5 Easy Ways To Spot A Fake Smartphone

A major problem that many top phone manufacturers are encountering is the cloning of their brands. This trend continues despite the painstaking efforts to make cloning difficult. Despite this, the counterfeiters are having a field day faking these brands and it has made it hard for users to differentiate between counterfeit and original phones. Jumia Travel, the leading online travel agency, shares tips for identifying a fake device.

1. Packaging

Manufacturers of counterfeit products are sometimes careless with packaging. Phone makers will always take care of the smallest details of design and packaging of their own goods. So, take a close look at the package, paying attention to the print quality ensuring consistency. In addition, ensure nothing should be loose inside.

2. Look at the wires and plugs

The quality of the wire is an important sign of a counterfeit product. If it is original, a plugged-in cable will sit firmly and evenly, while in a fake, you will see loose parts.

3. Check the user manual

The user manual is one of the easiest ways to identify a fake gadget. Every relevant information about the device must be there in the language of the country of purchase. If it’s written in some other language and you cannot read it, then it is a cloned brand.

4. Look at the fonts

All fonts and symbols on the gadgets must be similar, readable and regular. If this is not the case, it means the phone is fake or counterfeit.

5. Pay attention to the material

The material used for making a phone can either be high or low-quality. Popular brands don’t cut back on materials. The plastic covering the phone must be smooth, without any creases.

SOURCE: http://naijapicks.com/posts/2578/5-easy-ways-to-spot-a-fake-smartphone

Read More

Locky Ransomware: Cert-In Issues Alert, Advises Users Not to Click on Suspicious Emails

Highlights

• Government has issued an alert on the spread of Locky ransomware
• CERT warned citizens about suspicious emails with attachments
• It advises people to take regular backups of their files

The government on late Saturday issued an alert on the spread of Locky, a type of ransomware through which attackers encrypt (lock) files on impacted computers and then demand payment from the victims in exchange of unlocking those files. Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In), an arm of Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, advised residents of India as well as Indian companies and corporate houses, to look out for suspicious emails with file attachments, the common way attackers are using to spread Locky. CERT said that a massive email campaign — in which more than 23 million have been sent — is underway to trick people into installing Locky ransomware via emails.

CERT advised people to not click on emails with subjects like "please print", "documents", "photo", "Images", "scans" and "pictures." It noted however that attackers may, and likely will, change their strategy and include other kind of messages in the subject line of their emails. In general, just avoid clicking on any suspicious email. "The messages contain ‘zip' attachments with Visual Basic Scripts (VBS) embedded in a secondary zip file. The VBS file contains a downloader which polls to domain 'greatesthits[dot]mygoldmusic[dot]com' (please do not visit this malicious website) to download variants of Locky ransomware,' CERT wrote in the notification.

Locky is one of the most popular ransomware, and among the first to have made global impact. First incidents of attacks with Locky were reported early last year, but then other kind of ransomware such as Petya and WannaCry became more prevalent. Last month security firms Symantec, MalwareBytes, and Comodo and others reported about resurgence of Locky ransomware in cyber attacks.

Last month, MalwareBytes reported about two new variants of Locky ransomware including the ones that used file extention ".diablo6” and ".Lukitus”.

CERT has advised ised to steer away from clicking on any such suspicious files, adding that they should consider taking regular backup of their important files. In an event of Locky ransomware attack, the victims lose access to all files. Furthermore, you should consider not keeping external hard drives -- in which you may have copied your important files -- attached to your computers at all times, as access to the will also get blocked in case you become a victim of Locky.

In a conversation with Gadgets 360 last month, Microsoft executives said that users should consider moving their important files to cloud (via online storage services such as Microsoft's OneDrive, Google's Drive, Dropbox) as files stored on their servers may remain accessible in case of ransomware attacks.

SOURCE: Gadget360

Read More

Samsung Galaxy On Max Review [With Video]: Big Screen, Good Cameras

If you are looking for a device to watch movies with good camera capabilities, then the Samsung Galaxy On Max is definitely a good choice. (Image: News18.com)

Samsung had recently re-launched its Galaxy J7 Max in the form of Galaxy On Max for a price of Rs 16,900. The big screen Samsung Galaxy On Max aims to take on the likes of Xiaomi Mi Max 2. It is exactly similar to the Galaxy J7 Max and if you already have it then you can skip the Galaxy On Max altogether.

The new Galaxy On Max offers a 5.7-inch 1080p Full HD display along with cameras tuned to cater to low light photography for a competitive price. Overall, the device has enough to make it stand apart from the crowded budget market. After using the Samsung Galaxy On Max for some time, here is what we think about the phone.

What’s cool?

The Samsung Galaxy On Max comes with one of the best smartphone displays in this price range. While it’s Full HD 1080p display like any other handset, the overall quality is unmatched. Also, sunlight visibility is good and the colours will delight you. Watching movies and playing games on this big 5.7-inch display smartphone is quite pleasing. But we will talk about gaming a bit later.



Coming to the performance of the device, the Samsung Galaxy On Max is powered by 1.69GHz octa-core MediaTek MTK P25 processor with 4GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage which can be expanded up to 256GB. While the device is not the fastest in the lot but it should easily cater to the performance needs of most average users.

One of the main USP of the Samsung Galaxy On Max is its camera which claims superior low light photos. The handset flaunts a 13-megapixel rear camera with an aperture of F/1.7 with LED Flash and a 13MP F/1.9 selfie camera with LED Flash as well. The device truly stands to its promises and will easily manage to please you with some great shots. However, the camera is definitely not the fastest in the business.

