Technology News - Lenovo Phab 2 Plus Review

Highlights

• The Phab 2 Plus boasts of a 6.4-inch display and octa-core SoC
• Build and display quality are good but CPU performance is weak
• The Lenovo Phab 2 Plus is priced at Rs. 14,999

Lenovo is steadily expanding its Phab series of smartphones. Rather than spamming the market with a hundred variants, the company has only just launched the successor to last year's Phab Plus (Review). We felt that phone had great potential as a media consumption device but its size made it incredibly awkward to carry, even if you have abnormally large hands. This year, we have the Phab 2 Plus, which was announced as part of a trio including the Phab 2 and Phab 2 Pro. The Plus variant is the only one to make it to India so far, and it serves as a successor to the existing Phab Plus. With more manageable dimensions this time around, the highlight feature here appears to be a dual-camera setup. At Rs. 14,999, the Lenovo Phab 2 Plus locks horns with Huawei Mate 9 review, which is pretty much the only other model in this price segment with similar features. With the Mi Max being perpetually out of stock everywhere, is Lenovo’s offering a viable alternative? Let’s find out. Lenovo Phab 2 Plus design and build The phone gets a metal unibody and curved Gorilla Glass on the front. It feels tough enough to withstand a drop or two. The Phab 2 Plus is a massive phone and despite Lenovo trying its best to minimise the footprint with thin bezels and no excess space above and below the display, it still requires two hands to operate. There is a one-handed mode but that only lets you shift the lockscreen's numeric PIN keypad and the dial pad to one corner for better reach, rather than shrinking the entire screen.
 

 The display measures 6.4 inches diagonally and is an IPS panel with a full-HD resolution, which results in a crisp 344ppi pixel count. Text is sharp and icons lack jaggedness around the edges. Colour reproduction is pretty good too and the Lenovo Phab 2 Plus fares well under direct sunlight. However, the ambient light sensor can be a little slow to react at times. Touch response is also spot-on. The Phab 2 Plus gets backlit capacitive navigation keys at the bottom and a notification LED on the top. There’s a SIM tray on the left that can house either two SIM cards or one SIM and a microSD card (up to 128GB). The volume and power buttons have good tactile feedback and are placed fairly ergonomically on the right. There’s a mono speaker at the bottom along with a Micro-USB port, and a headphones socket up on the top. The back is slightly curved so the Lenovo Phab 2 Plus  sits comfortably in your palm. You’ll find the dual cameras and the fingerprint sensor on the back. The latter works well and authentication is fast and painless. We rarely had any misreads. However, you can only use it to unlock the phone, not secure apps or folders. The Phab 2 Plus ships with a 10W charger, data cable, SIM ejector, instructions, and JBL earphones. The quality of the accessories is good although we didn’t like how short the supplied cable is. 

 The Lenovo Phab 2 Plus scores well in terms of build quality. The design feels a bit generic but the most annoying thing here has got to be its size and weight. 218 grams is a lot for something you’ll be carrying around in your pocket every single day, and it's very noticeable when you’re holding the phone up to talk or do anything for an extended period. The sheer size of the phone makes it cumbersome to carry around. It sticks out everywhere, which might not be an issue if you carry your phone in a handbag or backpack, but it's almost impossible to sit comfortably with the Phab 2 Plus in a trouser pocket. Lenovo Phab 2 Plus specifications and features On paper, the Phab 2 Plus meets the core specifications we’ve come to expect from smartphones in this segment. You get an octa-core MediaTek SoC (MT8783), 3GB of RAM, and 32GB of storage.

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It’s interesting to note that this SoC isn't a very popular one. It consists of eight ARM Cortex-A53 cores and is built on a 28nm fabrication process, so it isn't too different from other MediaTek chips. The rest of the specifications include Bluetooth 4.0, dual-band Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n/ac, FM radio, GPS, and USB OTG. The phone also supports 4G on all Indian bands and also VoLTE. This recipe works very well with the near-stock implementation of Android Marshmallow, which is a refreshing change from the custom interfaces we've seen in the past. Apart from a custom icon set, it’s pretty much untouched. The Settings app has a Smart Assist feature that lets you control things like one-handed mode and auto-answering a call when you bring it to your ear. Smart Shortcut gives you a floating menu to which you can add app shortcuts. Lenovo pre-installs apps including McAfee Security, Netflix, and Swiftkey. There’s also SHAREit, SYNCit, which unites multiple cloud services in one place, much like the equivalent programs on Lenovo's laptops.

  


Lenovo Phab 2 Plus performance General performance is relatively smooth thanks to the near-stock Android, but performance begins to throttle once you try juggling between apps, using the AR features of the camera, or basically anything CPU intensive. We noticed intermittent stutter when multitasking and when using the camera. We also noticed that the Lenovo Phab 2 Plus heats up quickly if you’re watching a video, using the camera or even having a long call. Heat can be felt along the edges where the buttons and the headphones socket are placed, and the back. Benchmarks tell the story better. AnTuTu returned 36,629 points; GFXbench gave us just 12fps; and the Jetstrem browser benchmark retuned 17.2 points. Gaming performance seems to be limited as the Mali-T720 GPU appears to be a bit too weak for full-HD gaming. As a whole, this SoC is definitely weaker than the Snapdragon 6xx series chips which we see in many other phones in this price range. The Lenovo Phab 2 Plus deserved better.
 

 One big feature that Lenovo is promoting with this phone is Dolby Atmos audio. An app lets you customise sound profiles based on the type of media you’re listening too. Atmos is all about 360-degree sound, which is obviously not possible with one single speaker. However, it does get fairly loud compared to most other phones with a single speaker, and audio quality is decent for games and other media. The bundled JBL earphones aren’t very good at isolating ambient noise or at audio playback. Videos encoded with Dolby Atmos support have good aural separation. Videos look great on the Phab 2 Plus, which can handle up to 1080p files. The Lenovo Phab 2 Plus  features two 13-megapixel camera sensors, laser auto-focus (AF), and phase-detection auto-focus (PDAF). The secondary camera sensor is used for measuring depth but it didn't seem to do anything to improve the quality of pictures. We tried taking photos with that lens both blocked and clear, and didn’t really see any significant difference. We recommend that you use HDR for landscapes in daylight, as without it, pictures look pretty dull. The Phab 2 Plus struggles to capture good details in distant objects, but macro shots fare much better, with good levels of detail, background blur, and colour saturation.

