Freedom 251 is happening, first batch ships on June 30

The Freedom 251, the under-$4 smartphone, was unveiled last February as the cheapest smartphone in the world priced at INR 251. It gained big momentum, but then suspicions began to pile up.
The fiasco began with swapping the beautiful picture of the device with a more accurate (and less flattering) one. And it was all OK, you know, it costs $4. But then the first prototypes sent to the media were some poorly masked Adcom phones that normally sell on the Indian market for about $50. And finally, all of the Android icons were absolutely identical with Apple's iOS ones.

Freedom 251 (click to expand)

Ringing Bells fought to keep the media smear out of the brand, but eventually it came under investigation by the Indian government, which was falsely introduced as a participating party in the Freedom 251 development.
All ended with the investigation and Ringing Bells' promise of fulfilling all pre-orders.
And here we are today, four months later, on the verge of seeing the first batch hit the market. The company announced it will begin shipping the Freedom 251 on June 30. It claims has north of 200,000 units ready and waiting.
Last we heard, Ringing Bells found some developers to help lower the cost of the phone by preloading their software ("government related bloatware" was mentioned, whatever that is). Even with that extra funding, the company was falling INR 150 short of their targeted INR 251 price and hoped for help from the government. We don't know if they got it, though.
Anyway, if you have doubts whether the Freedom 251 exists, maybe these live pictures will help. The 4" $4 phone with a 4-core processor was caught in the wild and is indeed real. The rest of its specs include 8GB expandable storage, 1GB of RAM, a 3.2MP main camera with LED flash, a VGA front snapper, a 1,450 mAh batter and Android Lollipop.

Freedom 251 (click to expand)

Also, Ringing Bells ditched the iOS icons in favor of Android-themed ones.
June 30 is almost here, so we'll know if Ringing Bells succeeds in making the world's cheapest smartphone against all odds.

Sepp, some cash for Korea in 2026

Zurich, July 20: Fifa president Sepp Blatter was showered with fake bank notes by a notorious prankster at a media conference in his Zurich headquarters.

The comedian Lee Nelson, real name Simon Brodkin, managed to infiltrate the media conference, which was being held to announce reforms planned to world football's governing body, and a date for the presidential election.

He stepped forward to the dais where Blatter was sitting and tried to present him with a wad of bank notes.

Nelson said, " Sepp, this is for North Korea in 2026" before Blatter summoned security guards to intervene.

As Nelson was being led away, he threw the notes in the air, which fell around a visibly furious Blatter before he got up and walked out of the room.

Nelson then issued a parting shot at Blatter, saying: " Cheers, Sepp, it's all there." The media conference was delayed as organisers cleaned up the notes.

Nelson is a renowned stage invader. At this year's Glastonbury Festival, the prankster ran onto the Pyramid Stage during Kanye West's headlining set and started leaping around and rapping along withthe star, who stopped singing to beckon security.

A guard promptly tackled Nelson off the stage.

In June 2014, Nelson made headlines when he attempted to join the England World Cup squad as they flew from Luton Airport to Miami for the start of their training camp.

Earlier, Fifa had announced it would hold a special congress to elect Blatter's successor on February 26 next year, meaning he is set to remain in power for another seven months.

An extraordinary meeting of Fifa's executive committee decided on the date of the election despite Uefa members having pushed for an earlier date.

Candidates for the position will have to be nominated before October 26. Uefa president Michel Platini has emerged as the favourite after being urged to run by four of the six Fifa confederations.

Platini has yet to make a final decision but sources say Asia has swung behind Europe, South America and Concacaf in supporting the Frenchman to succeed Blatter.

Platini held talks in Zurich on Sunday night with Asian Football Confederation ( AFC) president Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa, and as significantly, with Kuwait's Fifa executive member Sheikh Ahmed Al Sabah of Kuwait.

