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Singapore Air bans use of Samsung Galaxy Note 7 Singapore Airlines (SIA) on Saturday said that it has joined other airlines in banning the inflight use of Samsung's Galaxy Note 7 phones after reports of exploding batteries in some units. "The powering up and charging of   Samsung Galaxy Note 7   mobile phones is prohibited on all our flights," SIA said in a statement. Australia's Qantas and Virgin Australia and Abu Dhabi-based Etihad have also announced similar bans. US and Japanese aviation authorities have urged passengers not to turn on or charge the large-screen phones on aircraft. The South Korean smartphone maker last week suspended sales of the phablet and recalled 2.5 million units. The US Federal Aviation Administration has also told passengers not to stow the devices in checked baggage.

Google to unveil Pixel and Pixel XL smartphones in October Google   will unveil its Pixel(Nexus) range of devices along with Daydream virtual reality (VR) and a new 4K compatible Chromecast to replace the currently available options on October 4, media reported on Tuesday. Earlier reports pointed out that HTC is making this year's Nexus phones and there are two of them — Pixel and Pixel XL, code named Sailfish and Marlin, respectively. "Google's Pixel XL has allegedly surfaced on a Geekbench benchmark listing recently, showcasing a couple of pieces of information that seem to confirm once more that the codename for the device is Marlin,"technology website reported on Tuesday. Pixel XL is expected to have an aluminum unibody design, a rear-facing fingerprint scanner and a 5.5-inch screen, according to earlier leaks. Pixel XL is rumoured   Smartphones   to pack quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor clocked at 1.59GHz paired up with 4GB of RAM and wil...

Asus India eyes 1 crore smartphone sales in 2 years Asus India is eyeing to secure seven per cent market share with sales of around one crore smartphones in the next two years, a top company executive said on Tuesday. "The company has seen good performance in Indian market and hopes to secure seven per cent market share with sales of around one crore smartphones in next two years," the company's Regional Head (South Asia and Country Manager) Peter Chang told reporters here. Chang was in the city to unveil and showcase   Asus ' largest range of premium products in Bengaluru market. In the next one year, the company hopes to secure five per cent of India's smartphone market, Chang said but declined to divulge the five-year long-term goal. The company has had a good start and been growing at a good pace by securing 2.5 per cent since its inception in 2014, inspite of facing tough competition, with around 20 to 30 brands operating to get customers' a...

Samsung unveils Galaxy Note 7 with iris scanner for Rs 59,900 Giving a refreshing look to its Note series, South Korean giant   Samsung   on Thursday launched its flagship device   Galaxy Note 7   in India with iris biometric scanner for enhanced security, upgraded S Pen and a dual-curved screen. "Galaxy Note 7 is the combination of all our learnings to take   smartphone   experience to a whole new level and I am confident that the new edition will help Samsung Note loyalists to achieve more in life," H.C. Hong, President and CEO, Samsung Southwest Asia, told reporters here. The company also launched a new wearable portfolio with new Gear VR, Gear Fit2 fitness tracker and Gear IconX earplugs. "Our wearable portfolio comprising Gear Fit2, Gear IconX and Gear VR will further strengthen Samsung's commitment to a connected ecosystem strategy," added Manu Sharma, Vice President, Mobile Business, Samsung India Electronics. Samsung Galaxy Note 7 ...

Moto G4: Dynamite for your budget Ever since Motorola came back into the fray of the   smartphone   segment, it has made a strong user base in India. Most of its launches have been a success. And, the latest one to enter the market is the Moto G4. Having a simple body design with smooth edges, the phone might give good competition to players in the budget smartphone segment. The phone has a big 5.5-inch screen, a great move for those who like watching movies and streaming videos; you can even watch the ongoing Euro competition in France. It doesn't try to look premium though it is designed in a neat and compact manner. However, it does not have an IPX7 water-resistant screen unlike the Moto G (third generation). The   Moto G4   is a mere 9.8-mm thick, weighs 155g (seriously light for a 5.5-inch phone), and to top it all, it feels sturdy with a curved metal frame surrounding the screen adding to the high-quality feel.   Read More