Focusing is quick, and continuous autofocus works well even with video, although we would have liked a tap-to-focus feature too. Once the phone starts to heat up though, focusing speeds dip, and the app begins to lag. Dual-camera mode offers the ability to manipulate focus after a shot has been taken, and even swap and merge objects from one image into another. Focus manipulation doesn’t work nearly as well as it does on competing phones, or even the Refocus app on old Lumia phones. There’s also an AR mode, which you can use to add cats, dogs, and other virtual elements into a scene. It’s not new as Sony has been doing this on its Xperia phones for years now. Plus, Lenovo’s implementation is a bit clunky - switching to this mode opens another app. Again, the phone heats up while doing this. Video recording maxes out at 1080p, but the Phab 2 Plus also has the option to record in HDR. We tested this out on an HDR TV and the differences, though slight, were noticeable. Video is recorded with Dolby 5.1 audio by default. Thanks to the three microphones, the captured sound is crisp and even small nuances are amplified and can heard clearly. The front 8-megapixel camera manages decent pictures in day/ under natural light, but doesn’t do so well under artificial lighting, though the front flash helps to an extent. The first run of our HD video loop battery test lasted just 6 hours, 19 minutes. Even with regular usage, our review unit refused to run beyond 13 hours. However, we reset the device and ran the tests again, and managed to get better results of 8 hours of video playback and roughly 16-18 hours with actual usage. The 4050mAh battery thus delivered average performance. We observed that the battery holds its capacity very well at night when the phone is not in use, but begins to deplete quickly if we played a game or used the camera. There’s no official fast charging here, but the 10W charger manages to top up the phone within a couple of hours.
 
 Verdict The Phab 2 Plus should have had all the makings of a good, large-screened phone for media consumption, but in our opinion, a couple of poor choices stop it from being a viable alternative to Xiaomi’s Mi Max. It does well enough in terms of build, display, software, and audio quality. The dual-camera setup is a bit unnecessary and the supplementary features feels a bit gimmicky, but image quality isn't too bad, especially for macro shots. We also like the fact that manufactures are incorporating HDR video recording. But a phone like this should have had a better SoC, and the one Lenovo has gone with simply lacks the power needed to handle things like augmented reality apps, heavy games, and even multitasking. The Phab 2 Plus heats up too quickly, which is quite annoying. We also expected great battery life but it turned out to be pretty average in our tests. In our opinion, the only reason one would put up with the bulk and heft of a phone like this would be to consume a lot of content, and as such, the Xiaomi Mi Max would make a better choice thanks to its slimmer profile and much better battery life. If you don't need a huge screen and are just looking for a good all-rounder, you have plenty of options such as the Lenovo Phab 2 Pro(Review) and iPhone 7 Plus, to name a few in this price segment .  

Technology News - Apple Unveils Design Book With 450 Photos Chronicling 20 Years of Products

Apple has just announced a hardbound book that compiles 450 photographs chronicling all the products that the company has made in the past. This book has been released to commemorate co-founder Steve Jobs, and it represents Apple's journey since its foundation days.

The book is titled 'Designed by Apple in California' and it comes in two sizes - the smaller one with dimensions 10.20x12.75-inch is priced starting at $199 (roughly Rs. 13,500), while the large hardbound book with dimensions 13x16.25-inch is priced starting at $299 (roughly Rs. 20,300). The design of the book is sparse at best, and it contains just Apple product photographs lined up in ascending order one page after the other.

In the book's foreword, Design Chief Jon Ive explains, "While this is a design book, it is not about the design team, the creative process or product development. It is an objective representation of our work that, ironically, describes who we are. It describes how we work, our values, our preoccupations and our goals. We have always hoped to be defined by what we do rather than by what we say. We strive, with varying degrees of success, to define objects that appear effortless. Objects that appear so simple, coherent and inevitable that there could be no rational alternative."

While it's rather odd of a company to boast of its own achievements, Apple is considered as the pinnacle of success when it comes to design and consumer products. Its evolution in design is worth being documented, but monetised? That's another debate altogether. Ive claims that this gathering of product designs in one book, will give a huge understanding and learning of how products evolved over the years, and be a rich resource for design students in the future.

In any case, "Designed by Apple in California" is available on the company website in Australia, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, the UK and the US, and in select Apple Stores.

Technology News - This is why Snapchat didn’t give Spectacles to techies

If you want to make something cool, don’t give it to geeks first. Google Glass learned that the hard way.

Despite Snapchat’s best efforts, Robert Scoble still got a hold of a pair of the Spectacles camera glasses. He’s the enthusiastic tech blogger above who shot a nude selfie wearing Google Glass in the shower that came to embody the gadget’s cursed brand. He even admits to me that it was smart that Snap Inc didn’t send him a pair.

A SpectaScobles selfie was the exact opposite of Snapchat’s plan. That’s why it didn’t deliver any review units of Spectacles to bloggers, or send them to tech celebrities who usually get early beta access to new products.

If it did, that would have forged a perception of Spectacles as a serious device meant to be painstakingly reviewed instead of casually played with as they should be. And it would have positioned them for serious adults and early adopters, instead of the typical teens that make up Snapchat’s core user base.

So instead, it suddenly dropped a goofy vending machine full of Spectacles on a beach boardwalk in LA, near a national park in Big Sur, California, and a roadside tourist trap off Route 61 near Tulsa, Oklahoma. Snapchat lovers scrambled to get there quick and stand in long lines in hopes of scoring a pair.

There are several reasons this was brilliant:

Artificial Scarcity – People love exclusivity, but with an air of egalitarianism. By not openly selling them online or in a permanent brick-and-mortar store, and instead making their availability extremely limited, somewhat random, and only for those willing to stand in line, their perceived value skyrocketed. Sure, people are selling them on eBay for huge markups at $800 to $2000 dollars. But the point was anyone with $130 and some luck could don the glasses.

