Google Launches Android Pay

Android throws the latest dice in the age of mobile payment revolution with Android Pay, a standalone app infinitely better than Google Wallet, which is now primarily used for peer to peer payments. Like Apple Pay and unlike Samsung Pay, Android Pay is a conventional NFC(Near Field Communications)- based payment system, which can be used to purchase digital goods as well as physical. Android Pay has been launched in the US.

Android Pay

At launch, Android Pay already works with many of the major US banks and credit cards, including:

• American Express
• Bank of America 
• Citi
• Discover
• Navy Federal Credit Union
• PNC
• Regions Bank
• USAA
• U.S. Bank
• Wells Fargo.

Google notes that Capital One is coming soon.  Visa, Master Card, American Express and Discovery Card can be added along with some loyalty cards. Unlike Google Wallet, in Android Pay, payment can only be done if your bank is registered with Android Pay. Google said that it will keep adding to it’s number of banks and cards all the time.

So how does it work? Simple. Download the app from the Google Playstore, then add your credit and debit card details.The stores and apps that use Android Pay can easily accept your payment. The list of stores that have accepted it looks somewhat like this

List of stores accepting Android Pay 

Payment is simple: You just have to bring your mobile near a contactless terminal and it’s done in a jiffy. One disadvantage of NFC based payments is that your phone has to be equipped with the chip. In case of Android it’s generally a wide variety of hardware, mostly those operation on Android KitKat 4.4 and higher, while for Apple Pay, it is just the iPhone 6 and higher. HTC was quick to work with Google and a number of HTC models are now ready and compatible for Android Pay.

Google has re-released a new update of Google Wallet which is strictly restricted to payments between family and friends like Venmo. So any loyalty programs, gift cards previously stored on Wallet will now move to Android Pay.

Android Pay usage

Apart from helping to purchase physical goods, it will also have in-app payment facilities, but this part of the platform is to come at a later date, Google did not really specify when. 

Here is a video on how to use Android Pay.

The greatest concern is security and in this respect, both Google and Apple share a similar approach. They use tokenization which is basically a virtual copy of your debit and credit card is created, which is shown to the merchants. So basically, when you make a transaction on Android Pay, it is between you and Google. Recent transactions get listed automatically along with a merchant’s address and phone number. Plus if you lose your phone, you can wipe all your details clean or reset your password with the help of Android Device Manager. Google also warned that the app is not designed to work on rooted devices.

Android Pay will come preloaded on phones. Google has the support of three major US carriers – Verizon, AT&T and T – Mobile. So that is a big benefit for Google over Apple or Samsung. Retail workers at carrier stores have been trained to help customers get familiar with the app upon purchasing a new phone. Google is goig all out to make sure that Android Pay is at par with Apple Pay and Samsung Pay and so far it has been pretty successful.  

Surf Snowdonia - The World's Longest Artificial Surf Lagoon

I never put my head around surfing. I would not be wrong to say that the sport is non-existent in India, so naturally, I was never interested. But when I came across this gladiatorial arena of man-made waves, it caught my attention, because it rests upon an incredible and intelligent piece of technology.

Surf Snowdonia

Surf Snowdonia is situated in a village in Wales, a country one would not necessarily attach with surfing, and surprisingly still, this giant structure is situated in a valley surrounded by a picturesque view of the Welsh mountains. Apart from the 300m lagoon, it also features camping pods, cafe-bar-restaurant, a surf shop. It came up at the site of an aluminium smelter, much of whose iron, steel and copper were recycled to be used in the construction of the Wavegarden wavepool.

