Avast Mobile Security: you have to download this FREE anti-virus

With performance rivalling laptops now, it's no wonder hackers are targeting viruses for smartphones.

These virus-makers usually go for the platform with the most users and seeing that the smartphone user base is the one growing the fastest and is the biggest, this makes it a prime target.

For iOS there's usually not much threat as the OS is built tightly with high emphasis on security (for non-jailbroken iPhones). The reverse could be said for Android. Android is known for its open system that allows programmers to express their creativity, but this is also a double-edged sword as it also exposes their OS.

And the number of viruses for Android is higher, thus it's highly recommended for you to download an anti-virus from the Google Play Store (or other certified third party app store, such as the Amazon Appstore).

The next question would then be which anti-virus? There's paid ones but are those worth the money? Lately Avast has given a solution to that question as they have made their paid Anti-virus free! Yes all off the previously paid features are now free.

Before this you had to pay $2 a month or $20 a year for all the additional features. Not anymore. Features such as Privacy Advisor and App lock is given free.

Avast is also known to be an anti-virus with one of the best performance. Here's a review on it. Do download this one if you don't have an anti-virus installed on your android device. it's free anyway.

Source: Tomsguide, GooglePlayStore

Uninstalling the Facebook app = more battery life

To be honest, the Facebook mobile app is not that good. It's laggy, and tends to take up so much space. If you don't believe me go check your smartphone's storage and see how much space the Facebook app took.

No it's not 30MB, nor is it 50MB. On my personal phone it takes up to 600MB (combining the app size and the cache). Yes it's quite big. If you're on a 16GB iPhone, that'll definitely up eat much of your precious space.


And I'm not alone, many users wonder why the facebook app needs some much cache. No matter though because here's the popular advice. You should uninstall your facebook app.

Unless you're very dependent on the facebook app, you shouldn't need it on your smartphone. Then how would you access Facebook you ask. Simple, use your mobile browser.

To my surprise as well, the browser version of Facebook is quite good (better than it was a few years ago anyway). Especially if you're not a heavy facebook user you might prefer it. It has the messenger right in it without having to install another app. Plus it's not that taxing on your phone. Plus, you get storage space on our phone. Plus, it apparently gives 15% battery life to your smartphone.

You read it right. 15% is the percentage that you would save by uninstalling the facebook app on your phone. Well at least that's what they found out with their test. Before this, many battery apps have reported facebook to be a drain hog and now it's just proven.

This advice doesn't only apply to iOS. Another report on BGR also states that there is performance improvement as well for Android. Other apps launches much faster.

So what are you waiting for? If your smartphone is laggy, consider uninstalling the facebook app.

Source:  The Guardian, BGR

Real leaked images of the Samsung Galaxy S7

It's as if nothing about the up and coming S7 can be hidden (or even whether Samsung even bother to be secretive about it), now there are leak images of the supposedly next flagship S series for Samsung.

Thanks to Vietnamese tech website ReviewDao, the images shows the back of the device quite clearly to the point that you can say that the rumour about Samsung reducing the camera hump is real.

Noted by The Independent, the back does look like plastic but this could just be a prototype and might probably differ from the real thing.

Another image would be from Weibo where you can see the front side of the supposedly S7 Edge, as with rumours circulating the S7 Edge certainly has more curved edges (see the top of it) compared to only having it on the sides.

To read more on the next great thing from Samsung, do visit the TechRumours section for the comprehensive coverage on the Galaxy S7.

All in all, we'll wait excitedly for the S7 to come this 22nd Feb 2016 at 2:00 a.m. MYT. This could probably be the best Android phone a tech enthusiast could ask for.

Source: TheIndependent, ReviewDao

MORE EVIDENCE OF DUAL-LENSE: iPhone 7 Plus

This rumour has been circulating long enough, even from last year. But now it seems to be  even more plausible that it's going to happen.

Apple has always been increasing the quality of their camera so it comes as no surprise that they are trying this method as well (first attempted by other Android manufacturers such as HTC and Honor). With dual-lens, it is said to be able to deliver DSLR quality photos.

To further add credits to the rumour is a report from the famous KGI Securities Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo who is known to be accurate in his prediction regarding iPhones.

Though he added that this technology would only be on the iPhone 7 Plus only and not all of the 7 Plus too, apparently 30% of 7 Plus would get it while the remaining will be equipped with the standard iSight Camera.

Focusing on the camera, one of the lense is equipped with an Optical Image Stabilization (OIS) for photos/videos that are more stable and with a wide field of view while the second lens comes with telephoto technology and a narrower field of view. These technologies is believed to be available to Apple with their acquisition of LinX, a company known with innovative camera technologies.

Apart from that, DigiTimes reported on the company Largan Technology that, along with a few Chinese and Japanese companies, sent in samples of dual-lens camera for Apple to test.

Source: BGR, BGRIN,

World's Most Valuable Company: Alphabet

This is the time of year where financial reports are out. And this time there’s an interesting coup. Apple, the famous smartphone, Macbooks and iPod maker (if you weren’t sure which one), is no longer the most valuable company in the world.

That title now belongs to their close-rival Alphabet (the newly established parent company of Google).

Their net worth was around $558 billion compared to Apple’s $534 billion.

They also announced that they earned $21.3 in revenue for Q4 of last year, beating Wall Street’s expectations.

It’s no surprise that the majority of their revenue comes from Google, but a point to be made is that 90% of it is from ads (no surprise perhaps as what they’re offering is similar to freemium, where you get the service free but you have to deal with ads).

On top of that, the CEO, Sundar Pichai also stated that Gmail now has a billion users. To put it into perspective, it’s 1 in 7 people.

For more info, you can refer to the original article on Android Headlines.

Date for the S7 launch is known!

Among the most anticipated phones of the year is noneother than the Samsung Galaxy S7. Many are wondering when will it be released ? Thanks to the most famous tech leaker Evan Blass who uploaded on his twitter account an image of the invite to the SAMSUNG UNPACKED 2016 (where Samsung usually launches/announce the Galaxy S Series)

The date is Feb 21 2016, which happens to be a Sunday. The location of the event is most probably Barcelona but I'll double check on that.

As a refresher, here's what the S7 is said to be equipped with:

• CPU: Exynos 8890/Snapdragon 820
• RAM: 4GB
• SCREEN: 5.1-inch (standard), 5.5-inch (Edge)
• CAMERA: 12MP (with BRITECELL technology)
• STORAGE: 32GB, 64GB
• FEATURES: slot MicroSD, Kalis air, pengecasan tanpa wayar

In addition lately, Evan Blass also leaked an image of the purpoted backs of the S7. 

Personally I can't wait for the arrival of the S7. Samsung did a great job with S6 where they improved in terms of built quality, camera and processing power. Fingers crossed that the S7 would blow us away with the expected leaks. Maybe this could be the smartphone that switches me to Android

Source: Twitter 

Whatsapp is now free, forever! *Yay!!

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)

Source: Whatsapp, TheVerge