Geographic Clustering – Snapchat itself blew up in LA high schools, becoming a hit with a densely interconnected group of teens long before the press picked up on the phenomenon. Facebook actually started quite similarly, only being available at a few elite colleges like Harvard, Columbia, and Stanford. Spectacles were also launched like this. Beyond making everyone else a bit jealous, it limited the chance of someone being the only person in their area using the product. For Snapchat and Facebook, that meant people actually had friends to use the app with. And for Spectacles, it means there will still be hype left to exploit when they hit the east coast and abroad.

Buying As An Experience – When was the last time the acquisition of a product felt as momentous as owning the product itself, and that moment wasn’t annoying? Sure lots of people stayed up late to order their Apple Watch and tweet what configuration they got, though I wouldn’t call that fun. People got excited about their place in the waitlist to use the Mailbox email app, yet the eventual rollout was anti-climactic. But the googly-eyed Snapbot vending machine, dropped in scenic locations, with an augmented reality try-on screen, got almost as much coverage as the videos you make with Spectacles.

Snapchat isn’t the only one realizing big, flashy press conferences and early access for journalists aren’t the only way to release a product.

Facebook cut back on glitzy launch events following one it threw for Facebook Home, which immediately flopped. And after Sean Parker’s video app Airtime bumbled its 2012 launch extravaganza with broken demos featuring celebrities like Jim Carrey, its 2016 relaunch had no event attached.

Snap Inc CEO wearing Spectacles, shot by famous photographer Karl Lagerfeld for the WSJ Magazine

And poor Google Glass. It tried to normalize wearing a computer on your face by handing it to the least fashionable people around, bloggers and app makers. It needed people to look cool wearing it, or at least not super weird, before anyone cared what the reviews said and the apps did. That’s why the first memorable photos of Spectacles weren’t shot by Scoble, but by famous fashion photographer Karl Lagerfeld.

Scoble concludes that the Spectacles Snapbots “make a lot more sense than the way Google rolled out Google Glass to developers and nerds.”

Technology News - Samsung is looking for Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge owners to test Android 7.0 on their phones

It’s not a full on Nougat rollout, but it’s something. For a second year in a row, Samsung will be offering a select group of users early access to the latest version of Android through its Galaxy Beta Program.

Currently limited to Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge owners (no Note 7 for obvious reasons) in the US, UK, and Korea, the deal is first-come, first served, according to the company’s site, aimed at testing the stability of Android 7.0 on its flagship devices. The program will be arriving in China at some point in the near future, as well.

Participants will be asked to report bugs and other issues to help the company bring things up to speed for next year’s public roll out. Sadly, if you got your hands on the limited edition Olympics or Batman version of the phone, you can’t participate. Ditto for users in the UK who have devices locked by their carrier.

There’s a bunch more fine print on Samsung’s page, including the fact that “unexpected errors may occur,” because, well, that’s kind of the whole point of a beta program

“Anti-smartphone” Light Phone runs into delays

For people who feel that we are a little bit too connected these days, Kickstarter project Light Phone was promising a respite. It was scheduled to ship in May this year, but has seen a number of setbacks. This week, the company issued a statement. It says that while it missed its goal, it hopes to start shipping late this month.

Light Phone’s goal was to be the opposite of a smartphone. Including a 2G SIM card and the ability to take and make calls only, the phone aimed to have three weeks worth of battery life on a single charge.

Tiny, pretty, and with a three-week battery life. What’s not to love?

The company suggests “A few limitations in our initial user experience goals due to some iOS restrictions” is the reason the device is shipping late, but the company has received some criticism for how it has handled its Kickstarter campaign, too. It hasn’t posted any public updates since August last year, instead opting to post updates exclusively to its campaign backers. Not a big problem for backers, of course, but a bit iffy to those of us who were following the company’s progress from the sidelines.

The company came under fire for only offering a dated cell technology for the telephony side of the phone, suggesting that relying on 2G may have been a poor solution. In some countries, the 2G network is scheduled to be switched off soon. “Australian 2G is being switched off on 1st December 2016,” one backer writes, referring to the first round of switch-flicking during a 9-month shutdown process of 2G networks down under. The Light Phone company, in turn, offered to refund backers in countries where the phones would no longer be usable.

When the Light Phone was first announced about 18 months ago, it seemed like a novel and interesting idea. At $100 per device, it’s undoubtedly cool, but the device is also entering a spectacularly competitive space. You can pick up a no-name quad-band phone for a seventh of the price, and most carriers will let you turn off SMS functionality altogether, if you feel passionate about only receiving phone calls. That raises the question; who is the Light Phone actually for?

I look forward to trying the Light Phone out and learning what it feels like to live a life without fending off the barrage of social media notifications. Realistically, however, if this was a problem someone was passionate about solving, they’d have found a way of turning off the notifications or get a no-features burner phone already.

Don’t get me wrong, I love the design and the general concept, but it can’t be denied that creating a phone is a complicated process. On top of that, the types of radios used in mobile phones is heavily regulated throughout the world. The icing on the “hmm, is this gonna work” cookie: in telecoms R&D and manufacturing, a $400k budget (the amount the company raised from Kickstarter) to bring a product to market is an incredibly daunting prospect.

Either way, Light Phone is an incredibly inspiring company; it takes some serious focus and dedication to bring a complex product in this space from cocktail napkin to brick-and-mortar shops. The company is bringing a fresh pair of eyes to the humble mobile phone, and I’ll be cheering them on from the sidelines.

Facebook opens analytics and FbStart to developers of Messenger’s 34,000 bots

Facebook has been putting a lot of effort into growing Messenger as a bot platform this year, and now there are 34,000 of these bots in existence, built to present you with news and entertainment, let you shop, and more — expanding Messenger’s use beyond simple chats with friends. Today, that strategy is getting a significant boost: Facebook says it will now let developers track bots on its free analytics platform, alongside ads and apps. At the same time, Facebook is also opening up its developer program, FbStart, to bot developers.

