Apple Tipped to Unveil 10.5-Inch iPad Pro, Siri Speaker at WWDC

 

Apple is set to host its WWDC conference in California from June 5, and it is expected to highlight all the big features arriving with iOS 11. Apart from software announcements, noted KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo now seems to suggest that Apple will make two hardware announcements as well. One is said to be the much rumoured Siri Speaker, something Kuo had tipped earlier, and the other is expected to be a 10.5-inch iPad Pro, something that has been rumoured since February this year.

The research note from Kuo, obtained by 9to5Mac, claims that the new 10.5-inch iPad Pro will sport slimmer bezels than the 9.7-inch iPad Pro. Other than that, there'll be very little design changes. It is expected to go in mass production in late Q2, and KGI predicts Apple to ship about 6 million units this year.

Talking about the Siri Speaker, Kuo says Apple will launch it at WWDC as well, to take on Amazon Echo and Google Home. The device will come with premium audio quality, and a much higher price tag than its competition. The KGI analyst also notes that the Siri Speaker will have a touch panel, however goes no further to detail that bit. It could very well be just navigation keys, or a proper display screen, just like the one on Amazon Echo Show, but it's all just presumptions at this point.

Apple marketing chief Phil Schiller did stress on his preference of a display screen on smart speakers in one of his interviews with Gadgets 360. Previous leaks also attest to the Siri Speaker unveil, as one report stated that Apple employees were already testing the Siri speaker in their homes.

While WWDC in recent years has been a software only event, it's not uncommon for Apple to release hardware alongside. In 2012, Apple unveiled the Retina MacBook Pro, and the next year saw a sneak peek of the Mac Pro as well.

WannaCry Ransomware: Researchers See North Korea Link to Global Cyber-Attacks

WannaCry Ransomware: Researchers See North Korea Link to Global Cyber-Attacks

Cyber-security researchers have found technical evidence they said could link North Korea with the global WannaCry "ransomware" cyber-attack that has infected more than 300,000 computers in 150 countries since Friday.

Symantec and Kaspersky Lab said on Monday that some code in an earlier version of the WannaCry software had also appeared in programs used by the Lazarus Group, which researchers from many companies have identified as a North Korea-run hacking operation.

"This is the best clue we have seen to date as to the origins of WannaCry," Kaspersky Lab researcher Kurt Baumgartner told Reuters.Both firms said it was too early to tell whether North Korea was involved in the attacks, based on the evidence that was published on Twitter by Google security researcher Neel Mehta. The attacks, which slowed on Monday, are among the fastest-spreading extortion campaigns on record.

The research will be closely followed by law enforcement agencies around the world, including Washington, where President Donald Trump's homeland security adviser said on Monday that both foreign nations and cyber criminals were possible culprits.

The two security firms said they needed to study the code more and asked for others to help with the analysis. Hackers do reuse code from other operations, so even copied lines fall well short of proof.

US and European security officials told Reuters on condition of anonymity that it was too early to say who might be behind the attacks, but they did not rule out North Korea as a suspect.

FireEye Inc, another large cyber-security firm, said it was also investigating a possible link.

"The similarities we see between malware linked to that group and WannaCry are not unique enough to be strongly suggestive of a common operator," FireEye researcher John Miller said.

The Lazarus hackers, acting for impoverished North Korea, have been more brazen in pursuit of financial gain than others, and have been blamed for the theft of $81 million from the Bangladesh central bank, according to some cyber-security firms. The North Korean mission to the United Nations was not immediately available for comment.

Regardless of the source of the attack, investors piled into cyber-security stocks on Monday, betting that governments and corporations will spend more to upgrade their defences.

Small payout
The perpetrators had raised less than $70,000 (roughly Rs. 44.9 lakhs) from users paying to regain access to their computers, according to Trump homeland security adviser Tom Bossert.

"We are not aware if payments have led to any data recovery," Bossert said, adding that no US federal government systems had been affected.

WannaCry demanded ransoms starting at $300 (roughly Rs. 20,000), in line with many cyber extortion campaigns, which keep pricing low so more victims will pay.

