WhatsApp may soon get Facebook integration, end-to-end encryption

NEW DELHI: WhatsApp is said to be working on adding Facebook integration to the app, along with making chats more secure with end-to-end encryption.

Android developer Javier Santos posted screenshots of the upcoming feature on his Google+ page; the post says the software build for WhatsApp (owned by Facebook) for this update is 2.12.413, while the app's current build available from Google Play is 2.12.367.

Nokia Android phone 2016: Everything we know so far

Nokia is finally going to make a comeback! The much loved mobile phone brand is returning with Android to support it. The Finnish company says it will be re-entering the smartphone race in 2016 without confirming which OS it will use. But we can be sure our assumption is right.

Nokia has Foxconn making its N1 tablet based on Google’s mobile OS. If it takes another stab at the handset market, Android will be its best bet. Without further ado, let’s dive into the known specifications, leaked images and concepts of the Nokia C1.

Google (aka Alphabet) to take over Apple as the most valuable company in the world

Google aka Alphabet could very soon triumph over Apple as the most valuable company in the galaxy

The year 2015 was an eventful year for Google, which saw the search giant change its logo, divide its business into startups like Calico, Fiber, Sidewalk, X, and merged all those companies into one brand named Alphabet. Now, Alphabet could very soon become the most valuable company in the world overtaking Apple.

The newly formed group of companies that make Google now are doing relatively very well. On Friday morning, the Google powerhouse traded with an equity value above $500 million, which is less than 10 percent of its Silicon Valley rival Apple’s value. However, things are not looking good on Apple’s front, whose earnings mainly depend on the sales in the ever saturating smartphone market.

According to the consulting firm IDC, global smartphone sales growth slowed to 10 percent last year. News of cuts at Apple suppliers suggest lukewarm demand for its latest phones. Analysts are of the opinion that the company might have a tough task this year to equal to the 230 million or so iPhones sold in the last fiscal year to September.

The margins could suffer due to an oversupplied market of smartphones that could result in price wars, wherein the iPhone holds about 60 percent of Apple’s revenue and a bigger portion of its profit. As a result, investors expect little growth in the company’s top line this year and are paying only about 10 times estimated 2016 earnings for the stock.

In the meantime, Alphabet is still the king of advertising. Consultants at eMarketer estimate that the mobile digital advertising market should almost triple to nearly $200 billion globally by 2019. The sales of Alphabet are expected to see a growth of about 15 percent this year. This wind at Alphabet’s back and a new age of autonomous vehicles, secret robots, and scary-fast internet will pay off help explain why it commands a price-to-earnings multiple above 20.

Alphabet is far more dependent on Internet advertising than Apple is on the iPhone. Ads bring in about 90 percent of the company’s revenue.

A subpar earnings report from Apple next week, or a strong one from Alphabet the week after, could bring a new name to the top of the world’s most valuable companies list.

Google getting serious about deep learning – Publishes free three month course

The course is free and will only take three months to complete, if you’re serious

Google is getting ready for deep learning and it wants you to be ready as well, which is why the tech giant has launched a three month course in order to help you learn its next level machine language.

Deep learning is a machine learning technique that has become the foundation of the several services that Google already provides (this would include everything from speech recognition to automatically sorting your photo collection). The course is available to see on educational site Udacity, and could actually take longer than three months, depending on how quick you are to learn it.

The course details state that if a student or any interested other person is able to invest 6 hours a week into the course, then they will be able to complete it in a period of months. This also means that if you spend more time on it, you will be able to complete the course in a faster period of time, which makes it really flexible for several students who are engineers, who do not have a lot of time on their hands (the scenario is also vice versa).

The course is definitely not for absolute beginners, but it aims to help established engineers and data scientists get on par with deep learning as well as TensorFlow. For those of you who do not know, TensorFlow is a machine learning software that Google had open sourced last November.

Are Apple Stores coming to India?

Apple Inc has applied to set up its own stores in India, one of the world's fastest growing smartphone markets, as the iPhone-maker looks to tap new opportunities amid worries of slowing growth in its main markets.

