Okay, like Apple wasn’t entirely joking, even if it made the comparison of the iPhone 7 Plus with a DSLR camera in a fun way when it announced the new iPhones. The phone does have some almost magic-like tricks up its sleeve that can help it click the photos that would be otherwise impossible to shoot with a phone camera.

Before you read further, just one disclaimer, here at the India Today Tech, we are in the process of reviewing the Canon 5D Mark IV, a state-of-the-art full-frame DSLR camera launched in India just several weeks ago. By the way, based on what we have seen, this camera looks like one hell of a shooting machine. It’s brilliant, but that is a story for another day. Just for fun, while reviewing this camera, we thought of pitting it against the iPhone 7 Plus, which has recently received an iOS update that adds Portrait Mode to its camera. This mode creates many buzzes, and we thought while we test this model, and the 5D, let’s compare the two.

The results were astonishing. Now, in no way should this be taken as something that knocks down the 5D. It’s a great camera and miles ahead of the iPhone 7 Plus. In fact, to make a comparison a bit fair, I curtailed its capabilities somewhat. The 5D Mark IV I used has a 24-70mm F4 L Lens attached to it. This is a high-end lens, and the whole set-up is as pro as they come. But instead of shooting in manual, I put the camera on the auto mode, something which mainstream consumers do. Second, I set the focal length to around 57mm, similar to the focal length of the second camera in iPhone 7 Plus, because at 70mm, it would have easily delivered a knockout punch to the iPhone in this test.

The result I got was this.

— The iPhone image has better colors. But that is because of processing. The colors from the Canon shooter are more accurate, and if I want, I can get better colors from it by editing the image in something like Lightroom.

— The iPhone image is sharper. This is because of the small sensor size, and Apple tunes the way images. Due to the small sensor size, for iPhone 7 Plus, it is easier to manage the depth of field. The Canon 5D Mark IV is a full-frame camera to manage the depth of field for better sharpness; it is pertinent for a shooter to use the manual mode or at least control the aperture. But I deliberately used the auto mode because that is how most mainstream consumers with DSLR cameras use them.

— Because the iPhone bokeh, aka the blurred background, is artificial, calculated by AI, if you look hard enough, you can see that there is a sort of disconnect between the background and foreground. In fact, there is even a blemish in the image, result in problems with image processing (notice the solid gray area above the left arm of the teddy). There are no such issues with the 5D image because, in this image, the bokeh is the result of pure lens physics.

— With all said and done, the iPhone 7 Plus portrait mode is awesome. For most mainstream consumers, it will be easier to click great-looking pictures with an iPhone 7 Plus compared to an advanced DSLR camera that requires fiddling with aperture and focal length.

Now, about the Portrait Mode in the iPhone 7 Plus. In this mode, which is still in beta, the phone clicks the photo using the second camera with a longer 57mm focal length. Apple says it’s 56mm. The EXIF data from the images says it is 57mm. Due to the longer focal length, the second camera clicks images that have better bokeh or, in other words, blurred the background. But it is still not as good as what a good proper camera will capture. So, Apple then uses the data collected with the other camera in the iPhone 7 Plus to calculate better bokeh.

This all is done using a dedicated image processing chip, and it’s imposing the way Apple can calculate this in such a precise manner. The overall result is pretty nice, although this mode is still in beta, and there could be issues such as the solid gray in the following image. Use the slider to see how the image is Before and how it was After the Portrait Mode processed it.

But overall, not bad Apple, not bad at all.

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US tech giant Microsoft is planning to hold two WinHEC events in December to reveal its virtual reality (VR) headset plans for Windows 10, a media report said Robot Tip. The Windows Hardware Engineering Community (WinHEC) is a series of technical conferences and workshops where Microsoft elaborates on its hardware plans for Windows devices.