Still, some security experts said they were not sure if the motive of WannaCry was primarily to make money, noting that large cyber extortion campaigns typically generate millions of dollars of revenue.

"I believe that this was spread for the purpose of causing as much damage as possible," said Matthew Hickey, a co-founder of British cyber consulting firm Hacker House.

The countries most affected by WannaCry to date are Russia, Taiwan, Ukraine and India, according to Czech security firm Avast.

The number of infections has fallen dramatically since Friday's peak when more than 9,000 computers were being hit per hour. Earlier on Monday, Chinese traffic police and schools reported they had been targeted as the attack rolled into Asia for the new work week, but no there were no major disruptions.

Authorities in Europe and the United States turned their attention to preventing hackers from spreading new versions of the virus.

Shares in firms that provide cyber-security services rose sharply, led by Israel's Cyren Ltd and US-based FireEye .

Cisco Systems closed up 2.3 percent and was the second-biggest gainer in the Dow Jones Industrial Average, as investors focussed more on opportunities that the attack presented for technology firms than the risk it posed to corporations.

Morgan Stanley, in upgrading the stock, said Cisco should benefit from network spending driven by security needs.

Political topic
Beyond the immediate need to shore up computer defences, the attack turned cyber-security into a political topic in Europe and the United States, including discussion of the role national governments play.

In a blog post on Sunday, Microsoft Corp President Brad Smith confirmed what researchers already widely concluded: The attack made use of a hacking tool built by the US National Security Agency (NSA) that had leaked online in April.

He poured fuel on a long-running debate over how government intelligence services should balance their desire to keep software flaws secret - in order to conduct espionage and cyber warfare - against sharing those flaws with technology companies to better secure the Internet.

On Monday, Bossert sought to distance the NSA from any blame.

"This was not a tool developed by the NSA to hold ransom data. This was a tool developed by culpable parties, potentially criminals or foreign nation-states, that were put together in such a way as to deliver phishing emails, put it into embedded documents, and cause infection, encryption and locking," Bossert said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, noting the technology's link to the US spy service, said it should be "discussed immediately on a serious political level."

"Once they're let out of the lamp, genies of this kind, especially those created by intelligence services, can later do damage to their authors and creators," he said.

Samsung Galaxy A5 (2016), Galaxy A7 (2016) Start Receiving Android 7.0 Nougat Update in India

Samsung Galaxy A5 (2016), Galaxy A7 (2016) Start Receiving Android 7.0 Nougat Update in IndiaIt seems like Samsung has finally started paying attention to its non-flagship smartphones as the company is now rolling out Android 7.0 Nougat update to its Galaxy A5 (2016) and Galaxy A7 (2016) smartphones in India. The Android 7.0 Nougat update reportedly first made its way to Russia and now users in India are reporting have received the update as well.

With the update, Samsung Galaxy A5 (2016) and Galaxy A7 (2016) now run the same user interface as last year's flagships Galaxy S7 Edge and Galaxy S7, as pointed out by Sammobile citing user reports. Apart from the user interface, the Android 7.0 Nougat update is also expected to bring performance and battery life improvements to the smartphones.

Readers in India who own either of these smartphones can check for the update by heading to the settings menu and going to the 'About Device' section to see whether it has popped up for them or not.

To recall, the South Korean company started rolling out the Android 7.0 Nougat update to its Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge smartphones last month - including to users in India. The update brought along along improvements to notifications as well as Quick settings button. It further brought improvements to space management efficiency for installation of downloaded apps. With the update, just like on Galaxy S7, users also get a blue light filter and a high performance mode that increases the display brightness.

