Intex Cloud X3 smartphone with dual-core processor launched for Rs. 3,790

Intex Technologies has launched an entry level smartphone, the Cloud X3 in India for Rs. 3,790.

The Intex Cloud X3 features a 3.5-inch display and boasts of MiraVision technology. The device is powered by a 1GHz dual-core MediaTek MT6572 processor coupled with 256MB RAM. It has a 2-megapixel rear camera and a VGA front-facing camera. The Intex Cloud X3 runs Android 4.2 Jelly Bean.

It comes with 115MB of internal memory that is expandable up to 32GB through microSD card.

Other key features include dual-SIM functionality with GSM+GSM support, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, gravity sensors, video recorder, audio recorder, motion sensors, and GPS. The Intex Cloud X3 comes with a 1450mAh battery that the company claims can give 6 hours of talktime and 200 hours of standby time.

The handset has been launched in two colours, White and Black.

Commenting on the launch Sanjay Kumar Kalirona, GM-Mobility Division, Intex Technologies Ltd said, "The feature phone market in India has matured and there is a subsequent growth in the smartphone category. Building on this burgeoning market, Intex offers its latest smartphone Cloud X3 that is especially designed to meet the need of entry level users who would like to migrate to a more sophisticated mobile experience".

Intex claims that it is targeting a revenue growth of more than 400 percent this fiscal from the mobile vertical with smartphones being the driver. The company also plans to extend the entry level Smartphone range to 10 models by September 2013.

The Intex Cloud X3 comes with an all new MediaTek MT6572 processor. Dr. Finbarr Moynihan, General Manager - Business Development, MediaTek Inc said, "MediaTek continues to drive the democratization of smartphones by re-defining the entry level segment, moving the baseline to dual-core processing with the MT6572. This new dual-core chipset, designed to offer excellent performance to end users, integrates a power-efficient dual-core Cortex-A7 CPU sub-system with speeds up to 1.3GHz in the leading 28nm process technology."

Mobiles launched in July 2013

Intex Cloud X3 key specifications

• 3.5-inch display
• 1GHz dual-core MediaTek MT6572 processor
• 256MB RAM
• 115MB internal memory, expandable by up to 32GB via microSD card
• 2-megapixel rear camera
• VGA front facing camera
• Android 4.2 (Jelly Bean)
• 1,450mAh battery
• Dual SIM (GSM+GSM)

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Nokia Asha 501 review

The Nokia Lumia range might be making headlines, but Nokia's feature phones including its relatively new Asha series phones are the ones making cash registers ring for the company across India. The latest to join the bandwagon is the Asha 501, which was unveiled a few months back by Nokia chief Stephen Elop at an event in India.

Nokia has been known to come out with solid, sturdy devices rather than flashy, glitzy ones when it comes to its budget phones. However, we think that the Nokia Asha 501 is here to change that and reveals the brand's playful side in the feature phone segment. The much hyped Nokia Asha 501 has finally made it to the Indian market. But does it live up to expectations? We take a close look.

Build/ Design

At a time when phones seem to be getting bigger, the Nokia Asha 501 goes the opposite direction, opting for a compact build with dimensions of 99.2x58x12.1mm. When we got the device in our hands the first time, the word that came to our mind was 'cute'.

The Asha 501 easily reminded us of the Lumia smartphones and though it is a bit chunky, thanks to its design, it fits in one hand easily. It is pretty light in weight at just 91 grams.

Be it an entry-level feature phone or a Lumia smartphone, the one thing that remains consistent in a Nokia phone is its style and design, which generally exudes quality and matches international design standards. The Nokia Asha 501 lives up to this legacy.

The front panel is dominated by a 3-inch display that is surrounded by a black bezel with a physical 'Back' key placed at the bottom of the panel and the Nokia logo on top of the screen just below the earpiece. Nokia has followed the same Lumia design language, placing the physical keys for volume controls and power buttons on the right. We did miss a camera hardware key, though. The top panel houses a 2.5mm charging port, a Micro-USB port and a 3.5mm audio port.

The back of the device includes a 3.2-megapixel camera placed at the centre towards the top, with a vertical Nokia branding just below the camera. At the bottom of the rear panel, there's a button that can be pressed to remove the back panel. This sounds simple, though it took some time to get used to.

The back panel is an exchangeable shell which can be replaced with other bright coloured panels that include Red, Cyan Yellow, Green, White and Black colours. The battery is removable and a Micro-SIM card slot hides behind it in the same compartment. The second Micro-SIM can be changed without switching off the device and same is the case with the memory card. Overall, the Nokia Asha 501 is impressive in design and, definitely a looker. The handset, despite its relatively low price, feels solid and is comfortable to use.

Display

The Nokia Asha 501 includes a 3-inch capacitive display, a huge advantage for a device in the price segment. The 3-inch TFT capacitive display comes with a resolution of 240x320 pixels and boasts a pixel density of 133PPI. It includes options like brightness control, RGB Stripe, and support for the double tap to wake up gesture.

The display is responsive to touch, though at times it has a bit of a lag. It supports two-point touch and includes a proximity sensor. The display has good viewing angles and is readable under the sun.

Software/ Interface

With the Asha 501, Nokia has introduced a new platform, which it calls the Nokia Asha software platform 1.0 instead of S40 (Series 40) which powers other Asha devices. However, the user-interface is similar to that of the S40 operating system found in previous versions of the Asha series of touch phones, based on the Nokia N9's swipe concept.

Nokia Asha 501 comes with a UI that is easy to use and largely dominated by gesture controls like swiping. The Back hardware key proves to be handy when stuck in app or for closing an app.

Nokia unveiled the Fastlane feature for the Asha 501. It collectively shows all the recent apps in a list form according to dates. The feature gives a quick overview yout activity. For instance, if you played a game or used an app on the device it will automatically be featured on the Fastlane as a log. It is also the default homescreen when one unlocks the phone, and doubles up as a task-switcher of sorts. Swiping the screen from either side, from any app or game takes you directly to the Fastlane. While using an app, you can access options by swiping up from the bottom and these appear. It worked well for us.

