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Nokia 3310 and Xiaomi Redmi 4 Launch, WhatsApp Pinned Chats, Google IO, Zomato Hack, and More News This Week

Nokia 3310 and Xiaomi Redmi 4 Launch, WhatsApp Pinned Chats, Google IO, Zomato Hack, and More News This Week

By Gadgets 360 Staff | Updated: 21 May 2017 15:10 IST

Highlights

Nokia 3310 now available in India for Rs. 3,310
Xiaomi Redmi 4 launched for Rs. 6,999
Android O Beta public release announced at Google I/O 2017

Welcome back to our weekly recap of all the news from the world of tech. It's been a busy week with a lot that's been happening, but one thing you don't want to miss out on is the Nokia 3310 India launch. Priced at Rs. 3,310, the Nokia 3310 (2017) went on sale in India this week through offline channels.

The Nokia 3310 is available in four colour options, and sports a 2.4-inch 240x320 pixel colour display, and a 2-megapixel rear camera, and the classic Snake game, though it lacks modern apps such as WhatsApp, Facebook, or Twitter.

Nokia 3310 Is Back: Should You Buy It or Not?

Aside from the Nokia 3310, we also saw a much awaited phone launch this week - the Xiaomi Redmi 4. The Redmi 4 was launched at a price of Rs. 6,999, and packs a Snapdragon 435 SoC that helps deliver great battery performance at a very value-for-money price.

It's definitely a great pick in the under Rs. 10,000 segment, just like its predecessor, and brings together good build quality and design with excellent battery life. On the other hand, the display and camera on the Xiaomi Redmi 4 could've been better, as the overall competition heats up in this segment,

Xiaomi Redmi 4 Review

WhatsApp also added a new feature that's kind of interesting - pinned chats. The feature is now available to all Android users, though beta users received the feature first. This way, if there's someone you message frequently via WhatsApp, their contact or the chat group can be pinned to the top of your list for quick access.

You can pin only up to three WhatsApp chats at a time, though you can obviously also un-pin chats whenever you need to. These chats are pinned to the top and even when new conversations take place, remain visible at the top of the list.

How to Download WhatsApp Beta on Android

There was also a major hack that came to light in India this week - Zomato was hacked and the details of over 17 million customers were leaked. According to the company, your payment data is saved separately and was safe, but changing your password and installing a password manager is strongly recommended at this point.

According to Zomato, it made contact with the hacker, who has agreed to cooperate and stop selling the stolen passwords, and it has also promised to launch a bug bounty program so hackers can be paid to improve the security, instead of stealing data.

Meanwhile, Google I/O 2017 was held this week with the keynote on Wednesday. As expected, Google has made a lot of announcements for Android, Gmail, and other products. Gmail now has a smart reply feature, which was first seen on Inbox - it offers short replies to emails that would be suitable based on the content, saving you time.

Android O: The Details Google Didn’t Reveal During the Keynote

The company also unveiled the Google Lens visual search feature. With this, you could point your camera at a flower to find out what it is called, or point your phone at a restaurant to see reviews. Point at a Wi-Fi username and password, and your phone will automatically connect to the network. Google Photos also got a machine learning based update, with suggested sharing, sharing libraries, and photo books. These will make it easier to share your pictures with the right people, without wasting time on tagging and searching manually. Google also showed that it will be able to remove objects from photos using machine learning and AI.

Google Assistant really is making its way to the iPhone, where it can make calls, send messages, set calendar events, and offer answers. Aside from this, Google also officially unveiled Android O, the newest version of Android. The beta version of Android O is now available, though only for Google's own phones. At the keynote, Sundar Pichai revealed that there are 2 billion Android devices, and promised major performance upgrades with Android O.

Google made a number of other announcements at I/O. Google Play Protect is an app with a focus on security and safety of your device, and it also announced cloud TPUs that will help build and train machine learning apps. It also promised standalone VR headsets in partnership with HTC Vive and Lenovo, and launched Google for Jobs, an AI powered job search tool. And Google Assistant is getting smarter with a payment API, an app directory, and more.

How to Install Android O Beta on Your Google Smartphone

Meanwhile, although the WannaCry attacks started last week, the fallout has been taking place all of this week. Researchers seem to have found a way to unlock files, though experts warn of lingering risks.

Although Indians reported a spike in attacks, the government claimed damage was contained. Interestingly, some report that the number of people making payouts was low because using Bitcoin to pay the ransom is too hard. Regardless, WannaCry was stunning for its scale and effectiveness, and Quick Heal said there were some 48,000 cyber attack attempts in India alone. The West Bengal state power company's computer was hit, and at the start of the week, cybersecurity agency CERT-In issued a red-alert warning.

What Is WannaCry, Who Is Affected, and Everything Else You Need to Know About It

There were also a number of other launches this week, including the Moto C and Moto C Plus. The two phones were launched in Europe, priced at EUR 99 and EUR 119 respectively, roughly Rs. 6,900 and Rs. 8,300.

The Moto C runs on Android 7.0 Nougat, with a 5-inch, 480x954 pixel display, a 1.1GHz processor, and just 1GB of RAM. The Moto C Plus is similarly a 5-inch phone, but at a higher resolution of 720x1280 pixels, a 1.3GHz processor, and two variants, one with 1GB RAM, and one with 2GB.

Dell launched a range of Alienware and Inspiron gaming laptops this week, with prices starting at just Rs. 74,490. Lenovo also announced new gaming laptops for India, from its Legion series, which start from Rs. 92,490.

The Lava A77 with 4G VoLTE support and front flash was launched this week priced at Rs. 6,099. The Karbonn Aura Power 4G Plus with 4G VoLTE support, and Android Nougat, was launched at RS. 5,790. The Itel Wish A41+ with 4G VoLTE support and front flash was also launched this week, priced at Rs. 6,590. LG announced the LG Stylo 3 Plus, with Android Nougat, and a fingerprint scanner, which is only available in the US. Oppo launched the Oppo A77 with 4GB RAM, and a 3200mAh battery, priced at TWD 10,990, or approximately Rs 23,400.

There were also a bunch of fresh leaks about the OnePlus 5. One set of leaks tips dual rear cameras, and a 4000mAh battery. Images and an Antutu benchmark leak also came out - in the listing, the OnePlus 5 will run Android 7.1.1 Nougat out-of-the-box, and will feature a full-HD (1080x1920 pixels) display and will be powered by a Snapdragon 835 SoC coupled with Adreno 540 GPU and 6GB of RAM.

Another leak suggests that the dual-rear camera is being made by Sony, and will have a 16-megapixel primary rear camera. A prototype image leak also seems to confirm the vertical rear camera. The company also confirmed that the phone - officially called the OnePlus 5 for the first time - will be using a camera developed in partnership with DxO, the company known for its DxOMark photography benchmark.

There was also a leaked image of the Moto Z2 Force, which sports a similar design to the Moto Z2 Play. As per the leaked image of Moto Z2 Force, the smartphone will come with a dual-camera setup at the back, compared with single camera module on Moto Z2 Play, and will have a considerable camera bump on the back side of the device. There was also a Moto Z2 leak, which showed a front flash, and new home button design.

We also got a leaked image of the Samsung Galaxy C10, showing us what appears to be the first ever Samsung phone with a dual rear camera. Another recent leak suggested that Samsung Galaxy Note 8 will also feature a dual-camera setup. The specifications of the Samsung Galaxy J5 (2017) and Galaxy J7 (2017) were also leaked this week.

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