India has to wait for low-cost Windows 10 phones: Microsoft exec

For those in India waiting for low-cost Lumia smartphones that come packed with the latest Windows 10, there is still some time as the company is now focussed on re-branding and launching new generation smartphones to take on big players, a top Microsoft executive has said. “We are sort of re-building so we will start high. New generation smartphones first and then you will see a scale overtime,” Steve “Guggs” Guggenheimer, the chief evangelist at Microsoft Corporation, told IANS in an interview here. “I do not have a timeline for new range phones as of now. One step at a time and you can assume it to be logical for us to scale the Lumia line to other price points over time,” Guggenheimer told this reporter on the sidelines of “Think Next 2015” – a day-long event that brought innovation and technology leaders under one roof in the capital this week. Watch video of Microsoft Lumia 950 and 950 XL In a one-on-one interview, Guggenheimer, corporate vice president of Microsoft’s Developer eXperience & Evangelism (DX) group, also talked about new features and Microsoft’s future plans with upcoming Lumia 950 and 950 XL smartphones for the Indian market. “Lumia has stretched from really low end to medium to high. The truth of the matter (of introducing high-end costly phone) is that globally, the company that takes the most margin for phones is Apple. We want to put a little dent in that,” added the executive who is responsible for enabling the development of industry leading applications and services globally across devices. Microsoft, which bought Finnish teleco Nokia last year, has launched two models of Lumia – 950 and 950XL smartphones with Windows 10 – for the Indian consumers. Priced at Rs 43,699 and R .49,399, both models are available at the company’s resellers, retail chains of Croma, Reliance and Sangeetha and Microsoft Store on Amazon.in. Also read: Microsoft Lumia 950, 950 XL first impressions: Display Dock is the big advantage While discussing the app crunch that Lumia users face, the soon-to-be-released Microsoft Office 2016 and use of technology in sports, Guggenheimer said it could differ from user to user. “If you use the phone as a business tool, the way our phones work with Microsoft Office, the way it helps users create calendar and emails and all those things seamless is awesome,” he told IANS. Shedding light on the new “Continuum” feature for phones, he said this new feature is a big-time productivity tool. “The unique Continuum feature makes you use your phone as your primary device. I can attach my phone to a keyboard or a mouse or a monitor and use it like a PC. It does the same work with the same output. For a country that is mobile first, the new phone offers a unique option to act as a personal computer,” he explained. When asked about the solution to the crunch of famous apps in Windows app store, he stated that there are very less Windows-based phones and “asking developers to make an app for a phone becomes hard sometimes”. Must see: Microsoft Lumia 550 with Windows 10 OS goes on sale “I wish I had a date. Part of the reason is due to the universal app model (that) is to give developers good reasons to build experiences from PC to TV to phone. So if we just go to a developer and ask to make an app for phone, it becomes hard sometimes, but if you say please make an app for Windows that works on phones, tablets and PCs, that’s actually an easier conversation,” he told IANS. Talking about the new Office 2016, Guggenheimer said it not only gives you a fresh client version with new features in email, outlook and excel but also allows you to update on a regular basis. “Ultimately you are sort of getting a mix of traditional client service and cloud mobile version,” he explained. The “Think Next 2015” forum not only saw the participation of more than 800 delegates from leading companies, investors, thought leaders and delegates from Microsoft who partnered to push the collaborative innovation agenda for the ecosystem but also witnessed the graduation of Microsoft Ventures’ Winter batch 2015.

Gionee Marathon M5 Lite launched in China: Here are all the specs

Gionee Marathon M5 Lite with a smaller 4000 mAh battery and a 5-inch screen, has been launched in China. The smartphone is listed on the company’s China website and is priced at Yuan 999, which is around Rs 10,387 when converted. Gionee has not yet announced an India release date or price for this smartphone. Gionee’s Marathon M5 Lite has a 5-inch HD screen, 1GB RAM and runs the MediaTek MT6735 quad-core processor. It has 16 GB storage space (expandable to 128 GB), sports an 8 mp rear camera and a 5 mp camera on the front. Watch video review of Gionee Marathon M5 Unlike the Gionee Marathon M5 which has a massive 6020 mAh battery, the M5 Lite has a smaller 4000 mAh battery, which still promises a standby time of 39 days. The Gionee Marathon M5 Lite is also lighter at 182g compared to the 210g Marathon M5. The dimensions of the Marathon M5 Lite are 143 x 69.9 x 8.5 mm. This a dual-SIM smartphone that supports 4G LTE.

