Author: Arun

Tech enthusiast

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News

Paytm for Android gets a new user interface, Bargain Chat

A new version of Paytm for Android is now available on Google Play. It brings a completely new user interface and Paytm’s Bargain Chat. Earlier, you could only make recharges for mobile phones, DTH, data cards, pay postpaid, landline and gas bills. Now, you can shop dresses, footwear, furniture and more.

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Bargain Chat aims at remodeling the way buyers and sellers interact. It first came with it the iOS version of Paytm. It allows the buyers to bargain with the sellers before purchasing products using Paytm app. When the seller agrees to your bargain, he/she will give you a Bargain Code. You can apply this code during checkout to get the discount that you asked for.

The Bargain Chat button is available in every product page, at the bottom left. Once you click it, it’ll connect you with the seller and you can bargain with the seller through text messages.

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Some of the popular sellers include Yebhi, Yepme and Ferns N Petal.

There are many categories like Men, Women, Sports and fitness, Home decor. Holi special is a special category that will be available for a limited time now.

The best thing about this update is that, you can use your Paytm cash not only to recharge, but also to make payments for shopping. In the near future, you will be able to use the Paytm cash for paying your education fees too.

You can continue to choose Paytm coupons in this new version. There is an option to enter promo codes too.

Link: Paytm for Android

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News

Nokia X to be available in India at Rs 8,500 from March 15

Two weeks back Nokia announced the Nokia X family at the Mobile World Congress 2014 held at Barcelona. The Nokia X family consists of Nokia X, X+ and XL.

Immediately after launch, Nokia X was available in the US markets. The device is already listed in The Mobile Store. The device price is not available right now, but the page title says that the price is Rs 8,500. Also, it is said that the delivery will start from March 15.

Nokia X runs Android and is priced at 89 Euros. It has a 4 inch display with resolution 854 x 480, and is powered by a 1 GHz dual core Snapdragon 200 processor. It has a 3 MP camera at the back and comes with Android 4.4.2 KitKat out of the box. It does not come with Google services. Instead Microsoft’s and Nokia’s services are bundled in it. You will find Bing, Nokia app store, Outlook and more in it.

Outlook and Bing are already available for every Android device. Why would anyone move to Nokia X and risk losing Google services? Basically, not having Google apps doesn’t give pure Android experience.

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On a happy note, Nokia does give you an option to sideload Android APK files. But, you cannot be sure that all the Android apps will work with Nokia X. Nokia has requested developers to add a few extra lines of code to make their apps working on the Nokia X.

Also, there is now an option to root Nokia X and bring Google services, including Google Play. Thanks to Kashamalaga, an Android developer.

Before rooting the Nokia X, you should remember that rooting the device removes Microsoft and Nokia services. In turn, this voids the device’s warranty.

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News

Download official Facebook Messenger for Windows Phone now

Facebook Messenger for Windows Phone is now available. There may be many apps in the Windows market that mimick the Facebook Messenger, but this is the official app by Facebook.

Facebook Messenger allows you to connect easily with your Facebook friends. You can send messages, share multimedia files, location and more. Similar to the Android and iOS versions, Facebook Messenger for Windows Phone comes with Facebook stickers. But it misses voice messaging and Chat Heads options. These features should be coming in the near future.

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It needs Windows 8 to run. It comes with the traditional Windows Phone style user interface.

Facebook has now killed off the Facebook Messenger app for Windows desktop and Firefox browser. Rumors about Facebook Messenger for Mac OS X may not be true considering Facebook is dropping support for desktop messaging.

Link: Download Facebook Messenger for Windows Phone

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Tips

How to pay for your friends’ WhatsApp subscription

WhatsApp now has a new feature with which you can buy subscription packages for your friends. I’m not quite sure whether this is a new feature or it has been seen ages.

I’m using an unreleased WhatsApp APK that I pulled off from the WhatsApp website to hide my Last Seen, status and profile photo. And, this APK has this feature.

If the users find these features useful, these features should appear in the markets soon.

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Pay for a friend on WhatsApp

Getting back to the topic, purchasing a WhatsApp subscription package for your friends is easy. You can purchase for any contact that you have on your WhatsApp contacts list. You cannot purchase the subscription package for more than one friend at once.

Is this feature useful?

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This feature should be useful for those who do not have a credit card that works with Google Wallet or PayPal. You can also use this to gift subscription packages to your dear ones on their special days.

If you plan on changing your number, you can take your account information along with that.

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How to purchase for your friends?

  1. Go to More > Settings > Contacts > Pay for a friend in the app.
  2. Choose a friend and make payment for 1, 3 or 5 years package using Google Wallet, PayPal or the payment URL.
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Purchase screen on WhatsApp

Once the payment is made, your friend will be notified about this. Note that if your friend is using Android, BlackBerry or BlackBerry 10, he’ll see the updated expiry date immediately. If your friend is using iPhone, Nokia or Windows phone, he’ll have to restart the device to see the new expiry date.

If you are unable to purchase for your friend at some time, you may try again after some time. Or maybe purchasing for that friend isn’t available at that time.

