review-informatics: November 2016

Lenovo K6 Power to Be Exclusively Available in India via Flipkart

2:45 PM

HIGHLIGHTS

The K6 Power's highlight is its large 4000mAh battery
Lenovo India to launch K6 Power on Tuesday
The smartphone was first launched at IFA this year

Soon after confirming launch details of the upcoming K6 Power smartphone, Lenovo on Friday announced that it will be available exclusively via Flipkart. As confirmed earlier, the Lenovo K6 Powersmartphone will launch on Tuesday at an event held in New Delhi. The event kicks off at 2:30pm IST.

Commenting on the announcement, Sudhin Mathur, Executive Director, Lenovo MBG India said, "We are the number one online smartphone brand in India with 1 out of 4 shoppers choosing to buy a Lenovo or Moto smartphone, and Flipkart has partnered us well to achieve this success. We are glad to announce that we have exclusively partnered with Flipkart for the next launch in the popular K series, Lenovo K6 Power and hope to replicate our winning formula again."

To recall, Lenovo launched the K6 Power at the IFA 2016 trade show in Berlin alongside the K6, and K6 Note smartphones. Considering that Lenovo has been launching smartphones under Vibe and Moto range in the country, it is possible the handset will be officially dubbed Lenovo Vibe K6 Power when it comes to India. As the name suggests, the biggest highlight of the Lenovo K6 Power is its 4000mAh battery.

To recall, the Lenovo K6 Power was launched in Dark Grey, Gold, and Silver colours, and sports a metal unibody design. It runs on Android 6.0 Marshmallow and comes with an integrated fingerprint sensor while supporting a dual-SIM slot. It is powered by the 64-bit Snapdragon 430 octa-core processor (4 x 1.2GHz Cortex-A53 + 4 x 1.5GHz Cortex-A53) with Adreno 505 GPU for graphics. Other specifications of the Lenovo K6 Power include a 5-inch full-HD (1080x1920 pixels) display. It comes in two RAM/storage bundles - 2GB RAM/ 16GB storage and 3GB RAM/ 32GB storage. There is also an option to expand storage further via microSD. The handset sports a 13-megapixel rear camera with LED flash, and an 8-megapixel selfie camera as well. Connectivity options include 4G LTE, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.1, and GPS.

Lenovo K6 Power

Display

5.00-inch

Processor

1.4GHz octa-core

Front Camera

8-megapixel

Resolution

1080x1920 pixels

RAM

2GB

OS

Android 6.0.1

Storage

16GB

Rear Camera

13-megapixel

Battery Capacity

4000mAh

Also See

Tags: Lenovo, Lenovo Mobiles, Mobiles, Lenovo K6 Power, Lenovo K6 Power Specifications, Lenovo Vibe K6 Power

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Sony A99 II Flagship A-Mount Camera With 4K Video Support Launched in India

2:40 PM

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Hackers Could Use Your Headphones to Eavesdrop on You

7:15 AM

HIGHLIGHTS

This hack was demoed by researchers from the Ben Gurion University
It turns headphones into covert listening devices
This hack is possible due to a lesser-known RealTek audio chip feature

There have been many loopholes reported in smartphones and PCs that could potentially make it susceptible to attacks by unethical hackers. The latest loophole was found by researchers at Israel's Ben Gurion University who claim that that a quick hack can convert headphones or earphones into makeshift covert listening devices easily.

Researchers Mordechai Guri, Yosef Solewicz, Andrey Daidakulov, Yuval Elovici have published a paperdemonstrating its proof-of-concept software called SPEAKE(a)R. This software can covertly turn the headphones connected to a PC or laptop into a microphone. In their video, they demonstrate an attack scenario where the malware can use a computer as an eavesdropping device, even when the microphone is not present, muted, taped, or turned off.

