Apple iPhone X may be hurting iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus sales

As the sale of iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus began in several countries on Friday, queues outside Apple Stores were shorter than previous years, and the growing craze to own “super premium” iPhone X is likely to be the reason. Various Apple Stores across the world reportedly saw a lot thinner crowd, far fewer than last year’s iPhone 7 launch.

Most people seem to be holding out for the crown jewel of this year’s iPhone series — the iPhone X – launched with prices starting at $999. Even on home turf, the Apple Store at San Francisco’s Union Square did not perform well. “A 38-year old tourist from Brazil, Thais Aguilar, was contemplating whether to get an iPhone 8 before she flies back home Saturday. After a while, she decided to wait to buy an iPhone X back home, and pay possibly three times as much as the $999 price in the US,” the report added. Instead, Aguilar opted to buy Apple Watch Series 3. “Many other customers also seemed to prefer buying Apple Watches instead of iPhone 8 and 8 Plus, the report added. This confirms earlier reports that iPhone X will cannibalize iPhone 8 orders. DON’T MISS: Apple iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus Hands-On and First Impressions: Incremental upgrades over the iPhone 7 duo

 

“While it takes three to six weeks or more to ship new iPhone models after they are available for preorder, they see the iPhone 8 taking less than one to two weeks. This is due to the iPhone X cannibalization,” Ming-Chi Kuo,  analyst with KGI Securities, said. Kuo, however, said the new Apple Watch Series 3’s (GPS + Cellular version) could be a runaway hit.

“We estimate the preorder weighting of the GPS + Cellular version is 80-90 percent. While not available in all countries, most users have pre-ordered the GPS + Cellular version because it offers phone and internet access functions without an iPhone and given the low premium of $70 over the GPS version,” the analyst predicted.

Apple’s iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus were made available from September 22 in the US, Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Singapore, the UAE, the UK, and other countries. Apple would launch iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus, starting Rs 64,000, in India on September 29 while pre-bookings started on September 22. The iPhone X will come to India on November 3, with price starting from Rs 89,000.

Reliance Jio to deliver 6 million JioPhones in 15 days

The delivery of about 6 million JioPhones will start on Sunday and be completed within 15 days, as per a channel partner of Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd (RJIL). Deliveries of the low-cost 4G handsets will begin from rural areas and small towns before urban centers, the partner, who did not wish to be named, told PTI.

“The Chairman (Mukesh Ambani) had said that the JioPhone will bridge the digital divide between rural and urban India. Therefore, delivery of JioPhone will start this Sunday in rural areas and small towns,” the channel partner said. Queries sent to Reliance Jio did not elicit any response.

Pre-booking of the JioPhone started on August 24 against payment of a refundable deposit of Rs 500. The remainder Rs 1,000 has to be paid by the customer when the company starts delivering the handsets. The entire amount will be refunded against the return of the phone after three years

“The delivery of first lot of 6 million will be completed in 10-15 days,” the source said. He, however, was not aware of the dates for the next round of booking for JioPhone.According to CyberMedia Research, a total of 61.8 million mobiles were shipped in the second quarter of 2017. With 6 million units of sale, JioPhone is estimated to account for around 10 percent of India’s total mobile phone market in a quarter. 

Reliance Jio Chairman Mukesh Ambani had announced that voice calling for customers of JioPhone would always be free and they would get unlimited data for a month against a payment of Rs 153. JioPhone will come with pre-loaded Jio apps for messaging and entertainment. The phone can be connected with television sets for watching live TV using the Jio TV app

Gionee GN5007 with 6-inch display, 5,000mAh battery spotted on TENAA: Specifications, features

A new Gionee smartphone has been spotted online under the codename GN5007. The smartphone has been listed on TENAA revealing some specifications and features of the smartphone.

The images listed on TENAA reveals the phone has thin front bezels. There is no home button up front. The power button and volume rocker are placed on the right-hand side of the phone. At the back, the camera module with LED flash is placed on the top left corner. The smartphone also comes with a fingerprint scanner, which is placed at the center of the device.

