AutoWear Watch App

Maybe you've heard of Tasker. If so, welcome nerd. If not, it's a robust but complex Android app that lets power-geeks (like me) program their rooted phones to do just about anything. Now, thanks to a Tasker plug-in called AutoWear, you can extend that sort of ludicrous control to an Android Wear smartwatch.

It's absurd and it fills me with glee.

Like vanilla Tasker takes its cues from your phone, AutoWear can take input from your watch (like a series of shakes, or the press of a custom-made virtual button), and translate that into all sorts of actions you program in.

Turn on lights with a flick of the wrist? Sure. Create bespoke voice commands and use your watch to tell your phone to tell your computer to turn on when you walk in the door? Anything is possible if you put your mind to it. There's smattering of awesome and questionably useful examples from AutoWear's endearingly low-rent introduction vide AutoWear is $1.70 on the Google Play Store, with a free trial. Also, it requires the $3 (and very worth it) base app, Tasker. Nerdy automation with Android devices is a deep rabbit hole to fall in, but it feels so good to pull off something cool. I can't wait to check it out, come up with some absurd ideas, and immediately give up.

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Motorola Moto E Vs Moto E (2015)

Motorola's mystery box device turned out to be nothing but the new variant of Moto E variant. Back in 2014, Motorola surprised one and all by divulging into the entry-level smartphone space, which was fairly nascent in terms of brand and products visibility back then. The company recently celebrated its first anniversary for the product and thereby rolling out Moto E (2015) couldn't have come at a better time for the Lenovo-owned company.

Every time a company refreshes its hero product with another one, year-on-year comparisons are bound to be raised, in order to determine 'what's changed' or even figure out 'value' of the successor. And that's exactly what we've done for you, so take a closer look at the difference (or similarity) between the E from 2014 and the E taking the tradition forward.

Brand	Motorola Moto E	Motorola Moto E (2015)
Price	Rs 5,999	Rs 6,999 (expected)
Display	4.3-inch (960x540p) Corning Glass 3	4.5-inch (960x540p) Corning Glass 3
OS	Android 4.4 KitKat	Android 5.0 Lollipop
CPU	1.2GHz dual-core Snapdragon 200	1.2GHz quad-core Snapdragon 200* or 410**
RAM	1GB	1GB
Storage	4GB + 32GB (microSD)	8GB + 32GB (microSD)
Cameras	5MP (rear)	5MP (rear) + VGA (front)
Connectivity	3G/2G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS	LTE/3G/2G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS
Dual-SIM	Yes	Yes
Battery	1980 mAh	2390 mAh
Weight	142 grams	145 grams
Dimensions	124.8 x 64.8 x 12.3 mm	129.9 x 66.8 x 12.3 mm

As you can see, Motorola hasn't made any ground-breaking changes to a successful product like Moto E. The changes are barely miniscule, confined to size, better chipset, more storage, addition of front camera and much bigger battery unit.


If you already own the first Moto-E then upgrading hardly makes sense. For everybody else, Moto E still represents big shift in product and brand experience.

Motorola has to understand that unlike 2014, you have many brands offering better features for similar (or lower) price point these days. So, it will be interesting to see if Motorola continues to make merry in market like India or has the bubble burst finally happened for the brand.

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Xiaomi Mi 4 review

When Xiaomi entered India some eight months back, nobody could have predicted its rise in such a short span of time. The company managed to break the region barrier and became price-conscious phone buyers' favourite in the country. If 2014 was all about Xiaomi putting itself on the Indian map, 2015 is widely seen as the next phase to their growth.

After playing out itself in the relatively safer price bracket till now, Xiaomi is now geared up to hit the higher segment in the country. And their pursuit for success in this sphere will rely on their doing with Mi 4, their latest flagship in India. While it was launched in China last year, Mi 4 will entertain Indian consumers for the next couple of months, bearing the brand's flag. Can the new Mi flagship match up to the unexpected success of its predecessor Mi 3? Your guess is as good as ours.



Specifications: 
Display: 5-inch 1920x1080p Corning OGS
OS: MiUi 6 over Android 4.4 KitKat
CPU: 2.5 GHz quad-core Snapdragon 801
RAM: 3 GB
Storage: 16 GB internal
Cameras: 13 MP (rear) with LED flash and 8 MP (front)
Dual-SIM: No
Connectivity: 3G/2G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS
Battery: 3080 mAh
Weight: 149 grams
Dimensions: 139.2 x 68.5 x 8.9 mm 
Price: Rs 19,999



Design 
Yes, it's hard to hide from the fact that so-called 'Apple of China' has embodied its design inputs from the iPhone 5S copybook. The unibody design has an appealing look, and the chamfered edges with metallic finishing on the sides give the Mi 4 a fair design and ergonomics balance.