Both potentially give bot makers more reasons to build and monitor how their new widgets are working.

Josh Twist, a product manager for Facebook Messenger’s bot efforts, who is an Englishman based in Seattle but is in London today to debut the tools at a developer event, tells me that Facebook expanded the analytics and FbStart tools after a lot of requests from the developers.

“Getting bot support for messenger is the most frequently requested feature from bot developers,” he said. This shouldn’t be too much of a surprise: Facebook already provided these kinds of tools to other developers on its platform, and bots have seen a massive surge of interest since they first made their debut earlier this year. That interest has not just come from users curious about how they work; developers are also very keen to see if bots really are the next big thing.

Twist tells me that for now, the analytics will cover bots built just for Messenger. But given how bots are making their way to other communication platforms, from competing messaging apps like Viber’s through to enterprise-focused platforms like Slack, don’t be surprised if Facebook expands its both analytics to other platforms beyond Messenger.

“It is something we have talked about and haven’t ruled it out,” he said. “It’s possible, absolutely, since we already support analytics for other platforms for apps. But right now we’re prioritizing support for Messenger bots.”

Analytics, of course, is an essential tool for a developer, both to be able to track how well something is working and other kids of feedback. Here Facebook says that features that will be included are reaches across mobile and desktop devices and measurement of customers’ journeys across apps and websites.

Developers also will be able to view reports on messages sent, messages received, and people who block or unblock your app. And they will also get access to anonymized data reports on bot demographics, which include details like age, gender, education, interests, country and language to figure out who is using your bot.

FbStart, meanwhile, currently has some 9,000 members who get feedback from Facebook on their apps, ads and bots, as well as Facebook ads credits and other free tools from partners like Amazon, Dropbox, and Stripe. If Facebook was looking at ways of swelling those ranks, tapping 34,000 developers could be one way of doing that.

Twist points out that while there are a lot of standalone bot developers coming to Facebook for the first time, there is a lot of crossover with other Facebook services like apps and ads. Those who are leveraging these together — for example using the recent ability to channel a person from a News Feed ad through to your Messenger experience — will be able to look at the effectiveness of those efforts now, and make potentially more ad buys based on them.

Huawei Mate 9 review: A big phone with an bigger battery

Huawei is in a tough position. The company is coming out of China with no strong presence in the U.S. market, and yet it prices its phones similarly to top competitors from Samsung and Apple. To beat the best, Huawei needs to be better than the best, and by a sizable margin. With each new phone, Huawei is a bit closer to that goal, but it never quite reached it.

Enter the Huawei Mate 9. After rumors of crazy-good specs, this was the device that had all the makings of becoming the best phablet in the world, and with the Samsung Galaxy Note7 out of the picture, the task appeared to be even easier. And while the Mate 9 is a very good phone, it will only be the best for some users: those who care deeply about battery life, fast charging and some niche features like black and white photography.

The Huawei Mate 9 is a 5.9-inch phone with the latest octa-core Huawei 960 Kirin chipset (paired with a Mali-G71 graphics chip), it's got 4GB of RAM, 64GB of storage (expandable via microSD cards), has dual cameras on the back (20- and 12-megapixels), an 8-megapixel selfie shooter, a fingerprint sensor, and runs on Android 7.0, skinned with Huawei's latest EMUI 5.0 user interface.

On paper, that's the best Android phone around, if we disregard two specs: its huge screen only has a full HD resolution (many competitors, including the now-discontinued Note7, have Quad HD resolution), and it's not waterproof. Huawei pointed out that this phone is currently the top dog in Geekbench's multi-core test, and I've confirmed this to be the truth.

 

Huawei Mate 9 scores amazingly well in Geekbench 4's multi-core test; the score is a bit less impressive (but still very good) in the single-core test. For comparison, these scores make it the top Android phone out there; compared to the iPhone 7, it wins in the multi-core test but lags behind in the single-core test.

Synthetic tests like this one don't tell the full story, but the Mate 9 did feel fast and smooth, no matter what I threw at it.

Good but generic design

All the Huawei phones I've reviewed in the past couple of years have had exceptionally good build quality, and the Mate 9 is no exception. It just feels rock-solid.

The design, however, is nearly the same as the design of its predecessor, the Mate 8. Yes, the bezels are thin, the speaker grille is a bit more pronounced, the edges are ever-so-slightly curved, but these days you need to do more to stand out. Place an iPhone 7 or a Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge next to it, and both will inspire more lustful sighs.

 

A big part of the smartphone experience these days is the screen, and as I've said many times, I don't mind the 1,920 x 1,080 pixel resolution. That's the same resolution as the iPhone 7 Plus, and no one is complaining. The screen is also brighter than on any other Huawei phone I've seen. And while earlier Huawei phones have had some problems with visibility in the sunlight, the Mate 9 appears to be better (but not perfect) with that regard.

Great battery life and insanely fast charging

One benefit of having a lower-resolution screen (it feels silly calling full HD resolution on a 5.9-inch screen "low," but that's just where we are these days) is better battery life. The huge, 4,000mAh battery also helps, and so does Huawei's SuperCharge charger that promises a full day's worth of battery life in just 20 minutes of charging.

In my testing, the battery life was not as impressive as on the Huawei Note 8 (which also has a 4,000mAh battery), but it was still great. The phone never lasted less than a day, and often I'd still have more than 30 percent of battery life left when I went to sleep.

The super-fast charging is even better. While writing this review, I started charging the phone at 10 percent, and it took just two hours to bring it to 100 percent. The charger is a bit bulkier than you'll get with most phones, but the tradeoff is worth it. Often, I forget to charge my phone and need a quick charge before going out. With this thing, I easily got 20 or 30 percent worth of battery life by the time I brushed my teeth and put on some clothes.

About that dual camera

This is where Huawei Mate 9 stumbles a bit. Huawei had a big head-start on the iPhone when it comes to dual cameras; the Huawei P9 had a 12-megapixel, Leica-branded, dual camera five months before iPhone 7 Plus did.