Display

5.50-inch

Processor

1.6GHz octa-core

Front Camera

5-megapixel

Resolution

1080x1920 pixels

RAM

3GB

OS

Android 5.1

Storage

16GB

Rear Camera

13-megapixel

Battery Capacity

3300mAh

Gionee S10 Launch Set for May 26; New Details Emerge From Certification Listing

Gionee S10 Launch Set for May 26; New Details Emerge From Certification Listing

Gionee is all set to launch the successor to its S9 smartphone on May 26 as the company has now released the official launch teaser for its 'S10' smartphone. Separately, a new TENAA listing for "Gionee S10L" has suggested a different camera configuration than was tipped with the previously leaked TENAA listing of the Gionee S10.

In its teaser, shared on Weibo, the Chinese company has confirmed the name of the smartphone as Gionee S10 and also explicitly mentioned that it will come with four cameras, tipping that it will come with dual camera setup at the rear as well as front.

The two new TENAA listings of the Gionee S10 and Gionee S10L, spotted first by FoneArena, suggests that the features a dual camera setup at the rear end with a 16-megapixel sensor and an 8-megapixel sensor. At front, the phone has been tipped to come with a dual-camera setup with a 20-megapixel sensor along with an 8-megapixel sensor.

This latest revelation via the TENAA listing matches a leak from last week that stated the Gionee S10 will sport four cameras, tipping the same specifications for the front and rear dual camera setups. Another interesting deviation shown by the new TENAA listing is that it suggests the phone will pack 6GB of RAM, against the 4GB of RAM suggested earlier. Notably, the new listing also suggests that the phone will house a 3450mAh battery.

As per the specifications leaked earlier from TENAA website, of the Gionee S10B, the smartphone runs Android 7.0 Nougat out-of-the-box and sports a 5.5-inch full-HD (1080x1920 pixels) display. The smartphone is powered by a 2.0GHz octa-core processor coupled with 4GB of RAM.

In terms of optics, the phone was earlier expected to sport a dual-camera setup with two 13-megapixel sensors at the back and a 16-megapixel sensor at front for taking selfies. According to the listed specifications, the Gionee S10 was expected to come with 64GB internal storage, which was tipped to be expandable up to 128 GB via microSD card. The phone will house a 3700mAh battery as per the TENAA listing and the fingerprint sensor is expected to be embedded in the home button itself.

Earlier leaked information about the phone suggested that it will be made available in Black and Gold color options. The renders of the smartphone suggested that it will feature simplistic design with round circular Gionee logo at back along with antenna lines at top and bottom end.

As the new listing suggests several changes over the earlier spotted listing, there is a chance that the new listing is for another variant of the phone that might be launched with the regular model. However, this is all speculation and we will have to wait for company's official announcement for any confirmation.

Vivo V5s Review

 

Smartphones targeted at selfie-obsessed users aren't a new thing anymore. Brands including Gionee, Oppo, and Vivo have consistently been launching selfie-focused smartphones in India, which sport front camera enhancements. However, it isn't enough to be good at just one thing. Vivo's V5 series has been fairly popular, and the company is extending the series further. The new Vivo V5s is the third smartphone in the range, following the more affordable Vivo V5 and the premium Vivo V5 Plus.

The new Vivo V5s looks identical to the Vivo V5 Plus, which isn't bad considering that it sells for less. With a decent set of specifications and a 20-megapixel front camera, the Vivo V5s makes for a capable mid-range handset. But is that enough to make it the best selfie smartphone in its category? We try to find out.

Vivo V5s design

Like we mentioned earlier, the new Vivo V5s closely follows the design cues of the Vivo V5 Plus (Review), and it actually looks quite impressive. The faux-metal finish at the back feels solid, though it isn't anywhere close to the metal of the V5 Plus. There are minor differences like the absence of dual front cameras on the V5s. The rear panel also sports iPhone 7-like antenna lines around the top and bottom edges instead of running across the back. The new Vivo V5s may be seen as an upgrade to the Vivo V5 (Review) in terms of specifications, and it definitely feels better in the hand, making it seem like a "lite" variant of the Vivo V5 Plus.