The rear camera offers professional mode as well, along with other standard modes, including HDR and Panaroma. The camera is able to produce good amount of detailing under low light and you shouldn’t have any complaints with daylight images as well. The front camera with LED Flash is capable of offering good quality low light selfies too.

While the device runs Android Nougat OS, Samsung’s very own TouchWiz UI takes over the device. Having said that, it’s a polished interface to use but you can’t skip the pre-loaded bloat. And then there is Samsung Pay Mini which falls short by huge margin when compared to the real Samsung Pay experience. The fingerprint scanner on the front of the device is quick to respond and overall it’s a smooth device.



What’s not so cool?

You can’t ignore the typical look and feel of low-cost Samsung devices. The Galaxy On Max, well, looks like any other budget Galaxy phone. The 3,300 mAh battery can last a day and it would have been great if Samsung could have bettered it. While the overall performance is great, this device is definitely not for heavy mobile gamers as slight hiccups and lags could disappoint.

Verdict

If you are looking for a device to watch movies with good camera capabilities, then the Samsung Galaxy On Max is definitely a good choice. Having said that, there are smartphones like the Moto G5s Plus, Nokia 6, Lenovo K8 Note and others competing on the camera front. All in all, the Samsung Galaxy On Max is a good phone for average users who want a good camera, big display and the reliability of Samsung brand.

SOURCE: News18

Read More

Facebook’s Oculus ordered pay $500M in suit on stolen tech

A US jury Wednesday ordered Facebook and creators of its Oculus Rift to pay $500 million to gaming software firm ZeniMax in a lawsuit that claimed the virtual reality technology was stolen.
The Texas jury made the award in a trial in which Oculus was accused of basing its Rift headset on technology stolen from ZeniMax’s virtual reality software, court documents showed.
The lawsuit claimed Oculus founder Palmer Luckey and his colleagues developed the virtual reality gear using source code illegally obtained from the gaming firm.
The jury dismissed the charge that Oculus stole or misappropriated trade secrets but found Oculus liable for copyright infringement and other violations. Luckey was ordered to pay $50 million of the award and another former Oculus executive, Brendan Iribe $150 million.
The two executives were accused of violating a non-disclosure agreement with ZeniMax and copying the source code and other documents on a USB storage device.
ZeniMax had sought $4 billion in damages in the case, in which Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg testified to defend his company.

– ZeniMax pleased, Oculus appeals –
Maryland-based ZeniMax said it was “pleased” about the award for “unlawful infringement of our copyrights and trademarks, and for the violation of our non-disclosure agreement with Oculus pursuant to which we shared breakthrough VR technology that we had developed and that we exclusively own.”
Robert Altman, ZeniMax’s chairman and chief executive, said in the statement: “Technology is the foundation of our business and we consider the theft of our intellectual property to be a serious matter.”
In its statement, Oculus said: “The heart of this case was about whether Oculus stole ZeniMax’s trade secrets, and the jury found decisively in our favor.”

Oculus said it plans to appeal the verdict and was “undeterred” in its efforts to bring virtual reality technology to consumers.
“Our commitment to the long-term success of VR remains the same, and the entire team will continue the work they’ve done since day one — developing VR technology that will transform the way people interact and communicate,” the Oculus statement said.

“We look forward to filing our appeal and eventually putting this litigation behind us.”
Facebook acquired Oculus in 2014 for more than $2 billion and last year began selling the Rift headsets as part of the social network’s push into virtual reality.

According to the ZeniMax allegations, the four founders of Oculus had no expertise or backgrounds in VR other than Palmer Luckey.

But ZeniMax said Luckey “could not code the software that was the key to solving the issues of VR.”
The ZeniMax statement added that “we will consider what further steps we need to take to ensure there will be no ongoing use of our misappropriated technology, including by seeking an injunction to restrain Oculus and Facebook from their ongoing use of computer code that the jury found infringed Zenimax’s copyrights.”
The news came as Facebook was releasing its earnings for the fourth quarter.

Zuckerberg, in his opening statement to analysts, sad Facebook would “keep making big investments in VR content, and I am excited about what is coming in 2017 from games to more immersive experiences.”

Read More

Instagram Set To Release Photo Album Feature

Good news to the lovers of Instagram. The fast growing social community now owned by Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook, set to release a feature that will allow users to post photo albums. This simply means, instead of posting a picture one at a time, you will be able to post them all at the same time! Isn't that interesting?

This is really a great news for those of us who love photo albums. Remember that the closest thing we’ve had to this feature was the Layout app, which users could use to create a collage. Also, Instagram Story helped a little. However, the real thrill is not in creating an album slowly, over the years. Ain’t no one got time for that. The joy of the feature is in creating a whole new album in the time it takes to post one picture at a time.

However; that feature is not yet available for public use. However, it is already in beta testing. According to a report by Mashable, this feature allows users to select up to 10 photos at a time and combine these photos into a single post, thus creating an album. It is available for advertisers and a few beta testers; however, no one knows how soon they will release this feature.



Once the photo albums feature is rolled out, however, it would help users to post multiple photos at the same time. Basically, the user would hold down one picture, and then they would have the option of selecting more pictures. Then, they could either apply filters to all of them at once, or do that to each photo separately.

Well, that sounds awesome; however, I should certainly hope that the feature would not make posting single pictures less important. Also, how would viewers see the photos on the album? Would they view it open after the other, or all at the same time? So far, there has not been any word about that. However, expect the Instagram Photo Albums feature to roll out soon on Android and iOS platforms.

Read More