As we all settle into the comfortable seats of our resting places and enjoy a sip of coffee for the weekend, what better company than catching up on what were the biggest stories in the world of personal tech in the week gone by. Just like our previous series, ‘Tech Recap of the Day’ we promise to keep the stories as concise as possible giving you a peek. So without delaying it any further here are the stories that caught our attention over the span of this week:
Lava announces the Iris X1 to take on the Motorola Moto E and Micromax Unite 2
Lava has announced the Iris X1 this week to take on the Motorola Moto E in the lower budget segment. The device is available in black and white variant direct via Amazon India. It is expected in the offline retail stores sometime in the coming week. On the specs page, the device comes with a 4.5 inch FWVGA display, a Quad Core SoC with 1 GB RAM, 4 GB ROM and a rear shooter of 8 MP with an LED Flash. There is a Micro SD slot on the device and the Iris X1 comes with Android 4.4 KitKat out of the box.
LG Announces the LG G3
One of the most anticipated Android smartphones of the year was unveiled this week as LG launched the LG G3, a successor to the LG G2. As most of the details about the device were leaked online well before the presentation even started, the event was a mere formality. We all knew about the 5.5 inch Quad HD Display, Laser Auto Focus 13 MP camera, Snapdragon 801 SoC as well as brushed metal look of the device. However, what not many had guessed was that the G3 was announced in two variants. The phone will come with a 2 GB+16GB RAM and ROM combination as well as 3 GB+32 GB version. Though, LG did make it clear that its new UI is actually tailor made for 2 GB RAM so there would be no performance issues. The device is currently on sale in South Korea and will be available in 170 countries globally in the coming weeks.
Google Revealed interesting details about Self Driving Car at Code Conference
Google’s co-founder Sergey Brin took to the Code Conference this week to get us all excited about a self driving car. The car is very much a prototype, but Brin did introduce us to the project that Google is taking very seriously. As expected, the car does not have any steering wheels and gears and works based on sensors and softwares. To start with, the prototype vehicle is a two seater with just about enough space for your baggage. Google is looking at about another 2 years of extensive testing of the vehicle before taking it to the road and has made clear that safety and not comfort is the primary objective for them. The car has a top speed of 25 MPH and Google would be exploring partnerships with the likes of Uber to bring the service of self driven cars to people.
Apple will live stream the WWDC opening keynote
Apple will be live streaming the opening keynote from the World Wide Developer Conference from San Francisco that gets underway on June 2nd to June 6th. We expect to see the future of iOS as well as Mac OSX at the conference with Mac OSX 10.10 and iOS 8 most likely to be shown off. In terms of gadgets, apart from new iMacs, there may not be much to hold your breath about. Apple will be streaming the event from 10 AM Pacific Time on 2nd June, though you would need an Apple device or an Apple browser to be able to watch the keynote live.
Apple Finally Announces the Decision to Acquire Beats Electronics
One of the worst kept secrets of the industry was that Apple was eyeing Beats Electronics, a headphone manufacturing company that recently got into music streaming space, like a hawk. It was announced in the wee hours of Wednesday that Apple would be purchasing Beats for a deal worth $3 billion out of which $2.6 billion would be paid in cash and $400 million in stock options. The two brands will remain to exist as individuals though Apple will assume full control of the company. Beats will continue to offer streaming services for both Android and Windows Phone as well as continue making the headphones. The founding members of Beats, Dr Dre and Jimmy Iovine will be a part of Apple management team as a part of the biggest acquisition that Apple has made.
HTC M8 Ace Official Press Renders Surface
HTC has been working on several variants of the HTC M8, most notably the M8 Prime and Ace after it released the M8 Mini a couple of weeks ago. While most of the details of the phones are already public, we were yet to see any official render, but this week, the M8 Ace at least fell into the trap of internet power as it was leaked out. The device is expected to be made out of polycarbonate like material and will also feature the newer Snapdragon 805 SoC as compared to the Snapdragon 801 in M8. The M8 Ace will have twin boom sound speakers as well as a secondary depth sensor camera like the M8.
Idea brings 3G to Punjab
In an important move in the telecom sector this week, Idea bought 3G connectivity to users in Punjab. And thanks to ICR Agreement between Idea, Vodafone and Airtel, any customer on either of the three networks will be able to enjoy the 3G connectivity. The service will eventually be available in over 170 cities in the due course of time. This move sees at least those on Airtel network enjoying 2G, 3G and 4G networks.
With that we come to an end of the roundup of the big stories in the world of consumer tech, we hope you have a wonderful weekend ahead. Stay tuned for latest in the tech space, right here.
Read the article on the Blog: Tech Recap of the Week [May 26th to May 30th]
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