Apple sells its iPhones, iPads and Macs in India through third party resellers, and industry analysts estimate that the Cupertino, the California-based company has less than a 2 percent share in India's smartphone market, dominated by cheaper brands.

The company has filed an application with India's Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion to open its own stores, Amitabh Kant, secretary at the federal trade ministry unit told Reuters.

Apple also confirmed the application filing but declined to give details.

Its expansion plans in India come at a time when concerns about slowing growth in the United States and China, the world's most important market for smartphones, have weighed on the company's stock in the last few months.

Shares in Apple, the world's most valuable company by market value, are down 28 percent from their peak in April last year.

The company operates more than 450 stores in 18 countries. Chief Financial Officer Luca Maestri told Reuters in October that Apple had 25 stores in China and was opening a new one roughly every month.

Its plans for India have been held back due to restrictions on foreign investment in the retail industry, which require single brand overseas retailers to buy close to a third of the goods sold at their stores from local producers.

Apple representatives held talks with Indian government officials about a relaxation of the 30 percent local sourcing norms before filing the application, said a source familiar with the company's plans.

Apple's plans come against the backdrop of initiatives unveiled by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who met with Apple chief Tim Cook during his U.S. visit last year, to boost foreign investments in India.

In November, the government eased foreign investment norms in 15 major sectors, including relaxing the mandatory local sourcing rule for foreign single-brand retailers in the case of "cutting-edge technology" products.

Kant said his department would examine Apple's application in view of the changes made for local sourcing.

For years, India has been a low priority market for Apple as spending power is weaker than in China, where the company's iPhones swiftly became must-have devices after their 2007 launch.

But Apple is now looking to boost its market share in India's rapidly growing market, and the company's recent growing spend on advertising in the country has indicated an aggressive campaign to sell more.

India is likely to overtake the United States to become the world's No. 2 smartphone market in 2017, according to research firm Strategy Analytics. The local smartphone segment is dominated by Samsung Electronics and India's Micromax.

5 Facts About Evan Spiegel, Snapchat's Often Controversial Co-Founder

At age 25, Evan Spiegel -- the co-founder and CEO of Snapchat -- is theworld's youngest billionaire. He’s also a divisive figure. Spiegel, whoseleaked college emails revealed a serious lack of maturity, has been an easy poster boy for the Silicon Valley tech scene – smart, confident, innovative, but embarrassingly 'bro'-like.

Regardless of one's personal opinion of Spiegel, it's undeniable that he struck a home-run with Snapchat. The app -- which, in the place of archived, chronicled posts a la Facebook, allows users to send messages that disappear shortly after being opened -- has come to heavily influence, if not define, the way young people communicate, making it integral to brands, advertisers and anyone else looking to capture the attention of millennials and Gen Z-ers.

With that in mind, here are five things to know about Snapchat's controversial CEO.

How to Fix Windows 10 Slow Boot-up Issue After the Upgrade

Windows 10 is currently being used by millions of people and it’s an OS that was well planned and Microsoft’s most complete OS till date. Keeping aside few privacy concerns, people are finding Windows 10 worth their time and according to a survey, about 92 percent of people liked the OS after it was launched. Features like Cortana and Microsoft Edge are being used by people and loved.

However, Microsoft forums and Reddit is flooded with the mentions of Windows 10 facing slow boot-up issue after the users upgraded their Windows 7 and 8 PCs using the free upgrade offer. The Windows 10 slow boot-up issue could present you a black screen with a cursor on Windows 10. If your boot-up time is fines and you want to boost the overall speed of your PC, read this article.

Sometimes it takes few minutes for Windows 10 to move ahead and recover from the Windows 10 slow boot-up issue. In this tutorial, I’m going to tell you simple ways to fix Windows 10 slow boot-up issue:

How to fix Windows 10 slow boot-up issue?

Step 1: Run a thorough antivirus scan to Windows 10 slow boot-up issue

If you are using any antivirus solution, run a complete scan on your PC and take care of any virus or malware present in your system. Just like the previous iterations of Windows, the last version of Windows too is prone to malicious virus and programs.

