Android Vs iOS. How should you Choose your next phone?

Apple's recently unveiled iPhone 7 is a very tempting upgrade , whether you currently have an iPhone or have been considering buying one. But for a lot of people the yearly bazaar encompassing Apple's iPhone event is a reminder that they aren't really certain where they stand between the Android versus iOS debate.

It has been a tradition of Google to make a few jabs at Apple when ever it releases a new version of Android or a new nexus. On the Flip side, not a single Apple event passes by without Apple bragging about how iOS is better than Android. Each smartphone company , whether it be Apple, HTC, Samsung, LG or Huawei, has their own style of building phones and presenting them to the consumers. 

So the question a hand here. iOS or Android? Nowadays the answer to this question depends on less concrete factors. For example the phone's features, specs ad price. People look more at the theoretical factors while looking to buy their phone like a specific operating system that suits them best. This is because on paper , all flagship phones are looking increasingly alike, with comparable specs and focused competitive price points.

In the end it boild down to your own preference, whether you like a particular OS over the other, since most smartphones are capable of doing all the required tasks anyways. Its about the ecosystem that you perform those tasks in , and that matters most these days. For example if you opt for an android phone, you will have to choose from literally hundreds of option and each phone will have a different user interface on top of android, because the only "pure Android" are the nexus devices.

The question about iOS versus Android is a pretty personal one , and while you'll find opinionated people on both sides of the spectrum, its not until you consider your priorities and your preferences that you'll be able to make the decision thats right for you.

 

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Remix Os is now available as simple to use Android emulator for Windows

Remix Os is basically a desktop version of Android , with floating windows and start menu style app drawer. However previously, Remix Os was only available as a separate OS that you could install on your PC. Jide , the company behind Remix OS, thus decided that they should also release the OS as an emulator for your PC.

Enter Remix OS player, a free downloadable emulator of Android for Windows running PCs. Its always been very simple to install Remix OS on your PC by creating a bootable USB stick  , However now you don't need to do any of that to experience The OS on your PC. Just download an .exe file and run it. Its that simple.

Remix OS Player is based on the virtual machine in Android Studio and runs inside a dedicated window. It runs on top of Android Marshmallow and comes with access to the Google Play Store. You can do anything on it that you could previously do on an android phone, but Jide recommends that you use it primarily as a gaming emulator for android meaning you could play clash of clans right from your desktop or your laptop.The specs requirements are also very accessible. The Minimum requirement starts off at having Windows 7 , a Core i3 processor, 8GB of storage and 4Gb of RAM. Remix Os is a very simple to use clean OS running Android. SO what are you waiting for. Try this out!
   

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DualToy Windows Trojan Attacks Android, iOS Devices

 

A Windows Trojan called DualToy has been discovered that can side load malicious apps onto Android and iOS devices via a USB connection from an infected computer. Researchers from Palo Alto Networks said DualToy has been in existence since January 2015, and it originally was limited to installing unwanted apps and displaying mobile ads on Android devices. About six months later, the Trojan morphed and began targeting iOS devices by installing a third-party App Store in hopes of nabbing iTunes usernames and passwords.

See more at: DualToy Windows Trojan Attacks Android, iOS Devices https://wp.me/p3AjUX-vms

A Windows Trojan has been discovered that can sideload malicious apps onto your iOS or android running devices. The Trojan is transferred to your phone when you connect it to the infected computer via a USB cable

Researchers say that this Trojan has been around for quite some time, Specifically from January of 2015, However it was initially only limited to installing unwanted apps and displaying mobile ads on Android devices. 6 months later the Trojan changed and began targeting iOS devices by installing a third party app store in hopes of gaining access to iTunes usernames and passwords.

Researchers say that once Dual Toy, The Trojan, infects a windows machine, it looks for the Android debug bridge (ADB) and iTunes . and downloads drivers for both if they're missing in order to infect mobile devices once connected. According to the team of researchers, they have encountered approximately over 8,000 unique samples of the Dual Toy variant to date and are still not sure how many mobile devices were affected because of this malicious bug.

During the past two years there have been similar cases of windows and iOS malware designed to attack mobile devices via side loading techniques.So far the Trojan only affects Chinese users but researchers say that users from the United States, United Kingdom,Thailand,Spain and Ireland have also been affected.