 

The Leica-branded dual camera is positioned above the phone's super-fast fingerprint sensor.

On paper, Huawei Mate 9 sounds like it should annihilate every camera out there. It has optical image stabilization, an advanced bokeh mode and a 20-megapixel sensor.

But here's the problem: Only one of the cameras has a 20-megapixel sensor, and it only takes pics in monochrome. The other sensor is 12 megapixels, meaning that color photos on the Mate 9 cannot go beyond 12 megapixels; just like on the Huawei P9. Of course, the iPhone 7 Plus boasts the same resolution, so this is not awful by any means, but it just feels like wasted opportunity.

Before we dive into the details of photo quality (and there's a lot to cover), there are a few more things to mention. The bokeh mode only works well in ideal conditions, with the subject of the portrait near and flat towards the camera, and the background far in the distance. Any other conditions and you'll likely to see strange blurry patches in the photo and imperfections around the object that's in the focus. Check out an example, below.

Notice how the edges of the headphones are blurry and odd, especially on the left earcup? The Mate 9's bokeh mode works well in ideal scenarios, but give it anything a bit tougher and this happens.

Also, the phone boasts some sort of hybrid 2x zoom mode, which is not optical. I fail to see how this is different from digital zoom, so I mostly disregarded it.

The Mate 9 has an 8-megapixel selfie camera, just like its predecessor. But thankfully, the "beauty" mode is no longer the default; gone is the unnaturally smooth skin and bulgy eyes. The selfies are decent if not spectacular, but this little change means more to me than improvements in picture quality.

Finally, the Mate 9 takes 4K video, a first for Huawei.

Photo quality: Stunning in black and white, solid in color, shoddy in low light

Huawei places a lot of emphasis on its partnership with Leica, which yielded the company's dual-camera system. The idea is to combine a monochrome sensor that takes very sharp photos with a color sensor to get very sharp color photos. It worked well on the Huawei P9, but how does it work on the Mate 9, where the monochrome sensor has a higher resolution than the color one?

Since I've already done a detailed analysis of P9's photo-taking capabilities, the easiest way to test the Mate 9 is to test it directly against the P9. I've also thrown in photos taken by a 12-megapixel Canon 450D DSLR for good measure. Given the enormous amount of features all of these cameras offer, I've mostly taken photos on auto settings, which is the way most users will do it anyways.

The short verdict is that the Mate 9 takes very similar photos to the Huawei P9. They're great and sharp in sunny outdoors shots, but lag behind today's top phones in low light conditions. And if you like black and white shots, the Mate 9 will occasionally take a photo that will beat professional-grade cameras.

Huawei Mate 9

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Check out the outdoors shots above. In the park photo (comparison below), the Mate 9 takes a stunningly sharp photo, but it looks a bit too post-processed. The colors are also a bit washed out, while the Canon leans to the blue a bit too much; the P9's photo has the best color accuracy.

In the palm photo, it's the P9 that does too much sharpening. The Huawei Mate 9 gets it just right; both phones produce a far sharper photo than the Canon.

In a monochrome photo, the Mate 9 wins over the P9 due to its 20-megapixel resolution. And while both cameras takes absolutely stunning black and white photos, it's worth noting that pretty much the only thing that separates them is the resolution; in fact, on some occasions the P9 took a better photo.

Go inside a bar or a dark room, however, and the Mate 9 isn't as good. Its f/2.2 aperture lags behind the iPhone 7, Google Pixel XL and the Galaxy S7 Edge, and it shows; the low-light photos it takes are always a tad to dark and grainy. The phone's HDR mode is a must here, but you have to turn it on manually.

The verdict — despite Huawei's partnership with Leica and its experience with dual-camera phones — is that the Mate 9 takes great photos in some cases, but doesn't exactly shine where it counts the most, in those party/beer bar/concert shots most of us love to take.

Details that might change your mind

These days, smartphones are little powerhouses that do a ton of things, and even though people care the most about performance, battery life and camera, it would be very unfair to judge the Huawei Mate 9 on those criteria alone. The phone comes with a plethora of minor but useful features not many competing phones have. Here's a little list of notes I've made while reviewing this phone.

The software has been vastly improved and polished since the Mate 8. It's not just Android 7.0; Huawei has cleaned up its EMUI, making sure you can get to most features with fewer clicks. And if you don't like the cram your apps into folders on the screen, iPhone-style, the Mate 9 now has an optional app drawer as well.

Huawei claims the phone comes with software that learns user habits and improves performance the more you use it, with peak performance coming after 16 months of use. It's tough to test that in only a week, but the phone was definitely very fast.

The company pointed out to me that the software on the device I had for testing is unfinished, and that an update get pushed out before the device hits the market. However, I did not encounter any bugs while testing the phone.

The Mate 9 comes with stereo speakers (a close competitor, the Pixel XL, has a mono speaker) which sound amazing for a smartphone — probably the best I've heard. It also has four directional mics, which make recording interviews much easier; you can listen to sounds that came from a specific direction and mute all other sounds. On the other hand, it does not support Bluetooth aptX, which is a shame.

A single USB-C connector is positioned between the speaker grilles on the bottom. On the top, there's (thankfully) a headphone jack.

The Mate 9 has a headphone jack. This is important to point out now that the iPhone 7, and many new phones, like the HTC Bolt, do not. I have a lot of headphones which I frequently plug in and out of multiple devices, and this is a big deal for me.

The phone has an IR blaster, in case you want to use it as a remote. I rarely do, but hey, a lot of competing phones don't have the feature.

With a 5.9-inch screen, the phone is big but manageable; it's roughly, as Huawei itself highlighted at launch, the size of an iPhone 7 Plus. But the more important implication is that the Mate 9 has a bigger screen than most top phablets out there. The Note7 had a 5.7-inch screen, but that's all gone now, and the S7 Edge, Google Pixel, iPhone 7 Plus all have 5.5-inch screens. If you need a little extra screen estate, the Mate 9 might be a better choice.

