the help of their BRITECELL technology (similar to Apple is doing and what HTC
tried to do with their Ultrapixel)
-To use Sony’s latest Exmor
MX300 sensor which was placed 1st among all smartphones camera by
DxOMark. Question is, would Sony be willing to supply to Samsung?
The latest rumour is that Samsung would take the 2nd route, using their new BRITECELL technology that while reducing their megapixel, allowing better low-light performance. The aperture is said to be large at f/1.7.
The camera hump on the back of the S6 that was certainly not a strong point on last year's flagship is said to be reduced on the S7, based on the leaked image it would be from 1.7mm to only 0.8mm.
Source: @Onleaks, AndroidHeadlines
CPU
Samsung had to use their in-house processor
earlier this year with the S6 as heat problems arised from the Snapdragon 810
(although Qualcomm denied it). Most other manufacturers would instead opt for
Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 808 or even delay the launch for the revised vision of
the 810.
Would Samsung be continuing with their
in-house processor or would they switch back to Qualcomm’s? Reports are
suggesting that Samsung is opting to make half of the S7 run on their Exynos
8890 while the other half being powered by Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon 820
(said to be more powerful and efficient, translate: not as hot as 810).
The major difference between the two is the
number of cores where the Exynos would be having 8-cores while the Snapdragon
820 would only have 4-cores. Otherwise especially in terms of performance
shouldn’t be too much apart. Rumours pointing that both would be used for catering different markets.
Latest rumours pointing that the US and GSM models would receive the Snapdragon processor while other markets such as the Asian market would get the Exynos.
Batery is said to be bigger (the reason the thickness would be increased). The standard version would be from 2550 mAh to 2600 mAh while the Edge version would be increased from 3000 mAh to 3600 mAh.
Another happy rumour from Russian Mobile Review (Eldzar Murtazin) states that the S7 could last for 17 hours playing video at full brightness.
Other than that, he also shared screenshots of the S7's battery performance and claim that it could last two days on a single charge with the screen at 75% brightness, LTE turned on all the time and two sims running simultaneously.
New tips leaked by Android Authority suggest that the standard S7 would have a 2800 mAh battery. FEATURES It is said that Samsung would please its most loyal fans by re-including a microSD slot that could supports up to 200GB of extra storage.
The most interesting for me personally would be that the S7 would be water resistant and dust resistant with a rating of IP68! This means the device should be able to be submerged to up to a depth of 1 meter for around 30 minutes. Time for under-water selfies ^_^
Wireless charging would still remain but would be faster, taking only 2 hours to fully charge the standard S7 while the S7 Edge version takes around 2.2 hours.
With smartphone cameras getting better and better with new iterations of devices, making sure yours is up to par with the best is a big task. At least now we know that Blackberry is not compromising on that aspect on their latest model. For the asking price of RM3599 in Malaysia, the Blackberry Priv is expected to deliver the goods other than just offering an Android experience with better security.
Thankfully, DxOMark the famous site that thoroughly reviews smartphone cameras has come up with their verdict on the Priv's camera and is turns out to very good. With an 18MP Schneider-Kreuznach lens expectations were high and the Priv certainly didn't disappoint. It manages to score an overall of 82 points, placing it joint fifth with the likes of the iPhone 6S, 6 and 6 Plus and Xperia Z3+ (shocker right :D ).
Still a very good step by the people from Blackberry, finally upping their camera games as Blackberry devices before this were not known to have good shooters. Kudos!
You can read the full DxOMark review of the Priv's camera in the link below.
This one is pretty dated but the phones are
starting to get my attention so it’s time for me to at least have a post on it.
Last year (19/11/2015), Lenovo Malaysia launched two Vibe smartphones with
huge batteries. The two are called Vibe P1 and Vibe P1M, equipped with 5,000
mAh and 4,000 mAh battery respectively. (Surprised ah? :P )
Seeing others rushing to slim down their
phones (looking at your Apple), Lenovo maybe listened to the consumer’s number
one wish which is for longer battery life. In this case though you’ll have to
sacrifice a bit on the performance as both are considered as mid-ranged
smartphones.
The higher end is Lenovo Vibe P1. It has a
5.5-inch FULL HD IPS display (401 ppi) . Powering it would be a mid-range
Snapdragon 615 (1.5Ghz Octa-core) along with 2GB of RAM. Has an internal
storage of 32GB which is expandable via a microSD slot of up to 128GB. Like
most smartphones in its category, it has dual-sim 4G capability and a
fingerprint scanner (located in the front home button).
Camera-wise, it’s has a 13MP rear shooter
with PDAF and dual-tone LED Flash while selfies are taken with a 5MP front
shooter (apparently with some beautification features available).
The humongous 5,000 mAh battery supports
quick charge feature as well if you were wondering how long it would take to
charge it. Lenovo is stating that only 2 hours is needed for it to charge from
0 to full.
If you’re looking for a cheaper alternative
but not willing to compromise on the battery side, the P1M would be the one. A
1,000 mAh lesser but still totaling up to 4,000 is still a major difference
compared to even the current’s flagship phones (on average 3,000 mAh). It also
is equipped with the quick charge feature.
It has a smaller 5.0-inch HD screen,
powered by a 1.0 Ghz 64-bit Quad-core MediaTek MT6735P with 2GB of RAM. In
terms on internal storage it has only 16GB that is expandable with a microSD
(up to only 32GB).
The rear camera experienced a slight
downgrade over the P1, it instead gets a 8MP shooter paired with a 5MP front
camera. You would also find the same dual-sim 4G capability on the P1M as well.
Talking on the battery side, if you still
find yourself running out of battery life at the end of the day there is a
Battery saving feature that you could turn on. Apart from that, the P1 and P1M
could also charge other devices as well via a USB OTG cable, essentially
becoming a powerbank.
Colours available for the P1 are Platinum
and Graphite Grey while Pearl White and Onyx Black are the options for P1M. Prices
for the P1 is at RM1,199 and the P1M is RM649 (Lazada is selling it at a
discounted price of RM599 with 2 free gifts, unsure of when it will end).
This is truly a value phone for heavy users
prone to the need of recharging every quarter of the day.
