Tag Archives: details

4pm UK Time – Samsung Unpacked is live on YouTube – Details

Tech News, ,

samsung-galaxy-unpacked-2015_0

Today at 4pm UK, 11am ET, Samsung does a live broadcast of its next Unpacked Event. This event will be the official unveiling of the Samsung Galaxy Edge Plus and Note 5. So much has been leaked about these devices, it is hard to believe there will be anything left to learn!

If you are wanting to watch the event, be sure to head over to http://www.youtube.com/samsungmobile . Or come back here at 4pm UK time and the event will be available to watch from this post.
Update – link http://www.samsung.com/uk/unpacked/

LG announces a new HI-Fi Music Service – members only – details

Android, Tech News,

“LG has announced a new Hi-Fi music service that will be available to the LG G4, G Flex 2, G3 and the G2. The service will offer high-fidelity tracks with 24bit/192kHz playback, and should you have a qualifying handset, you’ll receive two free Hi-Fi tracks a month, and additional discounts up to 50 percent off the regular price on songs available from LG.

LG mentions that the service will be available to customers in nearly 70 countries, including the United States, Australia, Brazil, China, France, Italy, Russia and the United Kingdom. The Hi-Fi music service is launching later this month, and will be accessible from the LG SmartWorld app and http://www.lgworld.com.”

As you can read, this is a members only club with only the best smartphones in the world being able to apply! It will be interesting to learn more about this offering and what the depth and breath and cost of the service entails.

Source – http://www.androidcentral.com/

Update 2 – Carphone Warehouse has been hacked – details

Tech News,

Carphone Warehouse has been the victim of a major hack.

2.4m customer details have been stolen.

More details soon on this post.

Updated – 90,000 encrypted credit cards may have also been stolen. Sites hacked include OneStopPhoneShop.com, e2save.com and Mobiles.co.uk, and services TalkTalk Mobile, Talk Mobile and iD Mobile.

Source – Carphone Warehouse in ‘2.4m’ customer data breach – http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-33835185

HTC to slash jobs, projects and smartphones – details

Android, Tech News, ,

“Taiwanese smartphone maker HTC Corp said it would cut jobs and discontinue models as part of its strategy to focus on high-end devices to better compete with the likes of Apple Inc and Samsung Electronics.

“The cuts will be across the board,” Chief Financial Officer Chialin Chang told reporters after HTC reported a second-quarter loss and forecast another for the third-quarter. “They will be significant”

HTC’s position is sad to see. It follows a number of other companies who have fallen or that have shrunk, including Palm,Nokia and Blackberry. Now it looks like HTC is in jeopardy. This action has come about following news that HTC Corp. forecast a quarterly loss five times more than analysts’ estimates, which has occurred due to plummeting sales.

Source – http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/08/06/us-htc-outlook-idUSKCN0QB14M20150806 / http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-08-06/htc-expects-loss-five-times-wider-than-estimates-as-sales-plunge

Samsung Note 5 and S6 Edge Plus – Press Shots and Specs

Android, Tech News, , ,

As we get closer to the next Samsung Unpacked even on 13th August, more information about the Note 5 and S6 Edge Plus are getting released.

Evleaks on twitter revealed that Note 5 will will have a 5.66-inch QHD display, 4GB of RAM, and Exynos 7420 SoC (4×2.1GHz+4×1.5GHz). The phone will come with the same 16MP rear-facing camera and 5MP front-facing camera as the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge. It will come with Android 5.1.1 pre-loaded and start at 32GB of internal storage. The phone will not include expandable storage.

How much of a deal breaker is this for you?

Below are the press shots revealed by evleaks.

Yahoo announces LiveText – details

Android, Apple, Tech News,

“So today, we’re introducing Yahoo Livetext – a new way to communicate that blends the immediacy, simplicity and ease of texting with the expressiveness of video, without the audio. Over the past few weeks, we’ve been testing Yahoo Livetext in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Ireland, and we’re really excited about what we’ve heard from our community so far. Starting tomorrow, we’ll be releasing Yahoo Livetext in five new countries – U.S., U.K., Canada, Germany and France.

Just go to the App Store and Google Play Store tomorrow to check it out, and let us know how you’re using Yahoo Livetext to connect. Livetexting is better together.”

Not sure what to make of this. Doubt it will catch on. But what do you think?

More details and source – http://yahoo.tumblr.com/post/125351474614/yahoo-livetext-a-new-way-to-connect

Apple reports record Third Quarter Results – Yet share Price drops 8% – details and viewpoint

Apple, Tech News, ,

Press release from Apple – http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2015/07/21Apple-Reports-Record-Third-Quarter-Results.html

CUPERTINO, California — July 21, 2015 — Apple® today announced financial results for its fiscal 2015 third quarter ended June 27, 2015. The Company posted quarterly revenue of $49.6 billion and quarterly net profit of $10.7 billion, or $1.85 per diluted share. These results compare to revenue of $37.4 billion and net profit of $7.7 billion, or $1.28 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter. Gross margin was 39.7 percent compared to 39.4 percent in the year-ago quarter. International sales accounted for 64 percent of the quarter’s revenue.