Related : Facebook buys WhatsApp for $16 billion

If you wish to get this feature immediately, instead of waiting for official market rollout, you can download the new APK in the WhatsApp website.

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News

After Moto G success, Moto X is coming to India in few weeks

Motorola has announced that it is bringing the Moto X to India in the next few weeks. It will be available in Australia too. The announcement comes from the official tweet from Motorola.

At this moment, Moto X has been available only in the US, UK, Germany and Mexico and Latin America.

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Similar to Moto G, it is expected that Motorola will be selling the Moto X only on Flipkart. This strategy has worked well for Motorola, except that the demand for the low cost Moto G was huge in India that it went out of stock every now and then.

The price tag is unknown, but it should cost more than Moto G.

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The launch in India will not come with Moto Maker. The Moto Maker is available only the US for now. It allows the buyers to customize the Moto X to their needs. They can choose the front and back panel colors, camera rim and more. Over 2000 combinations are possible, says Motorola. Once designed, the Moto X will be delivered straight to their doors.

About Moto X

The Moto X comes with a 1.7 GHz dual core Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, 2GB RAM, 4.7 inch 720p HD AMOLED display, 10MP rear camera, 2MP front camera and has 16GB/32GB internal storage. It comes with Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean out of the box. But, a promised Android KitKat update is available.

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Moto X comes with PixelClear technology and has Active Display. Active Display displays your notifications in a brilliant way that the screen doesn’t light up. Only the notifications are shown with a black screen covering the rest of the area. If you wish to get this feature on your Android, you should try ActiveNotifications.

Moto X is well known for its brilliant voice recognizing feature. The device hears you all the time. You can give voice commands even when the device display is turned off and it will respond you.

Motorola’s next plans

Motorola has announced that the Moto Maker will be available to Western Europe and Mexico in the next few months. And, if Moto X finds success in India, Moto Maker may be available in India too.

Based on reports, Motorola is developing a Moto X2, the next generation of Moto X. It is believed to go official in the late summer of 2014.

Also, Motorola is making its first smart watch. It is said that Motorola is keeping the smart watch high on style and design. It will be available later in this year.

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News

Samsung showcases waterproof Galaxy S5 with fingerprint sensor

Samsung announced it’s next flagship phone, the Samsung Galaxy S5 at the Mobile World Congress 2014, held at Barcelona. This smartphone comes similar to it’s predecessor, except that it is packed with a better camera, bigger size, fingerprint sensor and a heart rate monitor. And, the device is waterproof!

The 5.1 inch Samsung Galaxy S5 comes with a new back look that offers a better grip. If you are familiar with the original Nexus 7 launched in 2012, the Samsung Galaxy S5 looks more like the original Nexus 7. Talking about the hardware features, it comes with a 2.5 Ghz quad core Snapdragon 800 processor, 2 GB RAM and offers 16 GB or 32 GB internal memory. You can also expand the memory up to 128 GB.

Samsung Galaxy S5
Samsung Galaxy S5

Regarding software, it comes with a toned down version of TouchWiz UI on the top of Android 4.4 KitKat.

Highlights

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  1. 16 MP rear camera with which you get UHD recording capability and real-time HDR.
  2. Fingerprint sensor along with the home button. Samsung has also announced partnership with PayPal to offer fingerprint security options to make payments. iPhone 5S was the first device to come with fignerprint sensor.
  3. Heart rate monitor. Hold your finger on the sensor and the device will start recording your heart rate, thanks to S Health 3.0. Over time, the device will also start making graphs based on your heart rate results.
  4. It is water and dust proof.

This device will be available from April 11, 2014.

If you are hunting for a price tag, we do not have updates on that yet. Based on guesses, the device should be available at $650.

Are you buying one?

Categories
Tips

New WhatsApp APK now let’s you hide ‘Last seen’, status and photo

A new APK file is now available on the WhatsApp website that lets you hide your Last seen timestamp, status and profile photo. This new feature is not available officially on the Google Play store yet.

You can either hide these details from everyone, including your contacts and strangers, or choose to let it be visible for everyone. You cannot hide the details from particular contacts.

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Hide ‘Last Seen’, status and profile photo

Note : On hiding your Last Seen status, you won’t be able to see your contacts’ Last Seen status.

If you didn’t know, the iOS version of WhatsApp already has this feature and allows the users to hide the Last Seen tag. But, it comes with a limitation. You cannot change the setting every now and then. You will have to wait for one day to toggle the setting again.

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Also, the iOS feature doesn’t let you hide your status and profile photo.

Talking about this feature for WhatsApp for other platforms, there are no reports yet. But, if the users find this feature useful, WhatsApp will be bringing this feature to the other devices soon.

Before you download the APK, it is suggested that you take a backup of your existing WhatsApp using MyAppSharer or any other method that you prefer.

Related: Facebook buys WhatsApp for $16 billion.

Link: Download WhatsApp APK | via Firstpost

Categories
Reviews

TimePIN for Android changes your lockscreen pin based on current time

TimePIN is nifty Android app that adds better security measures to your phone. It is different from the other lockscreen apps for Android because it changes the password every minute, based on the device time.

