A “OnePlus” April – #OneGameChanger

Greetings readers,

April is going to be another OnePlus month by the looks of things. With their brilliant début into the smartphone industry – OnePlus One, the Chinese handset manufacturer has caught the attention of the world. In less than a year of having entered this market they already seem to show ambitions of disrupting yet another industry in April of 2015. Suggestive of this intent are the following three images that they have released on their own forum to indicate their intent to change things in another industry that is not the Tablet nor the SmartWatch category.

Guess No.01 – Game Controller (Smartphone Accessory):

Too early to say but my educated guess from their previous posts online and their discussions through the blog is that they are entering the Gaming Console or at least the Gaming Controllers industry. The gaming controller seems more of a likelihood considering OnePlus has noted that the smartphone industry has put a dent in the gaming consoles (casual gaming) industry. A controller that can slot the OnePlus One and/or other handsets in and make them mobile gaming consoles could be an interesting offering. Much like the “Samsung Gamepad” this could be one for the One or a universal android handset controller. Gamechanger – naaaah!

Related read: OnePlus Blog

“Smartphone Gaming: Is Casual Winning the Console War?”

Guess No.02 – Gaming Console:

The second and one of the most predictable guesses would be a gaming console (handheld) with smart capabilities built in, one is similar to the “NVIDIA Shield Portable”.

Although this is a rather obvious guess, I consider it less likely considering the company has shown proof that the casual gaming industry has taken a hit post the smartphone era. But having said that, there is nothing to stop them from taking it up as a challenge. One that OnePlus wants to face head straight and pull off another unlikely product hit. Only time will tell.

Guess No. 03 – AI Game Kit:

Now this is my favourite guess of all and probably the wildest of them all. What if (and its a huge “What If?”) OnePlus has decided to take the gaming industry by storm by introducing something like Anki DRIVE, an AI driven toy, board, game.

My reasons for such an audacious guess:

1. 

   Looks like an IR or similar sensor for a Gaming Device

   

   Looks like game tracks shown in super high shutter speed capturing the light trails of the toy cars.

   

   Need I say more? Phone as a controller.

   Well that’s as much as I can wrench my brains to predict what is to come in April from OnePlus. Whatever it is, I am sure it will be something worth the wait… They seem to be much more agile in terms of rolling out some products compared to their elder and bigger friends in the market who announce a product almost a year before release.

Here’s their own power-bank that is soon to hit the Amazon shores: Alleged pricing is in the range of Rs. 950 or $15. That is pretty damn awesome bang for buck for a 10,000mah battery pack.

Hope you had a good read…

Look forward to your comments below.

Regards,

TeCH_SiD

The Game of SmartWatches – 2015

Greetings Friends, It is March 01st 2015 and Mobile World Congress (MWC 2015) is upon us in Barcelona. While we wait for Samsung and HTC to announce their flagship devices for the year, Huawei has surprised a lot of tech pundits with the announcement of their arrival into the SmartWatch industry. Here’s a few snapshots of the device:

Business

Huawei SmartWatch

Accessories

Urban

Huawei Watch

Athletic

Signature

The specifications of the Huawei Watch are yet to be revealed and that includes any pricing information. Much is to be learnt about this device and the crucial details about its battery life, screen-resolution and handset compatibility. All that is known from the videos that were leaked is that the device sports a sapphire glass display and stainless steel unibody casing.

What is interesting is the fact that this device mimics the Android Wear front runner Motorola Moto 360 and the Apple Watch in some smart ways. They have borrowed the digital crown concept from the Apple Watch. Their notifications and interface albeit built on Android Wear has a striking resemblance to the Moto 360.

