Chinese regulators leak 5.5-inch version of HTC A9

HTC’s A9 seems to be getting a bigger version. We catch a glimpse of the new 5.5-inch X9 smartphone courtesy of Chinese telecom regulator TENAA. Photos show that it looks rather similar to the A9, which people have called an iPhone clone. Some of the initial specs of the phone include the screen size bump but its internals line up with the smaller device. It runs on an unidentified 2.2GHz quad-core chip, 2GB of RAM, and has a 13-megapixel rear camera and 5-megapixel front camera. The Boomsound stereo speakers are also making a comeback after being taken out of the A9. But it seems this comes at the cost of having a fingerprint sensor. There isn’t any official announcement about the X9 yet so specs and name of the device might change a bit.

Source: The Verge

Google, Skype offers free international calls to France via Hangouts

In a short announcement on Google’s official Twitter account, the company is making international calls to France via Hangout free following the deadly terrorist attacks in the country yesterday. So, if you want to reach a loved one based in Paris, you can do so through Google Hangouts app on Android, iOS, and the web. Google didn’t specify how long this will last and which countries the feature is available in though.

If you would rather use Skype, Microsoft is also waiving fees for its VOIP service for the “next few days.” This includes all domestic and international calls to landlines and mobile phones. We hope you stay safe and our hearts are with you.

Source: Gizmodo + Android Authority

Facebook image recognition tech could help prevent parents from accidentally sharing photos of their child

Photo courtesy of Mashable

Facebook is putting its sophisticated image recognition technology to good use. The social network is said to be developing tools that will warn parents if they’re accidentally sharing photos of their child to the world. Jay Parikh, vice president of engineering at Facebook, talks about the details of the feature at a media event held in Bloomsbury, UK on Wednesday. “If I were to upload a photo of my kids playing at the park and I accidentally had it shared with the public, this system could say: Hey wait a minute, this is a photo of your kids, normally you post this to just your family members, are you sure you want to do this?”

There’s no word yet when this will roll out but it’s said to be part of Facebook’s “10 year arc of innovation” that features improved artificial intelligence and deep learning algorithms which the platform can use to filter out questionable content.

Source: The Next Web

Huawei works on new lithium-ion batteries capable of charging 10 times faster than normal batteries

Imagine being able to charge a 3,000mAh battery to 48 percent in just five minutes. Existing quick charging technologies have nothing on what Huawei is planning. Huawei presented at the 56^th Battery Symposium in Japan new lithium-ion batteries that are said to achieve ten times the charging speeds of existing batteries. Shown in two separate videos, one 600mAh battery can reach 68 percent capacity in two minutes, while the other is the 3,000mAh one that hit close to 50 percent at around five minutes.

The science behind this according to Huawei is it “bonded heteroatoms to the molecule of graphite in anode, which could be a catalyst for the capture and transmission of lithium through carbon bonds.” This helps improve charging speed without decreasing energy density or battery life. For now it’s still a concept but we can’t wait for future smartphones, tablets, smartwatches and the like to take advantage of this technology.

Source: Android Police