Lo And Behold, Asus finally decided to break away from the chaos it created with the Zenfone moniker and out a new device with a fresh and recognizable title of its own. The Asus Live was just introduced in Brazil, as a new mid-range offer, but while its name stands out, its specs sheet offers a throwback to the Zenfone series and particularly the Zenfone Go.

In fact, the new Asus Live seems to be built on practically the same hardware platform. It features a 5″ 720p display, 2GB of RAM and 16GB of onboard storage and is powered by the MediaTek MT6580 SoC. Its camera setup is also identical with an 8MP main shooter with f/2.0 aperture and a 2MP selfie one. Just like its Zenfone cousin, the Live offers Dual SIM support, but lacks LTE and is powered by a 2,070 mAh battery.

Even in dimensions, the two devices are strikingly similar with the Asus Live measuring 144.5 x 71 x 9.98 mm and weighing in 5 grams more at 140 grams. This could be due to one of the few differences between the models – the built-in digital TV receiver in the Asus Live (a typical feature for smartphones in Brazil). Also, it is worth noting that the new model is a bit more colorful and offers different dyes on the frame.

You can get the Asus Live in Blue, Pink and Yellow for 849 BRL or about $211.

Source |…

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Back in November, Xiaomi announced the Redmi Note 3, which was the company’s first smartphone with a fingerprint sensor and a full-metal body. Today, the company announced a different variant of the phone, with a couple of changes.

The new model announced today varies in two ways. One, it replaces the MediaTek Helio X10 chipset with the new Qualcomm Snapdragon 650 with a 64-bit 1.8GHz hexa-core CPU, Adreno 510 GPU, integrated X8 LTE with Cat 7 speeds and support for VoLTE. The device works on all mobile carriers in China and has 4G+ network support.

The other change is the switch from a 13 megapixel camera on the back to 16 megapixels with f2.0 aperture and phase detection autofocus.

Most of the other specifications remain the same, with a 5.5-inch 1080p display, 2GB RAM on the 16GB model and 3GB on the 32GB model, and 4,050mAh battery.

The 16GB model is priced at RMB 999 ($151). The 32GB pricing will be announced later.

If you’re reading this in India, then you’ll be glad to know that the phone is also coming soon to the Indian market. Pricing and availability information isn’t available yet but Xiaomi has started the Redmi Note 3 Explorer challenge in India, where 100 chosen Mi fans will get the phone if they complete the 100 missions. More details will be released…

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A new update to the Google+ app for Android has started rolling out, and should reach all users within a few days. Google+ 7.0.0 is all about giving people the most requested features since the big redesign last year, but also squashing some bugs in the process.

The bottom tab bar now automatically hides when scrolling (but not on the Notifications screen yet). The home stream remembers your position when you come back to it from a different screen, and the search function has gotten autocomplete suggestions as you type. If you have no Communities or Collections on your profile, then the app will prompt you to add one. Additionally, a grand total of precisely 69 bugs have been fixed, and 14 accessibility issues have been addressed.

More updates are promised for the Google+ app for Android in the near future, and you can influence what will go into them by using the Send Feedback menu item.

Source |…

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With cheaper processors becoming faster and more than enough for performing day-to-day tasks, more and more mid-range smartphones are starting to appeal to consumers. Like Samsung, LG seeks to unify all its mid-rangers with a recognizable branding.

While the top of the mid-range offering, the K7 and K10, were revealed at CES last week, LG also has plans to make a K8, K7, K5, and K4. LG’s tagline for its K-Series of smartphones is “Find Your Own Style”.

Perhaps not every K-Series smartphone will be available in one particular market, but there is a variety to choose from that will surely find a market to cater to. LG’s growth has been leveling off lately and this is really LG’s chance to take market share from Samsung in the mid to lower-range markets.

Here is LG’s post from Facebook:

As part of LG’s new affordable mid-range smartphone series, the K10 and K7 stand out both in design and camera features. The glossy pebble design complemented with intricate woven back patterns provide a better grip and unique features including the ‘gesture interval shot’ and ‘tap and shot’ will bring a hassle-free selfie experience to those in use.

*Specifications may vary depending on region

LG looks to be targeting the younger crowd with its mid-rangers particularly mentioning the rear texture design for making a statement, and features that can enhance the selfie experience.

LG’s new K-Series phones are quite nice to look at, if you haven’t already, check out our K10 and K7 hands-on posts.

Via |…

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Microsoft has announced that online pre-orders for the company’s new Band, dubbed Band 2, are now live in Australia. This means that you can now go ahead and pre-order a unit via the Australian Microsoft Store site.

