Home
360daily
360daily Features
Wi Fi KRACK Attacks, Jio Phone Pre Bookings, Xiaomi Redmi 5A Launch, and More: Your 360 Daily

Wi-Fi KRACK Attacks, Jio Phone Pre-Bookings, Xiaomi Redmi 5A Launch, and More: Your 360 Daily

By Gadgets 360 Staff | Updated: 24 October 2017 14:37 IST

Highlights

Anyone near your router could eavesdrop on Wi-Fi traffic
Jio Phone pre-bookings are said to begin after Diwali
Xiaomi Redmi 5A launched in China

Researchers claim to have discovered high-severity vulnerabilities in WPA2 , a popular security protocol used by nearly every Wi-Fi device on the planet. This could potentially allow anyone near your router to eavesdrop on the Wi-Fi traffic using a KRACK attack. Nearly every modern Wi-Fi device such as your smartphone, laptop, and gaming console are impacted and the only solution seems to a software update for the impacted devices.

You may be able to buy a Jio Phone again after Diwali
Couldn’t pre-order a Jio Phone in August? You may be getting another chance soon. Jio Phone pre-bookings will reportedly start again after Diwali after the completion of the first batch of deliveries. According a report Jio is likely to take orders for its 4G feature phone between October-end and November first week.Though no concrete date has been made public just yet.

About 6 million Jio Phone units were booked in a day and a half when the company opened bookings of the 4G feature phone for the public on August 24 in the first phase. Reliance Industries Chairman and Managing Director Mukesh Ambani had announced that the 4G phone will be "effectively free" for users, but to prevent isuse of the scheme Jio Phone buyers will need to pay one-time fully refundable deposit of Rs. 1,500.

Redmi 5A launched; Redmi 5, Redmi 5 Plus, and Redmi Note 5 leaked
The Redmi 5A has launched in China. Xiaomi claims its new metal-like matte texture is lighter than metal, weighing 137 grams. There’s no fingerprint sensor but the company claims eight days of battery life. Priced at CNY 599 (around Rs. 6,000) it’s available for pre-order in China right now. Spec-wise, the Xiaomi Redmi 5A sports internals similar to its predecessor - the Redmi 4A. This means a Snapdragon 425 SoC, 2GB of RAM, 16GB storage (expandable upto 128GB via microSD), and 13-megapixel rear camera and a 5-megapixel one on the front. Battery is on the lower side with 3000mAh versus 3120mAh on the Redmi 4A.

What’s more, leaks have emerged of the alleged Redmi Note 5 and Redmi 5 as well as a Redmi 5 Plus. The Redmi 5 could launch in 16GB and 32 versions while the Redmi 5 Plus may launch in 32GB and 64GB editions. As for the Redmi Note 5, expect a Snapdragon 660 or MediaTek Helio P25 SoC, a 4000mAh battery, and a 16-megapixel rear camera with a 5-megapixel camera upfront.

Huawei Mate 10 and Mate 10 Pro launched
Less than a month before the iPhone X goes on sale, Chinese manufacturer Huawei has launched two new flagship smartphones - the Huawei Mate 10 and Huawei Mate 10 Pro. The company took the opportunity to take potshots at Apple’s efforts with the A11 Bionic chip, labelling the HiSilicon Kirin 970 SoC used by these devices to be the first to feature a neural-network processor unit (NPU). Huawei claims AI-support for selfies, improved object recognition in images, and better bokeh effects.

Both sport 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage while the Huawei Mate 10 Pro has a 6GB RAM and 128GB storage variant too. Peculiarly, the Huawei Mate 10 can use a microSD card for additional storage (upto 256GB) while the Mate 10 Pro has no such option. And while the Mate 10 has a headphone jack, the Mate 10 Pro does not. Also, there’s a 6GB RAM, 256GB storage variant of the Huawei Mate 10. Called the Porsche Design Huawei Mate 10 it’s available in Diamond Black.

Apple Pay could work with Paytm and other local wallets
After Samsung Pay and Google Tez, Apple may bring Apple Pay to India according to Apple Senior Vice President Eddy Cue. "Our head of Apple Pay, Jennifer Bailey, is here with me. And Apple Pay is something that we definitely want in India," Cue reportedly said.