If you want to change the location of an app or even delete it, just long press and hold the app icon on the menu list. There are not many personalisation options on the Asha 501, which is a bit of a let down and one can only change the wallpaper and sound profiles. The phone comes with the default standby screen with a digital clock, and you can change it in the Settings through the 'Glance screen' option. There is a notification bar at the top, similar to what we have already seen in previous Asha phones. You can pull it down to see SIM information and adjust Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, mobile data and sound profile settings.

The Nokia Asha 501 comes with the company's proprietary Xpress Browser, which was introduced for the Asha range of phones. The browser compresses the data, much like the Opera Mini. We had no complaints browsing the web on the phone. One can open up to 6 web pages on the device at once and can switch between them.

The phone comes with some preloaded apps and games. The games are Java-based but the experience was great for a phone at this price point. Some popular apps that come pre-installed include Facebook, Twitter, Nokia Chat, twist Music and NewsHunt. The Asha 501 comes with 40 free EA games that can be downloaded using Wi-Fi. WhatsApp is said to be available on the platform shortly. One can browse and download apps through the Store. We downloaded the Here Maps Beta version on our Asha 501 and it worked well with Wi-Fi.

Camera

The Nokia Asha 501 comes with a 3.2-megapixel camera without flash and auto-focus options. The camera comes with some basic features and offers toggles for timer settings, white balance, effects and photo resolution adjustment. The resolution can be changed to 2048x1536, 1600x1200, 1280x960 and 640x480.

The camera can take decent shots in daylight with good colours but lacks details, and we found that night shots were not that great. Same was the case with indoor photos which were rather grainy. The Nokia Asha 501 is not a device to click close-up shots because of the camera's fixed-focus nature. The camera comes with digital zoom up to 3X.

The pictures miss out on detail but considering the price and the audience that Nokia is targeting, we can say it doesn't disappoint completely.

Performance

The Nokia Asha 501 handled swiping well and was smooth and responsive for most part.

Some apps did freeze at times, but we were able to exit to the home screen through the back key. The phone offered good call clarity with both the SIM slots and the FM radio reception was decent. The phone can be unlocked either by using the power key or by double-tapping the screen, which is a cool feature.

Sadly the music player of the Asha 501 misses out on basic options like adjustable equalisers and pre-set music profiles. The music player interface does show the artwork related to the song and the album. The speaker was good and loud.

We had no complaints watching some of our favourite videos on the device through YouTube, though the video playing experience was limited with no support for MP4, MOV, MKV or AVI file formats. It was unable to play 720p (or higher) video either.

We would have loved if Nokia included a notification light as it would have enhanced the overall experience of using the handset.

The Gallery app supports pinch to zoom and gives options to share images through Bluetooth and email. The pinch to zoom feature worked well during our time with the phone.

The Nokia Asha 501 comes with 128MB of internal storage and 64MB of RAM. It also supports expandable memory cards up to 32GB thanks to microSD card slot. Connectivity features include like Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and Micro-USB. However, we did miss 3G on the device.

The device packs a 1200mAh battery that the company claims, delivers 624 hours of standby time and a talk time of 17 hours. However, we were not very happy with the back-up.

When we used the device (with Wi-Fi) for Web browsing, chatting, playing games like Litle Big City, Bubble Bash, Wolverine and others, we found that the battery just about lasted a day, which is less than what you expect from phones in this category.

However, when not using Wi-Fi or data on the phone and using it for just normal calling, messaging, occasionally clicking photos and playing some games, the device lasted a couple of days with just one full charge.

Verdict

The Nokia Asha 501 is definitely good in some departments but disappoints in some. If we consider the price of the device and the features that it brings, it is overall a very good deal.

For those looking to buy a feature phone that delivers a smartphone-like experience, the Nokia Asha 501 is a decent package. One thing that surprised us was that both the SIM slots supported Micro-SIM, which may be an inconvenience for some. Overall, the Asha 501 scores well in terms of design, user-interface and build quality.

Those looking for alternatives can go for a Samsung's Galaxy Star that comes at a price of Rs. 4,900. Another Android option is the Micromax Bolt A35, which comes at a price of Rs. 4,400.

If you want a Nokia alternative then you can also opt for Nokia Asha 305.

Nokia Asha 501: In pictures

Price: Rs. 5,199

Pros

• Easy to use UI
• Smart design and form-factor
• Value for Money

Cons

• Battery back-up with data and Wi-Fi usage not satisfactory
• No 3G

Ratings (Out of 5)

• Design: 3.5
• Display: 2.5
• Performance: 2.5
• Software: 2.5
• Battery Life: 3
• Value for Money: 3.5
• Camera: 2.5
• Overall: 3

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Mobile messaging app Line signs up 5 million users in India

Mobile instant messaging app, Line, which officially unveiled in India three weeks back, claims to have 5 million registered users in the country.

It's worth pointing out that while the brand marketing campaign for the app, including two television advertisements started this month, the app has been available for download on app stores of various smartphone platforms for a long time. So it's likely that the 5 million figure also includes users that signed up before the India marketing initiative started.

Commenting on the achievement,Jun Masuda, Chief Strategy and Marketing Officer (CSMO) of Line Corporation, said, "We are extremely happy with the response to our service in India. This is the testimony that we are in the right market with the right product and at the right time. We believe that the framework for web based messaging has already been laid with consumers hooked to it and now are looking for a product that can elevate their communication experience through richer features and functionality. Line comes in at the right time with an app that will transform the way people communicate in India".
  
"Our aim is to achieve 10 million users in India in a few months. We are confident with our feature rich product and market specific localization, India will be one of the key markets contributing to our global growth," he added.

Line is similar to other P2P mobile messengers such as WhatsApp, Viber, WeChat and Hike, but its USP is its stickers and voice chat features. The app offers more than 8,000 stickers, out of which some are part of premium packs which need to be bought via in-app purchase. This is a major monetization model for the app. Line even inks 4 week deals with brands to offer customised stickers.

Line also monetizes through tie-up with brands to create official brand accounts and artist accounts. The Japanese app company informed that it had signed a deal with Sony India under the same arrangement.

The app is popular in markets such as Japan, Thailand, Taiwan, and Spain, and is now targeting the Indian market. It intends to offer localised stickers and support for Indian languages, in the near future.

Line claims to have 200 million registered users worldwide, as on July 21, 2013, and says that 80.4 percent among these are monthly active users. The app is available on all major mobile OS platforms, including iOS, Android, Windows Phone and BlackBerry.