So, I would advise you to update your antivirus and scan your PC thoroughly. Most you would have performed an upgrade from Windows 7 or 8 to Windows 10. So, there are chances that older malicious programs and virus could be the reason behind Windows 10 slow boot-up issue.

Step 2: Disable software and services from Startup to fix Windows 10 slow boot-up issue

This step involves taking care of your Windows 10 startup settings. Here, you need to open the Task Manager by using the famous Ctrl, Shift and Esc – or by right-clicking on the Task Bar.

In the Task Manager, click on the Startup tab and disable the items with Highrating in the Startup impact rating. However, you are advised to keep your antivirus software enabled.

Note that you can disable your Nvidia and AMD graphics driver from the startup without affecting the graphics performance of yours system.

Step 3: Enable FastStartup and to fix Windows 10 slow boot-up issue

In Windows 10, Microsoft enables the fast boot-up option and shutdown times using the special Hybrid Startup and Shutdown option. These options put the system into hibernation state and fixes the Windows 10 slow boot-up issue.

To make this change, you can either ask Cortana to “Open power options“- or you can launch the Control Panel and then head to the Power Options. 

Under the Power Options, click on  Choose What The Power Button Does from the left-hand side, then click Change Settings That Are Currently Unavailable.

Now you will be greeted with the list of options that were previously hidden. Here tick on the checkbox that says Turn On Fast Startup and save the changes.

Step 4: Use the Delayed Start for services to fix Windows 10 slow boot-up issue

After step 3, restart your Windows 10 PC and press Windows Key+R to reveal the Run box.

Here type services.msc and hit Enter. This will open a list of services that you need to scan to find the services that seem to be causing the Windows 10 slow boot-up issue. Right-click on those, open them, and change the setting from default to delayed start. Now, click save and exit the window.

This is it. Now you can restart your PC to witness a lot faster boot-up.

Why Is Lenovo Killing The Iconic Motorola Brand That Invented Cell Phone?

bout 32 years ago, Motorola launched DynaTAC 8000X, the first handheld cellphone. This iconic brand gave a kickstart to the wireless mobility. Well, the year 2016 will be remembered as the year when Motorola name was wiped off the smartphones.

Lenovo, which bought Motorola from Google in 2014 for $3 billion, is now slowly “phasing” the Motorola brand name. While, the future high-end smartphones by Lenovo will now carry “Moto by Lenovo” brand name, the budget smartphones will be sold under Lenovo’s Vibe branding.

“We’ll slowly phase out Motorola and focus on Moto,” said Motorola COO Rick Osterloh, talking to CNET at CES 2016. This news has come as a shock for the die-hard Motorola fans who have been around since the company that invented mobile phones released the ultrathin Razr flip phone. This phone also brought along the catchy Hello Moto ringtone.

Why Is Lenovo Killing The Iconic Motorola Brand?

When Lenovo bought Motorola in 2014, it revealed that protecting and growing Motorola brand will be Lenovo’s priority. Well, it looks like the priorities change with time.

While Lenovo has declared that it’s working to unify its phone business, the definition of the ‘high-end’ and ‘budget’ devices remains unclear. Will Moto X range devices pledge allegiance to high-end ‘Moto by Lenovo’ brand? Will the highly successful budget phones like Moto G and Moto E be rebranded under the Vibe brand?

Right now Lenovo’s Vibe devices are retailing for $100 or less, so things could be a bit different for Moto G.

Notably, the Motorola brand will continue to exist inside Lenovo — you won’t be seeing it in the outside. It’s pure business — a step by Lenovo to push its own brand.

After all this fuss, here’s the official statement from Motorola on this much-discussed rebranding:

Motorola Mobility continues to exist as a Lenovo company and is the engineering and design engine for all of our mobile products. However, for our product branding we will utilize a dual brand strategy across smartphone and wearables going forward using Moto and Vibe globally. “Motorola” hasn’t been used on our products since the launch of the original Moto X in 2013.