Cue highlighted the major challenge faced in rolling out Apple Pay in India."The challenge with payment mechanisms is that there isn't really a lot of global scale. You deal with individual markets at a time... but India is one of those markets where we hope to bring Apple Pay to," he said.

Don’t be surprised to see the company partnering the likes of Paytm and other wallet services.

"You have some great payment mechanisms today and we will leverage all of that in doing this. That's one of the advantages that we have with Apple Pay - Apple Pay isn't trying to come up with a brand new payment vehicle, so the fact that people like Paytm are doing well here is great. The fact that credit cards are doing well here is great. We just need to integrate with the popular ones and make the service available," said Cue.

Samsung Galaxy J2 launched in India
Spotted on Samsung’s website is the all-new Samsung Galaxy J2 (2017). It’s priced at Rs. 7,390 and comes with a 4.7-inch Super AMOLED display. There’s a 1.3GHz quad-core Exynos processor, 1GB RAM, 8GB inbuilt storage (with only 4.3GB usable) and expandable storage via microSD upto 128GB.

The Samsung Galaxy J2 (2017) is being touted to come with Smart Manager for automatic memory management which will help delete duplicate images on the device automatically, and also delete saved APK files. The smartphone also comes with Ultra Data Saving mode that the company claims can help users save up to 50 percent data.

Lenovo launch Moto G5S Midnight Blue edition in India
The Moto G5S is now available in a new variant - Midnight Blue. Lenovo has stated that the smartphone is priced at Rs. 12,999 for the Diwali season. This is an introductory offer on the regular price of Rs. 14,999. The Moto G5S features a 5.2-inch full-HD display with Corning Gorilla Glass 3 protection in an all-metal body form factor. It is powered by Qualcomm's octa-core Snapdragon 430 (MSM8937) SoC clocked at 1.4GHz, and 4GB of RAM. There is 32GB of inbuilt storage, and the handset supports memory cards (up to 128GB) to increase the storage.

OnePlus 3, 3T, and OnePlus 5 receive updates; company vows data not shared with third-parties
OnePlus 3 and OnePlus 3T smartphones are finally receiving Android O via the company’s open beta program. This will allow users access to new features like picture-in-picture for supported apps like YouTube and Google Maps. Furthermore, OnePlus has also brought a slew of fixes to the OnePlus 5 with the OxygenOS 4.5.13 update. These include optimising adaptive brightness, YouTube video lag, and ringtone customisation to name a few.

In other OnePlus news, the company promised not to make user phone numbers, MAC addresses, and IMEI numbers available to third parties after its controversial user data monitoring program was brought to light for the second time this year.

"We'd like to emphasise that at no point have we shared this information with outside parties. The analytics we're discussing in this post, which we only look at in aggregate, are collected with the intention of improving our product and service offerings," OnePlus boss Carl Pei said.

Airtel selling iPhone 7 for a downpayment of Rs. 7,777
The iPhone 7 is available for a Rs. 7,777 down payment via Airtel. The telco launched its own online store and with it comes smartphones bundled with its own offers. There’s a 24-instalment plan and includes a Rs. 2,499 postpaid plan. Purchasing an iPhone 7 through this route gives you upto 30GB data per month, unlimited local, STD, and national roaming calls. There’s also physical damage and cyberprotection which is free for users buying smartphones via Airtel’s online store.

Samsung Connect Tag announced, uses GPS and WPS to track your possessions
Samsung announced Connect Tag. It's touted to be the first consumer mobile product to use Narrowband technology. It’s a miniature device that you can put on your belongings like your luggage or your car allowing you to find them with ease at an airport or a crowded parking lot. No price or release date has been set yet.

Comments

For the latest tech news and reviews, follow Gadgets 360 on X, Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads and Google News. For the latest videos on gadgets and tech, subscribe to our YouTube channel. If you want to know everything about top influencers, follow our in-house Who'sThat360 on Instagram and YouTube.

Further reading: OnePlus 5, KRACK, WPA 2, Apple Pay, Samsung Galaxy J2, Samsung Connect Tag, OnePlus 3T, OnePlus 3, Xiaomi Redmi 5A, iPhone 7, Airtel, Moto G5S Midnight Blue, JioPhone, Huawei Mate 10, Huawei Mate 10 Pro