Microsoft has partnered with HP, Lenovo, Dell, Acer, and Asus to produce VR headsets that plug into Windows 10 PCs and provide the Windows Holographic shell and experience,” technology website TheVerge reported on Monday. Both the events are designed for hardware manufacturers to understand better the software plans for Windows Holographic, a mixed reality platform built around the API of Windows 10.

If Microsoft can convince VR headset makers to let Windows Holographic power its headsets, the company can create a platform around VR to sell games and apps all powered by Windows 10. The initial devices will start shipping after the Windows 10 Creators Update is made available to download in March 2017 and will function like VR headsets that connect to a PC and will support six degrees of freedom and inside-out tracking.

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LeEco unveiled their new flagship smartphone at their ‘Big Bang’ event in San Francisco in October 2016. We at News18 Tech got our hands on the Le Pro 3 a smartphone that might come to India soon and replace their current flagship smartphone the Le Max 2.

Design

For Indian audiences who are familiar with the Le Max 2, the Le Pro 3 feels quite familiar. It is more rounded as device now than a big block. The design improvements have been subtle and the home button now has an illuminated ‘Le’ logo. The addition of texture at the metal back also adds to more grip on the Le Pro 3. Like the Le 2 and the Le Max 2, the Le Pro 3 lacks a 3.5 mm audio jack. The company does provide the Le Pro 3 with its CDLA audio technology Sky Birds.

Hardware

The Le Pro 3 sports a 5.5-inch display that looks quite bright and offers vivid colors. The phone is powered by Qualcomm’s latest SoC, the Snapdragon 821 SoC that’s backed by 4GB RAM and 64GB on-board storage. The device is quite powerful and in our brief usage did not show any lags or app crashes. Gaming also seemed pretty smooth on the Le Pro 3.

Le-Pro-3-USB

The Le Pro 3 ships with EUI 5.8, which is based on Android Marshmallow and the company has made no announcement on whether the device will get an Android Nougat update. Just like any other Le Eco smartphone the Le Pro 3 also offers functions like Le Live and Le View for online TV Channel streaming and video and music streaming. The phone also packs in a 16-megapixel primary camera and an 8-megapixel selfie camera. The device is capable of clicking some good quality images with ample amount if detailing. It is also capable of shooting videos in 4K and slow-motion.

Le-Pro-3-camera

Verdict

LeEco’s Le Pro 3 will be going on sale in the US on November 2 and will be available only on their own e-commerce marketplace LeMall. The device is priced at $399 (approx Rs 26,000). The company is also offering a discount of $100 for US customers under their UP2U program. With the Le Max 2 getting a price drop in India the Le Pro 3 is definitely expensive. And the question that whether it will come to India in this financial year is still a mystery. We will have to wait and watch whether LeEco will launch the Pro 3 in India or not.

For the US market, Le Pro 3 is just a device that will enable the US consumer to get into the LeEco ecosystem. The phone is just a tool to drive consumers to LeEco’s own content and Live TV. This smartphone marks the beginning of LeEco’s big American dream. The Le Pro 3 is a very potent device for the US consumer to embrace a new entertainment ecosystem. But the big question still looms on whether the Americans will warm up to this new Chinese dragon.

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It hasn’t been even a month since the iPhone 7 was launched in India, and already there are rumors rife about what will be there in the next iPhone. Many believe that it will be called the iPhone 8 as it will be the 10th anniversary of Apple’s groundbreaking smartphone. This is of particular importance as the new iPhone 7 has been seen as a timid update over the iPhone 6S. It is still early days in what we believe to be an almost yearlong cycle of rumors, but there is already quite a bit of information out there.

OLED Screen

An OLED screen is almost a sure shot on the next iPhone. Sharp executives have already been hinting that the next iPhone could have an OLED display manufactured by it. They have also hinted that they now have the ability to make OLED displays in the US. OLED screens also make sense from a power consumption point of view as they are known to guzzle less power than typical LCD screens used in iPhones.