At 7.55mm, the Vivo V5s isn't the slimmest phone in its price category, though the 154g weight is manageable. Despite featuring a 5.5-inch screen, the Vivo V5s never seemed hard to use with just one hand, and we noticed that our thumb was able to reach all four corners. The fingerprint scanner is placed on the front and is easy to reach. From the back, this phone looks an exact copy of the Vivo V5 Plus and it can be hard to distinguish the two when they are placed side-by-side. The front has no branding, but there's a Vivo logo in the middle of the back. The Vivo V5s has been launched in Matte Black and Crown Gold options.

The physical buttons for power and volume are placed on the right, and we liked their tactile feel. The hybrid dual-SIM slot is located on the left. The bottom has a speaker grille, Micro-USB port, and 3.5mm audio socket. The Vivo V5s features a 5.5-inch HD (720x1280 pixels) IPS display with 2.5D curved-edge Gorilla Glass for protection, and a density of 267ppi. The screen is bright and text appears crisp. Sunlight legibility is decent and there is an eye protection mode to filter out blue light. The screen is good for watching videos and playing games, but we do think that a full-HD resolution would have been more appropriate. One of the biggest dealbreakers about this phone could be the HD screen resolution at this price.

The Vivo V5s comes with the standard documentation, earphones, a Micro-USB cable, a power adaptor, a SIM ejector tool, and a transparent case. Additionally, there is a screen protector fitted on it out-of-the-box which some people might like and others might not. Overall, the Vivo V5s managed to impress us in terms of design though it can't match the solid feel of the Vivo V5 Plus.

Vivo V5s specifications and software

Under the hood, the Vivo V5s is powered by an octa-core MediaTek MT6750 SoC coupled with 4GB of RAM. To recall, the Vivo V5 is powered the same processor. The V5s has 64GB of storage that's expandable using a microSD card (up to 256GB) in the hybrid dual-SIM slot. The highlight of the specifications is the 20-megapixel front-facing camera that packs Sony's IMX376 sensor and a 5P lens system with an f/2.0 aperture. The front camera also has a 'Moonlight Glow' front flash. There's a 13-megapixel rear camera with PDAF technology.

The phone has a dedicated AK4375 audio DAC which improves sound quality, according to the company. Connectivity options on the Vivo V5s include 4G VoLTE, Bluetooth 4.0, Wi-Fi ac, and GPS/ A-GPS. Sensors include an accelerometer, an ambient light sensor, a digital compass, a proximity sensor, and a virtual gyroscope. There is a non-removable 3000mAh battery.

The phone runs on Funtouch OS 3.0 which is based on Android 6.0 Marshmallow, and we were slightly disappointed to see that Nougat isn't being offered. There's no confirmation of an update either. Several other smartphones at around this price level come running Android Nougat out-of-the-box, including the Moto G5 Plus, Tecno i7, and Gionee A1. This phone hasn't even received the Google Assistant feature which many other phones running Marshmallow have.

The iOS-styled Funtouch OS takes a lot of inspirations from Apple. We get a quick settings panel that can be pulled up by swiping upwards on the screen. Swiping down opens up a toolbar for searching through apps, files, and folders stored on the device. The Vivo V5s runs the same version of Funtouch OS seen earlier on the Vivo V5 Plus, and there's no visual change in the interface. The app icons and the themes are heavily customised. There are some interesting touches software from Vivo in like the App Clone feature, which lets users create a second instance of any app. Notably, users can use the two app instances to log into different accounts., with Whatsapp, Line, BBM, WeChat, Zalo, and Viber currently supported.

Vivo has tried integrating split-screen multitasking with what it calls Smart Split 2.0. The feature basically lets you run two apps simultaneously, and currently supports limited apps including Facebook, the default messages app, WeChat, Whatsapp, YouTube, VLC for Android devices, and MX player. During the review period, we found that this was easy to use. Some of the other software enhancements include a one-handed mode that shrinks the display to one corner of the screen for quick access; Smart Click, which allows turning on the flashlight or launching the camera by just long-pressing a volume button; and Smart Motion, which lets you activate a bunch of gestures to control various functions.

