Tuesday 31 July 2018

WhatsApp Group Calling for Voice and Video Feature Rolled Out for Android, iOS Users


WhatsApp group voice and video calls are finally live. Back in May, WhatsApp said that it will roll out group calling feature in coming months. Today it has announced that it has started rolling out the group calls for voice and video for everyone starting today.

You can make a group call with up to four people total - anytime and anywhere. Just start a one-on-one voice or video call and tap the new "add participant" button in the top right corner to add more contacts to the call.

Group calls are always end-to-end encrypted, and we've designed calling to work reliably around the world in different network conditions. The feature is currently rolling out on the iPhone and Android versions of our app, it should be available for everyone over the next few days.

Source

Tuesday 24 July 2018

Huami Amazfit Bip, Amazfit Stratos Smartwatches Launched in India on Flipkart

Xiaomi-backed wearable brand Huami launched Amazfit Bip and Amazfit Stratos smartwatches in India. The Amazfit Bip comes in four colour variants - Cinnabar Red, Kokoda Green, Onyx Black, and White Cloud. The Amazfit Stratos is available in only a single Black colour option. Amazfit Bip is available at Rs. 5,499 and the Amazfit Stratos is priced at Rs. 15,999. The Amazfit Bip and Amazfit Stratos are already available on Flipkart.

Huami Amazfit Bip
Huami Amazfit Bip
Huami Amazfit Bip specifications

  • 1.28-inch ( 176 x 176 pixels) color Always-on reflective touch display with 2.5D Corning Gorilla Glass 3 protection + AF coating provides at-a-glance view for time, date, steps, weather, sports stats etc.
  • Receive notifications for calls, messages, emails, and other apps on the always-on color touch display
  • Multisport tracking: Track your runs, cycling and more with mapped routes, detailed stats and heart rate zones.
  • Optical heart rate sensor for heart rate zones
  • Bluetooth 4.0 LE – Compatible with Android and iOS
  • 3-axis accelerometer, Air pressure sensor (barometer) for elevation, Geomagnetic sensor (compass), GPS + GLONASS for route tracking
  • 20 mm standard width changeable watch band
  • Resistant to dust, rain and splashing (IP68)
  • Weight: 31 grams
  • 190mAh Li-Polymer Battery offers up to 30 days with regular use and up to 45 days with minimal notifications

Huami Amazfit Stratos
Huami Amazfit Stratos
Huami Amazfit Stratos specifications

  • 1.34-inch (320 X 300 pixels) color Always-on LCD touch screen with 2.5D Corning Gorilla Glass protection
  • 1.2GHz Dual-Core Processor
  • 512MB RAM , 4GB internal storage
  • Receive notifications for calls, messages, emails, and other apps on the always-on color touch display
  • Multisport tracking: Track your Run, Run Indoor, Walk, Trail Run, Cycling, Indoor Cycling, Elliptical Trainer, Climb, Pool Swimming, Openwater Swimming, Triathlon, Skiing, Tennis and Soccer, detailed stats and heart rate zones.
  • Ceramic bezel, stainless steel buttons, glass fiber reinforced polycarbonate casing, Corning Gorilla glass
  • Optical heart rate sensor for heart rate zones, VO2max fitness level analysis
  • Bluetooth 4.0 LE – Compatible with Android and iOS, WiFi 802.11 b/g
  • Sensors: Optical heart rate sensor (PPG),Tri-Axis Accelerometer, Gyroscope, Geomagnetic sensor, Air pressure sensor, Ambient light sensor
  • 22mm standard width changeable watch band
  • 5 ATM water resistance rating (164 feet / 50 meters)
  • 290mAh Li-Polymer Battery offers up to 5 days of battery life, 35 hours in GPS mode

Friday 20 July 2018

WhatsApp to Place Strict Limits on Message Forwarding in India

WhatsApp said Thursday it is planning to limit message forwarding in India, where two dozen people have been killed this year in violent mobs fueled by rumours spreading on the global messaging platform, and is instituting a new global limit on forwards around the world.

The company said in a blog post-Thursday evening in the United States that it is launching a test to limit forwarding on WhatsApp in India, where people forward more messages and videos than anywhere else in the world. The controls include a plan to limit the number of chats that users can send forward to five in India and remove the "quick forward" button next to media messages.

WhatsApp
WhatsApp
For the global version of the application, the company will limit the number of forwards to 20 other groups. The move marks a major change to the architecture of an application increasingly used for political communication by 1.5 billion people across the world in response to public pressure and a departure for a service that has long taken a more hands-off approach.