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Saavn launches Saavn Pro premium music service on Android

Saavn, the online music streaming service, has rolled out a paid subscription option, dubbed as Saavn Pro for its Android app. The updated app is now available for download from the Play Store.

The Saavn Pro service makes listening to online music ad-free and also allows users to make music available offline, which the company believes would be great for regions where data connectivity is spotty.

The service offers a 30-day free trial, after which users can subscribe to Saavn Pro for Rs. 220 per month directly through their Google account. The app renews automatically offering users 3GB of offline music storage on up to 5 devices. The company is also offering a Lite version especially for Indian consumers which is available for Rs. 110 per month, renewing automatically for 1GB of music storage with just one device.

The updated Saavn app for Android includes Saavn Pro service integration offering features like offline downloads, ad-free listening, sync over cellular data where users can opt to use Wi-Fi or a cellular data connection to cache music for offline listening and a pro-audio feature that gives users access to high quality music up to 320 kbps, which will be added to the app in the coming weeks.

Rishi Malhotra, president and co-founder of Saavn said, "Saavn Pro on Android is big for Saavn and Google, and marks the start of premium Android apps reaching scale in India. At the end of the day, the music labels are the biggest winners - we're recapturing lost revenue in a heavily-pirated market. Global consumers are telling us they value an ad-free music listening experience, and we are delivering the best mobile experience today."

Saavn had earlier launched the Saavn Pro service for users of its iOS app a few months back.

Another music streaming service, Gaana.com had also introduced a premium subscription based version of its service, Gaana+ to the Android platform, a few months back. The Gaana+ service comes with a 15 day free trial after which users need to pay a monthly subscription fee of $2.99 (or Rs. 170.13) if located in India or $3.99 if outside India.

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Narendra Modi fans launch Namo Android smartphone

A group, claiming to be "independent body of fans of Shri Narendra Modi", has launched the Namo Android smartphone that will be available 'soon'.

Namo, is short of course for Narendra Modi, the Chief Minister of Gujarat, and Chairman of Central Election Campaign Committee of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), one of India's leading political parties. Namo is also, the group shares, short for, Next-generation Android Mobile Odyssey, as the Namo phone is based on Android.

Explaining the motivation in releasing the phone, the group says on its website, "We are fans of Shri, Narendra Modi, our forthcoming future leader of our great nation India, we are manufacturing latest Android handset dedicated to the IRONMAN of modern India."

The website is scant on details about Namo, the smartphone, though it does mention some of the specifications. Namo will sport a 5-inch Corning Glass 2 display and be powered by a 1.5GHz quad-core Mediatek MT6589 chipset. It will have a 13-megapixel camera. The phone will supposedly come in 4 variants, with the amount of RAM and internal storage varying between 1-2GB and 16-64GB respectively. There's no word yet on the price or availability of Namo smartphone.

To be clear, it seems what the group plans to do is import off-the-shelf smartphones from China to rebrand and market them, similar to what many other Indian smartphone brands are already doing. Will the group be around to service the Namo smartphone if and when it runs into issues is anyone's guess.

"We are from land of Gujarat & in electronic smartphone business in China," the group says. "Our product is our way of dedication & respect to our great nation leader. We will be launching NAMO Android handset with Shri Narendra Modi "signature edition", for which process in under way! We will launch our handset very soon... for updates please see our FB page."

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Canonical looks to raise $32 million via crowdfunding to develop Ubuntu Edge phones

Canonical, the firm behind Ubuntu has announced a crowdfunding campaign to build the first batch of Ubuntu Edge phones.

The company hopes to raise $32 million in 30 days to manufacture a limited batch of 40,000 devices that will run both Android and open source Ubuntu Touch operating systems. Canonical is using the Indiegogo crowdfunding service, which is similar to the more popular Kickstarter, for the campaign and the Paypal electronic payment facility to collect the contributions.

Mark Shuttleworth, founder of Ubuntu, said in a press note, "Ubuntu Edge is the ultimate convergence device - challenging established norms for PCs and smartphones. The crowdfunding approach is a new way to prove demand for cutting edge technologies and new classes of devices, supporting the Ubuntu Edge is the best way to catalyse the next generation of personal devices from the industry."

The innovative Ubuntu Edge phone is said to support dual-boot with Ubuntu phone OS and Android, and will transform into a PC when docked with a monitor with full Ubuntu desktop with shared access to all phone's files.

The Indiegogo project lists the specifications of the Ubuntu Edge phones. The phone will be powered by a 'multi-core' processor coupled with 4GB of RAM and would include 128GB of storage. It will feature a 4.5-inch HD display with a resolution of 720x1280 pixels and would sport a sapphire crystal display. There will be an 8-megapixel rear camera with low-light feature and a 2-megapixel front camera. Other features would include GPS, accelerometer, gyro, proximity sensor, compass, barometer and active noise cancellation. The Ubuntu Edge phone is said to feature stereo speakers with HD audio and dual-mic recording. Connectivity options include LTE, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and NFC. However, the site clearly mentions that the specifications are subject to change.

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Intel to launch low-power version of Xeon server chip

Chipmaker Intel Corp said it is planning to launch a low-power version of its brawny server processors, potentially heading off competitors hoping to expand into the data center with energy efficient-chips based on smartphone technology.

Intel has already launched a line of its Atom mobile chips that are tweaked to work as low-power server chips.

The announcement, which was made on Monday at an event with industry analysts and media, means Intel will go a step further by offering a low-power version of its powerful Xeon processor with built-in features including connectivity and memory.

It also reflects the willingness of CEO Brian Krzanich, who took over in May, to make major changes to how Intel approaches its different markets.

By launching lower-power chips for servers, Intel is trying to stay ahead of Advanced Micro Devices, Applied Micro Circuits Corp and other smaller rivals hoping to disrupt the top chipmaker's dominance of the data center with upcoming components designed with low-power smartphone technology licensed from ARM Holdings.

"Intel's announcements demonstrate they will try to defend their turf against ARM-based servers and specialty processors," said Pat Moorhead, an analyst at Moor Insights & Strategy. "Up until today, it was a bit of a guessing game for Intel that today has at least 95-percent server market share."