As previously seen on the Vivo V5 and V5 Plus, the V5s also comes with tons of preloaded apps which cannot be deleted, including i Manager, i Music, V-Appstore, Vivo Cloud, and i Theme which were all were redundant for us. There are some third-party apps as well including WPS Office, UC Browser, and Amazon.

Vivo V5s performance

The Vivo V5s does a decent job when it comes to general operations like multitasking or running apps smoothly. We had no issues in switching from one app to another, and gaming performance was also impressive. Games like Asphalt 8, Subway Surfers, and Dead Trigger 2 ran smoothly. During our review, we found that 4GB RAM was sufficient for most tasks, and there was usually around 2.3GB of RAM free when the phone was idle. Unlike many phones at around the same price such as the Gionee A1, the Vivo V5s doesn't heat up much except while using the camera and when gaming for a long time.

Our test videos played without any glitches, and sound quality from the speaker was impressive. Music played through the bundled earphones sounded quite good, but we wish that Vivo shipped in-ear earphones rather than the simple ones in the box, to take advantage of the DAC.

In terms of benchmarks, AnTuTu and Quadrant returned scores of 49,912 and 28,109 respectively. Graphics scores were decent as well, with 21fps in GFXBench and 5,160 points in 3DMark Ice Storm Extreme. The phone supports 4G on both SIMs though only one at a time. The Vivo V5s can work with VoLTE, and call quality is good. The multimedia experience is satisfactory though a full-HD resolution might have made it better.

The Vivo V5s smartphone's biggest highlight is its 20-megapixel front camera, which fares well in all kinds of situations. Selfies taken in broad daylight or with sufficient light manage to show good amount of detail and proper colours. Ones taken in low light have noise at the corners but are still better than what we get from other phones in the same price segment which claim to offer an enhanced selfie camera. You can always touch up your shots with the Face Beauty Mode 6.0. There's a group selfie mode that lets you take panoramic shots.

The 13-megapixel rear camera on the Vivo V5s impressed us as well. It's quick with focusing, and manages to capture some good detailed shots. We noticed slight distortion at the edges, which was disappointing. Keeping the HDR mode on prevents images from getting overexposed in harsh lighting conditions. Macro and landscape shots taken with the Vivo V5s are also decent.

We liked the Vivo V5s camera interface which has all options just a tap away. The V5s can record videos at 1080p and the quality is good. Overall, the rear camera on the Vivo V5s manages to impress even considering that it isn't a feature that's being marketed by the company.

The phone packs a non-removable 3000mAh battery which managed to run for 12 hours, 45 minutes in our HD video loop test, which is quite impressive for a battery of this size. In real-world usage, the phone manages to last over a day with heavy usage; with light usage could make it last a day and a half before you need to recharge. We found that the V5s took slightly less than 90 minutes to charge fully from zero, which isn't bad at all, considering fast charging support is not listed as one of the features.

Verdict
The Vivo V5s can be seen as an improvement over the Vivo V5. The phone impressed us with its general performance, battery life, and camera quality. The HD display and the fact that it still runs the now-dated Android Marshmallow are our two main complaints. The excessive bloatware was also disappointing. Compared to the Oppo F3 and Gionee A1 (Review) - two of this phone's closest competitors - the Vivo V5s offers better selfies and is also more affordable at its price of Rs. 18,990. If you're not that obsessed with selfies, there are better all-rounders at this price or less.

Display

5.50-inch

Processor

1.5GHz octa-core

Front Camera

13-megapixel

Resolution

720x1280 pixels

RAM

4GB

OS

Android 6.0

Storage

64GB

Rear Camera

20-megapixel

Battery Capacity

3000mAh

Google Project Treble to Bring Faster Android Updates From Manufacturers

Google Project Treble to Bring Faster Android Updates From Manufacturers

The one big issue with the Android version adoption is the slow rollout of customised versions from OEMs to their smartphones. Google is trying to fix this problem, and has launched 'Project Treble' that aims to make Android updates 'easier, faster, and less costly for manufacturers.'