Facebook set to launch professional version

Facebook at Work, Facebook Inc's professional version of its social network, is expected to launch in the coming months after spending a year in tests, a company executive said. The new service, geared towards workplace collaboration, is nearly identical to its ubiquitous social network with a scrolling news 'feed', 'likes' and a chat service. "I would say 95 per cent of what we developed for Facebook is also adopted for Facebook at Work," Julien Codorniou, director of global platform partnerships at Facebook, told news agency Reuters. However, Facebook at Work users will maintain special profiles that are distinct from their existing Facebook profiles. The company is also developing exclusive products for Facebook at Work, including security tools, Codorniou said. The online career market, which includes LinkedIn Corp and Monster Worldwide Inc, is worth about $6 billion a year, market research firm IDC had said in August. More than 300 companies, including Heineken, Royal Bank of Scotland and jewellery company Stella and Dot, are using Facebook at Work and Club Mediterranee SA is set to be the latest adopter. The French resort company will offer the service to all its 13,000 employees through summer 2016, Anne Browaeys-Level, Club Mediterranee's chief marketing and digital officer, told Reuters. Codorniou said that almost everything on Facebook at Work is the same as the regular Facebook social network with some minor exceptions. "You cannot play Candy Crush on Facebook at Work," he said. Meanwhile, Facebook defended its Free Basics initiative on Thursday saying programmes that help people connect should not be halted or limited. The reaction of Facebook comes against the backdrop of Telecom Regulatory Authority of India coming out with a consultation paper on differential pricing for data services, through which telecom operators offer free or discounted tariffs to access certain websites.

Motorola Moto G Turbo Edition first impressions: One big, brave step for Moto G-kind

Motorola just announced an upgraded version of its Moto G smartphone called the Moto G Turbo Edition. The smartphone is a mid-range device and is priced at Rs 14,499 and goes on sale on Flipkart starting from 10 December. The Moto G Turbo Edition is supposed to be a budget smartphone, however, its hardware specifications place it a notch over the currently available Moto G (2015) smartphone and eerily close to its elder sibling Moto X Play that is priced at Rs 19,999. Still then, the smartphone will find plenty of takers and these will be upgraders who want to step up from the budget Moto G with a few new features. So without delay, here are our first impressions of the Motorola Moto G Turbo Edition:

As with every other Motorola smartphone that has launched this year, the design is again pretty similar to its predecessors. But the Moto G Turbo Edition does feel a bit special and you will notice this once you pick up the phone. It certainly does not feel cheap and nothing like the Moto G models of the past.

This one feels heavy and premium and the frame that is designed in a typical Motorola fashion is actually made of plastic. On the front we have a Gorilla Glass 3 panel protecting the HD display beneath which has the earpiece on the top and a loudspeaker below.

On the top side of the Moto G Turbo, you will find the 3.5 mm headphone jack accompanied by the secondary mic.

On the bottom bit of the frame is your standard microUSB port for charging and data transfers. While the left side of the smartphone is barren, the right side sports a conveniently placed power or unlock button and volume buttons.

At the back is a grippy fingerprint like texture that lets you grip the smartphone very easily, no matter how you are holding it. The back panel can be removed to reveal the dual SIM set up and the slot for the microSD card. Also visible on the back is the capsule like layout for the Motorola logo (with the typical dimple for support) and camera set up that includes a dual LED flash. All of the above is tightly packed into a construction that is dust and water resistant with an IP67 rating.
Display

The 5-inch TFT LCD display is indeed a sharp one. Motorola has packed in an HD (1280 x 720 pixels) screen that delivers a pixel density of 294 ppi. While the display seemed perfect for the hardware at first glance we did notice the pentile matrix pattern in the areas that lit up in white. Still then, it is a great display that is bright enough both indoors and outdoors.
Chipset, RAM, Storage

As I said earlier the hardware selection by Motorola is indeed what makes the Moto G Turbo special. And at an asking price of Rs 14,499, the only smartphone that seems to one up the Turbo is the Obi SF1 Worldphone. In addition, you do have better value for money with plenty of upgrades when compared to your typical Moto G. There is a Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 chipset with an Adreno 403 GPU that is coupled with 2GB of RAM and 16GB of onboard storage. As mentioned earlier Motorola has added its now standard microSD card slot that supports cards up to 32GB, which seems a bit limited. Motorola indeed seems to know its way with software as the Snapdragon seems to show no signs of stutter or lag while opening closing or switching between apps.
OS, Connectivity