Cafe-bar-restaurant at Snowdonia

Surfing, unlike a lot of sports, depends as much on a surfer’s skill as the environmental conditions. Surf Snowdonia ensures a wave per minute regardless of the weather. So how is it done? Well, innnovation. The spanish company Wavegarden uses a snow plough like machine or ‘wave-foil’, moving back and forth along an underwater track across the length of the lagoon. Curiously enough, this technology was developed by a ski lift company. Six million gallons of artificial hillside reservoir water fill up the lagoon. The really clever bit is the contoured bottom that shapes the wavefoil’s single pulse into three breaks on each side of the pier: knee-high for beginners, chest-high for so-so surfers and, for the advanced, a head-high wave which unfurls for 20 seconds down the pool’s centre. The speed and size of the waves can be controlled by a computer and range from 0.7 m, 1.2 m and 2 m. The technology has been developed over the past decade and Wavegarden has it’s facilities in Austin, Texas but Surf Snowdonia is the first of it’s kind to be accessible to the public. There is an unfinished Crash and Splash lagoon, being constructed at Surf Snowdonia. For the more casual visitors, there is surf yoga, paddleboarding, swim sessions.

Surfers at Snowdonia

Surf Snowdonia can solve the problem of hosting surfing as an Olympic sport since most countries do not have waves of quality and consistency required for a contest. In fact, the venue is to become a hub for the world’s top surfers with Red Bull Unleashed. It can also be a big source of income for Wales where adventure tourism like mountaineering and kayaking generates £480 million. The £12 million facility hopes to attract 75,000 visitors in it’s first year.

So you may be thinking, why suddenly I chose to go with this, after a month of posting about smartphones, Internet of Things e.t.c. Well, as a tech-enthusiast I felt Surf Snowdonia serves as a proof to show the scalability of innovative technology. From Wifi providing planes to artificial waves which can be the next Olympic destination, to be a part of this rapid change may feel intimidating but it opens doors for us to explore unchartered territories. Whoever thought of a ski-lifting technology to generate waves of different heights. Must be a genius. 

Internet of Things(IoT) - The Future of Technology

When I say the future is not unthinkable, I do not imply, that when you roll back, close your eyes and see driverless cars, manned-missions to Mars or any figment of your imagination, you are wrong. Yes, we are getting there steadily and it is the two interconnected realms of Cloud Computing and IoT that are going to play an integral role in the transition.

Internet of Things

IoT is an attempt to give every object an embedded system, a.k.a, a brain. In formal terms, it is a network of physical objects embedded with electronics, software, sensors, and connectivity to exchange data, process and do real-time analysis of the data, to suit our needs. It is, as if, we are trying to integrate technology at every minuscule of our lives.

IoT brings together a host of technologies like Wireless Sensor Network(WSN), control systems for device-to-device(D2D) communications. The core idea is to gather huge amounts of data on cloud, which is mobile, instantaneous, process that data and hence make everything “smart” around us. Remember, how you had to use a QR code to get access to Whatsapp Web, well IoT at work there.

IoT promises to be vast and being dependent on Cloud platform, it’s scalability is easier. From Mimo monitor that can give a real-time monitoring of your child’s breathing, temperature e.t.c to pill sensors that gets powered by your stomach fluids and relays data for your doctor to analyse. Even Google Fit on your smartphones is an example of IoT. Sensors play a key role, so does radio frequency identification(RFID) because the devices need to identify each other. Home automation technologies like smartphone-controlled thermostats, key tracker, devices like Ninja Block which can detect for pipe leaks, not only guarantee security but it also saves energy and reduces your bills.

Everything is getting integrated with Internet

Smart cities proposes to integrate a city with IoT technology controllable by applications on the smart devices used by the citizens. Smart parking, self-automated factories, optimized distribution of water, electricity and other resources. Santander in Spain is one such experimental research platform for smart city. Vehicles can be fitted with sensors measuring CO₂, CO, NO₂, thus keeping pollution levels in check. Disaster management becomes more efficient. Imagine this, a network of sensors fitted under the ocean bed sends a signal of an incoming Tsunami and automatically the “smart” infrastructure in place, calculates the areas requiring immediate evacuation, how to coordinate the relief. IoT can help in agriculural and industry, again in the same way, monitoring product quality, keeping track, analysing the soil temperature, moisture conditions and proposing a way to maximize productivity. Forests can have sensors placed to detect illegal poaching and deforestation. Shopping malls, in future, will adapt the IoT technology to study shopping patterns of customers, improving their shopping experiences for the future.