Nikkei also reports that in addition to the 4.7-inch and 5.5-inch models, there could be a 5-inch screen that will also have a 2.5D cover glass. One can also expect an increase in screen resolution as Apple hasn’t bumped up the screen’s resolution on the iPhone since the iPhone 6. This will be of particular importance if Apple wants to make a deep bet in the VR space.

New design

A new design for the iPhone 8 is a given, considering Apple didn’t redesign the iPhone 7 casing this year. A redesign is also in order, particularly for the larger Plus model, as the bezels on the top and bottom of the screen are humongous, and it feels much larger to phones with similar screen sizes. There is chatter that Apple may either use a polished metal body just like the Jet Black model on the current iPhone 7 or opt for a glass back, something it has done in the past with the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S.

There is also a growing belief that Apple may use a ceramic body on the next iPhone. Apple already uses ceramic on the Apple Watch Series 2 Edition. As we have witnessed on phones like the new Xiaomi Mi Mix, it will enable Apple to build a glossy phone which will be more resistant to scratches and damage than, say, a phone made out of glass or metal Sci Burg. Perhaps, Apple could make a special edition 10th anniversary model, which will be made out of ceramic. Whatever be the case, a new design is almost a certainty, and even long-time Apple watcher Ming Chi-Kuo of KGI securities claims the same.

Wireless charging

While Samsung and LG have been making phones with wireless charging for years, Apple hasn’t used this technology in its phones. The Apple Watch started using the technology. It has filed patents that indicate that it is working on some long-range wireless charging technology based on near field magnetic resonance.

This indicates that Apple could actually use wireless charging in the next iPhone. It has been working with a start-up called Energous, also known as its charging chip called WattUp. Foxconn has also reportedly started testing wireless charging tech, and if it were to make enough of these, the chances are that Apple may unveil this feature in the special edition of the next iPhone.

Better cameras

The camera on the next iPhone could be in for a bigger update. While the dual-camera setup was unveiled in the iPhone 7 Plus, Apple is yet to fully unlock the potential of the dual cameras, which enable not only optical zoom but also a bokeh effect that associatesiate with DSLR cameras. Apple is likely to further these capabilities on the next-generation iPhones. Ming Chi-Kuo, who is known for his reliable sources in Apple’s supply chain, believes that while there will be updates to the camera, the dual-lens setup could remain exclusive to the larger iPhone 8 Plus model.

No home button, Touch ID with Ultrasonic sensor

Apple is expected to adopt an ultrasonic fingerprint scanner for Touch ID in the next iPhone. Xiaomi’s Mi 5S smartphone already uses this technology. In the iPhone case, Apple’s motivation could be propelled by the fact that it may want to have an edge-to-edge screen on the next iPhone, which may not leave room for a home button which has been a signature of the iPhone since it first came out in 2007.

Apple could augment this with a new taptic engine that may reproduce more complex tactile vibrations. This would again be necessary if Apple planned to get rid of the home button to use the taptic engine to replicate the click. It has already started to do this on the current iPhone 7.

A11 Processor

Apple will likely ship the next iPhone with an A11 processor. This processor is expected to be made on a 10nm manufacturing process, which should make it faster and smaller at the same time.
Already, the iPhone pretty much the fastest mobile CPU by a country mile, and one should expect more of the same from it next year. Its lead in the ARM chipset space is quite massive, even over companies like Qualcomm, which have been making mobile processors for Android smartphones for years.

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Soon after the launch of the iOS 10.1 update, some of the users were unable to see the data in the Health app even after changing the settings of their phones. If you are one of them, Apple is out with a solution to fix this bug.
The Cupertino-based tech giant has rolled out iOS 10.1.1 update for all devices running iOS 10 like iPhone 5 and later devices, iPad fourth generation, and devices that have been launched later, and iPod touches 6th generation and newer devices Stump Blog.

There are two ways to install this iOS 10.1.1 update:

1. Go to Settings. Then, click on General. Now, open Software Update to download. And here you get the new update installed on your phone.