Motorola’s standard recipe of stock Android mixed with a few Moto specific features seems to work well even for its E series of devices. And the same tradition has been carried over with the Moto G Turbo that appears almost stock with a few customisations that never get in your way nor seem to slow down the system. You get just the basics with the Moto login app and the Moto Migrate app that will get you up and running in no time. Also available is the handy flick to launch the Camera gesture (Quick Capture) that we got used to pretty quickly (more so because the grippy back gave us the confidence to do it). In terms of connectivity, Motorola has left no stone unturned. The smartphone packs in everything under the sun with 4G, 3G radios with a dual SIM set up, 802.11 b/g/n (2.4 GHz), Bluetooth 4.0 LE and the usual GPS, AGPS, GLONASS.
Camera

The Moto G Turbo Edition packs in a 13MP, AF, f/2.0 primary camera with a 76 degree field of view (FOV) and also packs in a dual tone, dual-LED flash. The camera supports 4X digital zoom, and is capable of shooting 1080p Full HD video at 30 fps, slow motion video, iHDR Video, Auto HDR and even offers video stabilisation. A 5MP Fixed Focus unit sits on the front that sports an f/2.2 aperture with a 72 degree FOV. Our initial tests showed above average image quality on a cloudy day so we will hold back our view for the full review.
 Battery
 Given the price tag, you pretty much get a bang for your buck when it comes to battery life. The device packs in a 2470mAh battery and the smartphone supports Motorola’s TurboPower charging tech that delivers up to 6 hours of use from just 15 minutes charging. Motorola claims that the battery is designed to last a full day, but we will have to test that out to come to a conclusion.
Bottom line

We would like to think of the Motorola Moto G Turbo Edition as the first smartphone to step out of the G series. With the plastiky Moto G still on sale, we are pretty sure, Moto fans may want to upgrade given the better specs and the snappy new processor. So far we like what we see, a premium looking device with plenty of heft and horsepower that comes very close to its true mid-range sibling the Moto X Play. Still then we would suggest that you hold on to your purchase until our full review arrives.

Decoded: Why is it so difficult to leave Facebook permanently

Have you ever shut down your Facebook account, only to meekly log back in a week later? Researchers have explored the factors that prevent users from logging off the social networking site permanently. Using survey data provided by 99daysoffreedom.com - an online campaign that encouraged participants to log off Facebook for 99 days - researchers at Cornell University honed in on those who made the pledge but ultimately could not resist the allure of Facebook's social network. The researchers found four main factors that led to reversion. The first reason is perceived addiction - those who feel that Facebook is addictive or habitual are more likely to return, according to the group's research. One participant described this habitual aspect by saying, "In the first 10 days, whenever I opened up an internet browser, my fingers would automatically go to 'f'." Another reason is privacy and surveillance - users who feel their Facebook activity is being monitored are less likely to revert, while those who use Facebook largely to manage how other people think of them are more likely to log back in. The third reason is subjective mood - users in a good mood are less likely to renege on their pledge to stay off Facebook. The fourth reason is other social media - the researchers found that Facebook users are less likely to log back in if they had other social media outlets - like Twitter, for instance. Those who reflected on the appropriate role for technology in their social lives are more likely to revert. In many of these cases, people returned to Facebook but altered their use, for example, uninstalling the app from their phones, reducing their number of friends or limiting the amount of time spent on the platform. The team's findings were drawn from more than 5,000 surveys issued to participants by Just, the Dutch creative agency that founded the 99 Days of Freedom project. These surveys were sent to project participants on days 33, 66 and 99 and were intended to gauge each user's mood throughout the Facebook detox. "Facebook serves numerous important social functions, in some cases providing the only means for certain groups to keep in touch. These results highlight the complexities involved in people's ongoing decisions about how to use, or not use, social media," said Eric Baumer from Cornell University. People who leave social media and then return, what researchers term "social media reversion," provide the opportunity to understand better what is at stake when people use - or do not use - sites like Facebook.

