Asus has launched a new non-ZenFone smartphone dubbed the Asus Live in Brazil. Priced around $210 (roughly Rs. 14,000), the dual SIM supporting smartphone is yet to reach other countries. The Asus Live smartphone with model name G500TG is a low-end device based on the specifications. The Android 5.1 Lollipop-based smartphone features a 5-inch HD (720x1280 pixels) resolution display. It packs a quad-core MediaTek MT6580 processor clocked at 1.3 GHz, clubbed with 2GB of LPDDR3 RAM. The 3G-enabled smartphone houses 16GB of inbuilt storage, which can be further expanded via microSD card (up to 64GB). It bears an 8-megapixel autofocus rear camera along with a 2-megapixel front-facing camera. It is backed by a 2070mAh battery. Asus Live users will also be receiving 100GB of free Google Drive storage for 2 years. 5GB of free Asus WebStorage will also come included. The smartphone sports a plastic build and is available in Blue, Magenta, and Yellow colour variants. Measurin...

  John Krafcik, the head of Google’s project to develop self-driving vehicles, said on Thursday he would have to see specific proposals before entering into a consortium including automakers. Krafcik appeared with U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx, who spoke of working with companies to develop safety guidelines for self-driving vehicles. Krafcik was asked whether Google would enter into a consortium of automakers that Mark Rosekind of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration will announce on Friday, and share technology including intellectual property. “I’d guess I’d want to see more and understand more. It’s the first I’m hearing about it,” said Krafcik.

Xiaomi will soon release the Redmi Note 3 budget phablet to the Indian market, the company said in a tweet. However, the company did not reveal the launch date or the price of the smartphone. The successor of Redmi Note, the upcoming Xiaomi phablet was launched in China in November last year. The Chinese startup also tweet said that it is looking for 100 explorers who will try out the smartphone before it hits the market. Those who are interested in the programme can sign up by January 31. Redmi Note 3 has a 5.5-inch display with Full HD (1080x1920p) resolution and runs on MIUI 7 software, based on Android Lollipop OS. Powering the device is a 2GHz octa-core Mediatek Helio X10 chipset, which is usually found in mid-range (or more expensive) handsets. The smartphone comes in two variants; 16GB internal storage and 2GB RAM; and 32GB internal storage and 3GB RAM. For imaging, Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 packs a 13MP camera with phase detection autofocus and two-tone LED flash on t...

  TomTom, known for its GPS navigation systems and highly specialised sports watches, has launched a new set of watches in India called Spark Fitness series with prices starting Rs 13,999. The watches are available online on Flipkart, Amazon and Snapdeal. The Spark Fitness watches comes in four options: TomTom Spark GPS Fitness Watch (priced at Rs 13,999), TomTom Spark Cardio GPS Fitness Watch (priced at Rs 17,999), the TomTom Spark Music GPS Fitness Watch (also Rs 17,999) and TomTom Spark Cardio + Music GPS Fitness Watch, which is priced at Rs 21,999. TomTom is also selling the Spark Music GPS Fitness Watch bundled with Bluetooth headphones at Rs 21,999 and the Cardio + Music fitness with the Bluetooth headphones at Rs 25,999. Watch Tom Tom Spark Music First Look Video TomTom Spark watches come with 3GB of music storage space and allow users to listen to music while running so they don’t have to carry their smartphones. The watches can connect with a variety of Bluetoot...

  Famed tipster Evan Blass has leaked out a bit of information that could be the reason why Samsung did not announce a single smartphone at CES 2016. The leaker has tipped his fans in a tweet stating that the flagship Galaxy S7 models may actually be launched at the same time this year. The launch of the smartphones is expected to take place in Barcelona at the Mobile World Congress 2016 (MWC). The tipster says that the Samsung Galaxy S7, S7 edge and S7 edge+ are all expected to be launched on the same day, at the same time, as opposed to two separate launches in 2015. Seems like all three smartphones may come with the same hardware, with the only differentiator being the display size and form factor. The standard S7 is expected to pack in a flat display, while the S7 edge and the edge+ are expected to pack in a dual-edged curved display. According to the rumours so far, all the three variants are expected to sport a Quad HD resolution. As for the i...

