Can Oxygen OS 2.0.2 Help Boost OnePlus 2 Sales?

The fall is a very competitive season, as several big names tend to release their flagship handsets around this time. However, few names tend to dominate the handheld news scene and one such name is OnePlus. After the phenomenal success of the OnePlus One last year, which was dubbed as the ‘flagship killer’, the Chinese smartphone maker is back, this time with the OnePlus 2, a worthy successor of its super hit debut handset. After releasing details of the specifications and release date, another detail that excited people was that the OnePlus 2 was all set to come with the latest Oxygen OS.

However, this excitement soon died out when several fans took to forums to complain about possible bugs and lags in the new software. OnePlus took note of these complains and now, just a week after its first OTA update, has released the Oxygen OS 2.0.2. The incremental rollout of the second update is set to begin immediately, with OnePlus promising to focus on future problems and rollout updates to address the same.

The new update aims to address several vital issues. Improvements have been made in the fingerprint recognition feature, stability has been added to the front camera and a bug that tended to abruptly mute volume has also been fixed. OnePlus has also assured fans that a major update, in the form of the Oxygen 2.1 update, is coming in mid-September, so they needn’t be too worried if all their issues haven’t been addressed in this update. Also, OnePlus says that the new update is incremental in nature, which means it won’t hit all the new handsets together and some users may have to be patient and wait for it to come.

The current software update, with the news of the impending update already out, comes as a big relief to many apprehensive fans. While the wait list for the invite for the OnePlus 2 is already unbelievably long, people expect a flagship handset to have the very best software, with no glitches in basic functioning of highlighted features such as a strong front camera and fingerprint recognition.

The OnePlus 2 is undoubtedly one of the most anticipated handsets of the year. When people thought the OnePlus One couldn’t be bettered, the Chinese company did the undoable and proved everyone wrong. However, one area where OnePlus has always got flak is when it comes to the OS. The original Cyanogen OS was not only reviewed as being cluttered according to handheld news sources but then it became redundant after a point, when its updates stopped. Although Oxygen update came along, it came after several complains and many delays, leaving fans unsatisfied. Thus, in the software department, OnePlus needs to do some damage control, so as to ensure that it wins over fans and doesn’t lose out on prospective buyers due to the reputation of its software.

Are Tablets Reviving or Harming Gaming?

Gaming has undergone a sea of change and it comes as no surprise then that this form of entertainment has managed to traverse many different platforms of media. Gaming, which was once restricted to merely elaborately set up video games and handheld gaming devices, can now be enjoyed on several devices. There are dedicated portable gaming consoles and now, even most smartphones come with several games. One avenue that is now being exploited for its potential as a gaming platform is tablets. While till now, tablets were never really given any special importance in terms of gaming, game developers are realizing the potential that tablets have in reviving the art of hardcore gaming.

A good example showcasing how serious game developers are about focusing on tablets would be with the game Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers 20th Anniversary Edition, which is available exclusively for iPads. Such games tend to focus on stories, plots and effects, all of which can be appreciated better on a tablet screen rather than a smartphone. Game developers know that people today are too lazy to make the effort of going and switching on their PCs just to play a game and hence, tablets provide the perfect middle ground for people looking for something in between smartphones and PCs. Also, they are often cheaper and come with multi-utility options when compared with portable gaming consoles.

Besides the matter of convenience for players, developing a game for a tablet or a mobile device is also much easier and requires lesser resources and money than developing a game for a PC. To ensure complete compatibility, some games even need to be made from scratch, a feature that many game developers are acknowledging and are hoping will pay off in the long run.

Not just game developers but even different brands are realizing the potential of tablets as powerful gaming devices, as special tablets meant for gaming are being released by companies. Case in point would be the release of the tablet that made it to the handheld news sources for all the right reasons – the Nvidia Shield tablet. This is a tablet that was released with the specific aim of being an excellent gaming companion. This tablet came with a fantastic screen and Tegra’s K1 192 core Kepler GPU which allows to smoothly play games rich in graphics. Nvidia realized the potential that tablets have in recreating an excellent gaming experience which even hardcore gamers can appreciate.