Concept of smart city in Belgrade

Santander smart city

IoT is basically collecting, processing, storing and analysing real-time data and responsively setting up an infrastructure. Besides the initial expenditure, IoT is bound to improve economy by optimizing resources, saving time, proposing a solution in real-time, disaster management. Since cloud platform plays such a huge role in it, there is a considerable space and size consideration. Let us not forget our ever increasing population. IoT is a major technology shift because making things “intelligent” opens the doors for new products and new services.

But all of this raises a fundamental question and as excited should we be for living in the century which is bound to see a meteoric rise in IoT products, ‘Are we the creators of technology, or are we the servants of it?’.

OnePlus vs Apple, Flagship Killer vs The Flagship of all Flagships

So after a lot of speculations and rumours, OnePlus finally announces the launch of it's much touted 'flagship-killer' OnePlus 2 in August, 2015.

OnePlus 2

The main USP of OnePlus's success comes from the company's ability to provide high-end specs at a reasonable price. But can it take on the literal 'holy-grail' of all flagships, the iPhone 6.

Well, let's find out.

Design and Display

The screen with a 5.5 inches display is the same as iPhone 6's but OnePlus 2 offers a better display with a 401 pixels density, along with a resolution of 1080x1920 pixels. The OnePlus 2 is made out from aluminium and magnesium, thus one can be assured that it will avoid the Bendgate shame of the iPhone which is only of aluminium make.

iPhone 6

OnePlus 2 

    
         

Performance and OS

Snapdragon 810

      

Apple A8

OnePlus 2 has a Qualcomm Snapdragon chipset chipset along with a 1.8GHz processor while the iPhone 6 has an Apple A8 chip. OnePlus 2 runs on OxygenOS, thus diverting from it's previous CyanogenOS while the Apple iPhone runs on iOS 8 The OxygenOS is mainly stock Android 5.1, thus optimizing the battery usage to a great extent but the Snapdragon's overheating issues make iPhone 6 a better choice in this regard with it's super-fast and reliable A8 chip.

OxygenOS

iOS 8

    

Memory and RAM

OnePlus 2 offers 16GB internal storage/ 3GB RAM or 64GB/ 4GB RAM easily beats iPhone 6's 1GB RAM but the iPhone 6 comes with an extra offer of 128GB. Both phones are equal in this regard when it comes to actual usage and the excess RAM in OnePlus 2 does not make a whole lot of difference to the devices' performance.

Battery

OnePlus 2 carries a huge 3300mAH battery that provides enough juice to the device to last quite long.

The battery power is boosted because the device is powered by Android Lollipop that manages power better that other operating systems.

The iPhone 6 plus on the contrary can provide us with a 2915 mAh battery, which if not that bad, is not of the same level as the One plus two either.

However, the battery management of the iOS 8 is a little more efficient than that of lollipop, putting both in a similar position.

OnePlus 2 battery

iPhone 6 battery

        

Camera

The iPhone 6 Plus provides optical image stabilization and 1080p video recording. It has a rear camera of 8MP and a front camera of 1.2MP.

On the other hand, the One Plus 2 comes with a 13MP rear camera and a front camera of 5MP.

The laser auto focus and dual LED are other important features that have the One Plus Two be declared better than the iPhone 6 Plus in this regards. Though, the picture quality of iPhone 6's seems better especially in dark conditions.

But overall, OnePlus 2 with a huge leap in the MP category for both front and back camera seems a winner.

Picture with OnePlus 2

Picture with iPhone 6

       

OnePlus 2 Camera

iPhone 6 Camera

     

Other Features

OnePlus 2 comes with a fingerprint scanner just as iPhone 6 comes with Touch ID. It seems iPhone 6's Touch ID is much more friendlier to use than OnePlus 2's fingerprint scanner, which is taking a bit getting used to.