Hold the   Oppo F1 Plus   at an arm's length and I can bet seven of 10 people would mistake it for an iPhone 6s Plus. The looks of this newly launched model by the Chinesesmartphone maker are one to die for. With this launch, the Chinese smartphone segment in the country is expected to get a major boost, and it might very well be a dark horse in terms of the battle for market share. Also, the stark resemblance to the iPhone 6s Plusstrengthens the fact that companies are not shying away from manufacturing models which look very similar to already established ones. And, this trend is here to stay for some time. The sleek 6.6-mm metal alloy body with a curvier shape gives the F1 Plus an extremely premium look. It sports a 5.5-inch high definition AMOLED display. The home button has an integrated fingerprint sensor, which interestingly is quite fast. The volume buttons are placed on the side, allowing easy one-hand control. Living up to the expectations of being a "selfi...

The fight for supremacy in the premium smartphone segment between Samsung and   Apple   continues to create ripples in the Indian market. During the past two years, the war has attracted enough attention and evoked excitement among technology device freaks in the country. And in the latest round of the fight, Samsung again proved its dominance over Apple in the first half of the year. According to the latest data, during January and April, 2016, Samsung’s market share in the above Rs 30,000 price segment rose to 46%, compared to Apple’s 42%. The stark contrast and changing of leadership position on a regular basis can be traced in the fact that during the four months, preceding the period mentioned above, Apple used to hold similar market share and used to be chased by Samsung. During September and December, 2015, Apple’s market share in the premium segment was nearly 48%. While increasing promotion and distribution focus is usually attributed to such periodic change...

If you are in love with selfies, then LG's K10 should save you from all the hassles for a picture perfect one. The company's first ever "Made in India" smartphone, available for Rs 13,750, is an interesting launch by the South Korean giant.   LG K10   is vying to gain a foothold in a heavily competitive market dominated by the likes of Lenovo, Samsung, Motorola and Xiaomi. However, the latest launch does not look very attractive as the specifications it offers are not on a par with the hole it burns in your pocket. The dual-sim phone comes with built-in memory of 16 GB (with an option to expand it to 32 GB) coupled with a not so effective 2GB of RAM. The K10's competitors, namely the Xiaomi Redmi Note 3, LeEco Le 1s, Lenovo Vibe K4 Note, and the Motorola Moto G Turbo Edition are going to make it difficult for LG to capture a pie of the fiercely contested market share. The Lenovo Vibe K4 Note offers better specifications than the K10. The K4 Note runs on ...

Micromax in an unprecedented move launched 15 smartphones, two LED TV, two tabs and a smartwatch. The company also announced their new corporate strategy, which they called   Micromax   3.0, and released their newly designed logo. All in a day. The Chinese inflow in to the electronics market is gathering attention from the customers. Because many of them are doing very well in India. Micromax one of the top five brands in India plans to be the number 1 brand in the country and one of the top 5 globally. As the first step, they launched twenty new products, including two flagship smartphones, Canvas 6and Canvas Pro. Both priced at Rs 13,999. The   Canvas 6 Pro   is the company's first full metal body design. The 5.5 inch phone gas a fingerprint scanner in the back. It has 3 GB RAM and 32 GB internal memory. The phone has an 8 megapixel (mp) front camera and 13 mp rear camera. Canvas Pro has a 4GB RAM and 16 GB internal memory. It has a MediaTek Helio pr...

  When I first heard the price of the  Xiaomi Mi 5 , I was intrigued. A China-based handset maker, known for offering decent hardware at extremely low prices, moving into the mid-range segment? What were they smoking? Don't get me wrong. I've owned a Mi 3 and my regular phone is a Redmi 2, but this defied logic. I got the answer a few days later when I got my hands on a review sample of the Mi 5. The white handset with its chamfered edges and glass back has a premium look, though I daresay, is slippery to hold. Blame it on the very thin edges and the non-existent bezel on the sides of the 5.15-inch screen, which seems to seamlessly merge into the back. In a first, the Mi 5 sports a physical home button below the screen, which does double duty as a fingerprint scanner. Setting up is fairly simple, especially the fingerprint scanner. Since I already had a Mi account, I could restore the apps from my  Redmi 2 . The Mi 5 runs Miui 7, which is based on Android Mars...