HTC and Valve unveil their VR headset HTC Vive at the MWC 2015

Taiwan based smartphone manufacturer HTC at the MWC 2015 expo announced its first VR headset – the HTC Vive which would compete against the Google Cardboard and Samsung Gear VR. For this, the company has said to partnered the popular video game developer and distributor Valve and is a mix of Valve’s Valve’s Steam VR tracking technologies with HTC’s “world-renowned design and engineering talent”. The HTC Vive offers a 360 degree room tracking with 70 sensors being used to build it. Users can even walk to experience the virtual plane and even interact “just like you do in the real world”. The HTC Vive offers an excellent 90fps. The VR headset comes with two additional VR controllers.

HTC is said to join hands with a number of well-know game developers like Wemo Labs, Bossa, Vertigo Games, Dovetail Games, Steel Wool Games, Google, Barry-Fireproof and Owlchemy. Some of the other popular partners are National Palace Museum, Lionsgate, Google and HBO for providing VR content to HTC. Here is what HTC had to say during launch.

“Vive creates an exciting opportunity for all developers and content creators, to help us bring virtual reality into the mainstream with an end-to-end solution that completely redefines how we entertain ourselves, communicate with each other, learn and, eventually, how we become more productive,”Cher Wang added. “HTC Vive is real, it’s here and it’ll be ready to go before the start of 2016.”

The HTC Vive VR headset is said to made available by the year end. Take a look at the official product video below.

source: HTC

HTC and Valve unveil their VR headset HTC Vive at the MWC 2015

All you need to know about Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge

Today, Samsung announced its much awaited flagship the Samsung Galaxy S6 along with much anticipated sibling the Galaxy S6 Edge. Both these handset pack some very good material built quality with glass panels and some excellent new features. After knowing all about the Samsung Galaxy S6, here are some details about the dual-curved Galaxy S6 Edge.

Design and Display

The Samsung Galaxy Edge curves don’t seem to offer much functionality as we have seen the Galaxy Note Edge but gives complete new design looks and the edges at the screen sides look very much like an extension to its display offering almost bezel-less looks to the handset. Unlike the Galaxy Note Edge, the curves here are less pronounced offering a thick frame for the smartphone to easily mount the volume and power buttons. This helps in providing a firm grip to the handset. However, Samsung has still retained the Edge functionality for limited use like displaying a clock, but it would not accommodate the app icons or widgets.

Besides the curved display, the good thing about the Galaxy S6 Edge is that it is made up of aluminum unibody case with its back covered with the toughened Gorilla Glass 4. This helps to give the device the much needed premium look in terms of design and built quality. Both these Galaxy S6 handsets come in four different colors of Black Sapphire, White Pearl, Gold Platinum and Green Emerald. The thickness of the handset is still reasonable measuring 7mm.

Some disappointment for the users would be that both the handsets are not IP67 certified which means they are not waterproof. Now talking about its display, the device hosts a 5.1” panel with QHD resolution having 1440×2560 pixels. The display for the handset is made with the company’s own Super AMOLED technology the prowess of which we have been witnessing in many premium Galaxy flagship smartphones. Samsung is said to have worked a bit to tweak and enhance the brightness and color accuracy over the display panel.

Hardware and Software

Just like the Samsung Galaxy S6, the edged sibling too has the home baked Exynos 64-bit chipset to its heart. The chipset comes with a 8-core CPU clocked at 1.8GHz and is supported by Mali T760 GPU to take care for multi-tasking and graphic controls. The RAM is similar with 3GB super-fast LPDDR4 type and internal memory comes with the company’s own UFS 2.0 technology offering 2.7 times higher transfer rates compared to eMMC 5.0 tech. The device is said to have three storage options with 32GB, 64GB and 128GB and does not have additional microSD card support. The chipset is made with the 14nm process and is said to be less power consuming delivering outstanding results as confirmed by different benchmarks.