The growth was fueled by record third quarter sales of iPhone® and Mac®, all-time record revenue from services and the successful launch of Apple Watch™.

“We had an amazing quarter, with iPhone revenue up 59 percent over last year, strong sales of Mac, all-time record revenue from services, driven by the App Store, and a great start for Apple Watch,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “The excitement for Apple Music has been incredible, and we’re looking forward to releasing iOS 9, OS X El Capitan and watchOS 2 to customers in the fall.”

“In the third quarter our year-over-year growth rate accelerated from the first half of fiscal 2015, with revenue up 33 percent and earnings per share up 45 percent,” said Luca Maestri, Apple’s CFO. “We generated very strong operating cash flow of $15 billion, and we returned over $13 billion to shareholders through our capital return program.”

Apple is providing the following guidance for its fiscal 2015 fourth quarter:
-revenue between $49 billion and $51 billion
-gross margin between 38.5 percent and 39.5 percent
-operating expenses between $5.85 billion and $5.95 billion
-other income/(expense) of $400 million
-tax rate of 26.3 percent

Viewpoint – Apple’s results derive mainly from iPhone sales and China. Apple missed Wall Street estimates by posting earnings of $1.85 per share, and as a consequence market share price is currently down 8%. China alone represented nearly 27% of the revenue in Q3. Apple said they would have 40 stores in China by mid 2016. iPad sales continued to drop. Mac sales have increased slightly, by 9% year on year. Maybe the iPad is at the end of its huge growth period now. Maybe a brand new version will spur growth. Tim Cook refused to reveal any Apple Watch figures which seems bizarre. Apple want to keep the numbers private so competitors are not aware of the sales figures. Not sure I buy that answer. However, I do agree with Tim Cook that the Apple Watch could be a big Xmas filler. However, it does account for 100% growth in the Other Category ($1bn) and offsets the decline in iPod sales and accessories. With a figure of $1bn I imagine Apple have sold between 1.8m to 2m watches. Personally, the future is bright for Apple. With Apple Pay, Apple Music and all the connected products, it is still a bonanza day and future for the company.

Sony declares a few weeks ago – 1080p screens only no QHD – so what is the Xperia Z4v then!!

Android, Tech News,

Sony announced a few ago the Xperia Z3+ for Europe, declaring we won’t make a 1080p screen. But wait what happened a few hours ago is going to frustrate anyone who has preordered the Z3+.

Verizon have announced the Sony Xperia Z4v. This phone is 90% the Xperia Z4/Z3+, but changing the name makes it ok for Sony to hash the specs over it just announced other flagships.

So it has the same Snapdragon 810 SoC, 20.7-megapixel camera, instead of 1080p screen, it now has a lovely QHD screen.

The Z4v is also slightly thicker going from 6.9mm to 8.6mm and increasing its weight from 144g to 160g. This makes room for a slightly larger battery at 3,000mAh. The Z4v adds support for wireless charging, supporting both Qi and PMA protocols.

So why didn’t Sony release this true flagship elsewhere?

Source – http://www.verizonwireless.com/news/article/2015/06/experience-the-freedom-to-play-with-sonys-xperia-z4v-smartphone-coming-to-the-united-states-exclusively-on-verizon-wireless.html

LastPass – The Password Manager got HACKED – details

Tech News,

Yesterday, LastPass released a statement that it had been the target of a hack that they discovered on Friday, and that the hack had accessed its users’ email addresses, encrypted master passwords, and the reminder words and phrases that the service asks users to create for those master passwords. This is really worrying trend that a security company that manages passwords got hacked. Many of you will use LastPass but I choose MSecure and the cloud file is stored on your own Dropbox account.

“We are confident that our encryption measures are sufficient to protect the vast majority of users. LastPass strengthens the authentication hash with a random salt and 100,000 rounds of server-side PBKDF2-SHA256, in addition to the rounds performed client-side. This additional strengthening makes it difficult to attack the stolen hashes with any significant speed.

Nonetheless, we are taking additional measures to ensure that your data remains secure. We are requiring that all users who are logging in from a new device or IP address first verify their account by email, unless you have multifactor authentication enabled. As an added precaution, we will also be prompting users to update their master password.
An email is also being sent to all users regarding this security incident. We will also be prompting all users to change their master passwords. You do not need to update your master password until you see our prompt. However, if you have reused your master password on any other website, you should replace the passwords on those other websites.
Because encrypted user data was not taken, you do not need to change your passwords on sites stored in your LastPass vault. As always, we also recommend enabling multifactor authentication for added protection for your LastPass account.”

Source – https://blog.lastpass.com/2015/06/lastpass-security-notice.html/