Its still unclear as to how the Dual Toy Trojan actually infects a Windows machine. But once its on a windows PC it downloads from a command and control server file called adb.exe , which is standard Android Debug Bridge on Windows clients. However more recent variants of Dual Toy drop a custom ADB client called tadb.exe, onto the victim's PC. The malware also downloads two installers, "AppleMobileDevicesSupport64.msi" and "AppleApplicationSupport64.msi" , which is part of Apple's official iTunes for windows software.

On Android devices , Dual Toy installs several Chinese language apps that researchers suspect attackers are getting paid per install by the game developers. On iOS devices the Trojan installs a fake iOS app store , trying to trick users into giving their iTunes email and password.

The use of a fake iOS app store is not unique. There are several other examples of a malware like Dual Toy including ZergHelper and AceDeciever. What these do is , as soon as the user opens the fake app, they are prompted to provide the app with their iTunes i.d and password and not knowing that this is a scam, they willingly give the attackers their account.

 

A Windows Trojan called DualToy has been discovered that can side load malicious apps onto Android and iOS devices via a USB connection from an infected computer. Researchers from Palo Alto Networks said DualToy has been in existence since January 2015, and it originally was limited to installing unwanted apps and displaying mobile ads on Android devices. About six months later, the Trojan morphed and began targeting iOS devices by installing a third-party App Store in hopes of nabbing iTunes usernames and passwords.

See more at: DualToy Windows Trojan Attacks Android, iOS Devices https://wp.me/p3AjUX-vms

A Windows Trojan called DualToy has been discovered that can side load malicious apps onto Android and iOS devices via a USB connection from an infected computer. Researchers from Palo Alto Networks said DualToy has been in existence since January 2015, and it originally was limited to installing unwanted apps and displaying mobile ads on Android devices. About six months later, the Trojan morphed and began targeting iOS devices by installing a third-party App Store in hopes of nabbing iTunes usernames and passwords.

See more at: DualToy Windows Trojan Attacks Android, iOS Devices https://wp.me/p3AjUX-vms

A Windows Trojan called DualToy has been discovered that can side load malicious apps onto Android and iOS devices via a USB connection from an infected computer. Researchers from Palo Alto Networks said DualToy has been in existence since January 2015, and it originally was limited to installing unwanted apps and displaying mobile ads on Android devices. About six months later, the Trojan morphed and began targeting iOS devices by installing a third-party App Store in hopes of nabbing iTunes usernames and passwords.

See more at: DualToy Windows Trojan Attacks Android, iOS Devices https://wp.me/p3AjUX-vms

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Run Android Marshmallow on your Pc. Android x86 Project unveils first stable release.

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The movement to get android on your pc is still strong and the folks over at the Android x86 project - who basically code android to run on x86 platforms like desktop PCs rather than common ARM based mobile devices, have another feature on  their hat as they release their first stable version of android Marshmallow , for your desktop PC.

The Android x86 project has released two release candidate builds , one in June and the other one in August, thus its all good news as we welcome Android x86 6.0 for our laptops and PCs. The build contains most of the recent security patches and seems to be based on Android 6.0 AOSP (Android Open Source Project).

Digging a bit deep into the build, we learned that Both modern UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) and legacy BIOS PCs are supported. So no need to worry as the guys over at the Android x86 project have got you covered. The build also uses a updated graphics stack based on the Mesa 12.0.2 3D Graphics Library. It also supports Samsung's F2FS file system for SSD drives and better wifi support after resume and suspend. Audio through HDMI is also supported so you can connect to a bigger display for consuming media.

Another thing that you would notice on this build is that the cursor/mouse pointer is taken out directly from Android Nougat instead of the circle cursor used in the previous beta releases. Android x86 is distributed as 32-bit(x86) and 64-bit(x86_64) Live ISO images , and you can download them from the official Android x86 download page. 

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Samsung considering replacing the 3.5mm headphone jack with its own proprietary port for the Galaxy S8

Although Samsung proudly boasts the 3.5mm headphone jack on its current flagship smartphone, the Galaxy S7 and the S7 edge, recent rumors suggest that Samsung may follow in Apples footsteps and remove the headphone jack, placing its own proprietary port on their next flagship Galaxy, the Galaxy S8

The reports state that the phones , internally named "Dream" (Galaxy S8) and "Dream2" (Galaxy S8 edge), may not have the industry standard 3.5mm headphone port. The South Korean conglomerate is said to be "actively" and "aggressively" exploring the possibility of releasing a proprietary headphone jack to see how viable it would be.