Diane Bryant, in charge of Intel's data center business, said the new component, based on the upcoming Broadwell version of Intel's Xeon high-performance chips, will launch next year.

Energy-sipping chips similar to those used in smartphones and tablets lack the horsepower of traditional server processors made by Intel. But data centers that combine many low-power chips instead of just a few heavy-duty processors may provide more computing power for less money and use less electricity.

Microservers have yet to gain serious traction with traditional corporate customers like banks and manufacturers, and the potential size of the market remains unclear.

The new version of Broadwell is part of Intel's move to integrate more features onto its chips, like memory and graphics. "System on chips," as they are known, are already widely used in smartphones and tablets, but less in the data center. Intel is also beginning to make "system on chips" for laptops.

Intel dominates the PC and server markets, but it was slow to design chips for the mobile market, where chips using technology from ARM Holdings have become ubiquitous.

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Samsung set to steal FBI phone deal from rival Blackberry

KOREAN HARDWARE MAKER Samsung reportedly is close to securing a deal to supply mobile phones to the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), bad news for rival Blackberry.

At present, Blackberry holds the primary mobile phone contract with the FBI, providing most of its 35,000+ its employees with secure handsets for work.

That's about to change however, according to Reuters, which reported that Samsung is likely to steal this deal away from Blackberry, with the phone maker close to inking a deal with the FBI. Once a deal is completed it will see FBI staff, probably quite willingly, switching their Blackberry handsets for Samsung Galaxy devices.

If true, this won't come as much of a surprise, as earlier this year Samsung Galaxy devices as well as iPhones won Pentagon security approval, which means that these handsets can be used by the US government.

Samsung said it would not comment on today's speculation, but Blackberry was keen to pipe up, saying that it still believes its Blackberry operating system is the most secure on the market.

A Blackberry spokesperson told The INQUIRER, "We have been honored to serve the FBI for many years without a single security breach. BlackBerry understands that our customers, more than ever, must ensure the security of their mobile communications from malicious activity.

"We also understand that untested and unproven mobile solutions can be risky and potentially pose threats to enterprise or national security. That is why we have taken BlackBerry security to a new level with BlackBerry 10 for enterprise.

"We cannot comment on unannounced decisions of others, but remain committed to ensuring our US and other customers have the world's most secure mobile solutions."

A spokeswoman for the FBI declined to comment

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Online porn block: Legit sites to suffer from David Cameron's ignorance

THE UK GOVERNMENT decision toimpose automatic online pornography filtering via UK ISPs today could cause a multiplicity of issues, such as loss of trade for online retailers and a decline in trust from web users.

UK Prime Minister David Cameron announced in a speech earlier todaythat after months of negotiation the UK government has been working with four UK ISPs - Virgin Media, Talktalk, Sky and BT - to roll out of an opt-in pornography blocking system in which people will have to choose whether their internet connection will be able to access adult content.

"By the end of this year, when someone sets up a new broadband account the settings to install family friendly filters will be automatically selected," Cameron said. "If you just click 'next' or 'enter', then the filters are automatically on."

The INQUIRER spoke with online filtering security firm Webroot today, which discussed the technology behind the filtering processes involved in blocking pornographic imagery in more detail, including how this system could potentially cause problems across retail commerce as well as unanticipated impacts on society.

Webroot's technology works using millions of "crawlers" that relentlessly scour the web looking for new porn websites via a hybrid system of machine learning and human classification, which catalogues domains.

The web filtering firm has catalogued over 310 million domains that are scored, classified and sorted into around 83 categories, 14 languages and over 550 million IP addresses to look for dangerous sites, such as phishing portals as well as pornography.

The firm is constantly working with a huge amount of data in various databases with regard to the content of each URL address on the web.

"The ideal is to do [it] with a high degree of accuracy; that's the key thing," Webroot's enterprise product marketing manager George Anderson said.

"We've scored and researched over 8.7 billion URLs for the time we've been going, obviously some of those you have to put in front of a human person, as machines learning things can't work out everything and they have to make a decision whether that's 'porn' or not."

Anderson detailed the technology that enables Webroot to decipher the difference between pornographic and non-pornographic imagery online.

This technology analyses the amount of flesh tone that is in an image and tries to classify it according to the amount of nudity.

The filters create a hashed, unique value for each pornographic image so if the picture is seen in internet traffic it is automatically blocked.

"It's like a fingerprint," Anderson said. "Creating fingerprints for all that material and so if [the filter] recognises it, it blocks it."

However, he admitted that even though this technology has been running online for some time now, there are "some grey areas" with regard to underwear or swimsuit websites with bikini images, for example.

Anderson said that ISPs will be using the same or similar sorts of systems in order for their porn filtering systems to operate. "[The ISPs] will have to approach us or some other firm who offer these sorts of services, but they probably already have that in place," Anderson added.

However, as is common knowledge, Anderson also noted that these filtering systems aren't by any means faultless, and there are always going to be misclassifications somewhere down the web filtering line.

"None of these systems are perfect and if you're an underwear site that's pretty close [to a porn site] and you get blocked because of this ban, that's going to cause issues," Anderson said.

"Apart from the fact you're going to lose trade, how quickly and how you're going to get compensated for that lost trade and who's going to pay that compensation. Is it going to be the government? I very much doubt it."

Another potential factor to consider in the event of a glitch is how quickly an online retailer could get the block lifted. Anderson advised that this is usually fairly rapidly, but this would not be the case if the four ISPs do not use one common system.

"If [the ISPs] are all using separate [filtering] systems then the retailer will have to go to each separate ISP to unblock their site," he said. "I don't think that's been sorted through. I think there are some complications there and it's something that really has to be sorted out."

He also pointed at some potential "central querying" software that might be needed to search all ISPs.

Despite the possible issues that could arise using this method, Anderson did understand why the government had chosen to go through the ISP, as it is simpler to do at this level because all the traffic has to go through the ISP.

"You'll have a more effective system at ISP level [...] but the negative side of it is that there is far more interference in what you're doing on the internet."

Anderson said government enforced web filtering could also lead to mistrust from web users regarding the legalities of filtering everything you search for online, and he questioned what impact this could have on society.

"In effect, what it does mean that every single web request made by anyone in the UK is going to be filtered, full stop?" he asked. "If you have government filtering every request, there's a lot of opening to abuse as well. At that level, its concerning. We've had enough concern with governments and privacy with PRISM."

