WhatsApp for Android Update Brings Revamped Settings Page

WhatsApp seems to be on a roll these days. The instant messaging application, after bringing pdf file sharing support, showing end-to-end encryption notification, and more, has this time tweaked the user Settings page for Android with a new layout, slightly better icons, and smoother animations.

The new user Settings page on WhatsApp comes as a part of the version 2.12.506, which is yet to be rolled out to Google Play or the WhatsApp website, but can be downloaded as an apk file from APK Mirror website (via Android Police). You can also be a part of Google Play beta programme to get the new version.

Besides the aforementioned design changes, the new WhatsApp version brings some changes in the placement of the options inside Settings page as well. The Profile settings option, which was until now seen placed at second position from top, has moved to the top and features the user's profile pic. It however, bears the same functions - letting users change their profile image, status, name, and more. Slight modifications such as round profile picture instead of square, a floating action button on the profile pic to change the image, displaying phone number along with the status, and icon colour change from grey to green can be seen. The option is followed by Accounts, Chats, Notifications, Data Usage, About and help, and Contacts.

Data Usage is also new in the list. Tapping on the option gives you a page where you can take control as to what kind of media files WhatsApp will download when on Wi-Fi, on mobile data, or when in Roaming. Also, the 'Chats and calls' has now become just 'Chats' as the call settings now fall under the Data Usage option. Payment information page has been removed, which makes sense, as the app is now completely free. Outside the Settings page nothing seems to have changed.

Although it might take users some time to be familiarised with the update, it lets them access options in lesser taps than before. The app version will probably see a rollout over the air soon via Google Play.

Virtual reality set to transform filmmaking

Chris Milk stepped onto a TED Conference stage and took the audience on an awe-inducing trip into the future of movies. While much of the early attention on virtual reality has focused on use of the immersive technology in video games, Milk and his US startup Vrse are using it to transform storytelling and filmgoing. "We have just started to scratch the surface of the true power of virtual reality," Milk said. "It's not a video game peripheral. It connects humans to other humans in a profound way... I think virtual reality has the potential to actually change the world." He had everyone in the Vancouver audience at TED , which ended Friday, hold Google Cardboard viewers to their eyes for what was billed as the world's collective virtual reality experience. Google Cardboard gear is literally that -- cardboard

Explained: Camera Improvements in the New HTC 10

With the HTC 10, the Taiwanese company is promising to undo the past wrongs in the cameras of its previous flagship phones. The camera has long a weak point in HTC devices. At first, HTC sacrificed image resolution in the M8 and made the size of individual pixels larger to capture more light (what HTC called Ultrapixel). But the resulting 4 megapixel images were often fuzzy, especially when cropped or enlarged. To fix the issue, in its next flagship - the M9 - HTC went with smaller individual pixels in a 20-megapixel camera last year, but it still underperformed in extreme situations, such as indoors and close-ups. In the HTC 10, the company attempts to strike a balance with larger individual pixels (1.55µm), but not as large as before and a 12 megapixel sensor in its camera coupled with a ƒ/1.8 lens. HTC accepts that in the imaging performance in the M9 was not up to the kind of spec of what they really like to see in a flagship. HTC is giving a slight boost to the selfi...

Freedom 251: 30,000 Units Sold, Components for Up to 2.5 Million Will Be Imported

Ringing Bells, the makers of the Rs. 251 smartphone - the Freedom 251 - confirmed to Gadgets 360 on Tuesday that it has still only accepted payments for 30,000 units of the phone. It also added that the components for these phones will be imported, and only assembled in India, not made here. Ringing Bells stopped accepting orders on February 19, and claims to have received over 70 million registrations. The company President and Director both repeatedly stated that the price of the phone would be made possible through economies of scale, and making the phone in India to cut out import costs. Economies of scale? However, in a discussion with Gadgets 360 the company revealed that it had only sold 30,000 units of the phone on day one. The company has now confirmed that it has not sent out the payment emails to anyone else who registered - "we were working out details of cash on delivery, which we are announcing now, so we will be sending emails to the first 2.5...

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