According to the report Samsung's proprietary port will be designed considering all Android manufacturers , with easy and cost free (or extremely low cost) licensing to encourage adoption. Strategically , Samsung's move is being considered as a death strike against Apple, as they were the one who completely removed the headphone jack and did not replace it with one of their own ports.

using the numbers game, Samsung and many of its Android manufacturing allies hope that headphone makers will prioritize the proprietary port first, leaving Apple deprived of newer, more interesting models.

More importantly, Samsung is aiming to severely marginalize Beats by Dr. Dre headphones, which were recently acquired by Apple. Other headphone makers are standing behind beats but could rally behind the competing Samsung jack to effectively marginalize beats.

if this rumor turns out to be true then people who have both iPhones and Galaxies would have to carry around two adapters with them as Samsung's proprietary solution most certainly would not be compatible with Apple's Lightning technology. Samsung is also pushing to boost the overall sound quality of the new jack however very few believe that a fidelity boost would be realized or noticed.

As you all know , Apple has solved wireless audio quality , reliability and power consumption with its in-house W1 chip.

Samsung should be unveiling its new series of Flagship smartphones at MWC in Barcelona in February 2017 or maybe hold a separate event in March 2017 for the release.

Apple's justification of the removal of the headphone jack is both philosophical (the future is wireless) and pragmatical reasons (more space inside the phone for things like a bigger battery and better camera)

However im now very eager to hear about Samung's excuse for replicating Apple's move.
 

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Google's Burrito-delivering drones tested.

We've got or first good look at Google's burrito delivering drone in action. We have some of the footage of one of the first test fly's of the drone under Project Wing.

This is run by X (formerly known as Google X) , and experimental lab owned by Google's parent company , Alphabet. The drones are currently being tested in Virginia , on the Virginia tech university campus. The very famous company Chipotle and X have teamed up to deliver burritos using the advance drone technology. Previous reports also state that X initially intended to deliver burritos from the food truck to students of the city via the drone. The test footage wasn't made by the best camera and the video only shows the prototype version of the drone but we could very be seeing advance drone tech like this in the near future. Have a look at the footage :

via GIPHY


Also note, Google isnt the only company testing out advanced drone technology. It seems that Amazon is also interested in the practical uses that a drone has. We could also possibly see our orders from amazon be delivered by drones.

We're definitely moving into the age of robots where we practically use robot such as drones to do all our work for us, But we've already seen what happens if we do that. yes that right, Fear Cybernet!

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Google patches two major Android security bugs - but are you still at risk?

As you all may or may not have known, Google has been working hard at patching some potentially serious Android mobile security flaws.

The company has thus fixed two major security issues that could have left millions of devices at risk of being hijacked by criminals.The flaw that i mentioned includes a variant of of the stagefright bug (which was uncovered last year and affected nearly a billion Android devices across the world). This flaw however is not the same as stagefright but but behaves similarly to it. This virus would allow hijackers to hack your device using a specially created j-peg image file , sent through Gmail and other Google services. This would allow the attackers to gain control of the device and have access to personal information or would also let them shut it down completely.

Users, who don't even download the image will be hit by the malicious bug . This means that anyone who even views the bug ( The J-peg image file) would be affected the by it. 

The other bug was similar to this bug. By the same process (the J-peg image file) hackers would gain control of the device and this would allow them to execute malware or gain access to personal information or programs on affected devices by escalated local privileges.

Know as CVE 2016-3861, Google says that it was designed only for research purposes but if in the wrong hands , could be used for some serious damage. The updates are included in Google's latest security patches ,which are available to nexus device users now , and will be rolling out to other devices very soon. However even users who have installed the update could find themselves being attacked by criminals. It seems that the Google Play store hosted apps that contain two nasty forms of malware. 

The offending apps have now been removed by google , but there's no word on how many times the apps were downloaded , meaning millions of android users could be at risk of being affected by the bug. 

Make sure that you only download the essential apps and report any app that seems fishy on the Playstore.