"I think it becomes too much about the state being involved in people's personal lives; that's the risk," he said

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SIM card encryption exploit leaves mobile phone users vulnerable to hacking

A SIM CARD EXPLOIT that could leave millions of mobile phones vulnerable to hacking has been uncovered by German security firm Security Research Labs (SRL).

The research, which is due to be presented at the Black Hat security conference next week, has been detailed on a blog post by SRL founder and cryptographer Karsten Nohl, who said that the use of outdated 1970s cryptography could be exploited, granting hackers access to a device's location and SMS functions.

In the blog post, Nohl explained that the 56-bit Data Encryption Standard (DES) algorithm used for many SIM cards' signature verification is weak and outdated and thus "poses a critical hacking risk".

The security researcher found that it was possible to exploit a SIM card's SMS over the air (OTA) update system that is built with Java Card, that is, a subset of Java that allows applets to run on small memory devices.

"OTA commands, such as software updates, are cryptographically secured SMS messages, which are delivered directly to the SIM," said a blog post on SRLabs.de.

"While the option exists to use state-of-the-art AES or the somewhat outdated 3DES algorithm for OTA, many (if not most) SIM cards still rely on the '70s-era DES cipher."

In an experiment, SRL sent an improperly signed binary SMS to a target device using a SIM encoded with DES, which was not executed by the SIM because of a signature verification failure. However, while rejecting the code, the SIM responded with an error code that contained the device's cryptographic signature, a 56-bit private key. It was then possible to decrypt the key using common cracking techniques.

Nohl explained that with this key in hand hackers are able to sign malicious software updates with the key and send those updates to the device. The attacker is also able to download Java Card applets, send SMS messages, change voicemail numbers, and query location data.

"This allows for remote cloning of possibly millions of SIM cards including their mobile identity (IMSI, Ki) as well as payment credentials stored on the card," Nohl added.

Nohl listed three ways that mobile phone manufacturers can defend users against this SIM vulnerability, including SIM cards that support state-of-art cryptography with sufficiently long keys, do not disclose signed plaintexts to attackers, and implement secure Java virtual machines.

Another additional protection Nohn recommended was a SMS firewall anchored into handsets. "Each user should be allowed to decide which sources of binary SMS to trust and which others to discard. An SMS firewall on the phone would also address other abuse scenarios including 'silent SMS'," Nohl said.

The final defence listed by Nohl was "in-network SMS filtering", which would require filtering at the phone network level

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Apple reportedly is testing a 13in iPad and larger iPhone screen

GADGET DESIGNER Apple reportedly is testing larger screens for its next generation iPad and iPhone devices.

That Wall Street Journal reported on Monday that Apple, along with its Asian suppliers, are in the process of testing the larger screens. According to the report, Apple is trialing screens "larger than four inches" for its upcoming iPhone, tipped to arrive as either the iPhone 5S or iPhone 6, adding weight to the rumours that it will feature a 4.3in screen.

Perhaps more interestingly, Apple reportedly has already started testing tablet screens "slightly less than 13 inches diagonally", hinting that it's planning to release a larger version of its iPad tablet.

"Apple is exploring ways to capture diversifying customer needs at a time when many mobile device makers offer smartphones and tablets in various sizes," the report says, hinting that the firm is looking at ways to challenge Microsoft and Samsung.

However, those yearning for a 13in iPad needn't get their hopes up, as the WSJ noted that it's still unclear whether these designs will appear on the market, with Apple routinely testing various different designs for its products.

The WSJ asked Apple whether it would make it to market or not, but the firm typically declined to comment on speculation.

Besides newly unearthed rumours about the tablet's screen size, not much else is known about Apple's next generation iPad. However, there are plenty of rumours about Apple's upcoming smartphone devices, with speculation suggesting that Apple will debut both a flagship iPhone and budget iPhone this autumn.

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iPhone 6 release date, price and specs rumour roundup

HARDWARE DESIGNER Apple's iPhone 5S or iPhone 6, depending on which name the firm goes for, is arguably the most hotly anticipated smartphone of the year, and will signal the firm looking to steal back marketshare from the likes of Samsung's Galaxy S4.

Since the launch of the iPhone 5, rumours about its successor have filled the internet, detailing what we can expect from the next generation Apple smartphone. Keep this page bookmarked to keep on top of all of the latest iPhone 5S/iPhone 6 rumours.

Release date
Apple's iPhone 5S/6 is expected to be announced in September, falling in line with previous smartphone announcements from the firm. Foxconn's hiring spree added weight to these rumours, and points towards a release at the end of 2013.

Price
Apple's iPhones have remained largely unchanged when it comes to price, but there are rumours that the firm will launch a budget iPhone model alongside the iPhone 5S/6 this year.  

Hardware
In terms of design, Apple's next-generation iPhone is expected to remain largely unchanged, sporting the same aluminum design as the iPhone 5.

However, the casing is likely to be a bit bigger, as Apple is reportedly testing screens "larger than four inches" for its upcoming iPhone device, with online speculation hinting that the firm will opt for a 4.3in display. 

Software
Typically, the next iPhone will arrive running the newest iteration of Apple's iOS software, known this time round as iOS 7.

Unveiled at WWDC on 10 June, iOS 7 sees Apple making radical changes to its mobile software, most notably when it comes to design. App icons have been redesigned, colours have been tweaked and the operating system boasts a completely new look and feel.

There's a host of new features baked-in too. Apple's Spotify rival, iTunes Radio, comes built into the Music application, there's now a Control Center menu for toggling settings such as WiFi and Bluetooth and apps such as Safari and Weather have been given a makeover inside and out. 

As well as the iPhone 5S/6, iOS 7 will be available for the iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPhone 5, iPad 2, iPad 3, iPad 4 and the iPad Mini.

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Canonical announces crowd funding effort for Ubuntu Edge smartphone

LINUX VENDOR Canonical has announced it is seeking crowdfunding for its Ubuntu Edge smartphone that will run its Ubuntu Linux distribution.

Canonical already announced its plan to put its popular Ubuntu Linux distribution on smartphones, but now the firm has shown off rendered designs for its own showpiece smartphone that when docked becomes a thin client. The firm's Ubuntu Edge smartphone project is seeking $32m (£21.5m) in crowdfunding before it will see the light of day.