If Blatter does stay in power until February 26 -- several Fifa figures including Platini and England's David Gill want him to quit as soon as possible — it means he will have worked at Fifa for 40 years

Why this duo left their jobs to become your at-home personal barbers

Your Story
STARTUP
Why this duo left their jobs to become your at-home personal barbers
TARUSH BHALLA
9 APRIL 2016
153




Why shouldn’t boys have all the fun!
Giving us the answer are Anmol Garg and Vinay Chavan decided to capitalise on the faithful relationship men share with their barbers to launch a premium grooming platform for men called Flying Barber.

Flying Barber Founders (L to R) Anmol Garg and Vinay Chavan
Last September, Anmol, who was MCing corporate events back then, had a hair-raising experience. Seeking a haircut before a major event he landed at a barber’s shop in Bengaluru, only to wait around for an hour and leave with a ruined crop of hair.
Shaken after the experience, Anmol, longed for a platform where his hair would never have to play victim to the shears of a bad hairdresser again.
He started discussing the idea with his friends and stumbled upon Vinay, who was facing a far greater problem than Anmol. After shifting his home, Vinay had to travel close to 45 minutes just to visit his barber for a regular haircut. The duo divined that, clearly, men’s loyalty to their barber cannot be questioned.
Anmol and Vinay’s friendship goes back to 2011, where the two met at Toastmasters, an organization helping members with their communication and public speaking. Equally enthused by the idea, the duo went about learning the tricks and trade of setting up a men’s grooming platform.
Being equally immersed in the idea, the duo started off, exactly a week after the inception of idea. On asking them, whether they thought of it as an impulsive or hasty decision, Anmol replies
Not really. It was just an idea.  We didn’t think of it as a business then.
But to learn the tricks (rather snipes) of the trade, the founders had to experiment. And Anmol chose no better turf than his own apartment society where he gave haircuts for free.
Flying what?
Soon enough, Anmol and Vinay set up the plaform, which allows men to get haircuts at the comforts of their own home, at any desired time of the day.
Other services include hair spa, head massage, hair colouring, facials, pedicures and manicures followed by styling consultations.

Syed Mohammed handles operations for Flying Barber
They see peak demands during early mornings (8-9 AM) and late evenings (7-8 PM) during weekdays, while being completely booked during weekends. The startup claims to be a round-the-clock platform, having facilitated haircuts as early as 6 AM and as late as 10 PM.
Currently only in Bengaluru, Flying Barber is catering to Indiranagar, Koramangala, Marathali and Sarjarpur. However, the firm plans to open operations in other major metropolitans before the end of next year.
Their five in-house stylists have completed 1,450 transactions (haircuts), having a base of 820 loyal customers and witnessing a repeat rate of 40 percent.
They say,
We are careful about loyalty to the brand. So, it’s not about a particular hairstylist but about each hairstylist giving the same quality experience. Similarly, we are not a marketplace yet, since we want to control the quality experiences for our consumers.
They also take up corporate bookings for companies like InMobi , on-ground activations, stalls, and have participated in college fests. Flying Barber is the official hairstylists for the Bengaluru-based band Agnee.
Flying Barber’s information platform provides styling tips through blogs and catalogues. They have partnered with a men’s grooming line for this.
The average price for a haircut at Flying Barber is Rs 350, which is also their average ticket size, with requests coming from all age groups, including young boys and senior citizens. Majorly 35 year olds are subscribing to the service, owing to the residential localities the service is functional in. However, the service is also catering to young children (age 5) and senior citizens (above 60).
Something that works in favour of the startup is its ability to recreate the age-old practice of having the family barber co

Never 10 Prevents Windows 7, 8.1 PCs From Upgrading to Windows 10

Plenty of people, including us, like Windows 10. It's a substantial upgrade over Windows 8.1, giving users a plethora of improvements and features. We aren't, however, a big fan of how Microsoft is pushing this upgrade to some people. Ten months since Windows 10's release, users on Windows 7, and Windows 8.1 continue to report incidents about Microsoft forcefully downloading and upgrading their computer to Windows 10. You can stop the company from doing that with a new tool.