Gionee GN5007 specifications, features

As per the listing on TENAA’s site, the Gionee GN5007 will feature a big 6-inch display with 1440×720 pixel resolution. Under the hood, the smartphone is powered by an octa-core SoC clocked at 1.4GHz processor paired with 4GB of RAM. Also on offer is 32GB of internal storage.  On the photography front, the handset features a 13-megapixel main camera and an 8-megapixel selfie snapper. The device measures 156.3×75.6×8.6mm and weighs in at 187 grams. On the software front, it runs Android Nougat 7.1.1 out-of-the-box. One of the USP of the smartphone is that it packs a 5,000mAh battery. The TENAA site mentions that the smartphone will launch in black color. ALSO READ: Gionee A1 Plus Review: Plus on size and battery

Gionee recently launched its first full-screen display smartphone, called Gionee M7. Reports suggest that the Gionee GN5007 is a second variant of the M7 called M7 Power, which is expected to launch in Thailand soon

Nokia 8 to launch tomorrow: Threat to other smartphones above 35K

Nokia is all set to unveil its first top end flagship smartphone in the Indian market. The HMD backed veteran mobile maker will introduce the much awaited Nokia 8 in an event tomorrow in New Delhi.

Nokia 8 will be company's most pricey and powerful Android smartphone for Indian consumers and can be a real threat to some of the most widely popular flagship handsets selling in the market.

We say so because the smartphone has almost all the required top end features that you would expect from a flagship smartphone in the year 2017. Nokia 8 is fitted with a 5.3-inch 2K display with 2560 x 1440 pixel resolution. Under its hood, the smartphone makes use of an octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 SoC and runs on Android 7.1.1 Nougat out of the box. Let's dig more about Nokia 8 here.

Apple iPhone 8 Buy At Price of Rs 64,000 Key Features 4.7 Inch Retina HD Display With 3D Touch Hexa-Core Apple A11 Bionic Processor Force Touch Technology 2GB RAM With 64/256GB ROM Dual 12MP ISight Camera With OIS 7MP Front Facing Camera Touch ID Bluetooth 5.0 LTE Support Water & Dust Resistant 

How to transfer music to an iPhone without using iTunes

For some reason, there is this weird notion about using iTunes. People automatically assume that it is difficult to use even before giving it a shot. Once you get used to it, you'll know it is one of the most convenient media players out there that actually organises your files. But having said that, iTunes is also one of the most annoying ways to transfer music to your iPhone. 

The moment you have to transfer new songs to your iPhone or iPad you realise how troublesome it is. Well thanks to the advancements, we now can transfer any kind of files to our iPhones without the use of iTunes. 

Use the iTunes app: If you are a regular customer, you can simply open the iTunes app on the iPhone, make sure that it is signed in to the same Apple ID. Just go to More > Purchased > Music to see the list of songs you have downloaded. Now all you have to do is tap on the cloud icon next to it to download the songs onto your phone.

Use Music streaming apps: To keep yourself updated with new music it is always better to use one of the music streaming apps. Apple has its own 'Apple Music' and once you have the subscription, Apple Music will refresh its data often to provide you with fresh content. If you have enough storage on your device, you can also download songs for offline listening. Note that the songs downloaded will only be available for offline listening and not a hard file that you can transfer somewhere else.

Local media players: Local media players like VLC don't write the data to core iOS library. It stores all the files in the app storage. Transfers can be done by drag and drop using the web browser and Wi-Fi, or cloud storage. You can also use AirDrop to send files to your phone and choose the app you want to use to play the file later.

Cloud Storage: Storing files and data on iCloud has by far been the easiest way to keep your files for access. You can do the same with all your music files. Once you store them on your Cloud Storage you won't need iTunes to copy the music files to your phone. All you have to do is login to your storage account and download the songs you want.

External Storage flash drives: Companies like SanDisk have come up with flash drives with lightning connector on one end and a normal USB type A on the other. This will allow you to connect the same drive to your phone and to your PC. All you have to do is download the compatible app to access the drive on your phone. Once you've copied files to the drive, connect it to your phone. After opening the app, you'll be given an option to back up the phone files on the flash drive, you can choose to opt out. But it will also give you an option to copy the files on the drive to the app. These files copied from the drive will be stored on the app storage and you can access them anytime you like.