Canonical's Ubuntu Edge smartphone has very rough specifications, with the firm hoping that the rendered design will be enough to tempt users to part with $600 for a handset on the first day and $830 for the remaining 30 days. The firm said that the smartphone will have a 4.5in HD 720p high resolution screen, a multi-core processor, at least 4GB of RAM and an 8MP front camera, and said that the device will be able to dual-boot Ubuntu Linux and Google's Android mobile operating system.

Mark Shuttleworth told journalists that the firm doesn't want to get into the hardware game and is doing this to see whether it will be popular. He said some of the specifications will be subject to change but did say that the 128GB of flash storage is fixed and that even the 40,000 production run could be increased by a small amount if the demand is there.

Shuttleworth was pressed by journalists about what processor will be inside the device but he didn't say, simply claiming that a number of semiconductor vendors are interested in the device. He also played up the display, which will have a sapphire crystal covering, the same material found on high-end watches.

Canonical has set itself a tough crowdfunding goal with the Ubuntu Edge, trying to get £21.5m in just 31 days. Shuttleworth said that if the amount isn't met then the firm won't go ahead with the project.

However if the firm hits its funding target, then those who put either $600 or $830 up can expect their Ubuntu Edge device in May 2014

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Apple, Google and others urge US surveillance disclosures

Dozens of companies, non-profits and trade organizations including Apple Inc, Google Inc and Facebook Inc sent a letter Thursday pushing the Obama administration and Congress for more disclosures on the government's national security-related requests for user data.

Together with LinkedIn Corp, Yahoo Inc, Microsoft Corp, Twitter and many others, the companies asked for more transparency of secret data gathering in the letter addressed to President Barack Obama, Attorney General Eric Holder, National Intelligence Director James Clapper, National Security Agency (NSA) Director General Keith Alexander and national security leaders in Congress.

Tech companies have been scrambling to assert their independence after documents leaked last month by former U.S. security contractor Edward Snowden suggested they had given the government direct access to their computers as part of the NSA's secret surveillance program called Prism.

Such data collection activities are overseen by the secretive Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court and largely done under the laws of the U.S. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) and the USA PATRIOT Act.

The classified nature of the data gathering has barred the participating companies from disclosing even their involvement, let alone the content of the requests.

The leaks have renewed a public debate over the balance between national security and privacy, and have put tech companies in an awkward position, especially because many have been assailed for their own commercial use of customer data.

Some companies, including Facebook and Apple, in June struck an agreement with the government to release some information about the number of surveillance requests they receive. But they were limited to disclosing aggregate government requests for data without showing the split between surveillance and criminal requests, and only for a six-month period.

In Thursday's letter, they asked to be allowed to regularly report statistics on the number and scope of user data requests done under specific national security authorities and the number of individuals, accounts or devices affected by those requests.

"This information about how and how often the government is using these legal authorities is important to the American people, who are entitled to have an informed public debate about the appropriateness of those authorities and their use, and to international users of U.S.-based service providers who are concerned about the privacy and security of their communications," the letter said.

The letter also asked Congress to pass legislation that would require the federal government to make transparency reports and let companies disclose user data requests without having to first ask the FISA Court for permission.

Co-signers included investors such as Boston Common Asset management and Union Square Ventures, as well as scores of associations including Human Rights Watch, Electronic Frontier Foundation, American Civil Liberties Union, Americans for Tax Reform and conservative FreedomWorks.

One of the lawmakers the letter was addressed to is Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, a Democrat who has introduced a bill that would expand reporting requirements for the secret programs, add more court reviews and move up the expiration of the authorization for some of the data collection by 2-1/2 years.

"Americans deserve to know how much of their communications data is being swept up by government surveillance, and the government's use of these authorities must be subject to strong oversight," Leahy said on Thursday.

He said the Judiciary Committee will hold another hearing on the issue later this month.

The U.S. government is facing multiple court challenges over its surveillance programs. Yahoo this week scored a victory when the FISA Court sided with the Internet company and ordered the Obama administration to declassify and publish a 2008 court decision justifying the Prism program.

The government is expected to decide by August 26 which parts of the 2008 opinion may be published, according to a separate court filing by the Justice Department.

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US overhauling intelligence access to try to prevent another Snowden

The United States is overhauling procedures to tighten access to top-secret intelligence in a bid to prevent another mega-leak like the one carried out by former spy agency contractor Edward Snowden, senior U.S. officials said on Thursday.

The National Security Agency, which Snowden worked for as a Hawaii-based contractor, said it would lead the effort to isolate intelligence and implement a "two-man rule" for downloading - similar to procedures used to safeguard nuclear weapons.

"When are we taking countermeasures?. The answer is now," Deputy Defense Secretary Ashton Carter told the Aspen Security Forum in Colorado.

NSA Director General Keith Alexander told the forum the two-man rule would apply to system administrators like Snowden and anyone with access to sensitive computer server rooms.

"You limit the numbers of people who can write to removable media," Alexander said. "Instead of allowing all systems administrators (to do it), you drop it down to a few and use a two-person rule."

"We'll close and lock server rooms so that it takes two people to get in there."

Carter partly blamed the security breach on the emphasis placed on intelligence-sharing after the wake of the September 11, 2001, attacks, which eventually allowed someone like Snowden to access so many documents at once.

"We normally compartmentalize information for a very good reason, so one person can't compromise a lot," Carter said. "Loading everything onto one server it's something we can't do. Because it creates too much information in one place."

Alexander said Snowden had been trusted with moving inside networks to make sure the right information was on the computer servers of the NSA in Hawaii.

How much did Snoden steal?
Snowden fled to Hong Kong in May, a few weeks before publication in Britain's Guardian newspaper and the Washington Post of details he provided about secret U.S. government surveillance of Internet and phone traffic.

The disclosures by Snowden, who is wanted on espionage charges, have raised Americans' concerns about domestic spying and strained relations with some U.S. allies.

The 30-year-old American who has had his U.S. passport revoked, is stuck in the transit area of Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport and has applied for temporary asylum in Russia.

"A huge break in trust and confidence," Alexander said, adding that extremists, aware of the surveillance, were altering their behavior "and that's going to make our job tougher."

