Possible Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge Designs leaked.

As February draws nearer, Samsung lovers as well as tech lovers who aren't so much into Samsung are growing so much impatient and even more as January gets eaten away every second. Well, as this happens, we see loads of teases and well as leaks that claim to be what we should expect from Samsung's S7 and S7 edge flagships which are rumored to be released in February at Mobile World Congress.

In the latest leak by Evan Blass, there seem to be not much difference between the S6, its edge and the S7 and S7 edge. The most visible changes that can be spotted in the S7 and S7 edge are; the corners been a bit more curved and the finger print sensors been a bit taller than their predecessors.

From previous rumors, the Galaxy S7 and the S7 edge would be shipped with Samsung's own Exynos 8 octa processor as well as 4 Gb of RAM though the Snapdragon 820 variants may be available in some regions. The Galaxy S7 and the Galaxy S7 edge are rumored to be having larger batteries than their predecessors with the S7 possibly bumping up to 3000mAh and the S7 edge 3600mAh. Both devices are rumored to be coming with removable microSD ports unlike the S6 and S6 edge.

Well, these are rumors and we can't say for sure what Samsung is hiding behind the parceling but the sure thing is they aren't going to be anything bad - at least they will be better than the S6 and the S6 edge.

Microsoft Has Released A New Selfie App For iPhone

Microsoft for sometime now has been developing apps and providing its services to not only Windows powered devices but also Android and iOS devices. This is something quite good as the apps and services they provide are good enough to make people use and keep using them. Today, it released an app it named, "Microsoft Selfie", an app that is to make the selfie experience even better.

Selfies are getting more popular these days and its just a good move that Microsoft has developed such an app. Let's now take a look at what the app's got to offer the iPhone user.

This app is packed with features like exposure auto-adjustment, noise reduction and also takes into account factors like gender, age, skin tone and lighting when making adjustments. It also has a slider that can be used to adjust how much processing you want to be done to the picture before you save it. It also has some filters you can apply to already existing pictures or pictures you take on the go. You can download it from iT here.

Have you downloaded the app already? How do you see it.

3 Changes That We Should Be Expecting In The iPhone 7

Apple is known for one thing; changing their design every year with the new iPhones and 2016s version of the iPhone, iPhone 7 and 7S will be no different. New leaks show changes that prove Apple upping their design game with the next version of the iPhone.

Korea's Commercial Times reports 3 fantastic acclaimed already confirmed changes that we would be seeing in the iPhone 7. All the three changes look to make Apple maintain its "cool guy" status in the mobile phones market. These features are:

1.   A "Smart" Allu-body: Korea Commercial Times, reports that the company will be using a ‘New Compound Materials’. In June 2015, Apple was granted a patent for what it calls a "Non-capacitive or radio-frequency-transparent material with anodized metal appearance", a material the company has been working on for sometime now. This material is to allow wireless signals to pass through the material directly without any obstructions. It looks like this material will be used.

Apple did not give any details on the material but uses the patent to describe the material as quoted below:

Composite structures that have an appearance of an anodized bulk metal but that is non-capacitive and/or radio frequency (RF) transparent are disclosed. The composite structure can be part of an enclosure of an electronic device. The composite structure can give the enclosure a metallic look without interfering with the functioning of some electronic components of the electronic device, such as RF antennas, touch pads and touch screens.

2.   Goodbye Antenna Stripes: It is a known fact that Apple always put some plastic antenna stripes (really buggy by the way) at the back of their devices to allow the free transmission of wireless signals (Bluetooth, WiFi and others) which can be highly affected by the aluminium casing. Samsung takes care of this deadening effect of aluminium by using glass and the Nexus 6P does same using its distinctive 'visor'.

Per the report by Commercial Times, the iPhone 7 will be seen with a uniform finish which means the stripes will finally be gone hence the iPhone will be smoother and even thinner than before. This will be taken care of by using the "Non-capacitive or radio-frequency-transparent material with anodized metal appearance" as mentioned earlier.

3.   Finally, truly waterproof: The iPhone 6S and the 6S Plus have a feature that Apple never really mentioned; they are somewhat waterproof. From discovery, the iPhone 6S and 6S Plus can both survive hours under water without any damage to the device. Apple is will be perfecting this this time around. Just imagine how "cool" it'll be using the iPhone under water - imagine the underwater photography.

