Here’s your 360 Daily, bringing you the biggest technology news of the day – from WhatsApp video calling feature’s public rollout to Apple’s possible plans for an AR-enabled wearable, and a potential big reveal about the Samsung Galaxy S8, alonng with today’s launches.
WhatsApp rolls out video calling globally
Putting an end to the beta tests of the feature, WhatsApp today rolled out video calling for its 1 billion users worldwide. The service has been optimised to work smoothly in markets like India, where connectivity can be an issue. WhatsApp also said that India, with 160 million monthly active users, is its biggest market.
Vivo V5 selfie smartphone launched in India
Vivo V5, a selfie-focussed smartphone priced at Rs. 17, 980, made its India debut today, alongside its sibling V5 Plus. The smartphone will be up for pre-orders starting tomorrow in 22 cities and will be available for purchase from November 26; Vivo did not give a release date for the V5 Plus, which has two cameras in the front.
Vivo V5 Plus, on the other hand, has a 20-megapixel front camera with a ‘Moonlight Glow’ flash meant to improve lowlight performance. The smartphone also has a 5.5-inch screen, 1.5GHz octa-core MediaTek MT6750 chipset, 4GB of RAM, fingerprint sensor, and a 3000mAh battery.
India’s Q3 smartphone shipments over 30 million, says IDC
Smartphone shipments in India in the July-September quarter stood at 32.3 million, the first quarter the figure crossed the 30-million mark, according to IDC. Lenovo and Xiaomi lead in online sales, with overall share of smartphones purchased over the Internet touching 31.6 percent. Samsung, Lenovo (including Motorola), Micromax, Xiaomi, and Reliance Jio were the top brands for the quarter. The rate of people upgrading from feature phones to smartphones, however, slowed down this quarter, IDC said.
iPhone allegedly burns woman as she sleeps
A woman blamed her iPhone 7 for the severe burns she got after she slept on the smartphone when it was charging. In a Facebook post, the Australian woman said that after the incident, she contacted Apple about the burning iPhone 7 but did not get a response. It was only after the case was highlighted by the media thanks to her Facebook post that Apple approached her, she says, and tried to find out how she was. Apparently, she was offered another iPhone, which she refused to take.
Samsung Galaxy S8 said to have iPhone’s 3D Touch-like display
Samsung will reportedly join the growing band of smartphone makers using multi-level pressure-sensitive display panels with the launch of Galaxy S8. The technology was introduced on smartphones by Huawei Mate S and made popular by iPhone 6s, and can distinguish between light taps and long-presses to provide separate functionalities for each on the same menu. Samsung Display may supply the pressure-sensitive touchscreen panels to be used in Galaxy S8.
‘World’s thinnest laptop’ Acer Swift 7 comes to India
Acer Swift 7, which the company calls the world’s thinnest laptop due to its 9.98mm thickness, has been launched in India at Rs. 99,999. The laptop has a 13.3-inch screen with 1920×1080 pixel resolution & Gorilla Glass 5 protection, is powered by the seventh-generation Intel Core i5 processor, supports up to 8GB of RAM, and weighs just 1.1kg.
Apple’s next big project may be AR-based wearable glasses
Apple is reportedly eyeing wearable glasses as an option in its search for the next big thing. The company is said to have ordered a small number of near-eye displays to conduct tests; it’s said to be building a wearable headset that will display images as well as other information, and may integrate Augmented Reality elements. The device may launch in 2018.
iOS 10.2 could bring India-only SOS buttons to the iPhone
With iOS 10.2 beta 3, Apple has made the Emergency SOS button an India-only feature, removing it from all other countries. Ostensibly developed in response to the government’s mandate to have panic buttons on all phones, the new feature can be found Settings -> General in the beta software, and activated by pressing the Power button 3 or 5 times, depending on the settings. It sends a call to 112 (the single-point emergency contact that will adopted in India starting January 1, 2017); you can add more phone numbers to your emergency contacts list.