Alexander declined to say how many documents Snowden took, but when asked whether it was a lot, he said, "Yes."

Carter said the assessment was still being conducted, but "I can just tell you right now the damage was very substantial."

Senator Dianne Feinstein, who chairs the Senate Intelligence Committee, said last month that U.S. officials advised her that Snowden had roughly 200 classified documents.

But American officials and others familiar with Snowden's activities say they believe that at a minimum, he acquired tens of thousands of documents.

Asked whether U.S. officials had a good idea of what Snowden actually downloaded, as opposed to simply read, Alexander said, "We have good insights to that, yes."

Current and former U.S. officials said on condition of anonymity that while authorities now thought they knew which documents Snowden accessed, they were not yet entirely sure of all that he downloaded.

Snowden was adept at going into areas and then covering his tracks, which posed a challenge in trying to determine exactly what materials he had accessed, officials said.

Former and current U.S. officials told Reuters that a massive overhaul of the security measures governing such intelligence would be extremely expensive.

Alexander also said it would take time to implement across the Pentagon and the broader U.S. intelligence community. He also noted there were "15,000 enclaves," some of which are small.

"One of the things we can do is limit what people have access to at remote sites and we're doing both. So we're taking that on," he said.

Among U.S. allies, German Chancellor Angela Merkel is under pressure to toughen her stance on the U.S. program

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Intel is facing hardware and software challenges

CHIPMAKER Intel's recent quarterly financial results show a worrying trend for the firm and its reliance on x86 desktops and servers.

Intel's new CEO Brian Krzanich arguably has come into the job at a worse time than his predecessor Paul Otellini. The fact thatIntel highlighted that its Atom chip has ended up in a single tablet highlights how poorly the firm has been doing in the smartphone and tablet markets.

When Otellini came into the CEO job the situation at Intel was far from rosy. The firm was being battered by its decision to continue with the Netburst architecture and financially it was suffering from ballooning expenses.

Otellini brought fiscal order to Intel and while some commentators suggest he missed the boat on low-power chips, the fiscal prudence Otellini brought to the firm means Intel at least has a fighting chance to go up against the many ARM vendors and its traditional rival AMD.

Krzanich however doesn't have the luxury of boosting the bottom line by cutting costs. Instead, the man known for leading Intel's manufacturing to the top of the semiconductor game needs to figure out how the firm is going to do battle with companies that are equally as well equipped as Chipzilla.

Some commentators are suggesting that Intel should license one or two ARM products and be done with it, but the fact is that Intel already has an ARM license and chooses not to use it. The firm's decision to stick with an all X86 product line - it does produce FPGA/Atom hybrid boards - is not due to vanity or pride but the question, if Intel made an ARM chip, why would anyone use it?

Aside from the obvious point that Intel wouldn't be the only ARM option available to device makers, there is little to say that Intel's ARM chips would have anything unique over those made by Samsung, Qualcomm, Texas Instruments, Nvidia or even AMD. The same argument could be applied to AMD, except that AMD has a wealth of graphics technology that consistantly outperforms Intel.

The fact that Intel's GPU in Haswell can just about keep up with the years-old GPU core in AMD's Richland APU says a lot about how much money, technology and effort a company needs to put into building competitive graphics technologies.

However bemoaning Intel's lack of success in the smartphone and tablet markets as a reason for disappointing financials is a lazy analysis of the whole situation. Something that is far more troubling is Intel's server business, which reported no growth from a year ago.

Intel bet big on server growth and it was a perfectly reasonable play. After all, if Intel couldn't be in smartphones and tablets, why not count on the explosive growth of those devices, which rely heavily on internet services, to grow server sales?

The problem for Intel and other semiconductor vendors is that service providers are becoming increasingly concentrated into firms such as Amazon, Facebook, Google, Apple and even Microsoft. Everyone knows that Google and Facebook build their own datacentre kit, but even those outfits that do not build their own bespoke servers can order directly from the chip vendor and demand significant discounts, so while the number of chips being sold grows, revenues are unlikely to grow proportionately as buying power continues to increase.

Next week Intel will reveal more information about its upcoming Ivy Bridge Xeon and low-power Avoton processors. The firm's two socket Ivy Bridge Xeon processor is its bread and butter server product, so we can expect a considerable push in this area.

For Intel, Avoton is just as important as its Baytrail Atom chips because it needs something to counter what is likely to be an onslaught from some ARM licensees in 2014 in the microserver market. Whereas Intel has very little to lose in the smartphone and tablet markets, the firm has close to 90 percent of the server chip market, meaning that there is pretty much only one way the firm can go.

Intel has the benefit of a mature x86 software stack with Avoton, but what it doesn't have is the benefit of the choice that ARM vendors will bring to potential customers. However the microserver market is likely to make significant use of open source software and operating systems, meaning that ARM chip vendors will not need to rely on proprietary software vendors to support their chips.

While Krzanich's predecessors had the ability to exploit software vendors to sell processors, Chipzilla's new CEO is going to have to compete against more rivals than ever before

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UK government investigates Huawei's cyber security centre

THE UK GOVERNMENT will investigate a British cyber security centre run by Chinese network equipment giant Huawei due to concerns over the security of its network hardware and services.

The review was called for byParliament's Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) in a report, which claimed that the Chinese firm's Cyber Security Evaluation Centre called the Cell, based in Oxfordshire, failed to provide enough proof that it is protecting UK telecoms, thus leaving them potentially vulnerable to cyber attack.

The government has welcomed the report and backed its findings. "The UK government has been able to leverage Huawei's reputational concerns to encourage it to invest in the Cyber Security Evaluation Centre and become more transparent about its equipment and business practices," read a government statement.

"This is a significant achievement. However, we question why the Cell is only now approaching full functionality, over seven years after the BT contract was awarded."

The government has therefore recommended that the National Security Adviser conduct a substantive review of the effectiveness of the Cell "as a matter of urgency...given these delays and the lack of evidence so far that it will be able to provide the level of security assurance required".

The Cell was originally created in 2010 after security concerns arose regarding Huawei technology used in BT and EE networks.

US politicians have since claimed that the company posed a threat because of links to China's government and military. The allegations are based, in part, on the fact that the company's founder, Ren Zhengfei, was a former member of the People's Liberation Army.