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Even if you delete Google Maps, you will still be tracked by Google.

Think you're safe? That you have your privacy? Well you dont. Research shows that Google, through its Google play store app, keeps track of our activities.

It seems Google is keeping a much closer eye on its android users than previously thought. 
Security researchers have recently found out that Google is able to track our location using our phone's Global positioning System (GPS). Th playstore seems to be at the root of the problem though. The service is constantly running in the background making it possible for Google to track your whereabouts. This can only be prevented by completely disabling location tracking all together.

The security researcher found this out as when he was entering a nearby McDonalds, The Google Playstore prompted him to download the McDonald's app. having thought that Google Maps was to blame ,as that is the app associated with tracking and locations, he immediately uninstalled the app. However the problem was still not solved. Thus he concluded that The Google Playstore itself and not The Google Maps app was to blame.

According to Google, They need access to your location to keep your apps up to date and provide you with up to date information for example , deals in a nearby restaurant. However since Android Marshmallow, you can set individual permissions of a single app your self. Therefore you can attempt to bock Googles access to your location yby going to settings > apps > Google play store> permissions and disable the permission for locations.

Alternatively you can go to the nuclear option and delete the Play store as well as the Google Maps app. Google is rolling out several updated to its Google Maps app which enables it to constantly monitor your location and provide you with info like promotions at shops near you, deals at restaurants in your vicinity and even local clinics that are open and local pharmacies/Shops that sell a particular item. . 

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Pokemon Go coming to Android wear watches.

It was recently reveled by Niantic labs , creators of the very popular game Pokemon Go, that their game was coming to the Apple watch. However there was no mention of watches powered by Android wear and so many android wear users were left staring a their watches in disappointment.

However now the company's CEO , John Hanke, has hinted that the game will also be released on the Android wear platform in the near future. However the answer to questions about the arrival of Pokemon Go on android wear, were not clear and so many were still left wondering whether the game would actually be coming to Android wear.

Expanding out to new platforms will be a key move from Niantic to keep te interest in Pokemon Go alive. The Game might have the records of the fastest mobile game to reach $500 million in revenue and the most downloaded game in the first week of launch but recent reports suggest that interest in the game is slowly decreasing as Niantic did not properly optimize the app for real world usage. Many users experienced bugs and some couldn't even play the game due to the servers crashing all the time.

However the folks at Niantic are not at all worried about this. They say that they can improve the game overtime with future updates improving the overall experience. Th recent update where players can add their favorite Pokemon to their avatar while walking was just the beginning. According to the CEO at Niantic, Once the game is launched worldwide, we'll be seeing a new feature called events. This feature would allow trainers to catch even more Pokemon now as the Pokemon count has been increased from a total of 150.  Another feature that will release in future updates is the player vs player Pokemon battles. Battling other players outside of gyms is a huge part of the Pokemon universe and Niantic made a mistake by not including this feature in the game initially when it launched.

John Hanke,  did not make it clear on when we would be seeing these awesome features and this still remains a mystery. He did however say that the current version of the game was just the tip of the iceberg" for his vision on where he wants the game to go and that he thinks "it will change substantially over the years".
 

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Forget the iPhone 7, get yourself an awesome deal on an older iPhone.

As we all know, At the time of release of any new iPhone from Apple , The older models of the iPhones get a massive price cut. Directly from Apple too.

Its September and that means an arrival of a new iPhone. The new iPhone being the iPhone 7. However with every new iPhone there comes a new difficulty for apple users. They have to top dollar in order to acquire Apple's newest innovation. Fortunately , this year , there may be more reason to skip the newest model. By that i mean the controversial topic of the headphone jack. For many reasons explained here, Apple decided to let go of the 3.5mm port, and because of that many users say that they may not buy the iPhone 7 after all.

While according to Apple the iPhone 7 is better than the previous versions of iPhones in "every way", many seem to deem the iPhone 7 as a "hardly ground breaking, must have" device. Furthermore , it should also be noted that 2017 will be Apple's 10th anniversary and they would definitely come out with something spectacular. So maybe you should wait a year for the next big thing from Apple or maybe you could just buy an older model of the iPhone.