Samsung Gear S2, Gear S2 Classic Smartwatches Launched Starting Rs. 24,300

Samsung India, as expected, on Thursday launched its Gear S2 smartwatch in India. Priced at Rs. 24,300, the smartwatch will be available via Samsung physical retail channels starting Thursday. Apart from the Gear S2, Samsung also launched the Gear S2 Classic edition, priced at Rs. 25,800.

The South Korean company at the same event also announced the availability details of the Gear VR headset, which has been priced at Rs. 8,200. It will also go on sale starting Thursday. The Tizen OS-based smartwatches will be available online exclusively via Flipkart.

At the launch, the company confirmed that the Gear S2 will come with dial faces with Indian themes for users to choose.

The Samsung Gear S2 is the company's first Samsung smartwatch with circular design. The company at the event stressed that the rotating bezel is a highlight of the new wearable as it will allow users to easily access all required information. Additionally, the new smartwatch sports the Home and Back buttons.

To refresh, the Samsung Gear S2 and Gear S2 Classic smartwatches feature a 1.2-inch circular Super Amoled display with a screen resolution of 360x360 pixels and a pixel density of 302ppi. The new wearables are powered by a dual-core 1GHz processor. Tizen OS-based smartwatch comes with 512MB of RAM and 4GB of storage. Both are IP68-certified which means the Samsung Gear S2 and Gear S2 Classic are dust and water resistant. They also feature accelerometer, gyroscope, heart rate, ambient light, and barometer sensor. The smartwatch supports wireless charging and pack a 250mAh battery with a typical usage of 2-3 days.

To recall, Samsung initially detailed its new Gear S2 smartwatch ahead of IFA. At the event, Samsung however revealed more details about the new Gear S2 apart from the Gear S2 Classic smartwatches, including the prices.

The Gear S2 works with Android devices running Android 4.4 and above and with the devices that sport more than 1.5GB of RAM. The company recently announced that the Tizen-Based Gear S2 will soon be compatible with iOS devices as well.

Samsung Gear VR Headset Launched at Rs. 8,200

Samsung India on Thursday, apart from launching its new Gear S2 and Gear S2 Classic smartwatches, also launched the Gear VR headset in the country. The new Gear VR headset is powered by Oculus VR software and has been priced at Rs. 8,200. Much like the Gear S2 and Gear S2 Classic smartwatches, the Gear VR will be available via the company's physical retail channels as well as online via Flipkart from Thursday.

Samsung at the launch stressed that Gear VR headgear works seamlessly with Galaxy smartphones. Currently, the Gear VR supports the latest high-end Galaxy smartphones including the Galaxy Note 5, Galaxy S6 Edge+, Galaxy S6, and Galaxy S6 Edge. Samsung also added the recently unveiled Galaxy Note 5 Dual SIM to the compatible devices list.

The company also said that the new Samsung Gear VR is 19 percent lighter compared to the previous model. It also features a large touchpad for control. It weighs 318 grams without Galaxy smartphone and measures 201.9x116.4x92.6mm. The Gear VR comes with a field of view of 96 degrees. It packs back, volume, and focus adjustment wheel button for controls.

The Gear VR packs sensors such as gyro, accelerometer, and proximity. The device can be charged via Micro-USB. The Gear VR comes with soft, flexible cushioning material, and also features adjustable straps for ease of use.

The Gear VR headgear will support 360-degree videos. Gear VR Consumers Edition that launched last year came with access to Oculus Video and Oculus Arcade for videos and games. The company has not detailed whether the Gear VR will come with access to Oculus videos and games.

Announcing the new Gear VR headgear, Manu Sharma, Director, Marketing said, "Gear VR presents the unique opportunity for consumers to get an immersive virtual reality experience."

Samsung India unveiled the Gear S2 at Rs. 24,300 and the Gear S2 Classic at Rs. 25,800. Both the new wearables will go on sale starting Thursday.

Samsung Galaxy S7, Galaxy S7 Edge Dual-SIM Variants Get Certified: Report

As the MWC 2016 trade show comes close, more leaks and rumours about the Samsung Galaxy S7 and its variants have started popping up on the Web. The dual-SIM variants of the upcoming Samsung Galaxy S7 and the Galaxy S7 Edge now appear to have been certified in Indonesia.