The device runs the latest Android 5.0 Lollipop on-board skinned with the TouchWiz UI. The TouchWiz UI has been worked upon a bit to make it more responsive and faster. The Galaxy S6 Edge would come with the traditional S Health, S Voice, Quick Connect and Ultra Power Saving mode. There is a new Themes app offered which would allows users to customize the looks of the UI as per the user’s choice. An app for the Samsung Pay service is also said to be coming Google apps. Microsoft OneDrive, Skype and OneNote are also said to be installed that would offer users more 115GB of OneDrive storage for two years.

Camera Sensor

Both the Galaxy S6 handsets have got the same camera with 16MP sensor with its aperture upgraded to F1.9 offering more better light capturing, shallow field depth and better focus options and effects. Some more features include Selective focus, OIS, 4K video, HDR and quick-access to camera with double tap of home button turning the camera on in just 0.7 seconds. The front hosts a 5MP selfie snapper with the same F1.9 aperture.

Release date and pricing

Samsung would release the Galaxy S6 Edge globally next month on the April 10^th 2015 and it is said that it would priced for around $750 off-contract. Take a look at some of the official images for the device.

Via: PhoneArena

All you need to know about Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge

Samsung announces Samsung Pay, a secure and easy mobile payment service

Samsung has officially launched Samsung Pay, its mobile payment service, at the MWC as expected. This was announced alongside Samsung’s much awaited flagship phone Samsung Galaxy S6 and the Galaxy S6 Edge. Last month, Samsung had bought LoopPay, a mobile payment startup and now the South Korean giant is ready to take on Apple Pay with this new “secure and easy-to-use mobile payment service”.

The good thing about Samsung Pay is that it will use both its own Magnetic Secure Transmission (MST) technology and the Near Field Communication (NFC) system for contactless payments making it accessible at majority of terminals. In contrast, Apple Pay uses only the NFC system for mobile payments. This means that Samsung Pay will have a greater reach and would be accepted at about 30 million retail locations worldwide. With its MST technology, Samsung Pay can also enable private label credit card (PLCC) support with the cooperation of Synchrony Financial and First Data Corp.

Samsung has already roped in two largest payment networks Visa and MasterCard and is also working to expand the Samsung Pay reach by partnering with other financial institutions such as American Express, Bank of America, U.S. Bank, Citi Bank and JPMorgan Chase.

JK Shin, CEO and Head of IT & Mobile Communications Division at Samsung Electronics said:

“Samsung Pay will reinvent how people pay for goods and services and transform how they use their smartphones, The secure and simple payment process, coupled with our robust partner network, makes Samsung Pay a truly game-changing service that will bring value to consumers and our partners in the ecosystem.”

Samsung Pay is an easy-to-use app requiring some simple steps to add your card.  Once your card is added, you have to just swipe up from the bezel to wake the Samsung Pay app and then select the card from which you want to make the payment. Then authenticate it with the fingerprint sensor. For making payment, simply tap your smartphone to the point-of-sale (POS) terminal and viola your payment is made!

Your transaction information is protected by Samsung’s KNOX mobile security platform jointly with ARM TrustZone. Any data attacks are also thwarted.

Samsung Pay will launch in summer of 2015 first in US and Korea, expanding to other regions such as Europe and China later. Samsung Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge will be the first devices to support Samsung Pay.

 

Source Samsung Mobile Press

Samsung announces Samsung Pay, a secure and easy mobile payment service

Samsung Galaxy S6 goes official: Official specs, Official Images, Samsung Pay and much more features

As per the schedule, Korean tech giant Samsung pulled the curtains over its much awaited 2015 flagship the Samsung Galaxy S6 at the MWC 2015. Needless to say that the Samsung Galaxy S6 is launched against its arch rival Apple iPhone 6 which was announced past September 2014 and has managed to grip the tech world in an excellent manner. Just when Apple is going extremely strong with its iPhone 6 sales breaking every previous record, Samsung Galaxy S6 is here put the competition straight and clean. Whether it would be able to give Apple a run for its money or not would surely be decided by users and customers. As of for now, let’s take a detailed look in the specs for the handset.

