10 Excellent Features Introduced in the latest iOS 8

10 Excellent Features Introduced in the latest iOS 8

Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) 2014 has kicked off in style, with the Cupertino-giant unveiling it’s upcoming mobile operating system dubbed as iOS 8. While the design is almost the same as iOS 7 except a few new animations, Apple has introduced many new features and enhancements to make the OS better than its predecessor. If you missed the Apple keynote yesterday, here’s everything you need to know about the upcoming iOS 8:

1. Compatibility
Apple has a history of providing support for old devices. When iOS 7 came it out last year, it came with support for the good old iPhone 4 as well. And, this year, the latest iOS 8 will be compatible with iPhone 4S as above — sorry iPhone 4 owners, but you’ll not get iOS 8. The complete list of devices include, iPhone 4S/5/5S/5C, iPad Mini, iPad Mini with Retina, iPad Air, iPad 2, iPad with Retina and iPod 5th generation. This is a handsome list of devices, meaning that all popular iOS devices will get the update.

2. Health and Fitness Dashboard
As rumored before, the new iOS 8 comes with a Health dashboard which give users the ability to measure fitness-related metrics, such as calories burnt, heart rate, cholesterol level, sleeping patterns, and more. What’s even more interesting is the way the data is collected. Some of it comes from wearables such as Nike bands, while others come from apps and third-party sources such as Mayo Clinic. It also let users create an emergency card, which is displayed on the lockscreen for emergency purposes.

3. Improved Notification Center and Multitasking
The new iOS 8 brought some much needed improvements. One of the most notable ones is the interactive notifications, a new feature which give users the ability to respond to notifications from the Notification Center. This means you can reply to your emails, messages or texts without leaving the app you’re using. You can even comment or like Facebook posts from the notification center.

In addition, the new operating system adds more content to the multitasking screen. Along with the opened applications, the multitasking screen on the device now shows your favorite contacts so you can contact them from the multitasking window.

4. Messages
There are some new features for the messaging app as well. Now, you can send voice notes, images, and even create groups where you can multiple contacts and get in touch with them — send images, voice notes, video clips and make calls. You can even share your location with the group of friends, to let them know where you are, or if you’re waiting to meet them.

5. QuickType Keyboard
The new OS also comes with an improved version of the keyboard, which they call it QuickType. Personally, I feel like the existing iOS keyboard is already very good, but the new one makes it even better. The new keyboard suggests words periodically to complete the sentences —  the prediction capabilities demoed during WWDC keynote looked pretty good. It even recognizes whether you’re writing in the Mail or Messages app. At the moment, the predictive text is optimized for 14 countries, including US, UK, Canada,

6. Family Sharing
This is another interesting feature which give family members the ability to share their iTunes content, such as app purchases and iBooks with other members of the family. Once enabled, you can even access content from other family members. You can even set up a family photo stream where images taken by your family members on all devices. It’s not just sharing content, you can even find out where you family members are on a map, which is similar to the Find My iPhone app.

7. iCloud Drive
iCloud Drive is a cloud storage service which lets users save their files, documents and other media files online, and access them on any iOS device you own. It’s not just iOS devices, you can even view and work with the files on your Mac or PC.

8. Handoff
The new Handoff feature is another notable one introduced in the iOS 8. The new feature connects iOS devices together so you can work in conjunction. This means you can start writing an email on your iPhone, and continue where you left off on your iOS device and vice versa. It even lets you check and reply to messages from your Mac, and you can even answer calls on your Mac or iPad, provided its running the latest OS X Yosemite and iOS 8, respectively. No need to find out where your smartphone is when you are working.

9. Spotlight
Spotlight is the new iOS search feature, which let users search for anything, such as their installed apps, iTunes content, and much more. It will show you everything, even from third-party sources such as Wikipedia or any news related to the searched query.

10. Touch ID And New APIs
This is another interesting access Apple is giving to third-party developers. Previously, Touch ID was only accessible for security purposes to unlock your device or to make iTunes purchases. But, with iOS 8, developers can create apps which can make use of the sensor. It’s not just the Touch ID access, the new SDK comes with 4,000 new APIs for developers to explore the capabilities of the OS.