While the listing for the SM-G930FD is thought to be the Samsung Galaxy S7 Dual-SIM, the SM-G935FD is thought to be for the Galaxy S7 Edge Dual-SIM, reported Sammobile. Nothing more can be said about the two smartphones from the listings. Samsung is expected to launch its Galaxy S7 smartphones series ahead of the upcoming MWC 2016 trade show, with a Galaxy Unpacked 2016 reportedly scheduled for February 20. It is however yet to send out press invites for the keynote event. It is worth noting that both LG and Sony have sent their press invites for the trade show.

Several reports have indicated Samsung will launch several variants of its flagship Galaxy S7. A recent report tipped that the Samsung Galaxy S7, Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge, and Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge+ variants would launch simultaneously. Not mentioned in that report was the also rumoured Samsung Galaxy S7 Plus.

As for what to expect from the Samsung Galaxy S7, the smartphone is also expected to offer an iris scanner. Previous leaks have tipped, the Galaxy S7 will feature a 5.1-inch Super Amoled display with a QHD (1440x2560 pixels) resolution. The Galaxy S7 Edge is said to have a 5.5-inch Super Amoled display, also with a QHD (1440x2560 pixels) resolution.

Both the handsets are rumoured to be either powered by Exynos 8 octa-core (Exynos 8890) or Snapdragon 820 processor, coupled with 4GB of RAM. They are expected to come in two storage options: 32GB and 64GB and support expandable storage up to 200GB via microSD card. On the camera front, both the smartphones are rumoured to feature a 12-megapixel camera with f/1.7 aperture.

Apple, Samsung Accused of Using Batteries With Cobalt Mined by Children

Cobalt used in batteries for phones, laptops and electric vehicles could come from mines in Democratic Republic of Congo that use child labour, an Amnesty International report said on Tuesday.

Working with campaign group African Resources Watch (Afrewatch), Amnesty accused technology giants including Apple, Samsung SDI and Sony of lax oversight of the supply of cobalt from mines in Congo to smelters and on to battery-makers.

As a result, consumer products sold across the globe could contain traces of the metal produced each year by informal Congolese mines without companies knowing, the report said.

"It is a major paradox of the digital era that some of the world's richest, most innovative companies are able to market incredibly sophisticated devices without being required to show where they source raw materials for their components," Afrewatch executive director Emmanuel Umpula said.

In a statement issued in response to Amnesty's research, Apple said it had a zero tolerance policy towards child labour and was evaluating ways to improve its identification of labour and environmental risks.

Samsung SDI said it conducted written evaluations and on-site inspections of all suppliers to certify compliance with human rights, labour, ethics, environment and health standards.

Sony did not respond to emailed requests for comment.

Millions of Congolese work in informal mining, with rudimentary tools and usually without legal authorisation. They often scavenge in the waste heaps of larger mines.

The report, based on research in Congo's mining heartland, singled out a smelter in southern Congo owned by Congo Dongfang Mining International (CDM), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Chinese mineral giant Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt Ltd.

The report alleged that CDM did not check the source of the cobalt it purchased from local buying houses, leading to a "high risk" that it came from mines where children and other workers were exposed to hazardous conditions.

Scavenging children

The researchers interviewed 17 children at five mines where they said children as young as seven scavenged for rocks containing cobalt. The researchers said they saw workers from the mines queuing to sell cobalt to buying houses that claimed to sell to CDM.

Huayou Cobalt is the largest cobalt chemicals producer in China and sold almost $235 million of the metal in 2013, according to the report.

Once smelted, the cobalt is exported to China before being sold to battery manufacturers who claim to supply top-end electronics companies including Apple, Samsung, Sony and 13 others, the report said.

In a written response quoted in the report, Huayou Cobalt said it had "reasonably presumed that the behaviours of suppliers comply with relevant regulations of the DRC and taken the corresponding social responsibilities".