Scroll to the bottom for official images

Design and Display

The design of the Samsung Galaxy S6 is something the company is said to have worked upon a lot after it received much heat for its very conventional and standard design of the Galaxy S5. Well, this time the company seems to have worked over the plastic parts and as replacement for this have come with two tampered glass pieces of toughened Corning Gorilla Glass with a solid metal frame to its sides. The frame has been very carefully designed leaving no sharper edge and offer firm grip over the device. Due to the front and back glass panels, users surely will have to look after the fingerprints but in all it gives a very premium feel to the handset. With a 5.1” screen the device has been perfectly sized and would snugly fit in your pockets easily.

Looking to its display, the Galaxy S6 sports a 5.1” touch screen which is pumped with plethora of pixel i.e. it’s a QHD display with 1440 x 2560 pixel resolution. This amounts to a pixel density of 577ppi which is really very sharp. Well, Samsung even prefers to stay with its own traditional Super AMOLED screen and as we know, it offers a very good color accuracy. It is said that Samsung has even worked a lot upon the maximum brightness level for the screen which is said to be reaching the 600 nits mark.

Hardware and Software

As all the earlier rumors had said, Samsung would be baking its own home made 64-bit Exynos chipset. However, there is no news as of for now whether some Snapdragon baked versions of the Galaxy S6 are going to be released or not. Samsung has not at all compromised in its chipset as the Exynos 7420 is an octa-core chipset made with the company’s own 14nm manufacturing process. The Exynos 7 series chipset could be expected to be seen in the future flagships coming this yearahead and we would not be surprised it giving a chase for its money to the Qualcomm Snapdragon chipsets. The memory options have been quite topped up. The RAM for the device is now a whopping 3GB RAM and yes the handset will have three storage options only with no microSD card slot. This means we would be getting the Galaxy S6 in three storage variants of 32GB, 64GB and 128GB.

The Samsung Galaxy S6 would undoubtedly be running the latest Android 5.0 Lollipop and would be skinned over the company’s own TouchWiz UI. The latest version of the Samsung TouchWiz UI comes with many more enhancements and simplifications. Other TouchWiz features like air gestures, dual window mode, and other which has been offered previously are still present, but have now been kept under settings and menu screens.

Well, Samsung has always managed to design its TouchWiz in a way to allow users to have one handed usage and this time too it has kept the curve going. The UI has got a compact size besides its UI elements and sizeable icons make it easy for quick usage and good experience. However, of-course not all taks are one hand operation but overall it offers a good and easy maneuver of the finger over the screen.

Camera

When it comes to flagship models, Samsung has a very good hold over the camera department. With the Galaxy S6, Samsung seem to have worked a bit more towards this area and now comes with a 16MP camera snapper with many new features. Some of the most expected features are auto-focus for video camera, optical image stabilization and the real-time HDR. The device is said to have a infrared white balance that is said to be working much better over the standard white balance. The camera lens has a F1.9 aperture offering better low-light image quality. The camera app is more fast to launch and a double-tap on the home button offers more quicker access to camera. The camera app always runs in the background and is never cleaned from the system memory and don’t worry as Samsung has confirmed that this would not affect the battery life in any case.

Samsung Pay

This is the feature for which everyone was eagerly waiting for! After its recent buy-out of LoopPay, the Samsung Galaxy S6 would come with Samsung’s new pay service. Putting a competition straight against the Apple Pay, Samsung has already partnered with MasterCard and Visa, but is said to extend its for over other major players like Bank of America, American Express or Chase. The good thing about Samsung Pay is that it has got its own Magnetic Secure Transmission (MST) technology, which is said to expand Samsung Pay’s compatibility to many shopping terminals across States. This means that Samsung Pay besides using its own proprietary magnetic strip terminal technology would also support the NFC payments mode for contactless payments, a similar technology that Apple follows for its Apple Pay.