Also, according to handheld news sources, among the various leading gadgets, tablets sales rank only second to smartphones. Tablets are indeed one of the highest selling gadgets in the world and many people today, along with a smartphone and a laptop, own a tablet as well. Thus, for the millions of people that proudly own a tablet, it feels good to know that there are dedicated game developers working to make games which will be enjoyed exclusively on tablets.

Why is the Moto G so Popular?

Fairy tales where a down on luck guy’s fortune completely turns around after a few strokes of luck are usually just that, fairy tales. However, there are a few stories where reel life comes to real life, as people and companies manage to turn around their fate and rewrite history. Motorola is one such brand name. From being the company that actually invented the first ever mobile phone, it went into obscurity lately. Its phones weren’t selling and it was in the brink of ruin, much like Nokia. However, seeing the scope of low cost smartphones at a time when increasing youth were looking to buy phones, Motorola came up with what many critics called the smartphone of the decade – the Moto G.

Handheld news sources went ballistic, as this was a smartphone that broke all norms, giving people insane value for money. Sales went through the roof and Motorola’s fortunes changed overnight. Critics, users, reviewers all went gaga over this phone. Thus, the anticipation and interest triggered for subsequent iterations of the Moto G has been the same and hence, the Internet is currently rife with rumours and leaks of the expected Moto G 2015.

The Moto G, while may not have all the bells and whistles of many leading flagships, has managed to capture the imagination of the public. To compensate this void, Motorola then launched the Moto X, which was once again touted as the most affordable flagship of the year. Rounding off the last segment, Motorola shocked smartphone makers once more, when it released the extremely affordable Moto E, a phone that came with just a notch lower features than the Moto G, although it was priced at half the rate of the Moto G.

The funny thing for Motorola is that, this time Motorola will probably have to target new fans rather than Moto loyalists. Perfection is something that cannot be worked on to become better and many people had lauded the 2014 Moto G and Moto X phones as near perfect. Thus, ironically, not a lot of Moto G or Moto X 2014 users will be upgrading to the 2015 version of either phones, because the upgrade and jump up isn’t really significant enough for them. A few images of the Moto G 2015 have been leaked online and by the looks of it, despite the seeming upgrade of water resistance, it isn’t really a giant leap ahead or anything. The jump up of the original Moto G to the Moto G 2014 was still significantly higher than the jump up of the Moto G 2^nd gen to Moto G 2015.

 

Hence, if you already own the current Moto G or Moto X 2014 handsets, then it doesn’t make sense to buy the newer version of these devices. Yet, the new Moto G is expected to do exceedingly well and Moto executives hope it will manage to replicate the success of its predecessor. According to handheld news sources, the original Moto G is said to be Motorola’s most successful handset till date and hopefully, the Moto name will live on in the future years to come.

Should Microsoft Just Give up Already?

Smartphones have come a long way and overtime, more than the number of handsets, it is the extent of innovation that has dominated this market. The sea of change that smartphones has seen in the past mere half a decade is ridiculously astounding. The latest mobile phone news today is dominated by extensive stories of innovation and fairytales where unknown brands and names have managed to garner attention and sales. Hence, as long as you have innovation on your side, you will surely be able to get enough sales. Unfortunately, it isn’t a fairytale for everyone involved, as even a veteran in the mobile phone market, such as Nokia and Microsoft have been having a rough time simply staying afloat in the smartphone market.

The recent turn of events for Microsoft has not been pleasant and the company has had to take some drastic measures to undo the damage done with Microsoft’s much talked about buyout of Nokia. Of course, Microsoft will never admit that this was an outright disaster and that it should never have entered into territory it was never familiar with to begin with. What’s more, rather than pairing up with a strong player, it opted to take the support of Nokia, a brand that was one that had already seen its golden days well behind it. So, the only thing that could have saved a union of a dying and a novice brand coming together would have been drastic innovation.

This union should have led to handsets that would storm the latest mobile phone news forums and steal focus from other Android and iOS devices. Unfortunately, that was not going to happen as neither brand really contributed significantly to any kind of revolutionary changes. Instead, the Lumia series continued along the same line and the tiled pattern didn’t impress users.