A woman who answered the phone at Huayou Cobalt this week and identified herself as Ms. Yang told Reuters the information in the report was not true as far as she knew but added that she was not very familiar with CDM's operations.

The report also said none of the 16 companies linked to the CDM smelter provided enough detail to researchers to independently verify the origins of the cobalt used in their products. Only one acknowledged the link with the smelter plant.

Reuters could not independently verify any link between the companies and the smelter plant.

Samsung told Amnesty it was very hard to trace the source of the cobalt due to non-disclosure by suppliers and the complexity of supply chains. It denied to Reuters that CDM or Huayou Cobalt were in its supply chain.

Congo's supply of the metals such as tantalum, tin, tungsten and gold has been under scrutiny since 2010, when laws in the United States required U.S.-listed companies to ensure their supply chain was free from these so-called "conflict minerals".

But cobalt has received scant regulatory attention, although strifetorn Congo is the source of more than half of global supply. Amnesty and Afrewatch said they hoped the research will trigger action.

Mortal Kombat XL Announced for PS4 and Xbox One, PC Ignored

NetherRealm, the studio behind the Mortal Kombat series announced Mortal Kombat XL. It's an updated version of last year's solid fighting game containing all of its downloadable content such as new characters, movesets, skins and the like.

However the game's announcement trailer mentioned that it would the PS4 and Xbox One only. There was no mention of the game on Windows PC. It seemed odd considering that Mortal Kombat X made it to the platform the same time it did on consoles last year.

A studio representative took to popular Mortal Kombat forum, TestYourMight.com to confirm that the Mortal Kombat XL would not be making it to Windows PC.

"Mortal Kombat XL and Kombat Pack 2 will available on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One only," said NetherRealm's Community Specialist Tyler Landsdown.

In the same discussion, fans realised that it sold nearly half a million units on Steam. The data was discovered on Steam Spy, a third-party service that tracks sales on Steam. It's known for its fairly accurate sales estimates. Around 500,000 units sold is not too bad considering how poorly it was received at launch, forcing users to download most of the game even if they did buy it on disc.

Nonetheless, the lack of support for Mortal Kombat XL on PC should come as no surprise. The game's publisher is Warner Bros. It was also responsible for Batman: Arkham Knight, a title that received its fair share of notoriety for a shoddy PC port.

While we're yet to get information on how much Mortal Kombat XL would be priced at, it will be available from March 1.

Apple's Music Memos App Makes It Easier to Jot Down Song Ideas; GarageBand Gets an Update

Apple realises that many people use its Voice Memos app on their iPhone to record ideas for songs, and perhaps that's why it is now giving these users a standalone app for the task. On Wednesday, the Cupertino-based company released Music Memos. On the sidelines, Apple also updated GarageBand music suite.

Apple has had the GarageBand app available for the iPhone and iPad for quite some time. However, many people - who are not actually musicians - find the app too complicated. Apple is cutting a slack for such users with its Music Memos app. Music Memo lets users record in a high-quality, uncompressed format, then file it away with tags and ratings. Once done, you can listen to the track you just made, quickly check the arrangement of different music notes, and automatically stuff in basslines and drums which are automatically moulded in the same rhythm as your original track.

Apple says that Music Memos works best with acoustic guitar or piano-based songs. It is available for iPhone, iPad 3 and above, iPad mini (all generations), and the iPad Pro, running on iOS 9.1 and above. Syncing with iCloud, Music Memos can then be accessed across the Apple ecosystem.

Apple also updated GarageBand to version 2.1 on iOS. The in-house music creation studio is getting two interesting new features - Live Loops and Drummer. Live Loops allows anyone to create electronic music without having to own a beat-making specialised hardware. Apple is also bringing Drummer feature, previously available on GarageBand for OS X to the iOS app.

Samsung Galaxy S7 : 12MP camera rumor

Yes guys its been a while this rumor is flowing like anything that there may be xpectations that Samsung will downgrade back its Camera to 12 MP with improved low light sensors.

