Samsung Galaxy A8 (2018) Facing Loudspeaker Issues After Recent Update, Some Users Report

Samsung Galaxy A8 (2018) has been reportedly hit by a loudspeaker-related issue following a recent software update. Several users are complaining about a strange loudspeaker sound cutout after installing the February security update rolled out by Samsung. This issue is apparently being noticed when the smartphone is being charged, but it also seems to occur in other cases as well. To recall, Samsung had launched the Galaxy A8 (2018) late last year, alongside the Galaxy A8+ (2018). While the latter made it into the Indian market, the former never had a launch in the country.

Reports of loudspeaker sound cutoffs in Galaxy A8 (2018) have emerged on Samsung's Community Forums. The affected users have claimed that the Galaxy A8 (2018) units seem to have the issue when they playing something on the loudspeaker, irrespective of it being a phone call, video, music, or a ringtone, as reported by folks at Piunikaweb. However, none of the users has reported on the cutoffs no being present when using the earpiece, headphones, or a Bluetooth speaker.

In several of the reported cases, hardware resets and factory resets do not seem to offer much help. Interestingly, some of the users have also claimed that the issue is present even when the phone is in charging mode, indicating that the problem could be related to the battery.

A user on YouTube has posted a video proof allegedly showcasing the sound issue during charging. As per the video, the problem appears to not affect the handset when the charging cable is plugged off, but it comes back when the user plugs in the cable again.

Meanwhile, affected users say Samsung support is asking them to give their devices in for repair. Several others have reported that even taking the Galaxy A8 (2018) to repair did not resolve the problem. However, there has been no official statement issued by Samsung as of now.

Many of the affected users have reportedly tried debugging steps via safe mode or even a factory reset, to no avail. Notably, users may need to wait until Samsung resolves the issue in its next OTA update - as it appears to be a software issue.

These iPhone users may not be able to access YouTube on WhatsApp

NEW DELHI: If you are an iPhone user and your phone is running on iOS 10 and below, then here’s some bad news for you. The popular instant messenger WhatsApp is reportedly dropping the support for its YouTube feature for iOS 10 and below users.

According to WABetaInfo, a Twitter account that tracks changes in WhatsApp’s beta builds has reported that the company is withdrawing YouTube support for iOS 10 and below. WABetaInfo tweeted, “WhatsApp has remotely disabled the YouTube support for iOS 10 and below, today! This feature will be an exclusive for iOS 11!”

Facebook-owned WhatsApp introduced the feature last year in November, which enables iPhone users to watch YouTube videos right in the app.
This is bad news for many of the iPhone users. As per the latest distribution numbers the there are 24% iPhones that run on iOS 10 and below and all of them will no longer have YouTube support in WhatsApp.


Recently, it was reported that WhatsApp will undergo major change and the company will roll out new features in the messenger. WhatsApp director Mubarik Imam announced the features at the ongoing F8 conference.

According to Imam, the features include stickers and group video calling. She also said that the app may also soon get some of the features of its business app, WhatsApp Business. Imam was talking at the company's annual developers conference F8.

Imam also said that Facebook-owned WhatsApp now has over 450 million daily users. She further added that over 2 billion minutes of video and audio calls are made through the instant messaging app every day.

As for stickers, she said the platform will also be open to third-party developers this means that they too will be allowed to make stickers for WhatsApp.

OnePlus smartphones set to get this exclusive Google feature

NEW DELHI: The Google Lens feature enables users to gather important information by using visual analysis. The company introduced the feature for the first time last year at company’s annual developer conference Google I/O. Soon, after the announcement, the company merged the feature with Google Assistant.

Until now, the feature was available only on Pixel and Nexus smartphones. But, now Chinese manufacturer OnePlus is rolling out the Google Lens to Assistant feature on OnePlus 3, OnePlus 3T, OnePlus 5 and OnePlus 5T smartphones.

