iPhone 5s and 5c Vs the iPhone 5: A Comparison

As the Apple has announced two new iPhones, the iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c. Both are long-anticipated successors of the iPhone 5.

Before you start saving stacks of rupees to buy these new phones, here’s a table of comparison we’ve made of the iPhone 5 vs. 5s and iPhone 5 vs. 5c:

                                         iPhone 5                                 iPhone 5s

Storage                              16GB, 32GB, 64GB                  16GB, 32GB, 64GB

Display                               4-inch, 1136×640, 326 ppi     4-inch, 1136×640, 326 ppi

Processors                         A6                                            A7 64-bit

Touch ID                                                                            Fingerprint sensor

Rear Camera                      8MP, ƒ/2.4 aperture                8MP, 1.5µ pixels, ƒ/2.2 aperture

Video Recording                1080p at 30fps                         1080p at 30fps, Slo-mo

Front Camera                     1.2MP photos, 720p video      1.2MP photos, 720p video

FaceTime                           Over Wi-Fi or cellular              Over Wi-Fi or cellular

Assistant                            Siri                                            Siri

Navigation                         GPS and GLONASS                     GPS and GLONASS

Bluetooth                           4.0                                             4.0

Talk Time on 3G                 Up to 8 hours                            Up to 10 hours

Browsing time on LTE        Up to 8 hours                            Up to 10 hours

Browsing time on 3G         Up to 8 hours                            Up to 8 hours

Browsing time on Wi-Fi     Up to 10 hours                          Up to 10 hours

Standby time                      Up to 225 hours                        Up to 250 hours

Height                                4.87 inches (123.8 mm)             4.87 inches (123.8 mm)

Width                                 2.31 inches (58.6 mm)                2.31 inches (58.6 mm)

Depth                                 0.30 inch (7.6 mm)                      0.30 inch (7.6 mm)

Weight                                3.95 ounces (112 grams)           3.95 ounces (112 grams)

SIM card                              Nano-SIM                                   Nano-SIM

Connector                            Lightning                                   Lightning

Colors                                  Black/Slate, White/Silver           Silver, Space Gray, Gold

                                                   iPhone 5                                  iPhone 5c

Storage                               16GB, 32GB, 64GB                   16GB, 32GB

Display                               4-inch, 1136×640, 326 ppi       4-inch, 1136×640, 326 ppi

Processors                         A6                                             A6

Rear Camera                     8MP, ƒ/2.4 aperture                  8MP, ƒ/2.4 aperture

Video Recording                1080p at 30fps                        1080p at 30fps

Front Camera                     1.2MP photos, 720p video      1.2MP photos, 720p video

FaceTime                           Over Wi-Fi or cellular              Over Wi-Fi or cellular

Assistant                            Siri                                           Siri

Navigation                         GPS and GLONASS                   GPS and GLONASS

Bluetooth                          4.0                                            4.0

Talk Time on 3G                Up to 8 hours                            Up to 10 hours

Browsing time on LTE       Up to 8 hours                            Up to 10 hours

Browsing time on 3G        Up to 8 hours                            Up to 8 hours

Browsing time on Wi-Fi    Up to 10 hours                           Up to 10 hours

Standby time                     Up to 225 hours                         Up to 250 hours

Height                               4.87 inches (123.8 mm)             4.90 inches (124.4 mm)

Width                                 2.31 inches (58.6 mm)                2.33 inches (59.2 mm)

Depth                                 0.30 inch (7.6 mm)                     0.35 inch (8.97 mm)

Weight                               3.95 ounces (112 grams)            4.65 ounces (132 grams)

SIM card                             Nano-SIM                                    Nano-SIM

Connector                           Lightning                                     Lightning

Colors                                  Black/Slate, White/Silver          White, Pink, Yellow, Blue, Green

Now that you have a better picture in front of you, which new model would you be opting for?

Android Takes Lead Over Apple in Tablet Race

ABI Research recently published a new report which shows that Android has taken the lead in the number of tablets sold and the money people paid for them. It is the first time that Android powered tablets surpassed Apple’s iOS based iPad.

Its true that Android is gaining more popularity day by day, but the ecosystem is split between different brands like Samsung, Asus, Amazon and many others. On the other hand no single manufacturer can compete with Apple in terms of volume.

Apple’s original iPad and iPad mini are still the best selling tablets in the world but Android taking the lead is not good for Apple’s future. To remain a leader, Apple must continue to innovate and address real-world market needs.