  Samsung now reportedly planning to launch a dual SIM version of its latest flagship, the Note 5. According to Economic Times, the Note 5 dual-SIM will be priced at Rs 51,400 for the 32 GB storage variant and Rs 57,400 for 64 GB. The report also claimed that the device will be sold in India from January 17. The single SIM variant of Note 5 was introduced in India back in September 2015 for Rs 53,900 for the 32 GB version and Rs 59,000 for its 64 GB version. Now the 32 GB version is available for about Rs 47,000. The Samsung Galaxy Note 5 offers a large 5.7-inch Super-AMOLED display with Quad HD resolution, 4 GB RAM, Android 5.1 Lollipop operating system and is powered by Samsung's 64-bit octa-core Exynos 7420 chipset that has four Cortex-A57 cores clocked at 2.1GHz, and four Cortex-A53 cores clocked at 1.5GHz. With snazzy metal-and-glass construction, the phablet has a 16 megapixel rear camera with optical image stabilisation feature and F1.9 aperture. It...

  There is a saying that iPhone - or rather Apple's products - are never about benchmarks. Those who know about these things a bit thoroughly, and understand smartphone hardware, realise that it is an absurd statement to make. The iPhone, especially in the last three odd years, has become very powerful, even on the paper and in benchmarks. Now, we have a sort of proof of it. In its annual list of most powerful phones, Antutu, a popular benchmarking app, has revealed the score managed by the iPhone 6S. And it is truly phenomenal. The iPhone 6S, according to Antutu, scores 132620 points. This is nearly 50 per cent more than what the second fastest phone - Huawei Mate 8 - manages. Meizu Pro and the Galaxy Note 5, both of which use Samsung's Exynos 7420 processor, come third and fourth respectively. The iPhone manages top honours despite packing in a processor that has just two cores and 2GB RAM. In comparison, many of the Android phones not only have processors wit...

Good news, IFC fans! You no longer have to drag your TV along with you on long commutes, to the gym, or anywhere else you want to watch our shows and Comedy Crib clips. With the IFC app , you can now stream Portlandia , Comedy Bang! Bang! , Todd Margaret , and other IFC programming directly to your Android or iOS device. There’s free full-length episodes, original web series, movies and show clips included with the app, plus even more if you have a cable subscription. You can nab the Android version here and the iOS version here . But if that’s not enough for the diehard Portlandia fan, there’s also the Portlandia emoji keyboard — a virtual keyboard for Android or iOS devices containing a slew of show-themed emojis of Fred and Carrie’s characters, as well as recognizable items like a cacao bar and a certain messenger’s bike. Android users can grab it here , and iOS users can go here . Want more, you say? How about a free full episode from Portlandia season six! Check in w...

If you haven’t tried Peach out because you don’t have an iOS device, a developer has ginned up something called “Nectarine,” which is an unofficial Android and web version of the service. It’s limited as far as what you can do and how you can interact, but you can definitely view your stream (in flipped order), like posts and comment on posts. It’s pretty handy if you’re still using the service…ya know, since some folks are already calling it “dead.” I’ve found the service to be pretty sticky, with its command-line interface or “Magic Words” an intriguing approach to social messaging. Peach’s creator, Dom Hoffman, jumped into Product Hunt to give it the “cool” nod, so that’s good. Maybe there’s potential for some fun creations to be made for the service down the road from third party developers. The official Android app is being worked on, the Peach team has said, but this will get you your non-iOS fix for now.

Remix OS is a modified version of Android that can run on practically any PC. It remixes Android into a desktop operating system, complete with applications running in windows, a Start menu, taskbar, desktop, and notification area. With rumors that Google might  merge Chrome OS and Android, and Google's desire to add split-screen multitasking to the Pixel C with future versions of Android, Remix OS might just be a peek at the future of Android. This operating system was created by Jide Technology, a company formed by a trio of former Google employees. Last year, they showed off a Microsoft Surface Pro-like device running Remix OS. Now, they've made Remix OS available to download, and you can run it yourself on practically any computer or virtual machine. Remix OS is based on Android-x86 , an unofficial open-source project that ports Android to run on standard PC hardware. Remix OS adds a windowing system, turning that operating system into something that you mig...

The 2017 Hyundai Elantra launches this month with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto™. CarPlay is the smarter, safer way to use an iPhone® in the car, taking the things users want to do with their iPhone while driving and putting them right on the car's built-in display, so drivers can stay focused on the road. For Android phone users, the 2017 Elantra is also compatible with Android Auto. Both smartphone integrations will be available on the 2017 Elantra's seven-inch Display Audio touchscreen system with rearview camera and Hyundai's eight-inch touchscreen navigation system with voice texting, access to music stored on the phone and third-party audio apps. "By launching our best-selling model, Elantra, with CarPlay and Android Auto support, we are building on our promise to offer more convenience features for today's modern driver at an affordable price po...