Project Treble essentially allows OEMs to update to the latest Android software, without making a ton of changes. Previously, manufacturers had to wait for chipmakers to modify the new release to their specific hardware. After receiving the modified software from chipmakers, OEMs then made their own tweaks, test it out with carriers, and then release it to compatible smartphones. Now, with Project Treble, a separate vendor interface is created between the Android OS framework and the vendor implementation. Google claims that it will work with chip makers to ensure the vendor interface is compatible beforehand, and the validation of that will be done by a Vendor Test Suite (VTS).

"Project Treble aims to do what CTS did for apps, for the Android OS framework. The core concept is to separate the vendor implementation - the device-specific, lower-level software written in large part by the silicon manufacturers - from the Android OS Framework. This is achieved by the introduction of a new vendor interface between the Android OS framework and the vendor implementation. The new vendor interface is validated by a Vendor Test Suite (VTS), analogous to the CTS, to ensure forward compatibility of the vendor implementation," Google explains on its developer blog.

With a stable vendor interface, device makers can choose to deliver a new Android release to consumers by just updating the Android OS framework without any additional work required from the silicon manufacturers, saving up a lot of time. This architectural change to Android will be coming with Android O, and the first developer preview already seems to have it. We'll hopefully hear more about vendor interface at Google I/O this week - it kicks off on Wednesday.

To recap, Android Nougat has been out for more than eight months now, but it has still managed to creep onto only 7.1 percent of Android devices. The company's age-old Android KitKat still exists on 18.8 percent of Android devices, while the biggest share is Android Lollipop, at 32 percent.

Xiaomi Mi Bluetooth Headset Goes Up for Pre-Orders at Rs. 899

Xiaomi Mi Bluetooth Headset Goes Up for Pre-Orders at Rs. 899

While Xiaomi's Redmi 4 India launch is just around the corner, the company has now made its Mi Bluetooth Headset available for pre-orders in the country at Rs. 899. The new headset from Xiaomi weighs just 6.5 grams and has been made available in only Black colour for the country. The headset will be shipped within 5 days of pre-order as per company's website. Notably, the product seems to have gone out of stock already but might be made available again by the company soon.

Xiaomi's Mi Bluetooth Headset allows users to accept or end phone calls, reject calls, redial phone numbers, transfer calls, make three-way calls, play or pause music, play next/previous song, and adjust volume. The headset comes with a ceramic antenna, rounded sound cavity, a Bluetooth chip, magnetised moving coil speaker, and a noise-cancelling silicone microphone. "To optimise sound quality for calls and music, we kept the speaker output structure at a narrow 3mm, so that detail in the mid and high frequencies are preserved and noise is significantly reduced," the Xiaomi says on its website.

The Mi Bluetooth Headset offers noise reduction and supports Bluetooth 4.1, which as per the company's claims, reduces 4G network interferences and in turn improves device compatibility, stability, and functionality across the board. Xiaomi Mi Bluetooth headset provides 3-4 hours of battery life with regular usage and 100 hours in standby mode, as per the company. Notably, the headset is capable of pairing with two devices simultaneously.

The new Bluetooth headset from Xiaomi comes with silicone earbuds in three different sizes. Let us know in comment section down below if you are interested in buying Xiaomi Mi Bluetooth Headset or have your eyes set on some other headset

HTC U 11 With 'Edge Sensor' Expected to Launch Today

HTC U 11 With 'Edge Sensor' Expected to Launch Today

HTC U 11 is expected to be launched by the Taiwanese company at its Tuesday launch event, scheduled to begin at 11:30am IST. The event will be live streamed on the company site.

The HTC U 11 has been leaked several times ahead of its launch on Tuesday, and the company itself has teased the Edge Sensor feature, what appears to be an interface powered by pressure-sensitive sensors alongside the smartphone's metal edge. These sensors will respond to squeezing, and perform multiple functions.

The latest leak HTC was an accidental listing of the HTC Edge Sense app on Google Play, revealing what functions the Edge Sense feature will be able to perform. Another report also tipped pricing and a release date as soon as May 19.