11. Release Date
The developer preview of iOS 8 is already available for registered developers so they can test their apps, and explore the new APIs for their apps, to make full use of the operating system. For consumers, the operating system will launch this fall, and possibly with the new iPhone. Apple is rumored to be working on two new iPhones which are expected to see the light of the day this fall, possibly with a bigger screen.

There you go folks. I think Apple has done a commendable job with the latest iOS 8 operating system, adding new features and enhancements, and much more. What do you think about iOS 8? Let us know using the comments below

Sony Xperia T3 super-slim Android smartphone launched

Sony Xperia T3 super-slim Android smartphone with 5.3-inch display and quad-core processor launched

Earlier today Sony put up a teaser poster of a new device claiming it’s the ‘next big thing’ and now it has announced the super-slim Xperia T3. While it may not be as thin as the Gionee Elife S5.5 (5.5mm), it still boasts a thickness of only 7mm. Sony has revealed that the device will be available ‘from the end of July’ in select markets.
As far as specifications are concerned, the Xperia T3 flaunts a 5.3-inch HD 720p display with a pixel density of 277ppi and is powered by a 1.4GHz quad-core processor paired with 1GB of RAM. Also included is, 8GB internal storage that can be expanded up to 32GB using a microSD card.

The smartphone also features an 8-megapixel rear camera, 1.1-megapixel front-facing camera, and a 2,500mAh battery that the company claims is good enough for more than 12 hours of talktime and up to 688 hours on standby mode.

Connectivity options include LTE support, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and on the software front, it runs on Android 4.4 KitKat. Sony hasn’t mentioned if the device boasts water and dust resistant capabilities, but chances are it does. Design-wise, it follows Sony’s Omnibalance design language, but in place of the glass back the Xperia T3 might get a matte finish.

As mentioned above, there is currently no word on the pricing or when Sony plans on launching the device in India.

Another killer for MOTO E by XOLO

Budget KitKat invasion continues as XOLO Q600s arrives for Rs 8,499

We had earlier featured the Q1000 Opus, which was launched late last year now we have another addition to the Q-series by XOLO called the Q600s, which runs on the Android KitKat 4.4.
 
The device will sport a 4.5-inch qHD IPS display with a screen resolution of 960 x 540. To enhance the smartphone’s touch response experience, it comes with OGS (One Glass Solution) and full lamination. The smartphone is powered by a 1.2GHz Broadcom quad-core processor with 1GB of RAM. The phone comes with a 5MP rear camera with LED flash and a VGA one in front. It also has 4GB in-built storage which is expandable using a microSD card. The 2000mAh battery provides a standby time 400 hours and a talk time up to 11 hours.
 
The smartphone features a dual-SIM card slot and houses 3G, Bluetooth and GPS as part of the connectivity options. The smartphone is priced at Rs. 8499 and will be available in two colours, black and white. The popular e-commerce website Snapdeal has an introductory price-tag of Rs 7499, but it is likely to increase.
 
XOLO smartphones are known to be present across urban India with product being available in almost of major retail stores.

Apple Unveils OS X Yosemite

Apple Unveils OS X Yosemite With New Continuity Features and More

Apple on Monday at its WWDC Keynote announced OS X Yosemite, the latest iteration of OS X which the company says has been redesigned and refined with a "fresh, modern look, powerful new apps and amazing new continuity features." Apple also unveiled iOS 8.

"Yosemite is the future of OS X with its incredible new design and amazing new apps, all engineered to work beautifully with iOS," said Craig Federighi, Apple's Senior Vice President of Software Engineering. "We engineer our platforms, services and devices together, so we are able to create a seamless experience for our users across all our products that is unparalleled in the industry. It's something only Apple can deliver."