There’s no denying that Microsoft did try at least some tricks before giving up. It released many Lumia phones, consequently getting rid of the Nokia tag altogether in the process. When the Lumia Denim update was announced, along with many Lumia handset releases, while it did make it to handheld news, where it didn’t make it was into shops and the eventual hands of users. Thus, Microsoft has perhaps begun to face the harsh reality that it really has no chance of making it big in the smartphone sector if things go on like this.

 

Of course, the smartphone sector is a fickle one and you should be willing to enter it only if you are willing to modernize, transform and move at the insane pace that the market moves at. Satya Nadella can always argue that the smartphone market was very different at the time of their Nokia buyout than what it is today, a claim that any channel of handheld news will affirm. However, despite all the excuses that Microsoft can possibly dish out, the truth remains that it may be the end of the road for Nokia and Microsoft altogether in the mobile phone sector.

Why Apple Needs to Up its Game

Everyone who owns a smartphone knows and needs no introduction to Apple. This is a brand that is considered the best of the best. Or so people have assumed for long. Rather than gloating about all of Apple’s achievements and ways in which it has always dominated mobile phone news, let’s take a step back and take a look at reality.

Apple may still be the highest selling brand of smartphone in the world but with the insane amount of competition that other brands offer, it may lose this position sooner than it thinks. There was a time when Samsung was the only brand that managed to come even close to Apple in terms of competition. These were the two bigwigs that went head to head all the time. However, with the newer brands of smartphone makers headlining handheld news nowadays, Apple is surely feeling the heat.

Thus, while Apple phones may be common in developed countries, they still aren’t a very common sight in developing countries. Asian countries in particular, which have a huge share of smartphone consumption the world over, still has majority of the public sticking to Android handsets. In fact, the younger generation aren’t afraid to try out new brands, such as Xiaomi and Huawei, which have managed to get fantastic responses from the youth. The two most populous countries in the world, India and China, still have an overwhelming majority of Android users, with Apple forming only a very small percentage of users, as mostly the elite business and upper class people sport iPhones.

Not to mention, Apple has had its fair share of controversies; right from pirated copies of its handset being sold in cheaper markets, down to accusations of poverty stricken workers in China working in deplorable conditions to make Apple handsets, which they will never even get to hold in their entire life. Maybe it is time that Apple steps back and re-evaluates its strategy. Yes, for all its flair, there have been times when Apple had made it to the mobile phone news for all the wrong reasons.

Google is a brand that is where it is for the simple reason that it never fails to innovate; right from optimising its Android software, down to starting with releases of Google Play Editions of elite handsets, to finally releasing its own brand of handsets under Nexus. And then, aiding Motorola in its fantastic revival with the much famed handsets Moto E, Moto G and Moto X, along with their eventual iterations, Google had managed to outdo even its own expectations.

With the purported end of the Nexus series in sight according to handheld news sources, Google also has an important road ahead, as it too needs to re-evaluate its strategy. Thus, Apple and Google currently stand at crossroads, with next year proving to be decisive, as the launch of the Nexus 6 and the Apple Watch have both failed to capture the imagination of the public. However, knowing Google’s track record, Apple still has the heavier burden of coming out with something that will take the market by storm and reassert its position as the market leader in the world of technology.

Samsung Launches Latest Smartphone in China

Samsung, after receiving appreciation from the global market for launching its two premium devices -Samsung Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge, this South Korean company has now introduced a new android smartphone – Samsung Galaxy J5. Samsung has not only launched J5 alone, it has also introduced the Chinese smartphone market with J5’s greater version Samsung Galaxy J7, at the same day.

 

Similarities:

Samsung Galaxy J5 and J7 share a lot of similar specifications and features. After Sony’s Xperia C4 and C4 dual smartphones, Samsung has attempted to strengthen its smartphone platform based on imagery development in both the latest devices. Both the smartphones are sharing 13 megapixel primary camera with 5 megapixel front camera and proper flash light support. Samsung has tried to add a new level in mobile photography with self-timer mode, auto focus and Beauty. It also assures more brightness and clarity in the captured images.