Verdict

The Huawei Mate 9 is an ambitious device, polished and powerful. But the Galaxy S7 Edge and the iPhone 7 Plus have a better design and camera. They're also waterproof. And Google's Pixel XL has a better camera and tons of Google-unique software perks.

The Mate 9 more than makes it up in other areas. It has a great battery that charges crazy fast, and is a little bigger than top competitors. It also has top specs and some nifty details, like four microphones and stereo speakers. It takes amazing black-and-white photos.

This leaves us with the question of the price. The Mate 9 will be available in the U.S., but I have not been able to get the exact date and price from Huawei. We know the price in Europe, however: 699 euros ($750). That's a fair price for what you get, but you need to take a good long look at other phones sold at this price and choose which features you care about.

Huawei Mate 9

The Good

Top specs • Takes amazing black and white photos • Premium feel • Great stereo sound • Great battery life and super fast charging

The Bad

Bland design • Camera lags behind top competition • Pricey

The Bottom Line

The Huawei Mate 9 is a polished and powerful phone with great battery life, an innovative camera and — how about that? — a headphone jack.

Samsung Galaxy S8 Tipped to Sport Pressure-Sensitive Display

Samsung may be the next handset manufacturer to go for pressure-sensitive display technology for its next flagship, if a new report citing multiple industry sources is to be believed. Notably, Samsung's pressure-sensitive display technology is expected to work same as Apple's 3D Touch seen on iPhones.

The technology will be able to distinguish between a light tap and deep press, enabling access to more functions just by pressing harder. Notably, Samsung won't be the first Android handset vendor to bring pressure-sensitive display technology to its phones as Huawei was the first to unveil the force touch tech. To recall, Huawei's Mate S was the first Android smartphone featuring Force Touch technology.

The report by The Investor cites an official of a Samsung supplier who said, "Samsung is mulling to adopt the force touch technology partially from the S8 but the full adoption will come in one or two years. It is a matter of time before other major Android smartphone makers deploy the technology that will help enhance user interface." The report also suggests that Samsung may utilise its own force touch tech developed by Samsung Display, which also supplies force touch displays to Huawei.

Additionally, Samsung's Senior Executive at component division on condition of anonymity claimed that the South Korean company was working on the force touch tech "for the adoption in the near future."

A recent report claimed that Samsung's Galaxy S8 may launch in two screen size variants - 5.7-inch and 6.2-inch. Prolific phone tipster Evan Blass (@evleaks) claimed that the Samsung Galaxy S8 models will have model numbers SM-G950 and SM-G955 for 5.7-inch and 6.2-inch screen sizes respectively.

Based on preliminary leaks, Samsung Galaxy S8 will sport a 5.5-inch 4K (2160x3840 pixels) Super AMOLED display with impressive pixel density of 806ppi. It is further expected to pack company's own Exynos 8895 SoC coupled with 6GB of RAM. Rumours so far have claimed that Samsung will launch the alleged Galaxy S8 flagship smartphone on the side-lines of MWC 2017 in Barcelona on February 26.

Nissam zero-emission e-NV200 - Worlds First All-Electric Mobile Office

Nissan and UK-based design workshop Studio Hardie are transform Nissam zero-emission e-NV200 van. And this is the worlds first all-electric mobile office.

Nissan e-NV200 features are

1. An integrated fold-out desk, 
2. Touchscreen computer, 
3. Wireless internet, 
4. Smartphone-controlled LED lights, 
5. Wireless phone charging, 
6. Bluetooth audio system, 
7. Colour reversing camera
8. Nissan Intelligent Key
9. AM/FM/CD audio system
10. 2 Speakers
11. 15" Alloy wheels
12. Climate Control
13. Mini fridge and 
14. Brista-character coffee robot.

The e-NV200 WORKSPACe concept not single-handedly highlights the customisable potential of its electric van, it paints a portray of what desk-based employment could see when in the well ahead as hot-desking and alert operational grows in popularity across the globe. Moreover, the one-off vehicle as well as provides an example of Nissans Intelligent Mobility vision, and the companys view of how the attachment in the middle of vehicles and people are changing.

Tech Expert Blogger: Bidvertiser - Best Alternative To Adsense

Tech Expert Blogger: Bidvertiser - Best Alternative To Adsense: BidVertiser  is one of the oldest PPC (Pay Per Click) network started in 2003 along following the opening of Adsense. In this gathering I ...

Best Alternative to Google Adsense 2016

When it comes to ad networks, RevenueHits is the best Alternative to Google Adsense.Although AdSense is widely used, it has many pitfalls such as Low Earnings, Terms and Conditions,getting ascribed,rules etc., Sometimes you may get bond of settlement of rejected by it or you may play in a ban due to void clicks or performance traffic.At this times, you can use RevenueHits -the best Adsense every second along plus Adsense,Infolinks or Other Ad Networks. 

RevenueHits is the best exchange for AdSense according to many user reviews.In this article, I am going to discuss in detail about the best Adsense vary-RevenueHits. 

What is RevenueHits? 

RevenueHits is the Best Ad Network which supports contextual ads for both mobile and desktop platforms.It is just taking into account Adsense which counts both impressions and clicks.It uses Geo-Targeting Ads to maximize the revenue of publishers.The eCPM for this ad network is as regards 30$ which is in fact huge taking into consideration compared to supplementary ad networks.For example, it wont produce an effect Indian amalgamated ads or banners to visitors coming from US! 

According to the pay for an opinion, RevenueHits is owned and operated by MyAdWise Ltd a privately-held, Israel-based begin-happening company founded in 2008 by some busy tech experts.RevenueHits is basically a CPA (Cost Per Acquisition) based advertising network.So the unqualified revenue depends then reference to the user proceedings.

Difference Between Adsense and RevenueHits

There are many differences along also AdSense and RevenueHits. Some are: 

Here are few major reasons AdSense is not a pleasing substitute: 

The earnings are enormously limited and minimum payment is 100$. 

As thus many people are using Adsense, there is a enormously less inadvertent for people to click ads in your site. 