It's been speculated that Apple will be abandoning the headphone jack. It seems Apple is making this move in order to make the iPhone 7 fully waterproof - something that rivals like Samsung have already done without abandoning the headphone jack.

It seems Apple as usual is doing their best to stay on top of the design game considering facts that the iPhone will be the thinnest iPhone ever made alongside these three great features.

Microsoft Microsoft Surface Hub's Price has Sky-rocketed As Release Date nears

In August, Microsoft announced that their mega sized Surface Hub, a successor to it's large-screen Perceptive Pixel display will cost $6,999 for the 55-inch model and $19,999 for the 84-inch model but on Tuesday, Microsoft, via e-mail, announced changes in prices of the two devices stating $8,999 and $21,999 as prices for the 55-inch and 84-inch models respectively.

The Microsoft Surface Hub, a Video Conferencing system running a custom version of Windows 10, are preassembled , customized multi-touch, digital-link-enabled displays. This mega sized devices include custom-designed versions of OneNote, Skype for Business and Microsoft office apps. Both models will be able to run Universal Windows apps available from the unified Windows store. Two styluses and a wireless keyboard come with both models.

Both devices were expected to be available on September 1st, 2015 but Microsoft said, "We are still on track to ship the first Surface Hub devices to customers earlier next year" and according to a company representative, the devices will begin shipping in the first quarter.

The company is "finalizing our manufacturing plan with a view towards delivering the best product experience" and "After evaluating the market opportunity and considering the unique collaboration scenarios Surface Hub offers, we believe these are the right prices to drive the business and the category forward." are statements made by the company in Justification of the increase in prices.

Microsoft Lumia 650 Images Leak

Microsoft has had years of struggle in the mobile devices market but it seems giving up is not something we'll be seeing from the Redmond company. After months of releasing its flagships - the Lumia 950 and 950XL along with other phones such Lumia 640 XL LTE Dual Sim and the Lumia 550, recent pictures released from Windows Central shows a new device alleged to be the Lumia 650 and in addition, at a recent Windows Weekly podcast, while replying to a question from ZDNet’s Mary Jo Foley on the Lumia 650's release, the executive said, “they had not announced a release date yet,” suggesting that the device indeed exists.

According to Windows Central, this Windows 10 powered 5-inch AMOLED 720p device would to  packed with Snapdrogon 212 processor running on a 1GB RAM and with 8GB of storage with expandable micro SD slot. It is also alleged to be released with an 8MP rear and a 5MP front-facing cameras with LED flash.

As of now, there is no information on when this device will be launched but rumors have it that Microsoft will unveil this device at either the Consumer Electronics Show or at the Mobile World Congress. This mid-tier device is expect to give people more choice when choosing a Windows 10 device.

What do you think of the device; would you like to own one should it be released?

HTC X9 Now Official

After many leaks and even most recently a hands-on video and TENNA listing, the HTC One X9 has been finally made official in China. This 5.5-inch device is housed in a premium all-metal body build making it one of the few metal mid-tier devices just like the HTC A9. The device will cost around $370. The device only available in China at the moment but there isn't much information when it will be released into the international market.

Other key specs include;

5.5-inch full HD display

Front facing stereo BoomSound speakers

64-bit MediaTek octa-core Helio X10 processor

3GB RAM

32GB storage (expandable to 2TB via MicroSD)

13MP rear camera with OIS

5MP front camera

3000mAh battery

Bluetooth 4.1

Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac

Dimensions: 153.9 x 75.9 x 7.99 mm

Weight: 170 grams (approximate)

Though there are other equally very good mid-tier device manufacturers such as Huawei, Xiaomi and BLU, HTC seems to be hitting it harder on the mid-tier market this time around.

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Its Not Over Yet: Firefox OS' New Future

Not very long ago, Mozilla the company behind Firefox OS said it was done with Firefox OS powered smartphones but from recent releases by Hipertextual, a Spanish site, it's now a confirmation and more of an insight into what Mozilla is terming "Firefox OS on connected devices". The Spanish site released some internal documents showing a Firefox keyboard, hub, stick and a Raspberry powered keyboard which were confirmed by Mozilla as "early product concept by one of our developers". Mozilla didn't confirm if these were still under development.