We all know that there is no relation between Quality of an image when its compared to the Mega Pixel. As we edge closer to a potential Samsung Galaxy S7 launch at MWC 2016 more details about the firm's latest flagship handset have apparently leaked online

There's some potentially worrying news round the back of the supposed Galaxy S7, as the camera sensor is clocked at 12MP, which would be a reduction from the 16MP snapper on the S6.

Now we know megapixels aren't the be all and end all in the camera world, but the Galaxy S6 took brilliant photos, making it a potentially odd move from Samsung to mess with this winning formula.The post notes that the phone is still in its testing phase, so perhaps all the specs are not finalised, and there's no guarantee this isn't a prototype variant of the Galaxy S7 rather than the final version.

We'll be reporting live from MWC 2016 to bring you all the latest news, including any new handsets from Samsung.

Le 1s and Le Max First Impressions

LeEco, the Chinese Internet conglomerate better known by its former name Letv, has finally launched its first products for the Indian market. The Le Max and Le 1s have been unveiled and will be available in India using the infamous flash sale model, in which interested buyers need to sign up in advance for a chance to buy one of a limited number of units that will be available.

The company recently garnered a lot of interest with its CES announcement of the Le Max Pro, first smartphone to sport the new Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor. Letv recently rebranded itself to LeEco (short for Le Ecosystem) ahead of the Indian launch, and offers live-streaming, e-commerce and cloud services and sells smartphones, TV set-top boxes and smart TVs, among many other things, in its home market China. At the launch event in New Delhi, LeEco had members of its SuperFans community in attendance. We have seen many other brands including Asus, Meizu, and Xiaomi following the same strategy at their respective launches.

The Le Max (seen below) smartphone was initially launched in China back in April last year. The Le 1s, on the other hand, was unveiled in October. India will be the first country outside China where the Le Max and Le 1s will be going on sale.

The Le Max and Le 1s smartphones both feature all-metal unibody designs, fingerprint scanners, nearly bezel-less displays, and USB Type-C ports - more than enough to keep feature-obsessed consumers happy. But will these features be enough for a new smartphone brand to establish itself and make a grand entry into the Indian market - only time can tell. We spent some time with both devices at the launch event and here are our first impressions.

The first thing we noticed when we held the new Le Max and Le 1s smartphones was their all-metal unibodies, which definitely offer sturdiness. The near-bezel-less displays, according to the company, offer 80.3 percent screen-to-body ratio which when compared to the iPhone 6s which offers 68.2 percent. The company at the launch claimed that the Le Max at 0.8mm has the world's narrowest display borders, and also touted the device's floating glass design. At several times during the India launch event, LeEco compared its new Le Max and Le 1s to high-end smartphones including the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus.

The Le Max is comfortable to hold but is barely usable with just one hand, thanks to its giant 6.33-inch screen. The Le 1s, on the other hand, fits nicely into one hand despite its 5.5-inch screen. The company showed several slides during the launch event comparing the Le 1s with the iPhone 6s Plus, which also has a 5.5-inch display.

The rear of the Le Max (seen above) is all metal but we were reminded of the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus because of the antenna bands on the top and bottom. The rear panel houses the primary camera which bulges out slightly, though this has been seen on many high-end phones before. The fingerprint scanner sits right below the rear camera and was easy to access.

The right side of the Le Max houses the power button, which is located in the middle where the user can reach it while using just one hand. The SIM slot is also located on the right. The left side has the volume rocker and mute button. The speakers and USB Type-C port are on the bottom, while the 3.5mm headphone jack sits on top.

The Le 1s, on the other hand, also has an all-metal body but doesn't incorporate the bold antenna bands on the rear. Both the power as well as volume rocker buttons are on the right side. The left is bare except for the SIM slot. Similar to the Le Max, the Le 1s' speakers are on the bottom. The primamy camera and fingerprint scanner are on the rear.

One of the highlights of the fingerprint scanner on the Le 1s is that it's claimed to be the world's first with a mirrored surface. LeEco claimed that the scanner on the Le 1s (seen below) smartphone is scratchproof and has an accuracy of 99.3 percent, and an unlock speed of 0.15 seconds. At the launch we tried the fingerprint scanners on both models and found that they worked well, recognising our fingerprints quickly.