As for the HTC Edge Sense app listing, a screenshot accompanying it asked you to test it by pressing the edges to 'fill up a balloon' and release it to launch the balloon. This is essentially to test the feature on the upcoming HTC U 11, and get a sense of how it works. The other screenshots suggest that Edge Sense could work for taking photos, videos, firing up Google Assistant and much more.

Another leak tips the HTC U 11 will go on sale soon after its big reveal. The report claims that the smartphone will go on sale in Taiwan from May 19 for TWD 19,900 (roughly Rs. 42,400). This is really close to the reveal date, and it could also be when HTC kicks-off pre-orders, and not the actual sale.

The smartphone has been tipped to run Android 7.1.1 Nougat, sport a 5.5-inch QHD display, and to be powered by the Snapdragon 835 SoC coupled with 4GB of RAM. In terms of optics, the HTC U 11 is expected to sport a 12-megapixel rear sensor, and a 16-megapixel front camera. It has been tipped to offer 64GB of internal storage as well. There is also a 6GB of RAM/ 128GB built-in storage variant expected to be launched by the company.

The HTC U 11 is also expected to house a 3000mAh non-removable battery with support for Quick Charge 3.0. In terms of connectivity, the phone offers options including 4G LTE (dual-SIM in some markets), dual-band Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, GPS with GLONASS, Bluetooth 5.0, NFC, and USB 3.1 Type-C.

The fingerprint scanner on the HTC U 11 is embedded into the home button and the phone is expected to come with water and dust resistance rating of IP57. In terms of audio features, the HTC U 11 is expected to offer HTC BoomSound, Hi-Res Audio, HTC Usonic (Active Noise Cancellation), and 3D Audio Recording.

Samsung Galaxy S8 Launch: 5 Things You Should Look Forward To

With just a few hours to go before Samsung officially unveils the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+, there is a lot of hype around the phones right now. With the countless leaks that have surfaced in the past few months, we have a pretty clear idea of what Samsung's next flagship smartphones are going to look like.

The Galaxy S8 has a lot riding on it after the fateful demise of the Galaxy Note 7. Samsung knows that it not only needs to come out with something flagship-worthy, but it also needs to be something special to win over the hearts of fans and skeptics alike. Looking at the leaks, there were a few things that Samsung seems to have been done right:

1. Break the design lull

Smartphone design has seen a bit of a stagnation over the years and Samsung has tried to break that trend in the past by launching dual-edge smartphones. Bezel-less displays are the new order of the day with Xiaomi and LG having raced ahead by launching near bezel-less smartphones with the Mi MIX and LG G6 respectively. Glass is slowly trumping metal as the new premium and if the leaks are right, the Galaxy S8 promises to bring just that - a mostly all-glass smartphone with a large display, and almost no bezels.

All the leaks and renders have shown us that Samsung is keeping the front just for the display, moving the fingerprint scanner over at the back, and ditching the Home Button and navigation buttons altogether. This leaves all the room in the front to house a large display for an immersive viewing experience. The Galaxy S8 allegedly touts a 18:9 aspect ratio with extremely slim bezels on the top and bottom. The back is expected to be all glass as well. From the looks of it, the Galaxy S8 has an attractive design and will offer something different from the current exhaustive lineup of smartphones.

2. Spot on iris scanner

Fingerprint scanners are so 2014, and Samsung wants you to know just that. By now you would have spotted that the fingerprint sensor on the Galaxy S8 is being kept awkwardly close to the rear camera module. One concern here is you could end up accidentally smudging the rear camera every time you try to unlock the smartphone. Not to mention the placement of the sensor could also make it difficult to reach with your finger, especially on the bigger Galaxy S8+. This is perhaps why Samsung has also included an iris scanner, as per leaks.

The company wants you to make use of the iris scanner in the front. But to get this right, Samsung will need to make the technology incredibly fast and responsive. We got a taste of it with the Galaxy Note 7, but we'll know for sure just how useful this can get with the new phones. Additionally, if rumours are to be believed, we may also see a facial recognition feature for added security with the upcoming flagship. If Samsung takes the Apple route, offering extra premium features for 'Plus' models, then the facial recognition feature could be exclusive to the bigger Galaxy S8+.