Both the devices to appear with inbuilt Android Lollipop 5.1 and will get the support of 1.5GB RAM, 16GB inbuilt memory support and up to 128 GB external memory support. So, it is easier for the users to download, store and capture more moments of life without hesitation. 2G, 3G, 4G LTE network support is another advantage for both the devices. Both are supported with numerous powerful applications, such as –GALAXY Gifts, Play Games, Google Apps, Play Newsstand, and Play Movie including Dropbox, Hangouts, WhatsApp, Facebook and Twitter. These two devices get the support of Proximity and Accelerometer sensors. Galaxy J5 and J7 include powerful battery support and also assure up to 342 hours of battery backup, as well. According to the handheld news, buyers may choose these two devices in black, white and golden color texture.

Differences:

Samsung Galaxy J5 and J7 includes many differences along with notable similarities, which signify the individualistic value of them. According to the latest smartphone specification, both the Android Lollipop smartphones from Samsung is supported by a powerful processor. Galaxy J5 is featuring Quad-core 1.2 GHz processor, where the J7 smartphone gets the support of Octa-core 1.4 GHz processor. The smaller Galaxy device is featuring Adreno 306 GPU, but the other one doesn’t include any GPU, which means that, this one aspect plays an important role to make Galaxy J5 much more advanced device than its larger version, especially equipped with the power of gaming.

Apart from it a 2,600mAh and 3,000mAh battery is loaded in Galaxy J5 and J7 and both of them provide same battery backup. Now a question may arise that why one would buy Galaxy J7 paying extra money where, the smaller version is more equipped. In that case, Samsung Galaxy J7 has one advantage and that is, J7 has a 5.5 inch screen, which makes it more than the conventional devices. In other hand, Galaxy J5 has a 5inch display, like the rest of the cheap smartphones are offering effortlessly.

Smartphones to Look Out For in 2015

2015 may just be halfway through but there is still a ton to look out for when it comes to smartphones. This has been the year of innovation, as several brands came out with new and different handsets which sported unique features. However, there are still several new things to look for when it comes to mobile phone specifications. Comparison of handsets released lately with those that came out last year will make you realise the huge gap between handsets and their features.

One of the main handsets that has managed to make waves in the upcoming cell phones market is the LG G4. LG’s G3 was the most ambitious phone from last year, and it came with a new and impressive look. Accordingly, the G4 sports a fancy leather casing, with Snapdragon 808 processor, 5.5 inch HD screen and 32 GB of internal storage, which is expandable. LG is also making waves with its LG G Flex 2.

Just when you thought that HTC couldn’t get any better, the smartphone maker managed to outdo itself with the HTC M9. Last year’s M8 was a big hit, as it managed to really win the market with its excellent mobile phone specifications. Comparison of the M8 and M9 will make you realise that the M9 comes with a 20 MP main camera, Snapdragon 810 chipset and an octa-core processor. The M9 is also releasing as a phablet, with the M9+, which is a 5.5 inch phablet. This is sure to give the likes of Note 4 competition.

Sony too is releasing the Z3+ and the Z4, which aim to be worthy successors of last year’s highly successful flagship Z3 series. And how can one forget Microsoft when talking about new launches. Microsoft is heel bent on ending the name of Nokia but it is still keeping the Lumia series alive. The new offerings from Microsoft include the Lumia 940 and the Lumia 940 XL. These phones too will come with large and bright screens and Windows OS, as has always been the norm with Microsoft and Lumia.

The S6 and the S6 Edge has already managed to make a name for itself with its innovative design and the fact that Samsung managed to finally get everything right, which all went wrong in the S5. The S5 tanked big time and proved to be the biggest embarrassment possible for Samsung. Thus, it’s a good thing that Samsung has really upped its game, as 2015 is sure to give it tons of competition.

This was all about upcoming cell phones & handheld news. There are also several brand names that are swirling in the rumour mills, with claims that many smaller names are also looking to take on the likes of bigwigs. Only time will tell whether this year will see any upsets for the big names.

Is Buying a Smartphone Online Safe?