With the baked in fingerprint sensor in the home button, the payment method via Samsung Pay will be a lot more easier. For e.g. during payments, a swipe at the bottom bezel or tapping on the Samsung Pay app would ask you to choose your desired registered card for payment. This would be followed by authentication via the finger-print sensor and the payment would be proceeded further in just mere seconds. The unfortunate thing is the Galaxy S6 will not support Samsung Pay for the moment as the service is said to be resumed later this summer first in US followed by South Korea, Europe and China. For the meanwhile, take a look at all the official images.

Via: PhoneArena

Samsung Galaxy S6 goes official: Official specs, Official Images, Samsung Pay and much more features

Huawei officially unveils Huawei Watch, its first Android Wear Smartwatch at the MWC

After yesterday’s teaser videos, Huawei has today officially announced its first Android Wear smartwatch dubbed the Huawei Watch. It is quite an impressive looking watch having a circular display and a design which the company says has been “Designed by a team of experienced watch designers that have a rich history in creating fashionable and timeless watches”.

The circular Huawei Watch sports a 1.4-inch AMOLED display with 400 x 400p resolution (286 ppi) at a high contrast ratio of 10,000:1. It is made from high quality stainless steel and is a scratch resistant. There is a 2 o’Clock press button for control.

Specs include a 1.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 processor, 512MB of RAM, 4GB of internal storage, and Bluetooth 4.1 for connecting to smartphones. Huawei Watch is Huawei’s first Android Wear smartwatch and is compatible with smartphones that run Android 4.3 or a higher version. The watch also has a 6-Axis motion sensor, a barometer sensor and a heart rate monitor that monitors wearer’s activities such as heart rate, calories burned, steps taken, distance travelled and height climbed.

The Watch is available in 3 colors – Gold, Silver, and Black. There are 40 different watch faces and a whole range of straps of various materials and styles to choose from. The Watch will also have a magnetic charging station.

The Huawei Watch will become available in over 20 countries which includes US, UK, Australia, Russia, France, Germany, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Canada, Spain, Italy, Switzerland, Sweden, Argentina, Brazil, Denmark, Finland, , Norway, Philippines, South Korea, and UAE. The company has not disclosed its price yet and has said that it will be announced in the local markets when it hits the shelves there.

Have a look at the Huawei Watch:

Via PhoneArena

Huawei officially unveils Huawei Watch, its first Android Wear Smartwatch at the MWC

HTC One M9 goes official: Complete specs, Official images, Pricing and Availability

Well, after too many of leaks, the HTC One M9 has finally gone official at the MWC 2015 and here are all the details that you would want to know about the device.

Scroll to bottom for official images

Design and Display

The HTC One M9 has got a re-defined design with dual anodization, scrath-resistant coating and sapphire glass lens for its camera. Moreover, compared to its predecessor the HTC One M8, this handset has now gone even slimmer and lighter. The Power/Lock key has got a new replaced position, the volume rocker turns better and the device has got new color options to flaunt in style. However, it is not water and dust proof and the company has promised to release IP69 certified cases for the HTC One M9. Besides the standard Gun Metal Grey model, this time we have a Pink model with gold accent and a Silver model with Rose Gold accent on the frame.

the display is as expected with 5inch full HD 2080p resolution. This time they have placed a Super LCD3 that comes with improvements in color rendering and technology. To its front are the all-time BoomSound speakers from the company which comes with more improved Dolby Sound technology.

Hardware

Under the hood lies the powerful Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 chipset with octa-core 64bit CPU four of which are Cortex A53 clocked at 1.5GHz and the other four are Cortex A57 cores clocked at 2.0GHz. The graphics handling and multitasking  would be done by the new Androeno 430 GPU. This time the RAM has been topped to 3GB from 2GB in its predecessor and is said to have a 32GB of internal expandable storage. The device has got a pretty powerful connectivity package with LTE Cat.6 or Cat.9 depending on region and a support for 21 LTE bands. Additionally it would also support wireless and wired TV-out, Bluetooth 4.1, NFC, Wi-Fi, GPS+GLONASS.