Paranoid users often open up their laptops/PCs to remove the inbuilt microphone, and some even tape their web cameras to prevent their devices from being used to spy on them. However Guri tells Wired, "People don't think about this privacy vulnerability. Even if you remove your computer's microphone, if you use headphones you can be recorded."

The report explains that the Ben Gurion researchers demonstrated this hack by using a RealTek audio codec chip feature to switch the PCs output channel as an input channel. The researchers further claim that these RealTek chips are extremely common and work on almost every computer out there - be it running on Windows or macOS. "This is the real vulnerability. It's what makes almost every computer today vulnerable to this type of attack," explains Guri.

Through the loophole, the researchers claim that hackers can record audio coming from as far as 20 feet away, and then compress it to make it easily shareable on the Internet. Many users are paranoid about their devices being hacked, and they take different measures to prevent it. For example, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg tapes his web camera to prevent hackers from spying in through the lens. However, a simple quick fix won't eradicate this vulnerability. The researchers claim that replacing and redesigning the RealTek chip on all current and future computers is the only effective solution for now.

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Demonetisation and Seasonality to Keep Indian PC Market Sluggish, Says IDC

7:14 AM

Hit by a double whammy of seasonality and government's move to scrap old Rs. 500 and Rs. 1,000 notes, the Indian PC market is expected to be "sluggish" in the coming quarters, research firm IDC said today.

PC shipment saw a 22.5 percent fall in the third quarter this year to 2.51 million units compared to the year-ago period, as per IDC data. On a sequential basis, however, there was a 17.3 percent growth in the said quarter.

"PC market is expected to observe sluggishness in coming quarters," IDC said.

IDC India Associate Research Manager (Client Devices) Manish Yadav explained: "IDC anticipates seasonality to impact the consumer market and currency demonetisation adding to the worse; as early indicator illustrates an immediate impact on retail purchase and drop observed in online channel business."

The Centre on November 8 announced the demonetisation of old 500 and 1,000 rupee notes in a bid to fight against black money and terror funding activities.

However, commercial spending is anticipated to drive PC market momentum owing to the execution of state-owned education projects observed across different states, he added.

The consumer PC market recorded 1.37 million units shipment in September quarter, a sequential growth of 31 percent over the April-June 2016 quarter.

(Also see: HP Maintains Lead of Indian PC Market With 29 Percent Share, Finds IDC)

"... increased consumer confidence, backed by strong festive demand, decent monsoon and positive economic outlook eventually drove the pockets of investment in the quarter," Yadav said.

The commercial PC segment recorded 1.13 million unit shipment in the said quarter, up 4.1 percent from the preceding quarter.

"With favourable domestic macroeconomic scenario spending from enterprises have been positive and anticipate improved spending in upcoming quarter as well," he said.

HP took the top spot with an overall market share of 28.8 percent, followed by Dell (24.1 percent) and Lenovo (17.5 percent).

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Lenovo Miix 520 Leaked, a New 2-in-1 Tipped to Take on Microsoft Surface Pro 4

7:12 AM

HIGHLIGHTS

Lenovo Miix 520 is reported to have up to 1TB of storage
It will be powered by Intel's new Kaby Lake SoCs
No details of availability and price is known yet

After Microsoft launched its new Surface lineup at its October 27 event, Lenovo can be seen upping the game with its own 2-in-1 offerings. The Chinese tech company launched an improved Miix 510 in August and now it seems Lenovo is bringing a new 2-in-1 to its Miix range. Some details about the new Miix 520 have leaked online along with some unofficial renders that reveal its design.

The Chinese tech company entered the 2-in-1 device arena with its Surface clone last year. At IFA this year, Lenovolaunched Miix 510 that included 12.2-inch full-HD display, and models with up to 8GB of RAM and a up to 1TB SSD. Now, as per a new report by WinFuture, a new Lenovo Surface-like 2-in-1 is in the making and its details are out. Unlike the Miix 510, Lenovo Miix 520 is said to be powered by the new Intel Kaby Lake processor, coupled with 16GB of RAM. It may sport a 12.3-inch display that will offer a resolution of 1920x1200 pixels with Gorilla Glass for scratch protection.