Apple Touch ID

OnePlus 2 fingerprint scanner

        

OnePlus 2 is offering high-end specs at a price of $389 while iPhone 6 is priced at a whooping $800. Call connectivity for weak signal areas in both the phones is weak.

Like it's previous release OnePlus 2 can only be bought by those who reveive invites.

OnePlus 2 invite

Final Verdict

Considering it's price, OnePlus 2 is a great phone and no wonder is touted to be a 'flagship-killer', but if price isn't a factor it still doesn't pack the same punch as the iPhone 6.

Xiaomi launches Redmi 2 Prime - It's first 'Made In India' smartphone

The Chinese company Xiaomi launches it's first 'Made In India' smartphone with Redmi 2 Prime priced Rs. 6999, manufactured by the Foxconn facility at Sri City in Andhra Pradesh.

Xiaomi

Foxconn

Xiaomi's tie up with the Taiwan company Foxconn to make smartphones in the country, can be a great boost for the Government, which has been so vocal about local manufacturing from the start.

"When we started out in July last year, we wanted to become part of the fabric of India", said Hugo Barra, Vice President of Xiaomi Global. "Over time, all of our phones that we sell in India will be made in India." He didn't give a timeline.  

Xiaomi, the seventh largest smartphone seller globally, could see that making in India would 

• lower operational costs 
• increase efficiency

hence, resulting in low-priced smartphones in this competitive and ever-growing market.

The launch of Xiaomi Redmi 2 Prime took place in Vishakhapatnam.

CM Nara Chandrababu Naidu was present at the launch

Xiaomi Redmi 2 Prime notable specifications:

• 2GB RAM
• 16GB inbuilt storage
• Android 4.4
• 4.70 inch screen
• 720x1280 pixels resolution
• 8MP back camera
• 2MP front camera
• Removable Battery

Xiaomi Redmi 2 Prime has doubled the RAM and inbuilt storage, a clear improvement from the Redmi 2 which has 1GB RAM and 8GB inbuilt storage, in terms of performance.

Xiaomi Redmi 2

A few pictures of the Redmi 2 Prime

4.70 inch display

Pretty Slim

Proximity Sensor

8MP back camera

Removable Battery

Icon

Xiaomi Redmi 2 Prime vs Moto E 2nd Gen

Device	Xiaomi Redmi 2 Prime	Moto E (2015) with LTE
Display	4.7-inch HD (1280x720)	4.5-inch qHD (960x540)
Thickness	9mm	12.3mm
Weight	133 grams	145 grams
Camera	8MP rear, 2MP front	5MP rear, VGA front camera
RAM	2GB	1GB
Storage	16GB (expandable)	8GB (expandable)
Processor	1.2 GHz quad core Snapdragon 410	1.2 GHz quad core Snapdragon 410
OS	Android 4.4 KitKat	Android 5.0 Lollipop
Battery	2,200 mAh	2,390 mAh
Connectivity	Dual SIM with LTE	Single SIM with LTE
Price	Rs 6,999	Rs 6,999

From the above table it is pretty clear that Xiaomi Redmi 2 Prime emerges as a clear winner apart from the OS.

Moto E 2nd Gen

Xiaomi Redmi 2 Prime comes with a great battery which can last upto 14 hours of talktime.

The tie-up between Xiaomi and Foxconn to make smartphones in India presents a great challenge to global leaders like Apple and Samsung. A person familiar with Foxconn's plans said that the company is  expanding its Sri City facility by 250,000 sq. feet and 20 assembly lines by December. Currently the plant occupies 60,000 sq. feet and has 4 assembly lines.

The two companies at Vishakhapatnam

    
Xiaomi's plans can be a stepping stone for the Indian economy to become self-sufficient, atleast, in the smartphone department and maybe, at last, we can see some India-made tech gadget dominate it's market than some Amerian giant's. It is high time we invest our money in country made goods if we are to improve the economy.

Let's promote #MakeInIndia