Well known software developer Steve Gibson has released a new tool called Never 10, which according to claims, allows a user to completely disable automatic updates. "The elegance of this "Never 10' utility is that it does not install ANY software of its own. It simply and quickly performs the required system editing for its user," says Gibson on his page about the new utility.

"Using this utility, inexperienced users will be able to easily use Never 10 themselves, while advanced users will likely appreciate that fact that no additional software is installed and will be able to refer friends and family, whom they support, to this easy-to-use utility," Gibson notes.

All a user is required to do is install this free application, and run it. This should come as a big relief to many Windows 7 users who're afraid that one day they will accidentally click on a prompt and Microsoft will upgrade their computer to Windows 10.

Microsoft has made Windows 10 available as a free update to Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 users - provided they have the genuine licensed copy. Last year, the company gave users with the ability to reserve their copy of Windows 10 when it becomes available on July 29. But later, the company also began downloading the Windows 10 installation files on different systems, and many users accidentally clicked on update prompts, ending up getting Windows 10 on their system.

BlackBerry Will Launch 2 Mid-Range Android Smartphones This Year: CEO

BlackBerry, after launching its high-end Android smartphone Priv, is said to be focusing on the mid-range segment this year. The company CEO John Chen in an interview said the Canadian smartphone maker will be launching two new mid-range Android smartphones this year, but did not reveal the exact time-frame of launch.

It is worth mentioning that Chen had in the past also hinted that the company will launch mid-range Android smartphones this year. Speaking to The National website, Chen added that out of the two smartphones, one will be full touchscreen while the other one will featuring a physical Qwerty keyboard. Nothing else was mentioned about the handsets. He additionally said the prices of the two smartphones will be around $300-400 (roughly Rs. 20,000 - Rs. 26,600).

Chen also admitted that the Android-based Priv smartphone "was too high-end a product" for enterprise customers. The company as a result slashed the price of the handset earlier this week. The slider Android smartphone will now retail at $649 (approximately Rs. 43,000), down $50 (roughly Rs. 3,300) from the launch price of $699. We can expect the Canadian company to make a similar announcement for the Indian market, where the Priv is also sold.

In the meanwhile, the BlackBerry Priv in India is still retailing at Rs. 62,990 via Amazon and offline retail stores.

To recall, the Android 5.1.1 Lollipop-based BlackBerry Priv features a 5.4-inch QHD (1440x2560 pixels) Amoled display; Qualcomm Snapdragon 808 hexa-core processor (1.8GHz dual-core Cortex-A57, and 1.44GHz quad-core Cortex-A53) clubbed with 3GB of RAM; 32GB of expandable storage; 18-megapixel rear camera; 2-megapixel front-camera, and 3410mAh battery.

Huawei P9, P9 Plus Launched With Leica-Made Dual Rear Cameras: Price, Specs, and More

At its event in London on Wednesday, Huawei launched its long-anticipated P9 smartphone, alongside the P9 Plus. Both smartphones feature a dual-rear camera setup made in collaboration with legendary camera maker Leica.

Called a 'dual-lens camera' by the company, the camera setup of the Huawei P9 and Huawei P9 Plus features two 12-megapixel sensors, with one capturing light in colour, and the other in monochrome. Together, combined with contrast, depth, and laser autofocus systems, the two cameras should provide sharp, detailed shots in both good light and low light conditions. The dual lenses sport an f/2.2 aperture. Both sport 8-megapixel front-facing cameras.


There are few differences between the two smartphones, namely battery, display size and type, as well as inbuilt storage and memory. While the Huawei P9 sports a 5.2-inch full-HD (1080x1920 pixel) IPS LCD display, the Huawei P9 Plus sports a 5.5-inch full-HD Super Amoled display and also incorporates Press Touch pressure-sensitive technology. The P9 will be available in both 3GB RAM/ 32GB inbuilt storage and 4GB RAM/ 64GB storage variants, while the P9 Plus will only be available in the latter configuration. The P9 sports a 3000mAh battery, while the P9 Plus sports a 3400mAh battery.