2. The second way to install iOS 10.1.1 update is via iTunes. For this, you need to install iTunes first. The next step is to connect your iOS device to your PC or Mac. Then, choose the icon of your device shown in the top bar. Now, open the Summary tab, which will be followed by Check for the update. Once done, click on Download and update.
All you need to keep in mind is that your phone has at least 50 percent battery backup, a good Wi-Fi connection, as the 60MB update needs a steady connection to download.

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WhatsApp is testing the video calling feature in its app. Although the feature is in beta mode and available only for Windows Phone, iPhone and Android users may also get the feature soon, Team Kgsr. The feature was first spotted by a Spanish website, which reported that a few beta testers were seeing video calling options in their Windows handsets. The user is given two options when pressing the call button in the app: voice and video calls.

While voice calling is already available in the app, video calling enables the users to view the video of the person he or she has called via a chat app. The option to change from front camera to rear camera is also available. The user can even mute the call and will also be notified in case they have a missed call. Unlike many other updates to WhatsApp, where you require to update your chat app in the Play Store to avail of the feature, it is noted that this feature was enabled by default and required no app update.

WhatsApp recently also rolled out Snapchat-like features for both iOS and Android users. The new feature allows the user to draw over the images and videos shot by the app’s camera. The user can even write texts and add emojis over the photos and videos. The chat app has also introduced a Group Invite Link feature that allows the admin to invite people in a group chat by sharing a unique link with them.

With over 1 billion monthly active users, WhatsApp is the leading chat app across the globe. Owned by Facebook, the company recently made a change in its privacy policy. The company announced that it would share some of the user data — mobile numbers, usage patterns, etc. — with its parent company Facebook to show relevant ads to people.

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Yahoo Mail app for Android has rolled out support for seven new Indian regional languages: Hindi, Gujarati, Bengali, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, and Marathi. With this update, Indian users whose language setting on their phone is set to one of the seven Indian regional languages mentioned above will automatically experience Yahoo Mail in their preferred language Tessla. In addition to the language updates, the Yahoo Mail app on Android has added new features that are fully compatible with the Android Nougat. The updates include:

Multi-Window View

With this new feature, users can use Yahoo Mail side-by-side with other apps. Now when you’re composing an email in Mail, you can reference the article you just read and more, all without having to switch between apps.

Quick Actions

Users can take more action right from their home screen. Now they can directly reply to a message right from a notification without having to open the app. You can also quickly view and dismiss bundled notifications, or depending on your custom swipe settings, archive, delete, star, and more on each notification individually.
The new features are now available in the updated Yahoo Mail app from the Play Store to the latest version (5.10).

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Several mobile brands in India recently adopted the OTA update to support Reliance Jio VoLTE sim. The same is done by Lenovo India to bring the features of VoLTE to its flagship Vibe K5 Note. According to Press, Lenovo Vibe K5 Note was launched in August this year. The device has excellent features, but it lacked the 4G VoLTE support.
Now, the company releases a new update to K5 Note. This will bring VoLTE support, enabling users to make calls through the Reliance Jio network and reports Techtree.

An update in India is the craze of Reliance Jio, which is very popular in the country. Reliance launched the sim for free that offers three months of free outgoing calls and 4G internet for all Jio customers. According to Lenovo, the software update already started rolling in India. To get this OTA update, users have to check via Settings manually> About Phone > System Update. The new software version is S312.

The file size of the OTA update is 122MB, which also includes the Android security update for September 2016. Lenovo Vibe K5 Note comes in 3 GB/4 GB RAM with 5.5-inch FHD IPS display, 64-bit Octa-core MediaTek Helio P10 processor, 13 MP rear camera, and 8 MP front camera. The smartphone runs on Android 6.0 Marshmallow in India. The most liked feature of the Vibe K5 Note is its fingerprint scanner, which is placed below the camera module on the rear panel. The handset is also equipped with Dolby Atmos speakers.