Advantages of using TimePIN

Here are few reasons why you should use TimePIN.

  1. A safe, complicated password is generated every minute and you’re the only person who knows that password.
  2. Forget worrying about password stealing eyes that are lurking near you.
  3. Easy and immediate access to device without remembering complicated passwords.

If the time is 09:54, your pin would be 0954. And, when the time is 00:00, your pin is 0000.

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You may now wonder that when an attacker gets his hands on your device, he may easily unlock the device with the time being shown on the device. But, that’s not the case.

The app comes with modifiers. Modifiers are a set of rules upon which the pins are generated. There are four modifiers. They are :

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  1. Reverse : This modifier reverses your pin. If the time is 12:34, the pin is 4321.
  2. Double : It doubles your pin. If the time is 12:34, the pin is 12341234.
  3. Mirror : It mirrors your pin. If the time is 12:34, the pin is 12344321. If the time is 8:32, the pin is 08322380.
  4. Offset : This modifier generates the pin based on the time and then subtracts that with the offset value set by you. If the time is 12:34 and the offset value is 121, the final pin is 1113 (1234 – 121)
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At any time, if multiple pins are enabled, they will be applied based on the order shown in the TimePIN app.

TimePIN is a free app. Only the Reverse modifier is available for free in the app. Other modifiers can be purchased with an in-app purchase priced at $1.99.

Default pin

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A default pin can be set in the app during the first launch of the app. If you ever get locked out of your device, simply reboot the device, and once it restarts, enter the default pin to access your device again.

You can change the default pin anytime you want. Also, this default pin is required to access the app every time.

Upcoming features

The developer has mentioned that he has some interesting features coming soon. They include support for encrypted devices, support for pattern passwords, alphanumeric passwords and more modifiers.

The app doesn’t need root access. But upcoming features like support for encrypted devices and pattern passwords may need root access.

Link: TimePIN on Google Play

Categories
Tips

Trick to set your own Flappy Bird high score on Android

Flappy Bird is an insanely addictive game that’s been spreading words everywhere since a month. The game objective is simple : keep the tiny bird flying to the unreachable checkpoint, without crashing into the pipes, to collect medals.

The game is available for Android and iOS devices. It has over 50 million users just on Android.

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Getting on to the topic, it’s easy to set your own high score on your Android device. But, there are two things necessary : your Android device should have root access (that is, you should have rooted your Android device) and ES File Explorer. If you already have the two, you’re good to go. Else, root your device and download ES File Explorer.

Before you begin with this hack, make sure to play the game once and set a minimum of 1 as your high score.

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Open ES File Explorer and enable Root Explorer from the options available in the left side panel.

Once done, go to your Local panel and go to Data > Data. There, find com.dotgears.flappybird. Enter this folder.

Inside, go to shared_prefs. Open the FlappyBird.xml file with ES Note Editor.

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Click the Three Dots at the top right of the file manage and choose the Edit mode. You can now change the value of your high score.

This was my high score before changing.

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This is my high score after changing.

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Things to to note

If the high score set by you doesn’t show up during the game play, close the app manually and then restart the game.

Also, this high score is set only locally. This high score will not be reflected in your social gaming section like Google Play Games or that of iOS.

If you loved this trick, share this post with your friends too. They would also love to set their own high scores, right?

Links : Flappy Bird on Google Play | Flappy Bird on iTunes Store | via Android Pit

Categories
News

Moto G in India – Flipkart and Snapdeal offers

As reported earlier, Flipkart is the official launch partner of the Moto G. The device will be launched tomorrow on Flipkart.

This is the dual sim version of Moto G.

In addition to Flipkart, Snapdeal will also be selling the device. The company has already begun the process of pre-ordering the device. As per the reports, more than 1000 pre-orders were placed within 2 hours on Snapdeal.

You can still pre-order Moto G on Snapdeal at 0 INR.

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Snapdeal will be shipping the device by the third week of this month, while Flipkart will be shipping the device on the same day, February 6.

Snapdeal’s offers

Snapdeal is offering 1 GB Airtel 3G data, back panel for Moto G, free 1 year accidental warranty and free 1 year support warranty.

Flipkart’s offers

Offer 1 : It is offering 500 INR offer on purchases of eBooks of 501 INR and above.

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Offer 2 : It is offering 1000 INR offer on purchases of apparel of 1001 INR or above.

Offer 3 : It is offering 70% offer on colorful Moto G shells. The Moto G shells add beauty to your Moto G.

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Offer 4 : It is giving 100% cash back offer in the form of Flipkart credits. 100 random winners will be chosen and given the cash back.

Other online retailers are expected to start selling the Moto G soon.

Links : 8 GB variant on Snapdeal | 16 GB variant on Snapdeal | 8 GB variant on Flipkart for 12,499 INR | 16 GB variant on Flipkart for 13,999 INR

Are you buying a Moto G? If yes, do let us know if you win the freebies!