Online shopping isn’t considered an eyebrow raising endeavor anymore. Irrespective of what your need may be, online shopping is the answer. Right from small stationary items and hair clips, to home theatre systems, e-commerce sites have it all. People now, after doing their homework by studying all of the latest smartphone specifications and features, buy smartphones online, which isn’t really news anymore. However, what is news is that after all this time, there are people now turning away from buying expensive and heavy investment items online, due to a few bad experiences and negative reviews.

While criticisms of online shopping isn’t new, is there really enough proof regarding cons of online shopping for people to be put off it for life? Imagine what a negatively experienced user goes through. After pouring his heart into researching everything about the latest mobile specifications, imagine ending up with something quite different from what you paid for.

Some people have landed with deliveries that came with the wrong cell phone model or color. Some more unfortunate customers end up without an earphone set or charger in their box. And the exceptionally unfortunate ones end up with a soap or a big brick instead of a smartphone in a box. Of course, these are exceptional cases and any of the stages of packaging could be to blame in this case.

However, once bitten twice shy is definitely true for several users who have had a bad experience such as those mentioned above when shopping online. Well, the good news about buying a smartphone in a store is that at least you yourself needn’t bulk up on the knowledge of the latest smartphone specifications yourself, as there will be a salesman to let you know about what features are present in which smartphone. And you may even get a chance to hold a similar model in your hand, so that you get a feel of the phone.

However, brick and mortar stores can never replace the convenience of being able to make a purchase from the comfort of your home. The best thing to do in such a case is to be cautious but not too cautious. Always make purchases only from authentic websites that everyone knows and who have a good reputation of not only delivering goods properly but also of addressing customer grievances on time and respectfully. Go through different handheld news to know which websites users are recommending for purchases.

Such news not only update you about the latest mobile specifications but also in related forums, users often speak of their experiences with smartphone purchases, providing vital guidelines on the do’s and don’ts of buying a smartphone. So, keep your eyes open and follow these pointers to make a smart and safe online smartphone buy.

Is Online Smartphone Shopping on a Decline?

There was a time when the very idea of online shopping was met with dismissive head shakes and looks of skepticism. Fast forward a few years and today, people have the same reaction when they see folks walking into brick and mortar stores. So what has changed? Well, online shopping has now become the lifeline of countless businesses. People don’t think twice before swiping their cards for purchasing expensive products online, including full home furnishings and home theatre systems. The same goes for smartphones.

People are now willing to buy smartphones online. For this, the first step is to do a thorough study of the latest smartphone specifications. Yes, before making any purchase, especially when it is of an important and necessary device such as a smartphone, being abreast of the latest mobile specifications is a must. So, you need to know what you want before buying the device. However, is that all that needs to be seen? Is it enough to just load up on the latest handheld news and then go crazy clicking? Are all online smartphone shoppers alike? The answer is no.

Despite the draw of online shopping, there are still people skeptical of buying a phone without seeing it. While in shops, you won’t get to unbox and feel a new phone anyway, it still makes a difference to hold a phone in your hand. You can all your doubts solved and answered by the shopkeeper who is highly knowledgeable of the latest mobile specifications of practically every handset in his shop. Then there are also the umpteen incidents being reported of cases where the box was delivered without a charger or an earphone set. Worst of all is what happens when you order a phone and what you get instead is a big box of soap!

These incidents are still few and rare and despite the slight slump in online shopping figures off late, it looks like e-commerce is here to stay. Skeptics may take some time to come around. To make the transition easier, websites are coming up with interesting offers and discounts which will never be seen in brick and mortar stores. Days of big discounts in websites are days when sale figures go through the roof.

People wait with bated breath, already knowing what they’re going to buy after having studied all of the latest smartphone specifications the day before. So, as soon as the smartphone they want pops up on the screen, it’s lapped up in no time. Several smartphone models, such as Xiaomi and Yu Yureka opted for such flash sales and they proved to not only make it to the latest handheld news but also managed to garner considerable publicity. So, all said and done, despite the temporary slump in online sales of smartphones, e-commerce sites can be assured that it’s just a phase as online shopping is clearly here to stay.