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Xolo has rolled out the Android Marshmallow update for Era 4G smartphones in India. Xolo Era 4G was initially launched with Lollipop operating system. Since the update is being rolled out over the air, it may take some time to come to every device. One can also manually check for the update by going to Settings>About Phone>Software Update. The company says that the update brings user interface changes, stability improvements, speed optimizations, and some bug fixes.

It also brings a new Doze battery saving feature to hibernate the background apps when the smartphone is in standby mode and ‘Now on Tap’ for Google Now, showing contextual information by long pressing on the home button and app permissions to control the information you share with apps.

Xolo Era 4G offers 4G-LTE connectivity and comes with 8 GB of internal storage, while its expandable storage slot can hold a micro SD card of up to 32 GB capacity. The Xolo Era 4G has a 5 inch HD (720p) IPS display with scratch-resistant Gorilla Glass and a dual-SIM smartphone. The device is powered by a 1.5 GHz Spectrum SC9830A quad-core processor, Mali 400 MP2 graphics processor, and 1GB DDR3 RAM. The Era 4G for camera lovers sports a 5-megapixel rear camera and a 2-megapixel front camera. The 142-gram smartphone has a 2500 removable mAh battery. The device is priced at Rs 4,444.

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• Samsung Will Launch Only 4G-enabled Android Phones in India

This may sound repetitive, but the Galaxy Note 7 is dead after Samsung’s failed attempt at reviving it, post incidents of the device bursting into flames. The company is taking measures for the quickest and safest recall with its fire-proof boxes and ground mail, as most airlines have banned the device. You can check the list here. Luckily, there weren’t many hazardous incidents that could have stung its reputation in one of its biggest markets in India.

In India, Samsung had officially launched the Note 7 on 11 August at Rs 59,900. It was open for pre-orders. But soon started sending out emails to those who pre-booked the device, apologizing for the delay, alongside a few SMS acknowledgments promising to make up for the delay with free VR headset and apps. The company put the release on hold, and soon after the new batches started shipping, 28 October was rumored to be the date for India’s release.

Meanwhile, some users may have begun asking for a refund, while others chose to wait patiently. With the replaced batch devices also bursting into flames, Galaxy Note 7 was finally declared dead. Samsung India soon started putting forth its Galaxy S7 and S7 edge to appease Indian users waiting for a high-end Samsung device.

Meanwhile, the whole fiasco is believed to cost Samsung India Rs 6,457 crore in revenue. Its smartphone shipment to India is predicted to fall short of the target by 4 million units in 2016 due to the global recall and halt in production of the Note 7. Samsung has roughly a 25 percent market share in India. So reports around appeasing its loyal customers who had pre-booked the Note 7 with either its Galaxy S7 or S7 Edge devices make sense as they are the safest bet right now.

According to a PTI report, though they’re an official statement hasn’t been released, Samsung plans to offer a complete refund to users, and the pre-bookings will be converted into the S7 edge and S7. According to the report, Manu Sharma, VP (mobile business) of Samsung India Electronics, also said that Samsung would launch only 4G/VoLTE enabled smartphones in India. The market has shifted totally towards this end.

Moreover, we also heard about how the company is planning to bring some of the Note 7 features to the S7 and S7 edge, trying in every possible way to make up for its consumers. If reports are believed, then owners of Samsung’s Galaxy S7 and S7 edge models will see an update (tagged v1.4.02) notification on the Galaxy Apps store. The new update brings features that were earlier available on the Note 7. This would include the all-new calendar option, a new digital clock with a customer text signature that can also be customized to be written with a different font or color.

While the Note 7 India release was well-planned just ahead of the Indian festive season, unfortunately, it didn’t go as planned. But the company has also started making its presence felt in the mid-range segment, with the most recent being the On Nxt. We have tried reaching out to Samsung asking for a confirmation on the alternatives and software updates for Indian users who pre-booked the device and awaiting a response.

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