Apple announces iPad Air & iPad Mini with Retina Display

Apple announced iPad Air and iPad mini with Retina yesterday at the October media event in San Francisco.
iPad Air:

iPad Air is a full size iOS tablet that comes with the new Apple A7 chip and now it has a thin, lighter body which weighs only 1 pound. It has almost 43% thinner bezel and  7.5 mm thin, 20% thinner than original iPad. Other than that it has the same specifications as the fourth generation iPad.

It has a 9.7 inch Retina display with a resolution of 2048×1536 pixels or 264ppi. 5-megapixel rear camera and 1.2-megapixel secondary camera. As compared to the iPad’s A6 dual core chip iPad Air has 64-bit Apple M7 motion coprocessor. It comes preloaded with the new iOS 7 with the storage options of 16/32/64 or 128 GB.

iPad Air will go on sale from November 1, 2013 for a price of $499 (16GB version).

iPad Mini with Retina Display:

Apple also refreshed its iPad mini, which now comes with a 7.9-inches Retina display offering 2048×1536 resolution.  It has nearly the same specifications as the year old iPad mini other than the new screen and upgraded M7 motion coprocessor.

iPad Mini with Retina display will also go on sale in November for a $399 (Wifi-only).

Apple didn’t reveal how much RAM is in the new devices, but theoretically the Apple M7 chip can handle up to 4GB of RAM easily. We will update this post once we get more information about this.

PTA Carries Out Inspection to Confirm Blocking of Un-Verified SIMs

Pakistan Telecommunication Authority  has started to confirm blocking of unverified SIMs by inspecting the Home Location Registers (HLRs) of the Cellular Mobile Operators (CMOs).

PTA team headed by Director General (Enforcement) visited CMOs’ offices on Thursday and Friday to confirm the blocking of SIMs that could not be re-verified beyond September 2013. During the visit, progress made by CMOs on identifying and blocking “not re-verified” SIMs was checked by PTA. CMOs assured PTA to continue their efforts against identity theft wherein SIMs were activated without the knowledge of CNIC holders.

It is pertinent to mention here that PTA has set up a system called “SIM Information System – 668” in order to ensure that the SIMs are registered against the CNIC of the authorized (legitimate) user. A customer can get the count of each mobile company’s SIMs registered against his/her CNIC by sending his/her CNIC number to short code “668”.  In case of any data mismatch, the customer can remove extra SIMs against his/her CNIC by requesting respective operator.

Users of all such disowned SIMs are then approached by respective mobile operator to get the SIM registered against his/her CNIC.  Otherwise, the same is blocked after 15 days’ time period. General public is requested to support PTA and CMOs by using this system and disown extra SIMs registered on their CNICs without their consent.

PTA is following the policy guidelines of the government on blocking and verification of SIMs. It is hoped that the issue of un-authorized SIMs will be resolved through a joint effort by all stakeholders including the general public.

Google Brings Hardware Updates to the Glass, Starts Wide-Scale Production

Google’s most ambitious project since driver-less cars has seen a few changes on the hardware side.

These new updates were announced today by Google through a Google+ post. Company said that the original beta hardware for Glass has been updated and the developers who were part of the Explorer program (first version of Google Glass is called Explorer) will be able to swap their older models and can invite further 3 of their acquaintances to buy the $1500 developer version of the product.

The most prominent update for the Google Glass includes an optional mono earbud which connects to the Glass’ microUSB port. Of course, the bone-conduction speaker has gone nowhere either.

The new Glass will also work with a wider variety of prescription glasses and shades.

Google said that all majority of updates (in hardware and software) came through feedback from early users/developers.

Google has also reportedly started the mass production of the Google Glass.

According to a new report by Financial Times, Google is also making strides in the production of Glass’ hardware. This recent development will allow Google to manufacture ‘tens of thousands’ of units in the coming few months.

PSP Emulator for Android, iOS, Windows Phone and Others

The gaming library for smartphones is still not huge and there are only a few games – available on Android, Windows Phone and iOS — that can actually please specific type of hard-core gamers.

This is where emulators come into play that can get your PSP games running on smartphone devices. These emulators have this ability of bringing amazing PSP titles to smartphones.

One of its kind emulator, known as PPSSPP, is already here to bring you the joy of PSP games on smartphones.

PPSSPP emulator has been developed by Henrik Rydgard. It works well on Android, iOS, blackberry, symbian and many other OS as well. PPSSPP emulator has made a lot of improvement over the time and now it is able to run many great titles of PSP at good amount of frame rates, but of course the performance depends upon the device you’re using.

Probably the great thing about PPSSPP is that you don’t need high end android devices for games to play. Emulator will also run smoothly on a dual core and even on a single core device as well but performance would vary.

