News

Hundreds of iPhones, thousands of SIM cards used in Thailand click farm

Published

June 13, 2017

Marvin Velasco

Click farms, by definition, are underground groups composed of low-paid workers who boost a website or app’s engagement and ad revenue by giving overly positive ratings and lots of, well, clicks. This is how some platforms garner the excessive number of followers and ad money they have. This practice isn’t a well-kept secret, but it’s always interesting to see how some get caught.

The latest of which happened in Thailand yesterday. Two rented houses in Ban Mai Nong Sai, Aranyaprathet District were raided by local Police, who found a total of 474 iPhones (a mix of iPhone 5s, 5c, and 4s models), 347,200 SIM cards from Thai mobile carriers, and more electronics.

The raid came with three Chinese suspects who were arrested on the spot. They later pinpointed the source of their wares, which was operated by two other Chinese men in the Muang Aranyaprathet district of Sa Kaeo province. There, police found an additional 100,000 SIM cards and more gadgets in a house. Witnesses living in the area claimed the two suspects fled the night before the inspection.

This video shows the actual site of the click farm:

Meanwhile, the three Chinese nationals claim a company in China has been supplying them with the cash and supplies for the operation. They were being paid THB 150,000 ($4,420) per month to keep the click farm alive. The name of this company is still unknown.

So, what exactly were they illegally doing? According to the same report, the trio increased engagement for China-sold products by creating artificial page views, reactions, and shares through WeChat, which is also based in China.

Why pursue this business in Thailand? Because it’s a lot cheaper to operate there than in China.

Again, this isn’t anything new. This bust may very well be just the tip of the iceberg for many more click farm raids to come, and they might be happening in a house near yours.

[irp posts=”4932" name=”Unhappy customer walks into Apple Store, destroys Apple products”]

Source: Bangkok Post

News

Qualcomm is testing a new chip series for Android Go phones

Coming soon to budget phones near you!

Published

February 19, 2019

Luigi Leonardo

Since the birth of the smartphone industry, processors have always fought in an unending arms race. It’s all about power. In this industry, the fastest processor wins.

Recently, the industry properly established market segmentation. Now, processors have leaders in flagship, midrange, and budget segments. However, the industry was still in the arms race, regardless of segmentation.

Despite this trend, Qualcomm has announced a surprising decision. Instead of pursuing the fastest, the chip maker will instead focus on the bottom of the barrel.

Currently, the Snapdragon 200 series populates the company’s entry-level market. However, fiercer competition has edged out the series in this segment. Right now, MediaTek has captured more entry-level phones than Qualcomm.

With this, Qualcomm is testing a new series outside of the iconic Snapdragon lineup. The Qualcomm QM215 will focus on smartphones within the Android Go program. As such, the new chip will offer incredibly budget-friendly options for consumers.

According to a German source, the planned product is a 1.3GHz quad-core chipset, coupled with a 650MHz GPU. Prototype devices are touting LCD screens (1440 x 720 resolution), up to 2GB of LPDDR3 memory, and up to 16GB of internal storage. According to the same source, a “well-known smartphone maker” is already developing a device with the new chip. Likewise, component makers have already created fingerprint readers tailored for the chip. With its currently rumored specs, the chipset matches performance from the Snapdragon 400 series.

Right now, the product is likely in its early stages. The Qualcomm QM215 might even ultimately add to the Snapdragon 200 series after all. If anything, expect a lot more movement from Qualcomm in the entry-level market in the future.

News

Huawei P30 series will officially be revealed on March 26

In Paris once again

Published

February 19, 2019

Marvin Velasco

On March 26, Huawei plans to “rewrite the rules.”

That’s because that’ll be the date for the flagship P30’s launch, which is happening exactly one year after the Huawei P20’s unveiling. Paris, France will once again be the venue.

Here’s the short teaser being spread on social media:

Rules were made to be rewritten. Paris, 26.03.2019. #RewriteTheRules #HUAWEIP30 pic.twitter.com/hFzZI3pVYr

— Huawei Mobile (@HuaweiMobile) February 19, 2019

Little is known about the P30 and what it’s going to offer. Early leaks say that the Pro model might have four cameras on the rear as an upgrade to the predecessor’s three.

Other reports suggest that the P30 lineup will sport a notch with a curved display, similar to what the Mate 20 Pro has. All we can say for sure is that the primary P30 variants will utilize the high-end Kirin 980 chipset.

With Mobile World Congress happening soon, it’ll be up to Huawei to sustain the smartphone market’s hype come March.

News

Samsung’s upcoming Galaxy M30 phone will have triple rear cameras

The third phone in the series

Published

February 19, 2019

Daniel Morial

After launching the Galaxy M10 and Galaxy M20 budget phones in India last month, Samsung will announce another model in the Galaxy M series — the Galaxy M30.

When Samsung posted the Galaxy M30 teaser online, they didn’t share any hardware details aside from its 6.4-inch Infinity U Display. Since the Galaxy M30 will be upgraded to a Super AMOLED panel, it’ll definitely cost more than the other Galaxy M phones.

Based on the image posted by Samsung, the Galaxy M30 will have a waterdrop notch on the display and triple rear cameras. It’ll also have a rear-mounted fingerprint reader. Overall, it has a similar design to the rest of the Galaxy M phones.

Rumor has it that it’ll sport an Exynos 7904 processor with up to 6GB of memory and 128GB of storage. A 5000mAh battery is also expected to power the device for a whole day.

As for the cameras, it could have a 16-megapixel selfie snapper. At the back, the triple shooters might be composed of a main 13-megapixel sensor accompanied by two 5-megapixel sensors.

All are rumors for now, except for the display. Everything will be confirmed on February 27, the official launch date of the Galaxy M30. The phone will be sold exclusively through Amazon India at launch.