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Uber ceases UberX ride-sharing taxis in Seoul, South Korea

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Private taxi service Uber has suspended its ride-sharing service – UberX in Seoul, South Korea. This call was made to favor the South Korea’s homegrown taxi-booking app set to arrive in coming months.

Government of South Korea has been working on a service to help its citizens take services of licensed operators and noted that Uber was running unregistered private taxis and rented vehicles, which was illegal under South Korean law. Read more »

HTC outs HTC One M9 promo videos, Robert Downey Jr. narrates

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The HTC One M9 is company’s latest flagship announced recently at the MWC in Barcelona. It packs a 5″ 1080p display, runs on the Snapdragon 810 chip and comes with a 20MP rear camera. The One M9 should be hitting the shelves as early as next month.

Quite expectedly, HTC is now busy promoting its latest gadget. You can now enjoy the device’s introductory video as well as a promo narrated by Robert Downey Jr. Read more »

Trying on the HTC Vive makes us optimistic about the future of VR headsets

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We didn’t think much of the VR headset technology so far. Sure, it made for some nice demos but we were slightly put off by the low resolution imagery on the Oculus Rift and the way the Gear VR required you to own and use a specific Samsung model. Today, we finally, tried on the just announced HTC Vive first hand (short for the cheesy Very Immersive Visual Experience), and we were floored.

Still at a pre-production stage, the whole thing looks a lot like a prototype with a special belt you have to wear to carry all the wires with you. But the demoed VR functionality was flawless.

We walked around the simulated environment, exploring it freely – getting closer to appreciate the fine details or stepping back to see the whole thing. But most importantly, we got the chance to interact with it in a way that Occulus Rift and the Gear VR don’t allow you to. Read more »

Google Drive 2.2 app update graces with Drag and Drop file management feature

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Google’s cloud storage app – Drive has been updated to version 2.2 which brings a nifty Drag and Drop file managment functionality.

Even after six years, Google still doesn’t include the File Manager for the Android devices. Read more »

Samsung creates official hands-on videos for the Galaxy S6 and S6 edge, reveals packaging

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Samsung has decided to create its own hands-on videos for the recently announced Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 edge. These include an ‘official unboxing’, in which the Korean company reveals the packaging of the handsets.

The new boxes can be seen in the image above, and they’re certainly simple and understated. Samsung’s ‘official hands-on’ videos each focus on one aspect of the two new smartphones. Read more »

NVIDIA unveils a SHEILD Android TV-based gaming console at GDC 2015

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NVIDIA has introduced a new living room entertainment device – SHIELD gaming console at the Game Developers Conference 2015. The SHIELD gaming console boasts of being world’s first Android 4K TV and is powered NVIDIA’s own Tegra X1 mobile chipset. Priced at $199, NVIDIA SHIELD gaming console bundles the SHIELD Controller.

The SHIELD can act as a set-top box and a gaming console in one package – all thanks to the Tegra X1 mobile processor coupled with 256-bit Maxwell GPU and 3 GB RAM. Read more »

Samsung CEO clarifies the absence of Qualcomm Snapdragon chips in Galaxy S6, S6 Edge

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Samsung CEO J. K. Shin impressed the audience by stating that engineering is his first language at the on-going Mobile World Congress 2015 in Barcelona, Spain. But the features and improvements of the new Exynos 7 series mobile chipset used in Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge were barely talked about.

While the Exynos 7420 powers both new Galaxy models, the absence of Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 mobile chipset in any of the possible variants actually surprised many. Read more »

Meizu MX4 Ubuntu hands-on

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We stopped by the Ubuntu stand to play with the Meizu MX4 running the novel OS. Meizu had been building up to the MWC by teasing the new edition of the MX4, which happens to be only the second smartphone booting Ubuntu, after the entry-level BQ Aquaris E4.5.

When it comes to hardware, the MX4 is the exact same device we reviewed a few months ago in its Android flavor. It sports a 5.36-inch display of 1152 x 1920 pixel resolution, a Mediatek chipset with an octa-core processor and 2GB of RAM. It’s a distinctly better equipped device than the BQ Aquaris E4.5, and one that can be a more widely recognizable ambassador to the emerging OS platform. Read more »

Who’s afraid of the dark: testing Galaxy S6 camera’s low-light performance

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Samsung had a dimly lit setup to test the low-light performance of the Galaxy S6‘s new camera. With a Galaxy Note Edge and a Apple iPhone 6 on hand we snapped a couple of shots.

The idea is simple – a dark box with two holes just big enough to poke the camera of a phone. Read more »

SanDisk outs the iNAND 7132 – a high-performance embedded storage for smart devices

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The advancements in smartphone features are continuously pushing the limits of storage when it comes to speed and volume. Industry specialist SanDisk is keeping up with the trends and just unveiled its brand new iNAND 7132 storage solution for application in smartphones, tablets, and computing devices.

It’s targeted at flagship devices, which are the ones that require (and can benefit from) the improvements in speed. Read more »

Google Play celebrates 3rd birthday, treats you to up to 90% discounts instead of lollipops

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The Google Play Store turned three today and is celebrating by slashing prices on select items in its catalog up to 90%.

Technically, the Play Store was born on March 6 2012 when Google combined the Android Market with Google Music, Google Videos and Google Books into the unified Play Store. Read more »

New BlackBerry Leap gets demoed in an official hands-on video

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Just moments ago BlackBerry announced a brand new device ant it MWC 2015 press talk. The BlackBerry Leap, as it is called, comes with a 5-inch HD screen and is powered by what the company refers to as “mid-range” hardware.

The phone is equipped with a quite dated Snapdragon S4 Plus chip and comes with 2GB of RAM and 16GB of onboard storage. Battery life should be pretty good thanks to the 2800 mAh battery pack, but it does come at a price, as the device is quite thick at 9.5mm and weighs 170g. Read more »

Samsung details the process behind the glass and metal on the Galaxy S6 edge

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Behind the beautiful design of the glass and aluminum body of the Galaxy S6 and the Galaxy S6 edge, there is a lot that goes on to make the phones look and feel the way they are. Both the phones use glass on the front and back, with the S6 edge having a curved glass on the front, and both phones have an aluminum frame that goes around and inside the phones.

The glass on the S6 edge is made using a process called 3D thermoforming, where the glass is pressed between two moulds after heating it to 800 degree Celsius, which gives it the curved edges on either side and it is then polished to give it the desired finish. Read more »

Android TV update will transform your phone into a gamepad

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You will soon be able to use your Android smartphone as an Android TV controller. An update to Google’s TV platform will allow the sweet functionality.

The search giant is about to launch an update to Google Play services, which will bring a Nearby Connections API. Read more »

Sony Xperia Z3 spotted running Android 5.0.2 Lollipop at the MWC

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Sony announced that its entire Xperia Z lineup (yes, even the original Xperia Z) will get updated to Lollipop and… we’re still waiting. Spotted in the MWC halls in Barcelona was an Xperia Z3 running Android 5.0.2 Lollipop.

There’s no indication of how close to final it is. Read more »