The feature was first spotted by a Reddit user named Agent8923. After the update, the Google Lens icon will appear at the bottom of Google Assistant. The camera app will open for visual identification as soon as a user taps on the icon. Once done, Google will then try to identify the object and will also show all the relevant information and results.




The update is said to be rolling out on OnePlus 3, OnePlus 3T, OnePlus 5 and OnePlus 5T smartphones with the preferred language set to English.

Recently, Chinese smartphone maker OnePlus announced that it will be launching its flagship smartphone OnePlus 6 in India on May 17. The smartphone is the successor to OnePlus 5T and will be powered by Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon 845 processor.

The smartphone will come with a dual rear camera setup and iPhone X-like screen notch feature. The OnePlus 6 is said to run Android 8.1 Oreo operating system out-of-the-box and the company is also expected to give Android P update to the smartphone. The handset will also be water resistant and will come with iPhone X-like gesture control features.

This WhatsApp message is crashing Android and iPhone users' smartphones globally

NEW DELHI: Here's another 'text bomb' freezing smartphones worldwide. And it's said to be targeting both Android and Apple iPhone users. In some cases, users have reportedly been forced to restart their smartphones.

A seemingly innocuous string of characters with an emoji at the end recieved as a forward on WhatsApp is claimed to be the culprit here. The said message reads: "This is very interesting!" and has a crying laughing emoji at the end.

According to a Reddit user, going by the name DieHoe, the message is crashing WhatsApp of both Android and iPhone users too. "It's somehow crashing some iPhone's WhatsApp too," he writes in the post.

"Best way to Send this message is by using a Computer and WhatsApp Web. The Message is so heavy, my smartphone is dying when I try to copy or paste it... The Pastbin website isn't even loading / working correctly on android. Once u sended the message u can forward it with WhatsApp on Smartphone..."



DieHoe also warns that the message in some cases is not only freezing WhatsApp, but also crashing smartphones. "Be careful. Sometimes not only WhatsApp is crashing, my whole system process gets stuck, and I need to restart my phone. Use it carefully," he adds in the posts.

Recently, another forwarded message is said to have 'hung' users' WhatsApp app for few seconds. This message reportedly reads, “If you touch the black point then your WhatsApp will hang.”
The message has a black icon, clicking on this is said to freeze the app or make it unresponsive.

The message thread is said to be crashing the app due to the blank space between the text and the black dot. The message when converted into HTML reveals that the text consists of RLM (right-to-left mark). This is an invisible formatting character which is used to distinguish between left-to-right text and right-to-left text.

In English text, LRM (left-to-right) directional formatting is used while the said WhatsApp message uses RLM. It is widely speculated that the use of wrong directional formatting character is instructing WhatsApp to change the direction from left-to-right to right-to-left, which ultimately results in the app crashing.

Recently, WhatsApp director Mubarik Imam announced that the app will soon receive some new features to enhance users' experience. These features include stickers and group video calling. Imam also said that the app will also get some of the features of its business app, WhatsApp Business, in the coming days. Imam made these announcements at the company's annual developers conference, F8.

Apple and Buffett saw value, and acted

SAN FRANCISCO: Apple Inc was not the only one to leap on a chance to buy its stock at a fat discount last quarter as Warren Buffett stepped in to scoop up an additional 75 million shares for Berkshire Hathaway at the same time.

Between them - the two biggest players in the iPhone maker's shares - they bought nearly one of every 10 Apple shares traded during the quarter, according to Thomson Reuters calculations.

But the discount window did not stay open long, with Apple's stock back at a record high above $183 on Friday after trading in the mid-$150s for part of the first quarter.

The recovery in the share prices makes it less opportune for Apple's corporate treasury to execute purchases as it proceeds with an additional $100 billion of buybacks in an effort to further winnow down its mountain of cash.

Apple bought more than $23 billion of its own shares in the first three months of the year at an average price of $171.48, the company said this week. A Buffett representative on Friday confirmed Berkshire Hathaway increased its stake in Apple by 75 million shares, for which the company looks to have paid between $12 billion and $13 billion, based on the stock's trading range during the period.