An Android Trojan that targets mobile banking users has evolved into a sophisticated, persistent and hard-to-detect threat, suggesting that it is part of a well-organized attack campaign. Researchers from security firm FireEye first documented the Trojan in December and named it SlemBunk. Once installed, it starts monitoring the processes running on the device and when it detects that a mobile banking app is launched, it displays a fake user interface on top of it to trick users into inputting their credentials. The Trojan can spoof the user interfaces of apps from at least 31 banks from across the world and two mobile payment service providers. The first variants of SlemBunk were distributed as rogue copies of legitimate apps through various third-party websites, but not Google Play. This meant that devices configured to only install apps from Google Play were not affected. The latest versions, however, are distributed through drive-by download techniques, predominantly...

If you long for the days of 2011, when 5.3-inch smartphones were enormous outliers rather than the norm, Sony has some news that may interest you: its flagship Xperia Z5 smartphone and its smaller-but-still-high-end sibling the Xperia Z5 Compact are coming to the US on February 7, 2016. As usual, Sony's small footprint in the US smartphone market means that it doesn't have any distribution deals with major carriers. You won't be able to buy these phones on an installment plan from AT&T or T-Mobile—you'll have to get them at Amazon, Best Buy, B&H, or another retailer, and you'll pay the full unlocked price of $599.99 for the Z5 or $499.99 for the Z5 Compact. Both phones support GSM networks, so Verizon and Sprint customers need not apply. The Z5 looks like a competent but unexceptional flagship smartphone. It has a 5.3-inch 1080p IPS display, a Snapdragon 810 SoC, 3GB of RAM, 32GB of storage, a microSD card slot, a 23MP rear camera, a 5MP front ...

One of the best features of Windows 10 is its integration with Cortana, Microsoft's personal digital assistant. Cortana is pretty powerful on its own, but until recently you needed a Windows 10 mobile device to experience the service's full power. That's changing, however, with Microsoft adding new features to Cortana for Android to help your Google-licious phone fit into a Windows 10 world. Here are three useful Cortana features that turn your Android phone and PC into a powerful combo. Note: Cortana for iOS was released in December, but does not have the new call and text features that are currently on Android. We will update this post should that situation change. Missed-call alerts Microsoft recently added the ability for Cortana for Android users to get missed-call notifications on their PC—or at least I only recently discovered it. If your phone's in the other room while you're in front of your Windows 10 PC, Cortana will alert you to missed cal...

  Google is positive about the road ahead for Android Auto, saying it will come to 40 car models and support more apps this year. Android Auto brings messaging, mapping, entertainment, media playback and other apps to cars, but via a smartphone. The apps run on an Android smartphone, which plugs into an in-car display via a USB port. Hyundai was first to bring Android Auto to its dashboard, and today ten car models in a few countries have Android Auto. The 40 car models launching this year will give Android Auto a “global” reach, said Daniel Holle, product manager for Android Auto at Google during the Ubiquity Developer Summit in San Francisco this week. One obvious use for Android Auto is Google Maps, which will provide in-car navigation. Users can also answer calls, listen to music, set up reminders, get the latest news, receive notifications, or use applications like Google Hangout. Android Auto relies heavily on voice-activated features to ensure driver safe...

  The upcoming open-world first-person shooter video game, "Homefront: The Revolution," has been through a lot of complications in the past few months, with some fans speculating that the issues may be getting the better of it. The release date for the title therefore has become quite the hot topic for fans who have been wondering when the it would finally come out. Just a few days ago, there were some leaks regarding the game release date which were based on images of the game reservations cards  printed for Target. The images show that the game would be released on May 17, 2016, clearly printed on the retailer's pre-order card. True enough, just about a week later, Deep Silver and Dambuster Studios have now announced that the game is in fact going to be launched on the aforementioned date for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and for Microsoft Windows. Along with the official release date announcement, the game's developer and its publisher have also revealed...

Bayonetta 2 is being re-released on Wii U , this time as a standalone game, Nintendo of America announced today. The game will be available for $30 beginning on February 19. It's already available on its own on Nintendo's eShop for $50. However, the only physical version--released in October 2014--came packaged with a copy of the first Bayonetta (previously an Xbox 360 and PS3-only game). This physical bundle has since become difficult to find without resorting to places like eBay, where it routinely sells for more than the original retail price . We've followed up with Nintendo to see if it has any plans to bring back the bundle to retail and will report back with any details we receive. Bayonetta 2 was extremely well received in GameSpot's review, which awarded it a 10/10 . Bayonetta the character will soon be popping up in Super Smash Bros. as the game's final DLC character . She's due out in February, as is Fire Emblem's Corrin .