The PPSSPP emulator runs about 26 games by now. Few games are hurdled with some bugs but others seems to be working fine.

Control Your Android Device From PC, Without USB, WiFi

When was the first time you heard about the idea of controlling your phone through the internet? From the NSA?

Actually, no. We’ve been hearing about it since the modern smartphone came along. Still, so few developers have pulled off the feat successfully that the seemingly tireless process feels like a gruelling job.

AirDroid, however, is one of the few tools which will make any average user proud.

The app gives simplicity a new definition. After a simple installation and an account register, you’re done. PC installations of any sort? Those don’t exist here as your average Web Browser takes care of that as flawlessly as anything.

Best of all, it is free. At least if you’re just an average Joe.

Highlights

• Send & receive SMS from the comfort of your computer.
• Move photos, videos, ringtones and any other files on and off Android, all without a USB cable.
• Locate and lock your Android when it’s lost. Cannot get it back? Simply wipe all data remotely.
• Easier way of app search, installation and apk export.
• See through the lens of your Android camera, front and back. Or stream the screen of your Android in nearly real-time.
• Call contact, share clipboard content, push url to Android and more
• Price: Free

The Mobile App

In order to make the system work, you’ll need a Wi-Fi for your smartphone/tablet and a good connection for your PC, or a USB cable to get connected. If you don’t have both the connectivity options even then you can get connected with your Android device through Mobile Internet. Its all there.

The mobile app doesn’t do all that much, apart from offering device details and managing files in a clean and fluid interface, but it’s still a crucial part of the equation. (One cool thing it offers is the QR Code scanning through its webpage which triggers the app.)

In order to improve the battery life, it’s highly recommended that you exit this app after every use. It certainly helps as I myself noticed it depleting the battery juice faster than usual on my phone.

The Web app

The Web app is the centre of all the interest. Unlike several other similar apps, AirDroid doesn’t require any additional installation or a PC client whatsoever. It itself has taken a few design cues from here and there and shows your phone’s status and notifications. All-in-all, it’s quite usable.

Mobilink Introduces Mobimusic Windows App

Mobilink’s Mobimusic, the a music and content video portal, is now available as a Windows app in Pakistan.

The introduction of the Windows app brings all the content from Mobimusic’s vast libraries at the fingertips of Windows phone users in Pakistan. Notably, this application marks the industry’s first entry in to the Windows application space.

No GPRS charges apply for browsing or downloading the content from the app.

Farid Ahmed, Vice President, Marketing Mobilink highlighted, “The Mobimusic app is just one of the countless ways that Mobilink brings its customers a better everyday and it is with great pride that Mobilink maintains its tradition of being the market leader.”

Mechanics:

• Users can access www.mobimusic.pk from their Mobilink Mobile Internet enabled handsets.
• Users can subscribe by clicking on the ‘Subscribe’ button and will receive a confirmation message of the subscription.
• Users can ‘download’ or ‘stream’ their choice of content by clicking on ‘Download’ or ‘Stream’ button in the content description.

Charges:

• Prepaid : Subscription charges for this service are Rs. 5+tax/day for 5 Content downloads OR 10 Video Streams.
• Postpaid: Subscription charges for this servce are Rs.35+tax/week for 35 Content downloads OR 70 Video Streams.
• Effective Rate for download is Rs. 1+Tax per content or Rs.0.5+Tax per Stream.
• NO GPRS charges apply for browsing, downloading or streaming the content.

Terms & Conditions

• Only Mobilink subscribers using Mobilink Mobile Internet can buy and download the content.
• Content is available for all major handsets available in the market.

u-blox, an LTE Equipment Manufacturer, Opens Office in Lahore - PakistaniXpro

u‑blox, a large scale manufacturer of cellular, positioning modules and integrated circuits announced the opening of its new LTE software design centre in Pakistan.

The center will be the company’s R&D facility focusing primarily on protocol stack development for embedded 4G cellular communications, said a statement issued by the company.

The inauguration of the new R&D facility, which is located at the Arfa Karim Software Technology Park in Lahore, was attended by professionals from the technology sector and senior management team from u-blox.

Commenting on the occasion Mr. Andreas Thiel, Head of Wireless Products Development at u‑blox, said: “Our LTE software team in Lahore is a key part of our overall embedded 4G strategy; Expanding the center bolsters our goal of end-to-end ownership of key intellectual property for LTE, a technology that has now become the fastest growing standard in the history of telecommunications.”

Company statement said that new office is already staffed and operational. The facility has enabled u-blox to expand its headcount to over 100 people.