Nevertheless, Huawei has denied having close ties to the Chinese state and has stressed that it is 98.6 percent owned by its employees.

However, the ISC highlighted the fact that the Cell's staffing is a particular concern, and argued that the UK Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) must have further involvement.

"Before seeking clarification, we assumed that Huawei funded the Cell but that it was run by GCHQ. A self-policing arrangement is highly unlikely either to provide, or to be seen to be providing, the required levels of security assurance. We therefore strongly recommend that the staff in the Cell are GCHQ employees," an ISC report said.

"GCHQ must have greater oversight of the Cell and be formally tasked to provide assurance, validation and audit of its work, and the government must be involved in the selection of its staff, to ensure continued confidence in the Cell."

A Cabinet Office spokesman said that the government supports the ISC's findings and plans to follow its recommendation.

"We take threats to our Critical National Infrastructure very seriously and need to be responsive to changes in a fast-moving and complex, globalised telecommunications marketplace. We have robust procedures in place to ensure confidence in the security of UK telecommunications networks," said the spokesman.

"However, we are not complacent and as such we have agreed to the main recommendation of the report to conduct a review of Huawei's Cyber Security Evaluation Centre (the ‘Banbury Cell') to give assurance that we have the right measures and processes in place to protect UK telecommunications."

In response to the ISC report findings and government statement, Huawei said it is continuously working to improve its technological security.

"Huawei shares the same goal as the UK government and the ISC in raising the standards of cyber security in the UK and ensuring that network technology benefits UK consumers. Huawei is open to new ideas and ways of working to improve cyber security," the firm said.

The government's security concerns regarding Huawei most likely have been escalated by the recent exposure of the US National Security Agency (NSA) PRISM data collection programme, which has seen a call for transparency by high profile technology firms including Mozilla, Apple, Reddit, Yahoo, Microsoft, Google and Facebook

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Reliance Communications cuts 3G rates by half

Country's third largest telecom operator Reliance Communications Thursday slashed 3G charges by more than 50 percent to bring them at par with 2G mobile Internet prices in 13 circles, including Delhi and Mumbai. RCom slashed 3G prices for all kind of connections - pre-paid, post-paid, new and old across 13 circles where its third-generation services are available.

"Only one-fourth of people who own 3G phones truly use for 3G services. There is huge barrier to affordability. We are cutting the 3G prices down to the 2G data rates," RCom President and CEO for Wireless, Gurdeep Singh, said here.

"Fundamentally, it is Rs. 123 to a GB of 3G which is equivalent to 2G price," he added. At present, 2G Internet for 1 GB usage costs Rs. 125 on the company's network.

RCom also reduced prices for 2GB and 4GB pack on 3G network to Rs. 246 and Rs. 492 respectively, which is around 35 to 45 percent lower than its competitors'.

After exhausting the usage limit, RCom customers will be charge 3 paise for every 10 kb of data.

"In 1GB people can watch 3 full length Hindi feature film if file size is around 300 MB, can listen to 250 songs with each song being around 4 MB," Singh said.

Last month Airtel, Idea, Vodafone and Tata Teleservices slashed their 3G and 2G data rates by up to 90 percent in select circles. However these reductions were for usage after exhausting limit provided in Internet package.

Singh said that company is looking to attract 40 percent smartphone users in the country.

"Future belong to those who have largest share of smartphones on their network or within smartphone those who have largest screen size. We are looking to 40 percent smartphone users to come on our network by 2015. At present we have over 14 percent smartphone user of 66 million in the country," Singh said.

RCom also announced a mobile number portability offer to attract customers on its network. "We will be giving consumers 2GB data free for first two months and then they will be brought in Rs. 123 data plan which is same as 2G plan."

RCom has 3G services 13 circles that include Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Punjab, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, West Bengal, Himachal Pradesh, Bihar, Odisha, Assam and North East.

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Chrome for iOS update brings data compression, tighter integration with Google services

Google has updated its Chrome mobile browser for iOS bringing tighter integration with Google services, data compression for faster page load times and savings on data costs, and enhancement to text to speech, among other features.

The new version of Chrome for iOS (Version 28.0.1500.12) allows users to open links for Google services including YouTube, Maps, Google+ and Google Drive in their respective apps, instead of the browser. It will also sign-in users automatically with their Google credentials, if they're signed-in on Chrome. This essentially means that if you come across a YouTube video while browsing a web page in Chrome, the video will open in the YouTube app if it's installed on your iOS device.

The update also brings Google's experimental data compression feature, allowing users to render websites via Google's servers reducing data usage and speeding up page load times. The feature can be enable through Bandwidth Management settings. Users will also be able to check their data savings within the browser through these settings. According to Google, this feature is being rolled out and will be available to all users over time. 
 
Chrome for iOS now also supports full screen mode on the iPad. It also features enhancements to voice search including Text-to-speech for all variations of English, Spanish, German, Italian, French, Japanese, and Korean. Toolbar controls are now always available when using voice search.

Users will also be able to check their browsing history. This feature was not available, previously.

The updated Chrome browser can be downloaded from the App Store.

What's New in Version 28.0.1500.12

• Interoperability with other Google Apps
• Option to open links for YouTube, Maps, G+ and Drive in the app instead of the browser.
• Enhancements to voice search
• Text-to-speech for all variations of English, Spanish, German, Italian, French, Japanese, and Korean.
• Toolbar controls are always available when using voice search
• Fullscreen on iPad
• Data cost savings
• Reduce data usage and speed up page load times. 
• View data savings in Bandwidth Management settings. This feature is being rolled out and will be available to all users over time.  
• Access to browser history
• Stability / security improvements and bug fixes

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South Korea clears Google after two-year Android probe

South Korea's fair trade commission says Google making its search service the default in Android devices did not limit competition in the search market.

Kwon Chul-hyun, a director at the commission, said Thursday the regulator found no evidence that Google Inc. unfairly used its power as the Android operating system maker to limit Korean search rivals.

The finding comes at the end of the two-year probe that started when NHN and Daum Communications filed a complaint against the U.S. giant.

Kwon said making Google's search service default in Android devices had little impact on the market. NHN continues to dominate online search in South Korea with around 70 percent market share. Google has been struggling with around 10 percent.

He said consumers can easily download other search applications.  new wesite

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