While the first full trailer for Warcraft was released to a wider audience during Star Wars: The Force Awakens , the trailer has already seen its first remake and not in a way many people would have expected. In an attempt to improve on the initial trailer, one fan re-dubbed the video with the game’s original sound effects, resulting in a hilarious version of the original trailer. The trailer, which can be viewed on Game Sided , includes both music and sounds from the game. This includes generic bird songs, sound effects, and character comments like “zug-zugs,” which contrast hilariously with the movie’s serious tone. Although it might not be an improvement, the trailer is sure to bring plenty of laughs and nostalgia to fans of the original game. The movie is based on the hit video game that was originally released over 20 years ago. The plot centers on the Frostwolf orcs, who are forced to run from the evil Shadow Council. While the main storyline might not match up perfe...

  A new trailer for Techland’s Dying Light expansion, The Following, shows off vehicle customization, including decals, bobbleheads, upgrades, and weapons. About six months ago, Dying Light developer, Techland, teased gamers with some footage of an upcoming expansion, called The Following , for their first-person zombie action game. Today, Techland released a new trailer giving gamers additional information about the expansion, including a few details about the in-game dirt buggies coming with the DLC. As the below trailer shows, Dying Light players will be able to cruise around The Following ’s wide-open addition to the map in their customizable dirt buggies. Players will be able to add paint jobs and unlock bobbleheads and charms to show off on their buggies. They’ll also be able to modify and upgrade various vehicle parts, including the engine, tires, and other sections of the buggies. Finally, and probably most excitingly, players can add unique weapons to their v...

North American publisher XSEED Games began streaming a gameplay trailer on Thursday for its upcoming PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 3 crossover fighting game Nitroplus Blasterz -HEROINES INFINITE DUEL- . XSEED Games also announced on Thursday that the game will launch on February 2. XSEED Games previously streamed character videos for Ruili, Ignis, and Ethica earlier this month. The game crosses over characters from Nitroplus properties and visual novels, as well as characters from properties where Nitroplus writers were involved, such as Saber ( Fate/Zero ), Akane Tsunemori ( Psycho-Pass ), or Angela Balzac ( Expelled from Paradise ). The game's PlayStation 3/PlayStation 4 version shipped in Japan last December. The console version promotes Super Sonico from partner character to playable character. Players will be able to download Homura from Senran Kagura and Aino Heart from Arcana Heart as playable characters for free for the first four weeks after the game launches...

  The game, "Mortal Kombat X," is going to get the "Kombat Pack 2" soon and recently, a gameplay trailer for it was released. Soon after the gameplay trailer released, news about the pack was made public by the developer and it provided more details about the characters that would be included. Reporting on the characters that would come in the "Kombat Pack 2," Gamespot  states that Leatherface from the "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" film franchise would be included. Also included would be the Xenomorph, also known as Alien from the film franchise of the same name. The trailer importantly hinted that Bo Rai Cho, who is the drunken fist master, and Tri-Borg would also make an appearance. The pervious characters that have been brought to the game since its release have included the likes of Jason Voorhees and the "Predator." However, this particular trailer for the "Kombat Pack 2" was released for a short while, and then w...

Publisher Bandai Namco put up a launch trailer for its upcoming first-person puzzler Attractio today, and the game looks like some kind of weird cross between Portal and Smash TV. The game, set in the year 3275, will feature three protagonists as they each try to survive a deadly reality TV show called Attractio in the hopes of winning big prizes by solving puzzles. The gameplay looks a bit like the gravity gun from Half-Life 2 in the world of Portal. You’ll play as each of the three characters during the game’s story mode as they compete against one another to win, each vying for a different prize. Attractio launches on PlayStation 4, PS Vita and PC on January 19.

Omnibus , a game in which you drive a bus that can't stop and somehow avoids resembling Speed in the slightest, has gotten a new trailer, and it's something special. Devolver Digital, known for creating and supporting some wacky games in the past, today released the trailer above for Omnibus. It's positioned as the latest entry in a series about vaporware, and makes it seem as if development on Omnibus started more than two decades ago. It goes on to feature fake magazine covers, tweets, and a profane quote from Shigeru Miyamoto; suffice it to say, you really need to just watch it for yourself. In reality, Omnibus is a game that attracted more than $8,000 on Kickstarter (where $5,000 was the goal) and is now close to release. It has you take control of a speeding bus that can't be stopped or slowed down. There's a mission mode where you'll try to complete various objectives, and another mode where you just try to pull off tricks and earn high scores....