Ads make your site load intensely slower.Also, once a fanatic clicks a propos the ad they are redirected to ad page desertion your page. 

If you are not targeting US or UK, you are not going to make more child maintenance no issue how much traffic you profit! 

In accomplishment of RevenueHits, they wont just have enough child support you by now banner ads but you can in addition to monetize toolbar, widgets and accretion-ons. 

You should totally attempt RevenueHits.Lets discuss the sustain of RevenueHits on peak of Adsense knocked out. 

Benefits Of RevenueHits Over AdSense 

Major reasons which footnote Why RevenueHits is enlarged than AdSense: 

Getting AdSense applause is always hard.Whereas roughly RevenueHits your account gets acclaimed hastily. 

The minimum payment in RevenueHits is 20$ which is less than Adsense. 

RevenueHits pays intensely hastily. For example, January earnings will be paid by the postpone of January month. 

RevenueHits has payment options such as Paypal, Payoneer and Wire Transfer.Whereas Google Adsense unaccompanied has Wire Transfer as a payment another. 

RevenueHits also supports Pop ups, Pop Under, Banners, Sliders etc. which will enable you to earn more once compared to Adsense.

Features Of RevenueHits 

For Publishers: 

1)Display & Rich Media:Choose any of their various banners sizes and formats that fall in in the middle of your site to make a obtain of entry their omnipotent pool of advertisers. Their algorithm will locate the best performing arts arts offers for your site to optimize your earnings.It defines revenuehits vs adsense. 

2)Text Ads:Why not use the knack of text to lead you count the revenues from your site? They meet the expense of regular and contextual text ads, which can be integrated taking into account totaling formats in your site, or can stand re its own.It defines revenuehits vs adsense. 

3)Pop Ups/Unders:By different Pop Ups or Pop Unders to your site/app, you will boost your revenue hastily. Their system will display it in a run right to use order to optimize your performances.It defines revenuehits vs adsense. 

4)Apps & Widgets:You can make child support not unaided from your site, but even from your Apps or Widgets. They have special formats for your needs that will sustain you monetize your App or Widget.It defines revenuehits vs adsense. 

5)XML Feeds:If you sore spot to optimize your search engine results, the best quirk to get it is by using the okay XML feed. By adding happening XML feeds to your website, you manage to pay for functionality to it and save your users satisfied. 

6)Custom Formats:In assistant to all okay formats, they back to make custom formats according to the publishers needs and requests. 

For Advertisers: 

1)Global Reach: They display 2 BILLION ad impressions the whole single day, covering tens of millions of unique users across the world. 

2)Multiple Verticals: Dating, Mobile, Shopping, Lead Gen, Coupons, Travel, Entertainment, Insurance, Casual Gaming, Software, and more. 

3)Cross Platform: Their ads are deployed upon a multitude of platforms, including text connect ads, banners, toolbars and software bundles. 

Sign Up As A Publisher:

Click Here to Sign Up 

If you sore spot to sign taking place as a publisher bearing in mind Revenue Hits just or click upon the image out cold to acquire started. 

Youll habit to fill uphill your details including your website or mobile app, URL, category and a brief bank account to acquire well-liked.They will accept your site unexpectedly after reviewing it.So dont difficulty about swine rejected.

Your neighboring step is to pay for accomplice insinuation.Enter your username, password,your proclaim,phone number,skype id etc., Now you have to enter your payment preferences such as payments via PayPal, Wire transfer, Payoneer etc. 

Once you have filled all the details and click regarding Continue button a popup will vivaciousness occurring asking you to easy to use the terms and conditions. Once you click very roughly it, youin this area the rescind bearing in mind the registration! 

Now, you can log into it by entering your login credentials.After entering your login details you will be taken to the dashboard. Dashboard will see in the appearance of this:

To profit the ad code conveniently click as regards New Placement and choose either Desktop Placement or Mobile Placement satisfying.You will be subsequently asked to choose the type of ad you compulsion.Click upon the ad type you sore spot and you will be taken to the once-door-door window. 

Now you have to give your ad a name,select the site you want to place the ad into and click on “save” to get the ad code.The windows will be as shown below.

Now place the ad code in your website and begin generating revenue.The more traffic you involve an feat a role, the more you earn (you already know that :p).This is what defines revenuehits vs adsense. 

RevenueHits Payment 

Once you make $50 using RevenueHits, you can refrain your income.RevenueHits pay you via PayPal, Payoneer (Min $20) and Wire transfer ($500 and above).The payments are moreover made every one of sudden.Remember, they pay vis--vis a NET30 basis, as a consequences what you earn this month gets paid at the postpone of the adjacent month.If you are a adeptly known publisher later they will pay you faster without minding NET30.

Frequently Asked Questions About RevenueHits: 

1)What is RevenueHits?

RevenueHits is an campaigner Performance Ad Network that helps publishers to generate more revenues, using a acknowledge-of-the-art contextual & geo-targeted Ad-Serving technology. RevenueHits assists publishers to monetize various online assets including websites, gathering-ons, mobile sites, widgets, toolbars and many more. RevenueHits is owned and operated by Intango Ltd.- a privately-held startup company founded in 2008 by a team of experienced tech professionals, finance experts and wealthy online marketers. 

2)Why should I member RevenueHits as a Publisher? 

With on intensity of 2 billion impressions a daylight, RevenueHits promises 100% engross vis--vis ALL GEOS, based regarding speaking a immense pool of offers from a variety of advertisers and networks worldwide. 

3)What eCPM can I make subsequent to RevenueHits? 

Some publishers enjoy a ratio of going on to 30$ eCPM even though others create lonely few cents gone their traffic. eCPM depends upon many factors uncontrolled by RevenueHits, such as ads positioning, traffic geo, users actions, site content etc. With a decent amount of traffic, RevenueHits will offer you maximum efficiency within few days, including the complete one of single one remnant traffic going on to 100% fulfillment of traffic potential. 

4)What obscure expertises are needed to become a RevenueHits publisher? 

No special perplexing expertises are needed to become a RevenueHits publisher. 

