gadgets

The Chinese manufacturer Coolpad received accolades for its Coolpad Note 3 handset last year. The smartphone got a lot of appreciation for its specifications and performance. Keeping the trend in mind, the Chinese giant launched a toned down version in the Indian smartphone market called Coolpad Note 3 Lite. The handset offers high-end specifications at a price of Rs 6,999. We bring you the detailed review of the smartphone, which promises to deliver exceptional performance at a pocket friendly price. Design and Display The Coolpad Note 3 Lite looks quite similar to the Coolpad Note 3 in terms of design. The handset flaunts round edges and a golden coloured metal rim that give a stylish and premium look to it. The major difference is in the size. Even though the Coolpad Note 3 Lite is a 5-inch device, it fits perfectly in one hand. The front panel of the device houses three capacitive keys, which are not backlight, and a 5MP front-facing camera at the top with a set of sensors....

LG Electronics is known for trying out fresh and innovative ideas with its smartphones to make them stand out in the crowd. Its flagship Rs 52,990 G5 — touted as the world’s first modular smartphone featuring a “slide-out” battery design and dual rear cameras — is an apt example. This time, LG has done magic in the front display and introduced a new secondary screen on top of the main screen in its mid-range offering — X Screen — to ease user interaction. The Rs 12,990 X Screen is also equipped with a panic button in line with the Indian government’s initiative. The smartphone goes head to head with Moto G4 and LeEco Le 2 devices in the mid-range segment. Here is what works for the device. The plain-looking device comes with specifications that you will expect from a mid-range smartphone. The back is covered by crystal-clear glass-fibre material. The smartphone features 4.93-inch display along with an 1.76-inch HD In-cell touch display which LG calls “second screen”. ...

The newest Samsung Galaxy Note 7 smartphone can now be rooted thanks to SuperSU by Chainfire. Although the new phone brings amazing hardware and the software is up to par as well but root remains to be a utility used by many. Samsung has implemented multiple new Knox features and has addressed different exploits in its new Android 6.0 Marshmallow OS for the Note 7. What this means is, it is now more complicated to gain root. However, Chainfire was hard at work and has released a Beta SuperSU which works on the Note 7. You can follow along our detailed guide to find out how to implement this root exploit. The whole process has been explained step-by-step for your ease. Once you root, you will gain access to all the root apps available on the Play Store. However, it should be noted that you do need a custom recovery like TWRP pre-installed. We have a separate post on showing you how to install TWRP 3.0 custom recovery on Samsung Galaxy Note 7. Once installed, flashing the SuperSU packag...

The team has developed a system that can be integrated into a NFC-capable smartphone to instantly detect toxins in the air. Researchers have developed a new low cost sensing material that can be integrated in electronic circuits and can enable smartphones to detect toxic gases within seconds. Researchers from National Institute for Materials Science in Japan and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) developed the chemical sensing material whose electrical conductivity dramatically increases when exposed to toxic gases. They integrated the sensing material into the electronic circuit in a near-field communication (NFC) tag, which is embedded in smart cards like those used to get through train ticket gates. This technology made it possible for smartphones to quickly (in five seconds) detect toxic gases at a low concentration (10 parts per million). People in today's society are subject to risks of being exposed to toxic gases deriving from natural sources (such as vo...

Researchers have developed a material that can return to their original shapes despite being stretched and twisted to extreme lengths. Scientists have 3D printed structures that "remember" their original shapes - even after being stretched, twisted, and bent at extreme angles - an advance that may lead to shape-changing solar cells and drug capsules that only release medicine when they detect fever. The researchers from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the US and Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD) were able to print micron-scale features as small as the diameter of a human hair. The structures - from small coils and multimaterial flowers, to an inch-tall replica of the Eiffel tower - sprang back to their original forms within seconds of being heated to a certain temperature "sweet spot." Nicholas X Fang, associate professor at MIT, said shape-memory polymers that can predictably morph in response to temperature can be usefu...

Apple has released a security update to iOS today, responding to three previously unknown zero-day exploits. The activist, Ahmed Mansoor, did not tap on the link, and instead forwarded it to Citizen Lab. Immediately after discovering Trident, Citizen Labs and Lookout Security notified Apple. Security researchers on Thursday announced they had discovered a new piece of iPhone malware that allowed attackers to see virtually everything on your iPhone. To prevent this from happening again, Apple released an update for iOS 9 that patches up these vulnerabilities. An Israel-based “cyber war” company, NSO Group, was found by researchers at Citizen Lab and Lookout to be using zero-day exploits to target a human rights activist. Also Read:Pangu team to release new jailbreak for iOS 9.2 The exploits work by remotely jailbreaking the device to secretly download the spyware – which can then access the iPhone’s camera, microphone, and messages. An attack on a fully patched, cur...

In an update to its terms of service and privacy policy, WhatsApp has announced that it will share user data - of over 1 billion WhatsApp users - with Facebook. The Mark Zuckerberg-owned Facebook bought the messaging app for $19 billion in 2014. WhatsApp explains that users will not see any ads on the messaging platform. Instead, data from WhatsApp will be used to target ads on Facebook and will help influence the 'You may also know' profiles that are displayed on your newsfeed. While this may appear to be a small change, it actually is a major shift for WhatsApp, which has finally lifted the lid on its revenue source. Since 2012, WhatsApp has regularly updated its legal policy to include a number of changes. The latest update specifies that WhatsApp is a part of Facebook and that it may be open to commercial messaging. Also Read:WhatsApp Will Not Work on Symbian Devices After December 31 Here's an extract from the blogpost that WhatsApp shared on 25 August...