The glossy back panel takes us back to the plastic-era of Samsung and now Xiaomi has done something similar. In addition to the glossy part, you'll also find the phone slips as you hold it or keeping it on a table.







The 5-inch form size has been well distributed, making the phone compact while handling. Except the glossy (and slippery) part, it's hard to dislike the Mi 4 for its looks, premium-ness at flagship-killer pricing.



Display 
Mi 4 sports a 5-inch full-HD display layered over Corning OGS for protection which manages to live up to its name and purpose. We can't really have many complaints about 1920x1080p resolution and with its size (just about right) what you end up getting is a visual treat.



The colour reproduction levels are top-notch, brightness is fairly optimum and outdoor visibility has been well modulated into the device. Viewing angles would pose no major concern and in the end you'll start falling in love with the display (as we did) and that's about it. 

Performance & Benchmarks 
Now let's talk business. Mi 4 is priced at Rs 19,999 and for that kind of change any consumer in India would like to determine its overall value. So, we make things easier for you and put it in straight words. The phone has all the attributes to replace Rs 30k phone and still give you the kind of surety that can be only bought with super-expensive phones. Mi 4 manages to deliver on its promise and more, but still has some obvious concerns (mostly genuine).



First up, we'll talk about the good stuff and there's a lot to write home about. This excellent piece of device gets equal weightage on the hardware front as well. It packs a quad-core Snapdragon 801 CPU with 3 GB RAM, which guarantee 'super' power. Play games, open as many browsers as you want, watch movies or listen to your favorite tunes, Mi 4 will never fail your test. Yes, it does tend to heat up a little bit (the back body doesn't help one bit), but name one device which isn't susceptible to this problem in this era of powerful machines.



The available storage (internal only) stands at 16 GB out of which 12 GB is usable and that for most of users, will come as a shock. Why Xiaomi couldn't include microSD slot, may be they wanted to sell two variants of the device (and so it is). Mi 4 breaks the monotony of dual-SIM capability (nothing to boast about) with single-SIM (micro) support and somehow misses out on NFC too (not that it matters). Again, Mi 4 has done more than enough to suggest it can cut with the best, but only if.








Power-wise, Xiaomi has added two-modes on Mi 4; balance and performance and the difference is staggering (number wise). As you can see below, Mi 4 is even-steven with OnePlus One but better than Lenovo's Vibe X2. Gaming ability has been backed up by 3DMark quite clearly and then work-wise Mi 4 won't come across as slouch either.



Software 
Much to our surprise, Mi 4 was announced in India powered by MiUi 6 (running over Android 4.4 KitKat), compared to the MiUi 5 launched in China. But somehow, it feels as if the company tried to compensate for the delay in bringing this Mi phone to India (we're not complaining).





MiUi 6 feels like a mirror image of iOS with f Android blending smoothly into the interface. But who are we kidding, there's more iOS about MiUi 6 that Xiaomi would like to accept. It's sleek with stress given on keeping the icons minimal in nature, and the overall interface has a slick look about it.



The notification panel has been revamped with transparent effect and font style has a subtle effect. Other big change that we found in the new version is how animation plays part while you delete applications. Hugo Barra gave the perfect explanation at the day of launch and 'boom' is how we'd like to describe its effect.



Camera 
All flagship phones have an excellent snapper in tow and Xiaomi had to make sure Mi 4 had an equal say in the imaging department (for its sake). It comes fitted with a 13MP back camera and that's where the real value gets established. The camera's interface for starters has got a revamped look and feel with MiUi 6, making the operations and feature much more user-friendly. Equipped with Sony Exmor sensor, it's hard not to expect a lot from the Mi 4 and there are reasons to be pleased about the quality aspect of images clicked.
The phone manages to deliver excellent daylight pictures with sharp subject detail, bright colour contours and clarity. Probably one of the best in this segment closely followed by OnePlus One, as per our experience which scores low on the detail segment. Having said that, we'd like Xiaomi to work on the low-light camera symmetrics to alter the haziness and sharp noise output. The selfie-part of the camera is covered by an 8 MP shooter, which is good but is nowhere close to the quality that those megapixels should be delivering.