The Redmond, Washington-based company also revealed that those pre-ordering the band will receive it “as early as January 21.” As for the price, the wearable device carries a tag of AUD 379.99 in the country, which translates into $265 at current exchange rates.

Available in small, medium, as well as large sizes, the Band 2 features continuous heart rate monitoring and notification alerts. It also packs in as much as eleven sensors that can track various activities including exercising, running, weightlifting, biking, and rowing.

Source 1…

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A new beta version of the Google app for Android is now out, and it has a couple of new features inside. First off, for those who use the Google Now Launcher, it has received support for auto-rotation on phones. The Google Now Launcher currently only auto-rotates on tablets, but if you want it to do the same on your phone, then you should grab this beta version.

Such a feature was present in early Android Marshmallow developer previews, but it mysteriously disappeared when the third one came out – and hasn’t returned until today. To enable auto-rotation you need to go into the settings of the Google Now Launcher and tap on the new option that shows up at the bottom of the list.

Another new thing in this beta release is icon normalization. This basically resizes app icons to make them appear more consistent with one another – so you won’t have a huge icon next to a small one, and so on. Google has some guidelines out for icon sizes, but not all developers adhere to those. Of course, there could be some instances where this auto-resizing doesn’t go very well, but that’s why this has been added to a beta release of the app. Things should improve before the finalized version is shipped to everyone.

If you’re interested in testing the 5.8 beta iteration of the Google app (and understand that bugs are pretty much inevitable in these cases), make sure you head over to the Source link below to download and install it (updating your existing…

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We’ve gathered three of the best Android phablets with a 5.7″ screen. All three hail from the East but instead of Zen calmness they epitomize the latest and greatest in mobile technology.

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Google’s Cardboard design is pretty much the cheapest way for anyone to get into the whole VR thing. You just buy one of the very cheap Cardboard options (or create your own, or get one for free), you add a phone, and that’s it – you’re now ready to experience VR.

To make things even better, the search giant is now adding support for spatial audio to the Cardboard SDK. This means developers can now create immersive audio experiences in their VR apps. What’s more, for end-users this will work with any pair of headphones, no special gear needed.

According to Google, “the SDK combines the physiology of a listener’s head with the positions of virtual sound sources to determine what users hear. For example: sounds that come from the right will reach a user’s left ear with a slight delay, and with fewer high frequency elements (which are normally dampened by the skull).” Furthermore, the developers can specify the size and material of any virtual environment, which contribute to the quality of a sound. Depending on where you as an end-user seem to be in VR, things will sound different.

The good news is that spatial audio shouldn’t tax your phone’s CPU too much, and the SDK allows developers to control the fidelity of each sound – allocating more resources to critical things, and de-emphasizing others. Hopefully this feature will make it to apps very…

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To complement the high-end Lumia 950 and Lumia 950 XL in its portfolio, Microsoft has been rumored to be working on a bunch of midrange and upper-midrange smartphones, including a Lumia 850 and a Lumia 750.

Well, one of those has recently been certified by 3C in China. Its model number is RM-1182, though that obviously doesn’t tell us if it will be sold as the Lumia 750 or the Lumia 850.

Whatever the case, the handset is said to sport Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 617 SoC, which features a 1.5 GHz octa-core Cortex-A53 CPU and the Adreno 405 GPU, as well as support for Cat.7 LTE. It’s the same chip as in the HTC One A9.

The newly certified Lumia handset is headed to China Unicom (at least this particular version of it is), and will not have fast charging as per the data released by 3C. It’s manufactured by BYD.

Past rumors had the Lumia 750 coming with 2GB of RAM, 16GB of expandable storage, a 5.4-inch 1080p touchscreen, and a 10 MP main camera. It may become official at MWC next month.

Source (in Chinese) |…

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Skype has announced that it has completed the roll out of its Translator feature – it’s now available to all Skype for Windows users. The feature – as the name suggests – allows those speaking different languages to communicate in near real-time, making sure that the essence of conversation isn’t lost.

For those who are new to the feature, you can use it by just clicking on the globe in the upper right hand corner of the app (see image below).

Supported languages (for voice-to-voice translation) include Chinese Mandarin, English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish.

The Redmond, Washington-based company also revealed some interesting facts related to the feature. For example, French to English is the most popular language pair, and the number of calls per day has increased 400% since the feature launched.

If you are a Skype of Windows user, and your app still doesn’t have the feature, you’re probably using an older version – download the latest one…

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