According to Apple, OS X Yosemite has been redesigned and refined with a fresh modern look where controls are clearer, smarter and easier to understand, and streamlined toolbars put the focus content without compromising functionality. Translucent elements reveal additional content in the app window, providing a hint at what's hidden behind and taking on the look of the desktop. App icons have a clean, consistent design and an updated system font improves readability.

The new Today view in Notification Center gives users a quick look at everything they need to know with widgets for Calendar, Weather, Stocks, Reminders, World Clock and social networks. Users can even download additional widgets from the Mac App Store to customize their Today view. Spotlight now appears front and centre on the desktop, and adds new categories of results, so they can view rich suggestions from Wikipedia, Maps, Bing, App Store, iTunes Store, iBooks Store, top websites, news and movie showtimes.

Built right into the Finder, iCloud Drive stores files of any type in iCloud. iCloud Drive works like any other folder on Mac, so users can drag documents into it, organise them with folders and Tags and search for them using Spotlight. With iCloud Drive, users can access all files in iCloud from Mac, iPhone, iPad or even a Windows PC.

Safari has a new streamlined design that puts the most important controls at users' fingertips. A new Favorites view gives quick access to your favourite websites, and a powerful new Tabs view displays thumbnails of all open web pages in one window.

Safari also gives users more control over their privacy, with separate Private Browsing windows and built-in support for DuckDuckGo, a search engine that doesn't track users. When users search for popular or common terms, new Spotlight Suggestions appear along with the suggestions from their search provider. Safari supports the latest web standards, including WebGL and SPDY, and support for HTML5 Premium Video Extensions. Apple says with its Nitro JavaScript engine, Safari is over six times faster than Firefox and over five times faster than Chrome when executing JavaScript found in typical websites.

The new Mail app on OS X makes editing and sending attachments easier than ever. With Markup, users can quickly fill out and sign forms and even annotate images and PDFs from within Mail. Mail Drop allows you to easily send large videos, images or files up to 5GB from the Mail app to any email address. Messages has a new look and delivers even more options for communicating with friends and family. Now users can add titles to ongoing message threads so they are easy to find, add new contacts to ongoing conversations, or leave those conversations users no longer want to follow. With Soundbites users can create, send and listen to audio clips right in Messages.

Apple says the new continuity features in Yosemite make Mac and iOS device perfect companions. When a user's iOS device is near their Mac, Handoff allows the user to start an activity on one device and pass it to the other. Instant Hotspot quickens the process of using the iPhone's hotspot. SMS and MMS messages that previously only appeared on the user's iPhone now appear in Messages on all devices. Users can even send SMS or MMS messages directly from their Mac and make or receive iPhone calls using their Mac as a speakerphone.

Yosemite also delivers platform technologies that make it easier for developers to create OS X apps. SpriteKit makes it easier to incorporate realistic motion, physics and lighting in games, and integrates with SceneKit reportedly bringing 3D casual gaming within reach of any developer. Storyboards for Yosemite and Xcode 6 take advantage of the new View Controller APIs in AppKit to make it easier to build apps that navigate between multiple views of data. New APIs allow developers to integrate Handoff into their own apps and create Today view widgets for distribution through the Mac App Store. Share Menu extensions add new destinations to the Share Menu, and new APIs let developers create custom Share Sheets.

The developer preview of Yosemite is available to Mac Developer Program members starting Monday. Apple is also introducing the OS X Beta Program, which gives customers early access to Yosemite and invites them to try out the release and submit their feedback. Mac users can participate in the OS X Beta Program for Yosemite this summer and download the final version for free from the Mac App Store this fall. Customers interested in signing up can visit www.apple.com/osx/preview for more details

Here’s the list of iPads and iPhones compatible with iOS

Here’s the list of iPads and iPhones compatible with iOS

Moments ago Apple unveiled iOS 8 with a number of new features. Our favorites include Continuity that lets you take calls and messages on iPad and Mac apart from being able to seamlessly continue working from one device to another, the ability of third-party apps to finally be able to talk to each other and that users will now finally be able to download third-party keyboards. Apple has announced that iOS 8 will be available this Fall, which is also when we should see new iPhones and iPads. Along with the new kit, Apple also released a list of iOS devices that will be able to upgrade to iOS 8 when it is available.