What could set this device apart is the fact that it does not have a compromised screen compared to the Moto 360 which loses a small portion of its circular screen to accommodate the sensors built in. Here’s a comparison of the two to understand what I am hinting at:

Motorola Moto 360

Huawei Watch

Huawei Watch

The videos of the device have since been pulled and made private. But luckily we have found alternative URLs and here they are:

Intro to Android Wear: As this is our first post on Android Wear and the Smartwatch category, we would like to give you readers a quick guide on the various brands and use cases of Android Wear devices. Google has taken a keen interest in connected devices off-late and this is evident from their acquisitions in the recent past with Nest Labs and Waze (GPS based location tracking system software). But over the past year or so, Google has dipped its fingers into the smartwatch category and seems to have got the right ingredients for partners to cook up the best recipes. Google has built a platform by the name “Android Wear”. You could find a lot more information on Android Wear by clicking the link. Some of the more prominent players already in the market are listed here:

Sony SmartWatch 3

Motorola Moto 360

Asus Zen Watch

LG G Watch R

Samsung Galaxy Gear

Some of the simple yet extremely useful use cases are shown here:

Needless to say that when two of the largest tech firms in the world are in this space already, it is one that will dominate the years to come in terms of innovation and money. With one of the largest organizations in China (and by some respect the world), Huawei getting into this space with some tasteful delight it is only going to make things more feisty with competition. In the end, we the consumers will be the winners with a plethora of choices available. If you are an Apple faithful then head down to this page for more information: Apple Watch Thank you for your time, I hope this post has helped you a bit in deciding which one to go for or not. Regards, TeCH_SiD

NFC Automation – Nearer Than You Thought!

Greetings Friends,

The focus of this post is on a relatively new technology in the consumer domain – NFC.

What is NFC?

Near field communication (NFC) is a set of ideas and technology that enables smartphones and other devices to establish radio communication with each other by touching them together or bringing them into proximity, typically a distance of 10 cm (3.9 in) or less. ~ wikipedia

Intro – ‘Apple Pay’

Recently Apple introduced a new payments technology called Apple Pay. This is not entirely a new technology, only new to Apple to be honest. It is something that has been available on Android devices for almost half a decade now. The only differences being that Apple Pay is restricted to Apple devices and runs along with their proprietary finger print recognition module called TouchID. Together they seem to make a formidable combination when it comes to security and hence it is bound to gain more traction than other players. However the introduction of Apple Pay is only going to boost the NFC tech industry according to industry pundits.

NFC on Android:

Google introduced its Google Nexus S with built in NFC capabilities almost half a decade ago in 2010. This is a technology that relies on close (hence ‘Near’) proximity between two sensors. This is similar to the technology used in the RFID tags you have seen at retail outlets while buying clothes.

It involves the following elements to make life easier in a variety of ways:

1. NFC Capable Smartphone
2. NFC Tags/Stickers and
3. NFC Controlling App to configure the tag to perform certain task(s)

In case you have all three of these, please read on. If you are missing any one of these or more, continue reading as it won’t kill you to know a little more about a relatively new technology that could potentially save you loads of time when it comes to deciding between phones that have NFC and those that do not.

What can NFC be used for?

Several tasks (usually quick yet mundane and involving several steps) can be automated quickly using NFC technology. Here are some of the basic examples.

Tasks: (Not comprehensive or exhaustive)

• Enabling/Disabling:
  • Wifi
  • Bluetooth
  • 3G/4G(LTE)
  • Auto-rotate
  • Airplane mode
  • Silent/Vibrate/Normal modes etc.
• Set brightness to high/medium/low

Actions:

• Direct browser to a particular URL/website;
• “Like” a particular Facebook page;
• “Follow” a particular twitter handle;
• Launch a particular YouTube video;
• Register interest in a particular product;
• Count the tap as a single unique unit;
• Load vCard details

Store Data:

• Store vCard details
• Location data
• Custom data
• Save text
• Configure WiFi network

and many such tasks, actions and data can be programmed onto an NFC tag. I hope this post has triggered some fresh ideas on how NFC can be used to make your lives better. Do feel free to add them down in the comments section and I shall probably make a video out of these suggestions.