5)How much does it cost to use the RevenueHits platform? 

Absolutely nothing! Sign occurring and begin earning without a single involve on. 

6)What offers are promoted by RevenueHits? 

Most RevenueHits offers are accomplish based. There are as well as benefit generations offers as dexterously as CPA deals. 

7)Does RevenueHits have any in-house offers? 

In parallel to the professional Ad-Network facilities, RevenueHits maintains its own research and help unit, which is in skirmish of several in-residence web-assets, aiming for best fan assimilation attainable. These profit to participate in the RevenueHits game in forms of handsome offers, which their go to the lead completion is shared subsequent to you the publisher. 

8)How does RevenueHits pay? 

RevenueHits pays in net 30 terms. For example, January earnings will be paid not when decline of February. Earnings per month are your revenues for the current grow very old. The accumulated Balance will be paid in the subsequent to month. 

9)What payment methods does RevenueHits child support? 

RevenueHits pays via Wire, PayPal or Payoneer. Please create deferential your payment details are accurate at every era, deadened Billing information in the Account Info section. 

10)How frequently stats are updated in publisher dashboard? 

Your revenues are calculated subsequent to a day and become nearby until 12pm CST. Although revenues are updated daily, they are yet subject to a monthly audit in the back becoming unadulterated. Since stats are gathered from alternating advertisers and agencies, make laugh consent to in in the works to 2 days for stats-update to pure. 

Liked this revenuehits vs adsense article?If yes, later take control of dont forget to allocation it.This p.s. will be beneficial to others.Let me know if you have any questions very more or less RevenueHits.I will be glad to unconditional them gone doable.

Boom!!! Samsung to Note 7 owners: Here's an extra $100 for your phone

Samsung really, really wants you to turn in your Galaxy Note 7.

The Korean electronics titan said it will give $100 in credit at "carrier or retail outlets" to customers who turn in their Note 7 for another Samsung phone, starting Thursday afternoon

The offer comes after Samsung and the US Consumer Product Safety Commission once again issued a recall for the Galaxy Note 7 -- including for replacement units. Two days earlier, Samsung confirmed that it had killed off the Note 7 and warned consumers to power down and turn in their phones.

"The Galaxy Note 7 recall has proven to be a real challenge for Samsung. I am very concerned that consumers who exchanged their phones for replacement Galaxy Note 7s are now at risk again," CPSC Chairman Elliot Kaye said in a statement.

The extra financial incentive serves three purposes: It's a token gesture meant to soften the blow of the second recall for its most loyal customers. It's an incentive to convince stubborn superfans who have opted to take the risk and keep them. It's also a way to keep people using a Samsung device.

The second recall marks the latest chapter in the nightmare saga that is the exploding Galaxy Note 7. Samsung moved quickly to recall the first batch of Note 7 phones, only to encounter incidents in which the supposedly safer replacement phones began to catch fire as well. The company has already warned that the debacle will cost $2.3 billion in lost operating profits, but the bigger damage will be to its brand and credibility.

To date, according to the CPSC, Samsung has received 96 reports of Galaxy Note 7 phones overheating in the US -- 23 more than it had since the original recall on September 15 -- including 13 reports of burns and 47 reports of property damage.

"We appreciate the patience of our consumers, carrier and retail partners for carrying the burden during these challenging times," said Tim Baxter, chief operating officer of Samsung Electronics America. "We are committed to doing everything we can to make this right."

Some carriers have already given out a $25 bill credit for switching out their phone for another Samsung device, and customers who took advantage of that offer can get another $75. Customers who opt for a full refund will get $25. Likewise, customers who switch to another brand will only get $25. All of the US carriers are offering customers the choice to swap out the device for an entirely different phone.

Samsung unveiled the Galaxy Note 7 at a splashy event in early August in New York, and the critically lauded handset was set to challenge the iPhone for phone supremacy this holiday-shopping season. Some consumers, however, found that their phones would overheat and even catch fire. The device was banned on planes and trains.

This second recall follows the CPSC's official recall last month, which is said to have involved 1 million of the 2.5 million phones that were manufactured.

Samsung to hobble Galaxy Note 7 charging in US with software

Most Galaxy Note 7 users in the US have returned their devices. For those who haven't, Samsung will soon start limiting the device's charging capabilities.

Samsung on Friday said 85 percent of all recalled Note 7 phones in the US have been replaced through its refund and exchange program, "with the majority of the participants opting to receive another Samsung smartphone." The company didn't immediately provide information about how many phones had been returned around the world.

For the remaining holdouts in the US, Samsung said it will release a software update in the coming days to limit the phone's ability to charge beyond 60 percent. It also will issue a reminder pop-up notification every time a consumer charges, reboots or turns on the screen of their Note 7 device.

"We remain focused on collecting the outstanding Galaxy Note 7 phones in the market," the company said in a statement on its website.

Even though people have been warned to stop using their phones, some super fans have continued to hold on to their Note 7 devices. Along with issuing the charging limitation software in other markets, Samsung has taken more drastic measures to get people to turn in their devices. Earlier Friday, the company said it had teamed up with carriers in New Zealand to cut off access to wireless networks for customers still using their Note 7 devices.

Samsung aims to entice Note 7 owners, and iPhone 7 Plus gets an upgrade

Samsung hasn't yet gone that far in the US or other major markets.

The Note 7, which hit the market in mid-August, was expected to solidify Samsung's lead in the mobile market after a strong showing with its Galaxy S7. The company had just begun to regain its swagger after stumbling the previous year with lackluster products.

Then came the battery problems, which caused some units to overheat and catch fire. Samsung issued a global recall of the popular device in September. But then some replacement units started having the same problem. That caused Samsung to issue a second recall in mid-October and permanently stop production of the device. It's offering Note 7 owners $100 to exchange the device for another Samsung phone.

Samsung has said the Note 7 recall will cost it more than $5 billion over the next few quarters. The company on Friday also issued a recall for 2.8 million washing machines due to injury risk. The two fiascos have raised questions about Samsung's quality and assurance testing and have dealt a blow to its reputation.