The report also claims that the battery in the new Miix 520 will be rated to provide up to 10 hours of battery life on a single charge. There will also be a fingerprint scanner present in the device. It is also touted to bear the Dolby Advanced Audio certification. For storage, the Lenovo Miix 520 is reported to have up to 1TB of storage that can also be expanded via an external microSD card.

For cameras, it will have an 8-megapixel and 2-megapixel camera duo setup at the back while there will be a 5-megapixel front-facing shooter. The secondary camera at the back is supposed to work for augmented reality applications. The Lenovo Miix 520 will have Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and LTE connectivity options. It is also said to have two USB Type-C ports and one USB 3.0. Lenovo Miix 520 is also reported to integrate Windows Hello on its platform.

The report also includes some unofficial renders of Lenovo Miix 520 that have surfaced online. The renders show that it looks quite similar to its predecessor Miix 510 in terms of design. It may also be accompanied by an optional keyboard with Watch Band hinge and a stylus for handwriting inputs, as per the report.

These details and unofficial renders are quite preliminary, therefore, we recommend users to take this news with a grain of salt. Price and availability details are not known to us at this point of time.

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Apple Teases One-Day Black Friday Shopping Event

5:40 PM

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Lenovo Miix 520 Leaked, a New 2-in-1 Tipped to Take on Microsoft Surface Pro 4

5:38 PM

HIGHLIGHTS

Lenovo Miix 520 is reported to have up to 1TB of storage
It will be powered by Intel's new Kaby Lake SoCs
No details of availability and price is known yet

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New Supercapacitor Tech Produces Batteries That Charge in Seconds, Last for Days

8:58 AM

The long hours that your smartphone takes to charge may soon become a thing of the past, as scientists, including one of Indian-origin, have developed a new process to make electronic devices charge in seconds.

The researchers at University of Central Florida (UCF) in the US have developed a process to create flexible supercapacitors that have more energy storage capacity and can be recharged more than 30,000 times without beginning to degrade.

"If they were to replace the batteries with these supercapacitors, you could charge your mobile phone in a few seconds and you wouldn't need to charge it again for over a week," said Nitin Choudhary, a postdoctoral associate at UCF.

These supercapacitors that are still proof-of-concept could be used in phones and other electronic gadgets, and electric vehicles, said the study published in journal ACS Nano.

Anyone with a smartphone knows the problem. After 18 months or so, it holds a charge for less and less time as the battery begins to degrade.

Scientists have been studying the use of nanomaterials to improve supercapacitors that could enhance or even replace batteries in electronic devices. It is a stubborn problem, because a supercapacitor that held as much energy as a lithium-ion battery would have to be much, much larger.

So the team experimented with applying newly discovered two-dimensional materials only a few atoms thick to supercapacitors. Other researchers have also tried formulations with graphene and other two-dimensional materials, but with limited success.

"There have been problems in the way people incorporate these two-dimensional materials into the existing systems - that's been a bottleneck in the field. We developed a simple chemical synthesis approach so we can very nicely integrate the existing materials with the two-dimensional materials," said principal investigator Yeonwoong "Eric" Jung, Assistant Professor at UCF.

Scientists already knew two-dimensional materials held great promise for energy storage applications. But until the UCF-developed process for integrating those materials, there was no way to realize that potential, Jung said.

"For small electronic devices, our materials are surpassing the conventional ones worldwide in terms of energy density, power density and cyclic stability," Choudhary pointed out.

Cyclic stability defines how many times it can be charged, drained and recharged before beginning to degrade.

For example, a lithium-ion battery can be recharged fewer than 1,500 times without significant failure. By comparison, the new process created by the researchers yields a supercapacitor that does not degrade even after it has been recharged 30,000 times.

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