As fully expected, the same week as Apple released the iPhone 7 , it cut the prices for its iPhone 6s models. Apple is now selling the lowest price iPhone 6s for $549 (down from $649). It definitely packs more value. The 128GB model of the iPhone 6s which initially costed $849 now can be had for $649.

Similarly the larger iPhone 6 Plus has also gotten a discount. The 32Gb now starts at $649(compared with $749 for the 16GB model before) , while an iPhone 6 Plus 128GB is priced at $749(down from $949). The smaller iPhone SE , meanwhile, now costs $399 for the 16GB model or $499 for the 64GB variant. 

SO? are you planning to get the newest iPhone or are you intelligent enough to get an older iPhone(which is practically the same anyways)? Comment your thoughts down below.   

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Removal of the headphone jack. Samsung might do it soon.

One of the most eye catching features of the Apple iPhone 7 is that it is missing the 3.5mm headphone jack. So because of this, the iPhone uses an adapter for connecting normal headphones to it. this feature was very controversial among Apple customers. However now that Apple has made headlines and the attention is slowly moving away from the iPhone 7, it seems that Samsung will be following in Apple's footsteps. 

 According to a recent report, Samsung might be next to ditch the headphone jack. Samsung, along with other Android manufacturers , might not just release a proprietary headphone jack of its own, but also block Apple from licensing it.

This could very well be seen as revenge by the Android community, potentially forcing headphone manufacturers to choose between Android or iPhone, and with more Samsung/Android users out there, Samsung might just win the battle. However this could be bad news for Apple and Android users as this would force them to use an adapter with their desired headphones.

Its not all bad though. Removing the headphone jack can mean new technology being adopted on smartphones. Smartphones , undoubtedly , are a man's best friend and will be in the near future. So why not improve it and make it more future proof. Many people think that removing the proprietary port was a good thing as it would make way for new things they could now benefit from.

Furthermore, one of the reports also states that Samsung aims to improve audio quality with any new headphone port. This would mean that the wireless headphone industry would then get the much needed attention and this would make it more appealing.

For now though, this is all just a rumor and while many say that the 3.5mm headphone port is a thing of the past, its still one of the most widely used ports anywhere in the world.

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Awesome deal on the HTC One A9. Get it for only $299.

The Htc One A9 is a spectacular phone it terms of design and performance. However many people considered it to be not worthy of its original price tag. However since the price is now dropped to $299 is the One A9 worth considering buying?

For the rest of the week you can get your hands on the device for $299 directly from Htc. When you buy a phone directly from Htc the package included Htc's "UH OH" protection, which essentially means that Htc will replace your water damaged or cracked screen Htc device within the first year of the purchase.

The handset , when bought from Htc, can be bought unlocked or pre set to work with your preferred carrier. With the unlocked version of the phone you can insert an At&t sim or a T-Mobile sim and you should be good to go . Furthermore, if you are into customizing your phone via rooting and custom roms, unlocking the bootloader will not void the warranty.

To recap the specs of the phone , The One A9 is equipped with a 5 inch Amoled full HD screen and in terms of performance you get the Snapdragon 617 coupled with 3GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage. You can also expand storage via microSD cards upto 2TB. There is also a 13MP rear camera with an aperture of f/2.0. While on the front we've got a 4MP ultra pixel camera for those low light selfies. The One A9 runs on Android 6.0 with Sense 7 pre-installed.

Are you considering buying the One A9 now that its on a 40% discount? If you are, head over to HTC's website. Note that the sale is only a week long so you better hurry up if you want to get the A9 for only $299. 

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iPhone 7 and 7 Plus, T Mobile best sellers.

The iPhone 7 release was sort of of a miss for many people as it didn't quite meet their expectations. Thus one would assume that because of this the sales of the phone would also be negatively affected, however that is not the case.

T Mobile in a press release stated that the company has never seen such a high amount of sales (pre-orders) on the same day and on the release day of the iPhone 7 , pre-orders were at a maximum which shattered all previous records. In the first four days of its release, the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus have sold about 4 times more than the amount of iPhone 6 and 6 Plus in the same amount of time.


T Mobile is also offering a free iPhone 7 deal in which you can trade in your working iPhone 6 (or a model above the iPhone 6) for an iPhone 7. Up to $650 will be paid to you while you finance the phone in the form of monthly statement credits. This deal must have been the reason why iPhone sales were at an all time high and why so many people are switching their network to T Mobile.