3. Safest Samsung smartphone ever?

It's about time we move on from those awful "exploding Samsung" jokes and no one wants that more than the South Korean giant. This is perhaps the biggest test for Samsung, and the company would have pulled out all the stops to make sure its units are perfect. Even a single incident - be it legit or otherwise - can potentially hammer the company even worse than before.

After the massive recall of the Galaxy Note 7 that ultimately saw its end late last year, Samsung not only incurred some heavy loss financially but it also took a hit on credibility. Safety is one of the main concerns for the company, and according to reports, Samsung has upped its safety check by adding an eight-point safety check protocol, which includes x-raying the batteries.

As much as Samsung is pushing the boundaries with design, it is also playing it safe when it comes to battery capacity. From the leaks so far, Samsung will limit the battery for the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ to 3000mAh and 3500mAh, respectively, similar to what was found in the Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge.

4. Keeping it under $1000

With a brand new design language for the Galaxy S8 and top-of-the-line specifications and features, the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ will not go easy on the pockets. As of now, the device are expected to be priced starting at EUR 799 (roughly Rs. 56,000) for the Galaxy S8 and EUR 899 (roughly Rs. 63,300) for the Galaxy S8+. However, a leak out of Italy pegs the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ at EUR 829 (roughly Rs. 58,500) and EUR 929 (roughly Rs. 65,500), respectively.

These prices are expected to be higher than last year's Galaxy S7. But Samsung fans may be willing to shell out a little extra if the smartphones live up to their expectations. Again, a lot of it will also depend on how the new phones battle the shadow of Galaxy Note 7. Moreover, a pricing over $1000 could be a psychological barrier for fans and Samsung should not cross that bar just yet.

5. Implementing Bixby just right

Samsung will also introduce its personal voice assistant, called Bixby, with the Galaxy S8. Samsung's AI will compete against Apple's Siri. However, the latter has had some years to improve its digital assistant, so Samsung will mostly look to show off Bixby as a smarter version of its S Voice for now. Bixby, developed by Viv Labs, was recently unveiled ahead of the Galaxy S8. According to Samsung, Bixby will let you operate compatible apps completely by voice.

Without a live demo, we still don't know how well Bixby will be integrated in the upcoming flagships. The company says that Bixby-enabled apps will let you complete most tasks using just your voice. Samsung also says that Bixby is more conversational, much like Google's Assistant, and this could give Samsung the edge it needs over Apple.

Samsung Galaxy S8 specifications and features
Bezel-less display and iris scanner aside, the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ is expected to pack some serious firepower under the hood. The two smartphones will be powered by the latest Snapdragon 835 SoC, but some markets will get the home-grown Exynos 8895 chip as well.

The Samsung Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ are expected to sport 5.8-inch and 6.2-inch Super AMOLED pressure sensitive displays respectively, with QHD+ display resolutions (2400x2960 pixels). The smartphones will pack 4GB of RAM with China and South Korea said to get 6GB RAM variants as well. The devices will run on Android 7.0 Nougat.

Samsung will also look to reclaim its crown in the camera department. The company has done extremely well in this area with recent Galaxy flagships sporting stellar cameras. Interestingly, reports so far tell us that the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ will get a 12-megapixel dual pixel rear camera. This sounds similar to the Galaxy S7, at least on paper. But you can bet Samsung will add some touches to it that should improve the quality over last year. Samsung is also expected to bump up the front camera to an 8-megapixel sensor.

The Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ will be unveiled in a few hours at an event in the US. You can catch the live streaming of the launch right here.

Display

5.80-inch

Processor

1.9GHz octa-core

Front Camera

8-megapixel

Resolution

1440x2960 pixels

RAM

4GB

OS

Android 7.0

Storage

64GB

Rear Camera

12-megapixel

Battery Capacity

3000mAh