With the opening of the new facility, u-blox plans to double its LTE R&D capacity in the location.

The centre complements u-blox’ 4G LTE baseband chip design international facilities located in Switzerland, United Kingdom and Belgium. The expansion of u-blox in Lahore, Pakistan will accelerate the company’s growth in the global wireless industry, the statement said.

Smartphone Sales Surpass 250 Million Units in Q3 2013, with Nokia Back in the Top 3

Number of smartphone shipments exceeded a quarterly record of 250 million in Q3 2013, representing a y-o-y growth of almost 49% from Q3 2012, and q-o-q growth of 10%, said a report published by Juniper.

According to the report, Samsung now accounts for a third of all smartphones shipped with an estimated 85 million smartphones – a record for the company.

The iPhone accounted for 1 in 7 smartphone shipments during Q3 2013, representing a quarterly growth of 8% from Q2 2013.

These top end players are expected to continue to witness impressive growth next quarter due to seasonality, however, the report said, there can be steady decline in growth thereafter especially in maturing markets.

Nokia shipped a record 8.8 million Lumia devices and nearly 6 million Asha smartphones in Q3 2013, together exceeding LG for the second time this year. LG maintained its smartphone shipment pace compared to the previous quarter, shipping another 12 million in Q3 2013, representing a 24% increases year-over-year.

BlackBerry’s recent results – which run to a different financial schedule – are expected to see them ship just under 4 million smartphones in Q3 2013. In the three months to the end of August 2010, BlackBerry clocked up some 12 million smartphone shipments and more than $4.6 billion in revenues; in its most recent quarter, smartphone shipments had fallen to a paltry 3.7 million against revenues of less than $1.6 billion; the costs of sales were now exceeding the revenues earned.

Huawei, ZTE and LG together shipped over 37 million smartphones in Q3 2013, accounting for a combined market share of 15%.

Juniper report notes that increasingly vendors will be required to anticipate customers ‘future needs’, whilst at the same time creating ‘new needs’ that customers will find desirable. This will become of paramount importance as new customers become a scarce resource and vendor churn becomes a major factor.

Punjab Police To Start Electronic FIR Registration and Cyber Crime Prevention Unit: Pakistanixpro

Bilal Javed, Director Information, CTD, Punjab Police

When someone think of Punjab Police what comes into mind is couple of aliens sitting just to make things adverse for general public.

I believe things are no more the same, few good men inside are willing to change old draconian ‘Thanaa’ culture.

At e-Governance exhibition recently held at Arfa Technology Park under the umbrella of PITB, we happened to hear few good things about Punjab Police from Mr. Bilal Javed who is currently heading the IT cell of the department. According to him there are following major initiatives that government has planned to reshape the police department.

100 model Police Stations

PROMISE is the name of project which is electronically connecting 100 model police station with each other in Punjab. In the first phase, police department is installing the CCTV cameras to monitor each and every activity inside a police station from our central monitoring hub. Soon we will introduce the E-Filing system of First Information Report (FIR) through a web enabled interface. This will get rid of old error-prone culture and expedite the process for general public without any hassle.

Cyber Crime Prevention and Investigation Unit

For the prevention of Electronic Crimes, police department is going to introduce Cyber Crime Prevention and Investigation Unit. The unit will track and monitor websites, blogs and other social networks for anti-social and anti-country content. It will also provide shield to the online transactions. The unit will also monitor the mobile phone communication and for this, department has asked the federal government for their permission and required protocol.

Electronic Attendance

We have introduced the biometrics for the attendance of all our personnel in Police and we have linked it with the payroll system that will eventually eradicate the problem of ‘Ghost Employees’ in the Police Dept.

Radio Frequency Identification Technology

Through Radio Frequency Identification Technology (RFID) we are monitoring all the assets of Punjab Police including vehicles, ammunition and other belonging of Police so that only authorized personnel could establish the right to use them.

We are going to install these chips in the private vehicles all across the province which will let us monitor them at any point of time. We are installing the RFID readers at all 50 entry/exit points of Lahore along with the main arteries where these e-readers will help us control the menace of terrorist activities in case a vehicle has been stolen and is intended to be used for any such crime. We will connect the vehicle with Excise and Taxation department that will help government to eliminate the defaulters of token tax.

500 Million Android Devices are Active, Globally! - PakistanixPro

In front of iPhone 5 event, which is the sixth generation of the handset, where everyone’s eye is on Apple but Google sees it as a good time to remind everyone that by far Android is still bigger than iOS.