According to the carrier , the most popular order so far has been the matte black variant of the iPhone 7. The iPhone 7 is certainly making a fuss in the mobile industry , and its not even out yet!

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A tether that keeps your AirPods together.

The Apple wireless Airpods have been very controversial in terms of their usability and practicality in real life. This is because unlike other wireless earphones , the AirPods do not have a wire connecting the two earphones. However this solution aims to solve this problem and you only have to shell out $10 for it. (whats $10 when you buy a pair of $160 wireless earphones , right? )

This AirPod strap comes from Spigen and it costs $9.99 on Amazon but that's a discounted price and not the original price. The original price was $19.99. The strap is currently out of stock but it doesnt matter anyways as the AirPods themselves wont be available purchase until late in October.

Meanwhile if you are someone who is still stuck in the dilemma of whether to charge the phone first or listen to media, then Belkin has a solution for you to.  You can use a dongle which enables you to charge and listen to media at the same time but you'll have to shell out $40 more for this. It seems Apple removing the headphone jack really created a boom in business for accessory makers.

Whats your point of view on Apple removing the headphone jack? Comment down below.

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You can now check to see if you have a defected Note 7 on Samsung's website.

While it is true that Samsung is doing all it can to take back all the faulty Note 7 units via the recall program , many users are still reluctant to use that exchange program and give back their Note 7 units.

For this, Samsung came up with a solution in the form of creating a designated website for checking if you have a note 7 with a faulty battery. This way anyone who wasn't planning to give back their original note 7 , now would , as Samsung would now have confirmed that their device will explode sooner or later.

 You can just input the imei of your note 7 into the search bar on the site and it will show you if you have a defected unit. You can find your imei by going into settings > About phone > Status > imei information.

The number of faulty galaxy note 7's continue to increase and many people have been seriously injured because of it like this 6 year old boy. 

 head over to the source to go to this website. Source

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Why Apple removed the Headphone jack from the iPhone 7.

The iPhone 7 has some amazing features and upgrades over the iPhone 6s but having a headphone jack isn't one of them. Having a headphone jack in a phone was made accustom and it was not considered to be a "feature" . that is until now.

Removing the headphone jack was a bold move by Apple as this would affect pretty much every iPhone user out there. From audiophiles who have purchased expensive headphones just to listen to top quality audio , to normal folks who would now have trouble connecting their iPhones with the AUX port, the removal of the 3.5mm headphone jack was a bad move from Apple. Apple itself admits that it took courage to remove such a widely used port.

So then why did the company decide to remove it? Well it all started with a new and improved camera. It was a much larger camera than before due to it having Optical Image Stabilization this time round. This caused the Apple team to move the driver ledge to another place on the phone , this is essentially a tiny circuit board which controls the iPhone's display and backlight. This component is normally placed on top of the device, outside of the batteries reach.

However now , the best place the team found for it was the bottom of the iPhone 7 and as you may have guessed, a conflict arose between whether to put the headphone jack there or the driver ledge.Therefore the team decided to test the device out without the headphone jack in it. A number of benefits showed up as they did this. The taptic button was now easier to install and the battery size could also be increased.  Thus having a larger camera resulted in the i{hone 7 not having a 3.5mm headphone jack.

Secondly, by removing the headphone jack , making the Phone waterproof was now easier than ever.  Thus in the end ,the team at Apple responsible for the iPhone 7, concluded that it was best if this year's iPhone ditched the 3.5mm headphone jack in exchange for a better optically stabilized camera, a larger battery and a waterproof phone.  

So there you have it folks. The three main reasons why Apple ditched the headphone jack on the iPhone 7. The transition may be tough and you may not like the phone at first but every Apple enthusiast should at least give the iPhone a try. So then, Are planning to buy an iPhone 7?

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Is the nexus brand dead? Nexus launcher now the Pixel launcher.

We've all heard one thing or the other about the nexus branding to be dead and that Google will be launching its own Pixel brand with the two new Pixel Phones. This rumor now further cements that rumor. According to recent reports the Nexus launcher which was leaked a while back is now named the Pixel launcher.