Waiting for Low-Cost Windows 10 Phones? Keep Waiting, Says Microsoft Executive

For those in India waiting for low-cost Lumia smartphones that come packed with New-Age Windows 10, there is still some time as the company is now focussed on re-branding and launching new generation smartphones to take on big players, a top Microsoft executive has said. "We are sort of re-building so we will start high. New generation smartphones first and then you will see a scale overtime," Steve "Guggs" Guggenheimer, the chief evangelist at Microsoft Corporation, told IANS in an interview in New Delhi. "I do not have a timeline for new range phones as of now. One step at a time and you can assume it to be logical for us to scale the Lumia line to other price points over time," Guggenheimer told this reporter on the sidelines of "Think Next 2015" - a day-long event that brought innovation and technology leaders under one roof in the capital this week. Talking about the current trends in India where Android has a lion's share owing to the new launches in mid-price bracket ranging from Rs.6,000 to 10,000, he said India has broad Android users but as we go on releasing next generation phones, you will see a definite change. In a one-on-one interview, Guggenheimer, corporate vice president of Microsoft's Developer eXperience & Evangelism (DX) group, also talked about new features and Microsoft's future plans with upcoming Lumia 950 and 950 XL smartphones for the Indian market. Microsoft, which bought Finnish teleco Nokia last year, has launched two models of Lumia - 950 and 950XL smartphones with Windows 10 - for the Indian consumers. Priced at Rs.43,699 and Rs.49,399, both models are available at the company's resellers, retail chains of Croma, Reliance and Sangeetha and Microsoft Store on Amazon.in. "Lumia has stretched from really low end to medium to high. The truth of the matter (of introducing high-end costly phone) is that globally, the company that takes the most margin for phones is Apple. We want to put a little dent in that," added the executive who is responsible for enabling the development of industry leading applications and services globally across devices. While discussing the app crunch that Lumia users face, the soon-to-be-released Microsoft Office 2016 and use of technology in sports, Guggenheimer said it could differ from user to user. "If you use the phone as a business tool, the way our phones work with Microsoft Office, the way it helps users create calendar and emails and all those things seamless is awesome," he told IANS. Shedding light on the new "Continuum" feature for phones that turns them into a big-screen projector, he said this new feature is a big-time productivity tool. "The unique Continuum feature makes you use your phone as your primary device. I can attach my phone to a keyboard or a mouse or a monitor and use it like a PC. It does the same work with the same output. For a country that is mobile first, the new phone offers a unique option to act as a personal computer," he explained. According to Guggenheimer, the new security feature "retina scan" is just like a biometric log in. The "retina scan" uses the retina to unlock the Lumia 950 and 950 XL phones without a password. When asked about the solution to the crunch of famous apps in Windows app store, he stated that there are very less Windows-based phones and "asking developers to make an app for a phone becomes hard sometimes". "I wish I had a date. Part of the reason is due to the universal app model (that) is to give developers good reasons to build experiences from PC to TV to phone. So if we just go to a developer and ask to make an app for phone, it becomes hard sometimes, but if you say please make an app for Windows that works on phones, tablets and PCs, that's actually an easier conversation," he told IANS. Talking about the new Office 2016, Guggenheimer said it not only gives you a fresh client version with new features in email, outlook and excel but also allows you to update on a regular basis. "Ultimately you are sort of getting a mix of traditional client service and cloud mobile version," he explained. When Guggenheimer is not thinking about technology, he enjoys watching rugby matches and cheering on his hometown Seattle Seahawks. In a recent blog post, he talked about how International Motor Sports Association used Microsoft Azure and Visual basic in Motor Sports in creative ways to transform fans' experience. "It is fun to watch new start-ups using technology and apply it to areas which need to be refreshed. We don't say 'here are some products for sports'; we'll say here are some tools and some technologies to start-ups. Let them have the creative ideas. And then we bring them together," he said. The "Think Next 2015" forum not only saw the participation of more than 800 delegates from leading companies, investors, thought leaders and delegates from Microsoft who partnered to push the collaborative innovation agenda for the ecosystem but also witnessed the graduation of Microsoft Ventures' Winter batch 2015.

Coming soon - Android N with multi-window function

Recently, during a Reddit AMA on the Pixel C, Glen Murphy, director of Android and Chrome UX, confirmed that a split-screen multitasking support is incoming. He said: “We're working hard on a range of enhancements for Android in this form factor. There are many things, like multi-window, that we've been spending a lot of time on -- hopefully we can share more about this soon." Apparently, this update won't come until Android 7.0 releases. Consumer hardware director at Google, Andrew Bowers, added: “We're working on lots of things right now for N that, of course, we wish we had, you know, yesterday. But we'd spoil the surprise of N if we shared all of them. Split screen is in the works!” Apple added iOS 9 added multitasking functionality into iOS9 this year for iPads, while we've seen similar functionality in Windows. Android N is likely to launch next year and we don't know what N stands for but we are guessing Nutella.