Battery 
While Mi 3 was a good value product, we wished its battery life was better. With Mi 4 Xiaomi has managed to offer 3080mAh battery, sufficient enough to last for a day or even more depending on your usage. And that's exactly what you get. Mi 4 has the power that gets equally backed up by the battery in tow which is paramount for smartphone these days. 



So, when you compare Mi 4 with its closest competition in the battery segment, you'll find it being similar to OnePlus One. In addition to that PCMark Battery made it abundantly clear as well. We used the Mi 4 as our primary phone for around 10 days and the resulting numbers were more than satisfactory.

Using the phone for mails, calling, gaming, browsing, multimedia, and we managed to get more than day's life out of the battery. If that wasn't enough, then Xiaomi has made sure that charging up the device isn't going to pose much strain (or time consuming). Mi 4 gets charged up in quick time from 0-60% in less than 40 minutes and we can pretty much ascertain to those claims. Can anyone go for the Mi4 just on the basis of its battery life? Yes, that should be a no-brainer.

Verdict 
Mi 4 has been made with utmost care for design and finishing. It looks elegant, offers that iPhone-like aura at good value, and represents the higher-rung segment at affordable price point. Powerful hardware and good back snappers with long battery life are major plusses but in a market like India, missing out on external storage and dual-SIM option loses out on brownie points. In addition to that, for Rs 20k you don't get the future-proofing 4G support for India and there's only 12 GB usage space for this price. Get the 16 GB if you're not a power user (not sure how many would fall in that space) and if not, just wait up few more weeks and buy the 64 GB variant which has been priced at Rs 23,999.

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Lenovo Yoga 3 Pro..Thinest Tablet at Rs 1,14,990..

Chinese tech firm Lenovo has launched what is touted to be the world's thinnest tablet as of current stats, the Yoga 3 Pro in India. First showcased at the CES 2015, the Yoga 3 Pro tablet is now available in India at a price tag of Rs 1,14,990.

According to Lenovo , the Yoga 3 Pro tablet is slimmer than a pencil (6.4 mm) and is being largely marketed for its flexibility and ease of use. It features a 13.3-inch QHD+ touchscreen display with a 3200x1800 pixels resolution.

The tablet is fueled by a 44Whr Li-Polymer battery rated to last up to 7.2 hours on single charge. The device has a 360 degree hinge that allows it to be used in different modes: laptop, stand, tent and tablet.

The Lenovo Yoga 3 Pro tablet will be officially available via Lenovo SMart Connected Devices stores, thedotstore.com and Croma outlets across India.

In addition, the company has also launched the Yoga Tablet 2, Yoga Tablet 2 Pro and Yoga 2 AnyPen in India for Rs 28,990, Rs 49,490, and Rs 22,499 respectively, exclusively via online retailer Flipkart.

Notably, the Yoga 2 AnyPen allows users to jot down notes on a tablet using any regular ball point pen or pencil.         

The company has also announced that its new Tab 2 A7-30 tablet will be available later this month at Rs 8,500 (2G) and Rs 11,800 (3G).

Lenovo has also launched a range of PCs from their ThinkPad series including: the ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Rs 1,25,000), ThinkPad  Helix 2 (Rs 1,04,000), ThinkPad X250 (Rs 82,000), Tiny-in-One Monitor and Tiny M73 Desktop starting at Rs.40,000.   

Additionally, the company has also announced the launch of its P90 smartphone in the country. The handset features a 5.5-inch IPS LCD display with a 1920x1080 pixels resolution. It is powered by a 1.83GHz quad-core Intel Atom Z3560 processor coupled with 2GB RAM. It comes with 32GB of internal storage which is non-expandable. It sports a 13MP rear and a 5MP front camera. The device runs Android 4.4 KitKat out-of-the-box and is backed by a 4,000mAh battery.   

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WhatsApp Voice Calling Feature

A recent update to WhatsApp for Android rolled out the much-awaited voice calling feature to more people. WhatsApp version 2.11.528, released on February 19, is reported to have given some users access to voice calling. These people could activate the feature for other WhatsApp users on Android simply by making a WhatsApp call to them.

WhatsApp hasn't made any official announcements regarding this feature and there's no mention of it in release notes on Google Play either. The voice calling feature rollout appears to have stopped soon after its release, according to a report.