Both the Le Max and Le 1s fronts are dominated by their screens covering most of the front. Both models feature capacitive navigation buttons. The Le Max phablet features a 6.33-inch QHD (1440x2560-pixel) display with a density of 464ppi and 0.8mm bezel. The Le 1s packs a 5.5-inch full-HD (1080x1920-pixel) display.

In our limited time with both phones, the Le Max and Le 1s seemed to handle multitasking and Internet browsing pretty easily without any lag. We will reserve our verdict of the performance of the Le Max and Le 1s till we get the chance to put them through our detailed review process.

LeEco, much like its Chinese competitors, uses heavy software customisations on the Le Max and Le 1s smartphones. They both run Android 5.0 Lollipop with a skin called eUI, which ditches the app drawer and shows all icons on the home screens. Unfortunately, the Le Max and Le 1s don't offer the user many options. The handsets we played with had Google's suite of apps preloaded but didn't seem to have many third-party apps. We will have to wait for our review units to check whether the ones sold in India will be different.

Coming to the camera department, the Le Max (seen above) sports a 21-megapixel rear camera with optical image stabilisation (OIS), Sony IMX230 sensor, phase-detection autofocus (PDAF), dual-LED flash, and an f/2.0 aperture lens, in addition to a 4-megapixel front-facing camera with an f/2.0 aperture. In our quick camera tests, we found images taken with the Le Max in normal indoor lighting to be vibrant with accurate colours showing up on screen, and a few low-light shots also seemed good. The front camera was able to take decent selfies but the quality might be an issue in low light.

The Le 1s packs a 13-megapixel rear camera with LED flash and also supports phase-detection autofocus (PDAF). There is a 5-megapixel front-facing camera. The Le 1s also delivered crisp shots in normal light conditions and even the low-light performance of the rear camera was impressive with a good amount of detail coming through in the shots. The front camera however took average shots in low light.

We will have to wait till we can perform a full review to see whether the cameras on the Le Max and Le 1s are better than those of their competitors.

Final Thoughts
LeEco has made sure to tick all the right boxes, and as it did in China last year, has even revealed the BOM (bill of materials) for both of its smartphones - which seemed a little gimmicky. BOM cost is a listing of the prices all the raw materials, sub-assemblies and components needed to manufacture a product, and doesn't account for research and development costs, staff, utilities, marketing, shipping, etc. LeEco claimed at the launch that it will be making the narrowest profit margins in the industry on both of its smartphones, in order to sell them at the lowest possible prices.

The company also revealed plans for after-sales service of the new Le phones. Atul Jain, COO of Smart Electronics Business, LeEco India, told us on the sidelines of the event that LeEco will be focusing on this and will have multi-lingual 24-hour call centres for customer enquiries. The company plans to set up 555 service centres across India at the beginning, and will also offer a pick-and-drop service for devices.

LeEco also announced plans to offer content from its partners YuppTV and Eros International. The company, after all, is a content company back home and has been selling phones there with features such as Live TV.

The Le Max has been launched in Titanium Silver with 64GB of storage at Rs. 32,999. There is also a Shimmer Gold variant with 128GB of storage, which has been priced at Rs. 36,999. At these price points, the Le Max will be competing against a lot of high-end smartphones including the iPhone 6(which is now retailing at around Rs. 35,000 for the 16GB model), Nexus 5X, and Samsung Galaxy S6. The Chinese company also announced a Pink edition of the Le Max with a sapphire display and 128GB of storage, of which only 1,000 units will be available, priced at Rs. 69,999.

The Le 1s (seen above) on the other hand comes with 32GB of storage and has been priced at Rs. 10,999. At this price point, the Le 1s will be going up against the recently unveiled Lenovo Vibe K4 Note, priced at Rs. 12,499. Some of the other possible competitors to the Le 1s are the Xiaomi Mi 4i, Meizu metal, and Xiaomi Redmi Note 2.