The list is pretty comprehensive and a bit surprising at the same time. It includes the iPhone 4s, iPhone 5, iPhone 5c, iPhone 5s, iPod touch 5th generation, iPad 2, iPad with Retina display, iPad Air, iPad mini and iPad mini with Retina display. We were not expecting Apple to support iPhone 4s and the iPad 2, which are barely able to run iOS 7 but there we have it

Apple iPhone 6 spotted on leaked WWDC slides

Apple iPhone 6 spotted on leaked WWDC slides, could be unveiled at the developer’s conference

Rumors have been rife that Apple is planning on unveiling iOS 8 and the latest OS X 10.10 at its WWDC conference. But now it seems the company is also planning on announcing its much anticipated iPhone 6 at the same event. A video has surfaced online showing off the stage at the Moscone Center in San Francisco as well as some slides featuring iPhone 6 running through a screen behind the stage.
The slides show off the front, back and sides of what appears to be the iPhone 6. The images are consistent with the leaked iPhone 6 dummies we have seen before. The phone in the slides has a silver-white colored chassis and comes with rounded edges, which seem to be based on the design language of the latest generation iPads.

Just to recap, iPhone 6 is expected to feature a bigger screen and will come in two variants, one with a 4.7-inch display and the other with a 5.5-inch display. It is also expected that the iPhone 6 will boast 1704×960 pixels Retina display, which will be 3X the current iPhone’s 568×320 pixels display. The iPhone 6 is likely to come in a slimmer design with curved edges, and might feature a power button on the side instead of the top panel. The phone is also rumored to be powered by a new A8 SoC.

If Apple does take the wraps off the iPhone 6 next week, it will surprise many as earlier reports had pegged a launch for September. This would also be the first time after the iPhone 4 that Apple is unveiling a new hardware at the WWDC

Motorola shipped Moto G units with unregistered IMEI numbers in India

Motorola shipped Moto G units with unregistered IMEI numbers in India, offers refund and replacement for the faulty units

For those who are facing issues related to network with their Moto G smartphone, Motorola has issued an advisory regarding an activation problem found in some units of the Moto G smartphones in India. The company has posted on Facebook that they are working on this problem caused due to a programming errors in some units of Moto G smartphones, and have apologized for the trouble caused to its users. The company has also mentioned that all the Moto G smartphones with IMEI number beginning with 3533 are the affected by the bug.

Motorola has posted on their Facebook account page that:

“Dear #MotoG customers, we’ve uncovered an activation problem with some #MotoG devices sold in India as they have been shipped with IMEI numbers that are not yet registered with carriers. If you have recently purchased a Moto G and have network connectivity problems this may apply to you. This is due to a programming error from our end and we owe you a big apology! We are working around the clock to resolve this. If you are impacted, we’ve sent you an email via Flipkart to explain everything and what we’re doing to make it right.”

The company has also started sending out email to its consumers to inform them about the bug. Moreover, in order to compensate to the problem caused, Motorola is also offering its users some options like it is giving free credit of Rs 1,200 to users in their Flipkart Wallets, which can be used to buy Motorola’s Shells and other Motorola’s products from the site. It is also running a replacement offer to give a new unit of the phone in lieu of the faulty unit, as well as a refund offer to return the whole amount of the phone to those users who wish to return the faulty units of the phone via Flipkart.

[Update: Here is Motorola's statement to BGR India

A batch of Moto G devices have been shipped with IMEI numbers that are not yet registered with carriers, which prevents the devices from accessing the carrier network. We are working tirelessly with our partner Flipkart to fix this issue. We apologise for the inconvenience caused to customers and we are taking measures to ensure this does not happen again.

“We are offering affected customers a goodwill gesture of credit on their Flipkart account with which they can buy something of their choice. If customers don't want to wait a couple of days for the phone to be activated, they can exchange it for an operational unit or return it to Flipkart for a full refund, no questions asked.”