Funds from the repatriation of Apple's $252 billion overseas cash hoard arrived at an convenient time for traders working on behalf of Apple. The Cupertino, California, company's massive share purchase in the March quarter coincided with a 10 percent slump in the S&P 500 between Jan 26 and Feb 8.

That drop raised fears across Wall Street that a nine-year bull market was ending and made it easier for big players amassing shares in a company to find willing sellers.

Apple shares fell even more than the broader market, tumbling over 13% from their record high close. But while the S&P 500 has remained in correction territory, Apple shares quickly recovered, and it seems the company and Berkshire were there to help.

Buffett, a billionaire bargain hunter, increased his company's stake to 240.3 million shares worth $42.5 billion during first quarter.

At its low in February, the stock was available for as little as $150, an 18% discount to its current price.


On more than a third of the trading days during the March quarter, Apple's stock traded below its volume weighted average price, or VWAP, for the prior 60 days.

On Feb 8, when it closed at $155.15, the low for the quarter, it was at a nearly 10% discount from its 60-day average VWAP. The stock had not been available at such a large discount to its prevailing average since May 2016, which happens to be when Buffett bought his first-ever shares of Apple.

At its close of $183.83 on Friday, however, Apple now stands at a premium of nearly 7 percent to its 60-day VWAP of $172.11.

Prior to last quarter, Apple's largest-ever quarterly repurchase occurred in early 2014, a year after it initiated its first $210 billion buyback program. The stock traded at a discount to its 60-day VWAP through much of the quarter, and Apple spent $18 billion to buy up its own shares, according to filings.

Man caught at Delhi airport with 100 Apple iPhone X handsets

NEW DELHI : A man was arrested by the customs at the Delhi airport for allegedly trying to smuggle in 100 iPhone X handsets, an official said today.



The 53-year-old accused was intercepted by the customs after his arrival from Dubai on Friday.

"Hundred iPhone X handsets worth a total of Rs 85.61 lakh were seized from his baggage after a thorough search," Additional Commissioner of customs at the airport, Amandeep Singh, said.

UK watchdog orders Cambridge Analytica to hand over American's personal data

Britain's data privacy watchdog has ordered Cambridge Analytica to hand over all the personal information it holds on a U.S. academic, confirming the right of people abroad to seek data held by a UK firm.

Data privacy activists say that it sets a precedent that would enable millions of other US voters to request information that the company had collected on them.

The Information Commissioner's Office served notice to SCL Elections, Cambridge Analytica's parent, to provide the information it holds on David Carroll, saying failure to do so would be a criminal offence punishable by an unlimited fine.

The order comes days after both firms filed for insolvency after reports that Cambridge Analytica had improperly obtained data on tens of millions of Facebook users without their knowledge or consent.

Cambridge Analytica advised US President Donald Trump's election campaign, building psychographic profiles of the electorate to help micro-target voters with advertising in key swing states.

Its managers have denied, however, using data harvested by Cambridge University psychologist Alexandr Kogan through a personality quiz on Facebook, in the 2016 US election.

"The company has consistently refused to cooperate with our investigation into this case and has refused to answer our specific enquiries in relation to the complainant's personal data," Information Commissioner Elizabeth Denham said.


"The right to request personal data that an organisation holds about you is a cornerstone right in data protection law and it is important that Professor Carroll, and other members of the public, understand what personal data Cambridge Analytica held and how they analysed it."

The case rests on the principle that, because a British company processed his data, Carroll is entitled under UK data protection law to receive the data a company holds on him even though he is a US resident.

"The ICO's decision will provide us all with answers about what Cambridge Analytica did with people's data, how it was used and who it was given to," said Carroll's UK lawyer Ravi Naik.

Cambridge Analytica and its insolvency administrators did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment on Sunday.