Belkin Boost-Up wireless charging pad: Tangle-free charging for smartphones

Pick up any flagship phone these days, and it features wireless charging. But there’s a catch: Almost no phone manufacturer bundles in a wireless charger. Thus, the customer, after paying big bucks for a phone with myriad features is often unable to use one of the most-touted ones.

A quick search on any shopping site reveals a wide range of wireless chargers, more specifically those which adhere to the Qi charging format. But most are from unknown Chinese manufacturers, and thus, there’s no guarantee about what they would turn out to be.

Thankfully, accessories major Belkin has a solution. The Boost-up Wireless Charging Pad (Rs 2,999) is compatible with most modern smartphones. I used it with the Apple iPhone X and the Samsung Galaxy Note8.

Initially, I faced a problem. The iPhone X had absolutely no charge, so I was apprehensive about whether I had placed it properly. Thankfully, there’s a green LED that lights up once the phone is aligned right. The charger comes in black and white, so you could match it with your phone’s colour. But, while there’s a microUSB cable in the pack, there’s no AC adapter.

Apple iPhone X to go on sale in India today: Check out the best deals

Apple’s anniversary edition iPhone X is going on sale in India today. The smartphone will be available through Apple'sretail stores and e-commerce platforms. Also, the phone will be available on the online stores of  Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio.
In India, the iPhone X base model with 64 GB storage is priced at Rs 89,000 and the higher storage model with 256 GB internal storage is priced at Rs 1,02,000.

Here are some of the deals on iPhone X

Reliance Jio
Reliance Jio has teamed up with Apple to offer 70 per cent buyback option to Jio customers on iPhone X. Also, Reliance Jio is offering Rs 10,000 cashback to Citibank customers on purchase of the iPhone X using their Citibank credit or debit card.
The buyback offer on iPhone X is valid only for Jio subscribers who opt for Rs 799 monthly Jio-Apple contract, which is valid for 12 months. The buyback offer assures 70 per cent money back to subscribers post 12-months subjected to terms and conditions.
The Rs 799 monthly contract is available for postpaid and prepaid subscribers. In the Rs 799 monthly plan, Reliance Jio will offer free voice calls, SMS and Jio apps coupled with 3 GB high-speed 4G data per day valid for 28 days.

Airtel
India’s leading telecom player Bharti Airtel would sell Apple’s anniversary edition iPhone X through its online store. The much-awaited smartphone of the year will go on sale starting 6 PM (IST), exclusively to Airtel postpaid customers as an unlocked device.
The Airtel Online store will put on sale both the variants of iPhone X. The 64 GB and 256 GB model of the smartphone is priced at Rs 89,000 and Rs 1,02,000, respectively. Citibank credit card customers can also avail Rs 10,000 cashback on the purchase of iPhone X. The cashback offer can be availed between 6 PM, November 3 and 7 AM, November 4, 2017.
Unlike Reliance Jio, the iPhone X purchased through Airtel store does not come with any bundled offer or buy back scheme. As an unlocked device, the smartphone can be used on any network.

Airtel users get Rs 10,000 cashback on iPhone X online purchase tomorrow

India’s leading telecom player Bharti Airtel on November 1 announced that it would sell Apple’s anniversary edition iPhone X through its online stores on November 3. The much-awaited smartphone of the year will go on sale starting 6 PM (IST), exclusively to Airtel postpaid customers as an unlocked device.

The Airtel Online store will put on sale both the variants of iPhone X. The 64 GB and 256 GB model of the smartphone is priced at Rs 89,000 and Rs 1,02,000, respectively. Citibank credit card customers can also avail Rs 10,000 cashback on the purchase of iPhone X. The cashback offer can be availed during 6 PM, November 3 and 7 AM, November 4, 2017.

“We are delighted to offer the most advanced iPhone on our Online Store and give our postpaid customers in India an opportunity to be amongst the select few globally to get the much awaited iPhone X. Our customers can also experience the seamless digital experience offered by Airtel’s Online Store from ordering the device to doorstep delivery,” said Raj Pudipeddi, Director - Consumer Business & CMO, Bharti Airtel/

Recently, the company put up on sale the yesteryear’s Apple flagships -- iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus -- on its digital store that went live on October 16.

Here are the features of iPhone X

The iPhone X sports glossy stainless steel frame body covered on the front and back by a glass design. It has a wide 5.8-inch Super Retina OLED display. The glassy back is accentuated by a vertically placed 12-megapixel dual camera set-up, which supports optical image stabilisation (OIS).

Apple iPhone X pre-booking starts today; base model priced at Rs 89,000

After launching iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus, Apple is gearing up to bring its anniversary edition iPhone X to India on November 3. The smartphone will be available for pre-registration through e-commerce platforms starting today.

Apple iPhone X will be available in two colour variants – silver and space grey – and both the variants will come with two storage options – 64 GB and 256 GB. The price of iPhone X will start at Rs 89,000 for the base model.