Apps:

1. “Trigger” – to configure and perform tasks using NFC, Bluetooth and Wifi
2. “NFC Tools” – to configure NFC tags to perform desired tasks
3. “NFC Tasks” – to perform actions/tasks programmed using the ‘NFC Tools’ app onto an NFC tag

Tags:

1. “Tapto” from Amazon.in
2. “Topaz512” from Amazon.in
3. “NTAG213” by Tagstand on Amazon.com

NOTE: These are not my recommendations for best NFC tags/apps but just options I have seen on Amazon.in and .com

How to Configure An NFC Tag – Video

NFC – Video

I hope you have read most of my recent posts and have found them interesting. If you have any comments and/or suggestions, feel free to jot them down under the comments section below the blog post. I look forward to reading them and bettering my content.

Thank you for your time… “Keep Reading!”

Regards,

TeCH_SiD…

TeCH Update – 05th Feb 2015

Greetings Readers,

I thought of summarizing and presenting to you some of the most significant news that have been doing the rounds in the tech world yesterday. So here they are:

1. Xiaomi Does Not Intend To Enter The U.S. Market Anytime Soon:

Chinese hardware manufacturer and new poster child of the mobile masses – Xiaomi is conducting an SFO based event this 12th of February. However Hugo Barra, (one of the key figures at Google previously who then joined Xiaomi as VP-International) insists that they are not entering the US market anytime soon. This could very well be a check on the interest levels of the company’s products amongst American audiences, carriers.

For the sake of the ‘value-for-money’ seeking Americans I hope Xiaomi devices hit your shores soon.

Source: Technobuffalo

2. “Paper” Given Free To Promote “Pencil” Sales:

The popular drawing/sketching/painting app called “Paper” by 53 (Company name – FiftyThree or 53) yesterday announced that the so far paid ‘in-app purchase’ will be available free of charge from today.

Quick, download it from here: Paper App

They have done so to improve the sales of the hardware device by the name “Pencil”, shown above. The “Pencil” by 53 is a slick new device that when paired with the iPad can be used to draw practically anything.

Check out their awesome video: Pencil by 53

Source: Macrumors

3. Worlds Most Expensive “Typo” – By Ryan Seacrest

Ryan Seacrest (the popular TV Celeb of American Idol fame) had launched an external case for the iPhone with a physical keyboard. This case bears a stark resemblance to the keyboard that a lot of Blackberry devices have (refer image below). The courts had ordered ‘Typo’ to stop sales for the same reasons, yet the order was not honored by the company. This has now resulted in a fine of $860,000 that Typo must pay Blackberry. What needs to be mentioned however is that Blackberry had demanded a compensation of $2.6 million (in penalties) + legal charges, so its isn’t as bad as it seems. 

Fun Fact: $860,000 is just about 1/75th Ryan’s annual salary and about 1/350th his net worth according to CelebrityNetworth.com.

Source: Macrumors

4. Swatch Is About To Enter The Smartwatch Game Soon:

The swiss watch giant apparently has made it clear that they are entering the smart watch industry. Their first smartwatch is expected to be launched in the next two to three months. This puts it head-on against Apple’s AppleWatch release dates expected to hit shores around April 2015.

Game on Apple!

Source: Macrumors

5. Fresh Breath Of “OxygenOS” For OnePlus One Soon:

OnePlus, the Chinese manufacturer that has created a lot of buzz with their first device the OnePlus ‘One’ has announced their new ROM’s name – “OxygenOS”. This device although has been announced for more thanhalf a year has not seen widespread adoption, thanks in part to the extremely lean supply of devices. The new ROM OxygenOS is expected to be as close to stock android Lollipop (Android 5.0.X) as possible with as least bloatware as possible. This has a lot to live up to considering the freedom of customization CyanogenMod has given and users have gotten used to.

Source: OnePlus Facebook

Special Mention: Next post is going to be on Mr. Satya Nadella (CEO, Microsoft)

Thank you for your time…

Regards,

@TeCH_SiD