As H-1B hopes dim, rich families eye ‘investor visas’ for children

MUMBAI: Families, especially those whose children are studying in the US, are increasingly making inquiries about EB-5 visas - also known as investor visas. As the H-1B work visas are getting difficult to come by for entry-level jobs, usually for freshly qualified individuals, investor visas have shot into the limelight.

For those keen on applying for EB-5, a move by the US government that has extended the due date for investments via regional centres - a significantly more popular mode of investment for obtaining the EB-5 visa - by a little over two months, from September 30 to December 8, has come to their aid. This is the second such extension in 2017, as the earlier expiry date of April 28 had been extended to September 30.

"President Trump has signed into law - 'HR 601' - which is a continuing resolution for funding the federal government till December 8. This has extended the EB-5 regional centre program beyond the expiry date of September 30," says Rajiv S Khanna, managing attorney, Immigration.com.

Even as an EB-5 reform bill is on the anvil, which could increase the level of investments required and possibly include other strictures, Khanna adds, "Under the US Constitution, the government cannot make laws that change vested rights retroactively. Therefore, if you have already invested and filed your EB-5 papers, I don't see why you need to worry about subsequent changes in the law."

There appears to be a strong correlation between the challenges posed in obtaining an H-1B and the renewed interest in this investor visa. TOI had reported earlier on an increase in inquiries for H-1B applications where salaries are at the entry level. It had also reported that graduates from IITs who were offered US-based jobs last year are facing work visa challenges.

According to the 2016 report by Open Doors, a research agency, there are nearly 1.66 lakh students in the US who make up 15.9 per cent of the total international student population. If a family can afford an EB-5, it enables the student to work in the US without facing H-1B related hurdles.

Immigration experts and firms that specialize in immigration-linked investments have been seeing a sudden spate of inquiries after the extension of the deadline. Jeffrey DeCicco, CEO and chief compliance officer, CanAm Investor Services, says, "The current wait time and proposed new restrictions on H-1B visas have already spurred a significant demand for EB-5 from India and this trend is likely to continue. Families with means to enter the program increasingly see EB-5 as a way to cut as many as 10 years off the waiting time to get a green card and also as a way to allow their children to work freely in US without the need for a corporate sponsor."

Those opting for the EB-5 need to invest $1 million (around Rs 6.5 crore) in new commercial projects or half a million (nearly Rs 3.25 crore) for operations in specified rural areas or regions with higher unemployment known as targeted employment areas— the objective being to create at least 10 permanent full-time jobs for US workers.

EB-5 offers two routes of investments. One, where the investor directly sets up his own business. The other, via investment in recognized regional centres, which, in turn, sponsor business entities. The latter is a more popular investment route. Of the 90 EB-5 visas issued to Indians between October 1, 2015, till September 30, 2016, 76 were for investments via regional centres. While figures of such visas granted to Indians are still in two digits, it is a sharp rise from just five such visas issued in 2005 (see table). Investors are granted a "conditional" permanent residence for themselves, spouse and children below the age of 21. After two years, they have to apply for lifting of the "conditions". If approved, they and their family can permanently live and work in the USA.

According to industry estimates, since 2008, over $18.4 billion has been injected via the EB-5. Official country-wise breakup is not available, though."EB-5 investors need to do significant due diligence of the borrower, the project, and the regional centre. One of the main requirements of the EB-5 program is that the investor's money must be 'at risk' during the investment period. Any regional center that offers or implies a guarantee of any sort should immediately be removed from consideration," cautions DeCicco.

iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus owners, you will need to protect your smartphone's back more than its screen

Owners of Apple's new iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus smartphones, you will need to safeguard the back of your iPhones more than its display. As according to a report in Apple Insider, you will have to shell out considerably higher for the repair of the two smartphone's back than their displays. 