WhatsApp appears to be rolling out this feature in short phases with Android being the first platform to get it. WhatsApp for iPhone still doesn't have this feature even though a voice calling button appeared in the app some time ago.

After establishing itself as the world's most popular messaging app with over 700 million monthly active users, WhatsApp seems to be playing catch up by adding features available in competing messaging apps. Apart from voice calling, WhatsApp recently launched a Web versionthat works surprisingly well. Both these features have been available for some time with competing messaging apps such as iMessage (calling via FaceTime), Line, Viber, among others.

WhatsApp was acquired by Facebook last year. WhatsApp CEO Jan Koum had said that voice calling would be rolled out in Q1 2015. So far, the company appears to be sticking to that deadline. As of now there is no word on when the feature would be made available to non-Android users.

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Android 5.0 Lollipop Rollout Begins for Limited Moto E, Moto Maxx Users

Motorola, as promised, has started rolling out the Android 5.0 Lollipop update for the budget Moto E and high-end Moto Maxx smartphones. The company announced the rollout on Twitter.

Notably, the Android 5.0 Lollipop update is rolling out to limited Moto E and Moto Maxx users who are under the company's soak test. The Lenovo-owned company confirmed soak test for the Moto Maxx in Brazil and Mexico had begun, as well as the soak test for the Moto E in Brazil and India.

"Some sweet news for Moto Maxx and Moto E today: As we promised, we are continuing to expand Android 5.0, Lollipop to two more devices! We have begun rolling out Lollipop for Moto Maxx with soak testing in Brazil and Mexico and for Moto E in Brazil and India," Motorola said in a blog post.

Further, the company revealed the Android Lollipop update will be first rolling out to unlocked Moto E and Moto Maxx smartphones bought at retail.

"Lollipop will first come to Moto Maxx and Moto E smartphones bought at retail. As we normally do, we're starting by rolling out the upgrade to smaller test groups, and if the results are strong, we will expand the software to more phones," it added.

The company has not announced a time-frame for the wider rollout of the Android 5.0 Lollipop update for the Moto E and Moto Maxx users. Users however will either receive a notification for the OTA update to Android 5.0 Lollipop, or they can also check manually for the update by visiting Settings>About phone>System updates. Motorola has also recommended Moto E users to prepare for Android 5.0 Lollipop update by upgrading to the latest version of Motorola Update Services from Google Play.

To refresh, Motorola has rolled out Android 5.0 Lollipop updates to most of its recent devices, including the Moto G (Gen 1), Moto G (Gen 2), and Moto X (Gen 2).

The company recently also confirmed it has been working on the Android 5.0 Lollipop update for the first-generation Moto X; though it has been struggling with hardware issue as the handset is backed by the dated dual-core Snapdragon S4 Pro processor.

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What's up Facebook? Zuckerberg buys WhatsApp for $19 billion

Social media giant Facebook has announced plans to acquire WhatsApp, a rapidly growing cross- platform mobile messaging company, for $19 billion in stock and cash. The acquisition will however, see WhatsApp run semi-independentally much like Instagram.

Facebook has posted on its blog, citing reasons behind the acquisition. The post states that the acquisition supports Facebook and WhatsApp's shared mission to bring more connectivity and utility to the world by delivering core internet services efficiently and affordably. The combination will help accelerate growth and user engagement across both companies.

Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook founder and CEO, said that WhatsApp is on a path to connect 1 billion people. The services that reach that milestone are all incredibly valuable.
WhatsApp co-founder and CEO, Jan Koum posted on WhatsApp blogpost about the acquisition saying that "WhatsApp will remain autonomous and operate independently. You can continue to enjoy the service for a nominal fee. You can continue to use WhatsApp no matter where in the world you are, or what smartphone you're using. And you can still count on absolutely no ads interrupting your communication."

Facebook's acquisition move is bigger than Google, Apple or Microsoft has ever done. Google's biggest acquisition Motorola Mobility was at $12.5 billion while Microsoft's largest was Skype at $8.5 billion. Apple has never done a deal above $1 billion.

Here we list down reaction tweets from around the world on the big money acquisition of WhatsApp by Facebook.

WhatsApp cofounder was turned down after interviewing @ FB & Twitter in '09. He stayed positive & made hella lemonade

- Roy Rodenstein (@royrod) February 20, 2014

And here's the tweet from WhatsApp owner Brian Acton from 2009, when facebook had turned his offer down.

Facebook turned me down. It was a great opportunity to connect with some fantastic people. Looking forward to life's next adventure.

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