So, to make this aim done Hugo Barra, Google’s Director of Product Management for Android, shared the news on his Google+ account as:

500 million Android devices have been activated globally and over 1.3 million Android devices are added every single day.

More amazingly, when we saw these stats back in December 2011, Google’s Andy Rubin had then said that 700,000 Android devices are activated every day, and in July 2012 the activations grew to 900,000.

Furthermore, back in February, Andy Rubin confirmed that 300 million Android devices had been activated, at a rate of 850,000 a day. Afterward, at this year’s I/O conference, Google announced that 400 million devices had been activated, with one million new Android devices coming online per day.

In comparison, 410 million iOS devices have been sold as of July.

Surely, all these success for Android with big hitting handsets such as Samsung Galaxy S3 and HTC One X that helped Android to strengthen its position in the market. It has been apparent that Samsung Galaxy S III, which hit the market late in May 2012, has been sold more than 20 million devices.

Other than it, Apple also used to take part in this game as by frequently announcing daily iOS device activations up until 2010, which may or may not have concern with the fact that Android Surpassed iOS in 2011.

Affordable Nokia Lumia 610 Launched in Pakistan - PakistanixXpro

Nokia Lumia 610, claimed to be the most affordable Lumia series smartphone, is now available in Pakistan. It was released worldwide in April 2012.

Powered by a Windows 7.5 OS, Nokia Lumia 610 offers the sleekness of the Windows smartphone coupled with the affordability and reliable warranty of Nokia.

The Nokia Lumia 610 is designed as the perfect introduction to Windows Phone for a younger audience. Running on the Windows Phone 7.5, the Nokia Lumia 610 comes with Nokia Music with Mix Radio, Creative Studio, WiFi tethering, Flip-to-Silence and Play To.

The device comes preloaded with Nokia’s suite of experiences including Nokia Maps, Nokia Drive and Nokia Transport, in addition to over 100,000 apps to choose from on the Windows Marketplace., the built-in Microsoft Office app and Xbox Live. People Hub makes it easy for people to keep in touch with friends, providing instant access to social networks and bringing all mobile, email, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn contacts into one place.

"The Nokia Lumia 610 will introduce Windows Phone to a new generation of local smartphone users, offering them something different and valuable in terms of pricing and features," said Arif Shafique, GM Operations, Nokia Pakistan. "With Nokia services, quality apps and a plethora of built-in features coupled with a fast and friendly interface, Nokia Lumia 610 has everything in the package to make it an instant hit among the aspiring youth of Pakistan.”

Nokia Lumia 610 Specifications:

• OS: Microsoft Windows Phone 7.5 Mango
• Chipset: Qualcomm MSM7227A Snapdragon
• CPU: 800 MHz ARM Cortex-A5
• GPU: Adreno 200
• Design:
• Dimensions: 119 x 62 x 12 mm
• Weight: 131.5 g
• Display:
• Type:TFT capacitive touchscreen, 65K colors
• Size: 480 x 800 pixels, 3.7 inches
• Memory:
• Internal: 8 GB storage, 256 MB RAM
• Card Slot: No
• Connectivity: GPRS, EDGE, HSDPA, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth, USB
• Camera: 5 MP, autofocus, LED flash
• Sensors: Accelerometer, proximity, compass
• Battery:
• Standard battery, Li-Ion 1300 mAh (BP-3L)
• Stand-by: Up to 670 h
• Talk time: Up to 10 h 30 min
• Music play: Up to 35 h
• Price: Rs. 20,000

Nokia to Stop Shipping Symbian Phones After this Summer - PakistaniXpro

Earlier this year when Nokia announced its quarterly earnings report, it made this clear that the lifespan of its Symbian devices is coming to an end in favor of Microsoft’s Windows Phones.

Now Nokia has said that it all will finally come to an end this summer. The support of the devices will continue till 2016 at least though, so software updates will most-likely be rolled out until then.

The news of the ditching of Symbian smartphones comes as no surprise because Nokia’s Windows Phones sales finally caught up with the miserable sales of the the aging products, which were mainly pushed because of ground-breaking camera phones the N8, the later Belle devices and 808 Pureview.

According to the last quarterly report, only 0.5 million Symbian devices were sold compared to 5.6 million Lumia and 5 million Asha devices. After the discarding of the OS, Nokia has got only a single way to go: Windows Phones. Even if that fails then all is not over as the company has been hinting Android-running devices, saying that the doors are not completely being closed on them.

But even if you’re not a fan of the Symbian OS, you can’t help but be misty-eyed at the sight of the news. After all, its such an old OS and a vital part of our tech lives.