The Apple Insider report claims that while a screen replacement will cost users $29, a broken back-glass will fall under 'other damages' and it is likely to cost around $99 for replacement. This means that users will have to pay more than three times the cost of screen replacement.

The two new Apple iPhones went on pre-order earlier this week (September 22) in India. The sales of new iPhones will start on September 29. India is the receiving both iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus in the second wave. The duo got launched in the US, UK, Singapore, Australia, Japan and many other regions in the world on September 22.

In India, Apple fans can pre-book the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus at a number of stores both online and offline. There are also slew of offers available for the two new iPhones.

Speaking about the smartphones' specifications, Apple's iPhone 8 features a 4.7-inch Retina screen and the iPhone 8 Plus comes with a 5.5-inch Retina screen. Both the iPhones run on the company's latest 10nm A11 Bionic chipset with a 6-core processor. The iPhone 8 sports a 12MP rear camera and the iPhone 8 Plus comes with a 12MP dual camera setup. The new cameras are calibrated for augmented reality and come with accurate motion tracking technology.

The new iPhones have support for wireless charging and come in two storage variants -- 64GB and 256GB. The Apple iPhone 8 and the iPhone 8 Plus come in Silver, Space Grey and Gold variants.

How to move apps from phone memory to SD card in Android

Storage is usually not an issue with most Android smartphones. The base storage in most Android-powered smartphones is usually 32GB. However, there may be storage issues with some entry-level Android phones. This often restricts the number of apps a user can download on his phone. Here, one way is to transfer some of the apps to an SD card. However, also remember that you cannot transfer all apps to an SD card also many Android phones do not support this feature. 

For those who do, here's how you can go about it. Here's are step-by-step instructions: 

Let's begin by first identifying the apps that you want to move to the SD cards. Please note here that apps which require a continuous sync are not recommended to be moved. So, for example, if you move WhatsApp to your external storage, the app would not send you regular updates. Also, the app would disappear when you use your phone without the SD card.

Pre-installed or native apps too can't be moved (especially Google's apps). So, it is a good idea if you have apps that you use occasionally, and have ample space on your SD card.

Step 1:
Head over to the Apps management section under 'Settings' of your phone. Here you will find listed all the apps that are installed in your phone. Selecting one of the apps will take you into the individual app settings.

Step 2:

Once in the app setting, you should be able to see "Move to SD card" as an option. Android makes provisions of detecting apps installed both on phone and SD card memory.

Step 3:

Click "Move to SD card" and wait for until the process is complete. This should be a few seconds and not too long.

Once the app is moved to your SD card, you can unmount it from the settings and cross check to see if the app is still in the menu. In case you want to move the app back to the internal storage, you can mount the SD card, and head over back to the settings menu.

In place "Move to SD card", the app will show the option of "Move to phone storage".

Here's proof, iPhone X is 'hurting' iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus

For some reason, there is this weird notion about using iTunes. People automatically assume that it is difficult to use even before giving it a shot. Once you get used to it, you'll know it is one of the most convenient media players out there that actually organises your files. But having said that, iTunes is also one of the most annoying ways to transfer music to your iPhone. 

The moment you have to transfer new songs to your iPhone or iPad you realise how troublesome it is. Well thanks to the advancements, we now can transfer any kind of files to our iPhones without the use of iTunes. 

Use the iTunes app: If you are a regular customer, you can simply open the iTunes app on the iPhone, make sure that it is signed in to the same Apple ID. Just go to More > Purchased > Music to see the list of songs you have downloaded. Now all you have to do is tap on the cloud icon next to it to download the songs onto your phone.

Use Music streaming apps: To keep yourself updated with new music it is always better to use one of the music streaming apps. Apple has its own 'Apple Music' and once you have the subscription, Apple Music will refresh its data often to provide you with fresh content. If you have enough storage on your device, you can also download songs for offline listening. Note that the songs downloaded will only be available for offline listening and not a hard file that you can transfer somewhere else.

Local media players: Local media players like VLC don't write the data to core iOS library. It stores all the files in the app storage. Transfers can be done by drag and drop using the web browser and Wi-Fi, or cloud storage. You can also use AirDrop to send files to your phone and choose the app you want to use to play the file later.