"We believe that these changes - which we'll continue to evaluate - will help keep WhatsApp the way it was designed to be: a private messaging app," WhatsApp's spokesman Carl Woog wrote.

Earlier Thursday, India's Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology had warned WhatsApp to come up with more effective solutions to stop mob violence - or face legal action.

The government said in a statement that the general sentiment in the country is that "much more needs to be done by WhatsApp."

"When rumours and fake news get propagated by mischief mongers, the medium used for such propagation cannot evade responsibility and accountability," the government wrote. "If they remain, mute spectators, they are liable to be treated as abettors and thereafter face consequent legal action."

Other countries around the world have also grappled with the spread of fake news on the platform - including during a recent yellow fever epidemic in Brazil - but in India, the fake news problem is particularly pernicious because so many digitally naive users are coming online for the first time. Many of the mobs attacked people they thought were child kidnappers because of rumours that had spread on WhatsApp.

Officials from the Menlo Park, California-based company are in India this week to meet with digital literacy organisations and civil society leaders to discuss the spate of violence that has prompted calls for it to do more to control the spread of viral content on the app, used by 225 million people in India, according to the Indian government.

The company, owned by Facebook, said this week that it had studied the way that WhatsApp was used by a particular Indian political party - which it did not name - in a recent state election in Karnataka, saying that campaign operatives formed dozens of WhatsApp groups, added telephone numbers and used those groups to send thousands of politically oriented spam messages. Spokesmen for the two major national political parties - the governing Bharatiya Janata Party and the main opposition Indian National Congress - denied manipulating the app.

WhatsApp said that use of the app in this ways violates its terms of service - as well as why the app was built in the first place.

"We built WhatsApp as a private messaging app - a simple, secure and reliable way to communicate with friends and family. And as we've added new features, we've been careful to try and keep that feeling of intimacy which people say they love," Woog wrote.

© The Washington Post 2018


Thursday 5 July 2018

Asus Zenfone 5Z with Snapdragon 845, AI Dual Rear Cameras Launched in India

Asus has launched its flagship smartphone Zenfone 5Z in India. It is available in Midnight Blue and Meteor Silver colours. The smartphone is priced at Rs. 29,999 for the 6GB RAM with 64GB storage version, the 128GB storage version costs Rs. 32,999 and the 8GB RAM with 256GB storage version cost Rs. 36,999. It will go on sale exclusively on Flipkart from July 9th.

The smartphone comes with launch offers and it includes flat Rs. 3,000 discount on ICICI credit and debit cards, Flipkart's 'Complete Mobile Protection' at Rs. 499 (down from Rs. 2,299), no-cost EMIs starting from Rs. 3,333 a month, Jio offer with Rs. 2,200 cashback and 100GB additional data. The company is also touting that ZenFone 5Z buyers will be able to enjoy service benefits like invoice free walk-in, free pick-up and drop, and device swap at service centres.

Asus Zenfone 5Z features 6.2-inch (2246 × 1080 pixels) Full HD+ 19:9 2.5D curved glass Super IPS display with Corning Gorilla Glass protection powered by Octa-Core Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 Mobile Platform with Adreno 630 GPU. It comes with 6GB RAM with 64GB / 128GB storage, 8GB RAM with 256GB storage which is expandable via microSD up to 2TB. It sports 12MP rear camera with dual-tone LED Flash, Secondary 8MP camera and 8MP front-facing camera. It runs on Android 8.0 with ZenUI 5.0 which is upgradable to Android P and has 3300mAh battery with ASUS BoostMaster fast charging and AI charging.

Asus Zenfone 5Z
Asus Zenfone 5Z
Key Features:

  • 6.2-inch (2246 × 1080 pixels) Full HD+ 19:9 2.5D curved glass Super IPS display with Corning Gorilla Glass protection
  • Octa-Core Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 Mobile Platform with Adreno 630 GPU
  • 6GB LPDDR4x RAM with 64GB / 128GB storage
  • 8GB LPDDR4x RAM with 256GB storage
  • Expandable via microSD up to 2TB
  • 12MP rear camera with dual-tone LED Flash, Secondary 8MP camera
  • 8MP front-facing camera
  • Android 8.0 with ZenUI 5.0, Upgradable to Android P
  • Hybrid Dual SIM (nano + nano / microSD) with Dual VoLTE
  • Fingerprint sensor
  • Dual 4G VoLTE, Wi-Fi 802.11 ac (2.4GHz + 5GHz), Bluetooth 5, GPS + GLONASS, USB Type-C (2.0)
  • 3300mAh battery with ASUS BoostMaster fast charging and AI charging