This comes as no surprise at all as Google gave us several hints at its moving away from the Nexus branding. The new launcher ,by the name of Pixel Launcher, installs in the same way the nexus launcher did. You just sideload the app to install it. Nothing much has changed from the nexus launcher except the name. Just like previous versions of the nexus launcher , it gives you a circle based folder ui, the Google search button rather than the full bar and a slide up from the bottom to open up the app tray. The only major difference now is that the Pixel Launcher will modify the icon of the calendar app to show the correct date, a nice feature indeed.


You'll have to tweak some things here and there to have the Google now page when you slide left from the homepage. otherwise if you don't mind having the Google now page right at your disposal from the home page, you can just install he apk normally and enjoy the new experience.


Here are some screenshots of the Launcher



So, do you deem the Pixel launcher worthy enough to be the default launcher on your daily driver? Let us know down below in the comments section.



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Huawei Mate 9 with dual 20MP cameras rumored to release in December

It will be a whole year in November since the launch of the Huawei Mate 8. So now its only logical for Huawei to release its new mate flagship, The Mate 9.

Although the release is still a few months away, rumors about the device have already started to spring up in China. Whats perhaps most interesting about these rumors is that they claim that Huawei will use their in house processor , the Kirin 960 , and the phone will have a dual rear 20MP camera setup.

If this is really true then the Mate 9 will be the first smartphone from Huawei to run the Kirin 960.Although we dont know much about the processor itself we do know that it will likely have four cortex A73 cores and four low powered Cortex A53 cores.

The new camera setup on the Mate phone will also be different from last year's model. It is rumored that the device will have a dual camera setup, with both the cameras on the back having a resolution of 20MP. Its still unclear if the setup will be similar to the Huawei P9 monochrome 12MP camera design or if the company will try something new this time. Optical image stabilization is also going to on board. 

After reading all of that , take every rumor with a pinch of salt as nothing is confirmed as of yet and to further prove my point, this rumor came up with the picture of a modified Mate 8. So there you have it folks. The Mate 9 from Huawei. Are you excited for the new phone?

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Samsung Galaxy A8 (2016) Leaked in new renders.

Samsung is already working on releasing new models for its "A" series of smartphone, specifically the A3 and the A7. However a new rumor has to light about the refreshed version of last year's Galaxy A8 model.

Samsung is reportedly now working on the Galaxy A8 (2016) and the much trusted @Oneleaks has provided us with the very first look at the device itself. By looking at the render we can see that the device looks much like the Samsung Galaxy S7 with metal sides and a glass back. However the dimensions speak otherwise. This device will have a much lager footprint than the Galaxy S7 and even larger than the Note 7. The phone measures at 156.5 x 77.5 x 7.3mm. And to add to that there are no curved edges to the display so it will also be noticeably thicker.

The phone is equipped with a large 5.7 inch 1080p display.  The phone is going to be powered by an Exynos 7420 octa core processor (from the Galaxy S6 series) with 3 gigs of RAM and 32 Gigs of internal storage. In terms of the shooters, the Galaxy A8 2016 will have a 16MP rear camera and a 5MP front facing camera. It will be running android marshmallow 6.0.1 out of the box.

If these rumors about the phone are true then this years iteration of the Galaxy A8 will be much more powerful as compared to last years model. What do you think of the phone?

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Samsung Galaxy Note 7 explodes burning a six year old in the process.

The Galaxy Note 7 is doing more harm than good and this time the victim is just a 6 year old boy from Brooklyn New York.

Last night, he was watching videos on the Note 7 , while holding the device in his hands and the unit exploded without any warning , thus casing the parents of the boy to rush him to the nearest hospital.He suffered major burns all over his hands and body because of the explosion. The boy is now back home but for him to have experienced such a horrific experience , it must have left an impact on him. And what proves this statement is that his parents say that he is now afraid of going near any phones.

A Samsung spokesperson had this to say about the incident :

"We are engaged with the Lewis family to ensure we are doing everything we can for them and their son. Customer safety remains our highest priority as we are investigating the matter"

Samsung is offering either a galaxy j in exchange for the galaxy note 7 ( for the time it takes the new approved unit of the Note 7 to reach the owner) or a Galaxy s7 or an S7 edge. You can read more about the exchange program from Samsung here.

Samsung will reportedly deactivate all note 7 units that have not been returned after September 30th. Read more about the topic here 

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