Cloud Storage: Storing files and data on iCloud has by far been the easiest way to keep your files for access. You can do the same with all your music files. Once you store them on your Cloud Storage you won't need iTunes to copy the music files to your phone. All you have to do is login to your storage account and download the songs you want.

External Storage flash drives: Companies like SanDisk have come up with flash drives with lightning connector on one end and a normal USB type A on the other. This will allow you to connect the same drive to your phone and to your PC. All you have to do is download the compatible app to access the drive on your phone. Once you've copied files to the drive, connect it to your phone. After opening the app, you'll be given an option to back up the phone files on the flash drive, you can choose to opt out. But it will also give you an option to copy the files on the drive to the app. These files copied from the drive will be stored on the app storage and you can access them anytime you like.

How to transfer music to an iPhone without using iTunes

For some reason, there is this weird notion about using iTunes. People automatically assume that it is difficult to use even before giving it a shot. Once you get used to it, you'll know it is one of the most convenient media players out there that actually organises your files. But having said that, iTunes is also one of the most annoying ways to transfer music to your iPhone. 

The moment you have to transfer new songs to your iPhone or iPad you realise how troublesome it is. Well thanks to the advancements, we now can transfer any kind of files to our iPhones without the use of iTunes. 


Use the iTunes app: If you are a regular customer, you can simply open the iTunes app on the iPhone, make sure that it is signed in to the same Apple ID. Just go to More > Purchased > Music to see the list of songs you have downloaded. Now all you have to do is tap on the cloud icon next to it to download the songs onto your phone.

Use Music streaming apps: To keep yourself updated with new music it is always better to use one of the music streaming apps. Apple has its own 'Apple Music' and once you have the subscription, Apple Music will refresh its data often to provide you with fresh content. If you have enough storage on your device, you can also download songs for offline listening. Note that the songs downloaded will only be available for offline listening and not a hard file that you can transfer somewhere else.

Local media players: Local media players like VLC don't write the data to core iOS library. It stores all the files in the app storage. Transfers can be done by drag and drop using the web browser and Wi-Fi, or cloud storage. You can also use AirDrop to send files to your phone and choose the app you want to use to play the file later.

Cloud Storage: Storing files and data on iCloud has by far been the easiest way to keep your files for access. You can do the same with all your music files. Once you store them on your Cloud Storage you won't need iTunes to copy the music files to your phone. All you have to do is login to your storage account and download the songs you want.

External Storage flash drives: Companies like SanDisk have come up with flash drives with lightning connector on one end and a normal USB type A on the other. This will allow you to connect the same drive to your phone and to your PC. All you have to do is download the compatible app to access the drive on your phone. Once you've copied files to the drive, connect it to your phone. After opening the app, you'll be given an option to back up the phone files on the flash drive, you can choose to opt out. But it will also give you an option to copy the files on the drive to the app. These files copied from the drive will be stored on the app storage and you can access them anytime you like.

Huawei Honor V10 leaked: Another bezel-less phone on the way

It is expected to get an early 2018 release. Recently, the device's front panel was leaked. The source of the image is the Chinese publication called Anzhuo.cn. While it is not an official source, this publication is known for leaking authentic information about smartphones. At least, when it comes to phones from Chinese manufacturers. In any case, let's take a glimpse at the alleged Huawei Honor V10 image. Judging from the leaked photo, the V10 seems to feature a flat front panel with really narrow bezels surrounding it. The top bezel is only large enough to accommodate the selfie camera, LED flash, light sensors, and the earpiece. Coming to the bottom bezel, it just holds the physical home button as there is a cutout on the front panel. It is likely that the home button will be functioning as the fingerprint scanner as well. As for the side bezels, they are almost negligible. Other than the front panel, a few specs of the V10 have also been revealed due to the rumors. The Honor V10 is said to feature the in-house Kirin 970 processor. For those who are not aware, it is the first chipset to come equipped with AI abilities invented by Huawei itself. Since it is the successor of V9, the Huawei Honor V10 is going to be a flagship smartphone