The goal of the Firefox Stick is to bring Firefox OS TV experience which is already available in Panasonic Smart TVs to every TV. The Router would give users a hackable product with built-in privacy controls, and could also function as a web server and connected home devices hub.

According to Mozilla, the tablet would be "just a web browser" with early adopters and the elderly as the main targets. This tablet will be cheap considering the fact that it will lack an app store, mobile connection and other interesting stuffs that make a tablet a "tablet". The keyboard is more of a better idea, it would be equipped with Raspberry Pi. This keyboard would turn any TV or monitor into a cheap computer. It would be equipped with Mozilla's Webmaker kit which will be useful for web creators, educators and makers.

we're still at the early stages of exploring and prototyping new use cases for Firefox OS in the world of connected devices as an open source project. - Mozilla

What do you think, does Firefox OS have the capacity to stand now?

Google On The Move To Create A Password-Free Login System

"123456", "password", "android", "0000" are some of the most common passwords used by people all over the world - passwords can be really confusing no wonder we choose the easier ones which are easily guessed. Well, Google is trying to get rid of passwords forever.

Google on Tuesday confirmed it has invited a small group of users to help test a new password-free way to sign into their accounts. "'Pizza', 'password', and '123456' — your days are numbered," a Google spokesperson said in a statement.

The new system lets you verify your identity via your smartphone, according to Reddit user Rohit Paul, who first reported the experimental feature. It works like this: You go to log in to your Google account like normal, but instead of entering your email address and password, you provide just your email. Next, Google will provide a secret code — in Paul's case, the number 21 — and tell you to look at your phone.

The Web giant will then send a message to your phone asking if you're trying to sign in. If you answer "yes," you'll then need to provide the secret code on your phone and you'll be logged in immediately.

The test works on iOS and Android, and you can still log in with your regular typed password if you prefer, Google said.

Other companies such as Yahoo have already started the move to password-free using push notifications. There is much more hope with password free systems than passwords' - this is a saviour.

What is your thought on this?

WhatsApp To Add Video Calling Feature Soon

Less than a year ago, WhatsApp, the most popular Instant Messaging (IM) app which is available on Android, Windows, iOS and Nokia S40, Symbian and Blackberry devices added a voice calling feature to its app. Today, Macerkopf a German blog released a single picture alleged by him as an ongoing testing of a new feature which is will soon be added to the WhatsApp app. At the moment, there's is no confirmation that this is true but it isn't something impossible.

There isn't much regarding the User Interface of the video calling feature. It only has options to switch between the front and rear cameras or muting the microphone. This should work over WiFi and Mobile data.

Aside the video calling feature, it also seems the WhatsApp team is testing using browser-style tabs for quickly switching between multiple chats.

What do you think, will this feature make WhatsApp even better or there should be fear for lags and more? Let us know in the comment box.

The Samsung Galaxy A9 Is Finally Official

After weeks (if not months) of rumors and leaks this morning about the super-hyped Samsung Galaxy A9, Samsung has finally made official its new version of the A line of products.

This new Samsung "baby" ships with Android 5.1 Lollipop (can't tell why not 6.0 Marshmallow which was announced by google since May 2015). The other features that this phone comes with are quite nice. It sports a 6.0-inch AMOLED display with 1920 x 1080 resolution, a newly-renamed octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 652 processor, 3GB of RAM, 32 gigabytes of on-board storage, microSD card expansion up to 128GB and dual-SIM card support. It also has a 13MP rear camera with OIS, 8MP front camera, a pretty big 4,000mAh battery and support for Qualcomm’s Quick Charge. In typical Samsung fashion, there’s also a home button-mounted fingerprint sensor that brings along support for Samsung Pay.

This phone does not really hit the mark as expected examples being the low resolution and its shipping with Lollipop instead of Marshmallow but we hope the price will make up for it. At the moment, there isn't much information on availabily and pricing but considering the country in which it was made official (China), there is no doubt it will hit the shelves in China sooner than expected.

Are you happy about the A9, do you think it will be worth it considering the specs, let us know in the comment box.

Source: androidauthority