As for the common specifications of the Huawei P9 and Huawei P9 Plus: Android 6.0 Marshmallow with EMUI 4.1 on top; HiSilicon Kirin 955 SoC (4 Cortex-A72 cores at 2.5GHz, 4 Cortex-A53 cores at 1.8GHz); storage expansion via microSD card (up to 128GB), 4G LTE, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth v4.1, Infrared, and USB Type-C connectivity support. The P9 measures 145x70.9x6.95mm and weighs 144 grams, while the P9 Plus measures 152.3x75.3x6.98mm and weighs 162 grams.

The Huawei P9 3GB RAM/ 32GB storage variant has been priced at EUR 599 (roughly Rs. 45,400), while the 4GB RAM/ 64GB storage variant has been priced at EUR 649 (roughly Rs. 49,200). The Huawei P9 Plus on the other hand has been priced at EUR 749 (roughly Rs. 56,800). The phones will be made available in 29 launch countries across Asia, Africa, and Europe starting from April 16, in Ceramic White, Haze Gold, Prestige Gold, Rose Gold, Silver, and Titanium Grey colour variants.

iPhone SE, 9.7-Inch iPad Pro Now Officially Available in India

Apple India has launched the new smartphone and tablet it unveiled globally last month, the 4-inch iPhone SE and the 9.7-inch iPad Pro.

The iPhone SE (Review) and 9.7-inch iPad Pro (Wi-Fi | Cellular) are available through the company's online and offline retail partners in the country. The iPhone SE is available in two storage variants - 16GB and 64GB, with the former priced at Rs. 39,000, and the latter at Rs. 49,000.

(Also see: iPhone SE's Rs. 39,000 Price Tag - Relax, the MRP Doesn't Mean What It Used To)

The 9.7-inch iPad Pro on the other hand is available in 32GB, 128GB, and 256GB storage variants, in Wi-Fi only and Wi-Fi+Cellular models. As for Wi-Fi only, the 32GB model is priced at Rs. 49,900, the 128GB model at Rs. 61,900, and the 256GB model at Rs. 73,900.


The Wi-Fi+Cellular models have been priced at Rs. 61,900 for the 32GB model, Rs. 73,900 for the 128GB model, and Rs. 85,900 for the 256GB model.

(Also see: iPhone SE vs iPhone 5s vs iPhone 6s)

Apple last month also dropped the price of the Apple Watch in India, with the cheapest Sport (38mm) model now beginning at Rs. 25,900.

(Also see: 9.7-Inch iPad Pro vs 12.9-Inch iPad Pro vs iPad Air 2)

India is part of the second wave of the iPhone SE and 9.7-inch iPad Pro launch countries. First wave of launch countries were: Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, New Zealand, Puerto Rico, Singapore, the UK, US Virgin Islands, and the US, where customers gained availability on March 31.

(Also see: Why Is India Not in the First Wave of iPhone SE Launches?)

Apart from India, the second wave of launch countries are Albania, Andorra, Austria, Bahrain, Belgium, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Guernsey, Jersey, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Isle of Man, Italy, Kosovo, Kuwait, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Maldives, Malta, Monaco, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Turkey, and UAE.

  Apple iPhone SE
Reviews
Key Specs
News
Design
Display
Software
Performance
Battery life
Camera
Value for money
Good
Great performance
Good rear camera
Bad
Underwhelming selfie camera
Starts at 16GB storage
Read detailed Apple iPhone SE review
  Apple iPad Pro (9.7-inch) Wi-Fi + Cellular
Key Specs
News
Display 9.70-inchProcessor Front Camera 5-megapixel Resolution 2048x1536 pixelsRAM OS iOS 9Storage 32GBRear Camera 12-megapixel Battery capacity
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Apple iPad Pro (9.7-inch) Wi-Fi + Cellular specifications
  Apple iPad Pro (9.7-inch) Wi-Fi
Key Specs
News
Display 9.70-inchProcessor Front Camera 5-megapixel Resolution 2048x1536 pixelsRAM OS iOS 9Storage 32GBRear Camera 12-megapixel Battery capacity