In terms of design and features, the iPhone X sports glossy stainless steel frame body covered on the front and back by a glass design. It has a wide 5.8-inch Super Retina OLED display. The glassy back is accentuated by a vertically placed 12-megapixel dual camera set-up, which supports optical image stabilisation (OIS).

On the front, a new 7-megapixel TrueDepth camera enables auto image stabilisation and precise exposure control, and brings the portrait mode to the front camera for stunning selfies with a depth-of-field (Bokeh) effect.

The iPhone X dual camera set-up boasts a f/1.8 aperture on the wide-angle camera and an improved f/2.4 aperture on the telephoto camera for better photos and videos. A new quad LED True Tone Flash offers twice the uniformity of light and includes Slow Sync, which brings more uniformly lit backgrounds and foregrounds.

The cameras on the iPhone X are custom-tuned for the augmented reality (AR) experience. Each camera is individually calibrated with new gyroscopes and accelerometers for accurate motion tracking.

Will iPhone X hurt iPhone 8 and 8 Plus sale? Here's what experts say

As Apple gets ready to ship iPhone 8 and 8 Plus before it opens iPhone X for pre-orders, a top analyst with Taiwanese business group KGI Securities has warned that iPhone X will cannibalise iPhone 8 orders.

According to Ming-Chi Kuo, the most famous analyst with KGI Securities when it comes to Apple, it is very likely that iPhone X demand will cannibalise iPhone 8 pre-orders.

"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 cannibalisation," streetinsider.com quoted the analyst as saying late on Monday.

Apple unveiled both iPhone X and iPhone 8 models, with the "super-premium" iPhone X starting at $999.

Ming, 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 per cent. 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.

According to the Verge, while Apple Watch shipments are well below iPhone shipments, investors should start keeping tabs on this new product, with shipments expected to surge much higher than previous generation models.

Never mind the iPhone X, battery life could soon take a great leap forward

Another suite of Apple iPhones, another media frenzy. Much has been written about the $999/£999 iPhone X, the demise of the home button, the “face ID” function, wireless charging and so on. Somewhere down the list of improvements was extra battery life, at least for the iPhone X, thanks to its new souped up A11 bionic processor.

Apple says the new device will charge for up to two hours more than the iPhone 7, suggesting 14 hours of internet use, for instance. Battery life on the iPhone 8, on the other hand, appears to be about comparable with its predecessor. Wireless charging, to which Apple is late to the party, makes no difference to the amount of power devices can store.

Improvements to batteries are usually a key part of smartphone launches, as you would expect for one of the major specifications on which consumers judge new devices. Samsung had much to say on this subject when it launched the Galaxy Note 8 last month – albeit less about extending battery life than ensuring no repeats of the flaws in Note 7s that made them prone to catch fire.

Yet several decades into the mobile computing revolution, even the best products are still relatively limited in how long they can function on a single charge. The original iPhone was good for eight hours of internet browsing, for example, so Apple’s devices have only advanced modestly in ten years.
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Will Apple's new augmented reality feature be the face of iOS 11?

Taking a step ahead in technology, Apple on Tuesday unveiled a handful of demonstrations of its new augmented reality (AR), displaying the efficiency of the ARKit platform and power of the new camera and A11 Bionic chip on the iPhone 8, thus diffusing the feeling of visuals placed dynamically in the real world to its viewers.

Ahead of the launch of the iOS 11 on September 19, the tech giant through its ARKit aims to bring AR to mainstream consumers by baking it directly into the iPhone and iOS, reported The Verge.

Hailed as one of the biggest upgrades to iOS this year, Apple brings a host of features to its consumer base, such as Siri translations, Apple Pay in iMessage, split screen mode on iPad, drag and drop, Do Not Disturb mode while driving and so on.

One of the much-anticipated features of this year undoubtedly remains the Face ID, which will replace the age-old touch ID in Apple's anniversary edition, iPhone X, which is deemed to be the 'future of smartphones'. Using a combination of infrared cameras and 3D depth sensing technology, the software helps recognize a user's face, or the Face ID, which can subsequently be used to unlock the phone, authorize Apple Pay payments, and even create customized animated emojis, or simply, emojis.
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Apple to launch iPhone 8, X today: Watch out for its AR feature

Apple’s going to announce its latest iPhone model today. But we already know about one of the coolest new features: the dead-simple ARKit, which allows devices to create cool AR apps with no hardware (other than your iPhone camera) required.

However, the biggest thing that Apple is about to release isn’t its screen, but ARKit, the company’s entrance into the augmented reality (AR) space.

Apple’s ARKit, which will be released in iOS 11, will give developers new capabilities to mix virtual objects with the real world through the phone’s camera. Already, huge companies like Ikea have developed an array of beta augmented reality (AR) apps in anticipation of iOS 11, from a The Walking Dead inspired zombie game to an app that helps you find friends at music festivals.

Apple to launch iPhone 8 It is a new feature that will allow you to create unparalleled augmented reality experiences for iPhone and iPad. By blending digital objects and information with the environment around you, ARKit takes applications beyond the screen, freeing them to interact with the real world in entirely new ways.

ALSO READ: iPhone X, 8 launch today: Here are all the details on the Apple event