In order to support its high-end display and machine power, the device has got a powerful 2840mAh of battery life. Fast charging tech comes built in within the handset and the charger coming along with is not fast but rather conventional charger.

Software

The HTC One M9 runs the latest Android 5.0 Lollipop which has got an enhanced HTC Sense 7 UI. The HTC Blinkfeed is undoubtedly the major part for Sense 7.0 and the lockscreen will now even display content from the aggregator. With the new partnership with Yelp, the updated service would also use content specific suggestions with tips for the nearest restaurant locations.

The good thing is that the new HTC Sense allows the launcher to support themes and change its looks completely for colors, backgrounds, icons and keyboards. A theme generator will allow automatic theme generation with just a single image. Another good feature of the UI is that users would be able to customize the navigation bar wherein they can completely change the keyboard layout and put additional shortcuts.

Sense 7.0 Ui would support the BoomSound connect for combining internal speaker to external ones for playback surround.

Camera

As we had spotted earlier, the handset comes with a Toshiba-made 20MP camera sensor of size 1/2.3 inch. The handset has got a 20MP BSI camera to its back with F/2.2 aperture and dual-tone dual-Led flash. The maximum shooting resolution of the handset would be 5376 x 3752 pixels with 10:7 aspect ratio. The camera supports 4K video recording but misses on OIS. However, the good thing is that we have a sapphire glass protection for its camera lens.

To its front, we have got the 4MP UltraPixel sensor, just like the HTC One M8, but comes without autofocus. The rear has got new cooler effects and the company promises new Zoe apps for iOS and Android.

Pricing and Availability

In contract, the pricing for the handset is said to be near to $200 and off-contract it would be nearly $649.99. Take a look below to all its official images.

Via: GSMArena and PhoneArena

HTC One M9 goes official: Complete specs, Official images, Pricing and Availability

Pictures of Sony Xperia M4 Aqua and Xperia Z4 Tablet leak ahead of MWC

As the MWC is approaching, the frequency of leaks and rumors is increasing. This time it is leaked pictures of a couple of Sony’s new devices. A few days back Sony announced its affordable smartphone Xperia E4g. Then there was talk about Sony’s two new devices Xperia M4 Aqua and Xperia Z4 Tablet debuting at the MWC this year. Well, XperiaBlog confirms that the leaked images indeed belong to Sony Xperia M4 Aqua smartphone and Sony Xperia Z4 Tablet.

The picture of Xperia M4 Aqua shows that its design is quite similar to that of the Xperia Z3, with the same nylon corners that give it durability. The handset has a big selfie camera (probably a 5MP one), stereo speakers, microSD port flap, camera button and Sony’s signature power button. It also features an exposed micro USB port, which according to rumors, all Sony Xperia waterproof devices are going to have. The exposed port instead of the regular flap covered one will ensure that water doesn’t enter the handset. The device can be seen running Android 5.0 Lollipop.

Xperia M4 Aqua is expected to be a mid-range phone and its rumored specs include 5.2-inch screen with 720 x 1280p resolution, quad-core 1.5Ghz Snapdragon 610 processor, 2GB of RAM, 16GB of internal storage 13MP rear camera, 5MP selfie camera and Android 5.0 Lollipop OS.

The second picture is that of the Sony Xperia Z4 Tablet. Sony had probably teased it about 3 days back by revealing it to be “Slimmer, Lighter, Brighter” and saying “All will be revealed on 02.03.15”. Its design is said to be similar to the Xperia Z3 Tablet Compact and would feature a 2K display. The picture shows the Tablet also to be running Android Lollipop.

Anyways, just a day left now for the MWC 2015 to begin and then all will indeed be revealed.

 

Source Xperia Blog

Pictures of Sony Xperia M4 Aqua and Xperia Z4 Tablet leak ahead of MWC