In Apple’s obsession with size, did performance suffer?

In a more embarrassing product review of Apple’s recently released iPhone 7, a British consumer group titled ‘Which?’ has established that the battery of the device fares quite poorly than that of its peers.

The group tested the iPhone 7 with other recently launched high-end smartphone models including Samsung Galaxy S7, the HTC 10 and LG G5. 

When tested with a 3G connection, the iPhone 7 was rated at the bottom of the list, providing 712 minutes of call time.

Meanwhile, other phones recorded a much high call time, with HTC 10 lasting 1859 minutes, LG G5 lasting 1579 minutes and the Samsung Galaxy S7 lasting 1492 minutes.

The group is said to have also tested the four smartphones to see how long they would last when used on the Web.

Once again HTC 10 emerged victorious lasting 790 minutes followed by Samsung Galaxy S7 that lasted 677 minutes, LG G5 lasted 640 minutes and iPhone 7 lasted 615 minutes. 

Which? said it carried out the tests using its own phone network simulator to ensure that the signal strength was consistent for each test.

The group, which is Britain's oldest consumer group explained, “This is important as a phone has to expend more power when it’s struggling for reception. We also set the screen brightness on every phone to the same level. Finally, we perform a full ‘power cycle’ of each phone’s battery prior to testing – that means fully discharging and then charging it.” 

In reaction, users said that Apple’s focus in recent years has shifted and it is currently obsessed with size. The brand want to deliver the thinnest and lightest fully-featured phone, and in the process, they might have settled for a smaller battery. 

iPhone 7 employs a significantly lower capacity battery as compared to most of its rivals. 

The HTC 10, which emerged right on top of the test, on most parameters uses a 3,000 mAh battery compared to the 1,900 mAh unit used by iPhone 7.

Incidentally, some users pointed out that Apple never highlights the capacity of its batteries in any promotion.

Embiid, Saric debut as 76ers begin without Simmons

The Philadelphia 76ers finally had some good news as they deal with the bad news of Ben Simmons’ injury.

And Golden State fans got to see just how explosive their team looks with Kevin Durant in the lineup.

Durant had 21 points, seven rebounds, seven assists and two blocked shots in an impressive first home game with Golden State, leading the Warriors to a 120-75 rout of the Los Angeles Clippers on Tuesday night.

Earlier, Joel Embiid and Dario Saric made successful NBA debuts in the 76ers’ 92-89 exhibition victory over the Boston Celtics in Amherst, Massachusetts.

The 76ers waited more than two years to get the 2014 lottery selections in uniform and they both started Tuesday. Embiid, who had been sidelined by foot injuries since Philadelphia took him with the No. 3 selection, had six points in 13 minutes.

Saric, who continued playing in Europe after he was selected by Orlando with the 12th pick and then dealt to Philadelphia, had 10 points and six rebounds in 18 minutes.

Unfortunately for the 76ers, they don’t know when Simmons will be able to join them. The No. 1 overall pick had surgery to repair a broken bone in his right foot Tuesday and there is no timetable yet for his return.

ROCKETS 130, KNICKS 103

KNICKS: Derrick Rose had 16 points and five assists in his Knicks debut. He is now expected to leave the team and travel to Los Angeles, where his rape trial began earlier Tuesday. Kristaps Porzingis led the Knicks with 22 points, Carmelo Anthony scored 10 on 4-for-13 shooting.

ROCKETS: James Harden had 28 points and 11 assists. Ryan Anderson went 7 for 13 from 3-point range, finishing with 26 points and seven rebounds. Houston was 20 for 42 from 3-point range.

PACERS 113, PELICANS 96

PACERS: Al Jefferson scored 14 points, Thaddeus Young added 12 points and 10 rebounds and Jeff Teague scored 10 points in their preseason debuts for Indiana.

PELICANS: Sixth overall draft choice Buddy Hield scored 18 points in 29 minutes off the bench after scoring 19 points in his preseason debut on Saturday. Anthony Davis scored 12 points and blocked two shots in 18 minutes but made only three of 13 shots while going 6 of 8 on free throws.

HEAT 106, WIZARDS 95

HEAT: Hassan Whiteside had 20 points, 13 rebounds and three blocked shots. Justise Winslow and Dion Waiters both scored 12 points.

WIZARDS: Kelly Oubre led Washington with 16 points in its first game under Scott Brooks. Former Jazz guard Trey Burke had 14 points, starting at point guard while John Wall remains out while recovering from surgeries.

LAKERS 103, KINGS 84

LAKERS: No. 2 pick Brandon Ingram missed all five field goal attempts, four from 3-point range, and finished with two points in 27 minutes in Anaheim, California. Lou Williams scored 15 points but fellow guard D’Angelo Russell had only four on 2-of-8 shooting.

KINGS: DeMarcus Cousins had 11 points and six rebounds in just 15 minutes. Arron Afflalo, who spent last season with the Knicks, led Sacramento with 14 poin

Eyewitnesses give strike details

Eyewitnesses living across the Line of Control (LoC) have provided The Indian Express with graphic accounts of last week’s Indian Army special forces strikes on jihadists’ staging posts, describing how bodies of those killed in clashes before dawn on September 29 were loaded onto trucks for secret burials. The eyewitnesses also described brief but intense fire engagements that destroyed makeshift buildings that housed jihadists before they left for the last stage of their journeys across the LoC.

Delhi’s CM video message to PM Modi: AAP protests against Pak, BJP protests against Kejriwal

AAP leaders and workers protest against Pakistan and its media Tuesday. Praveen Khanna

A day after Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal sent a video message to Prime MinisterNarendra Modi, urging him to “unmask” Pakistan’s “dirty propaganda” about the Indian Army’s surgical strikes across the LoC, the capital witnessed two protests connected to the issue Tuesday. One was held by the AAP, to protest against Pakistan and its media, while the other was held by the BJP, to protest against AAP chief Kejriwal whose remarks, claimed the party, amounted to “seeking proof” of the strikes.

While AAP had planned to hold the protest outside the Pakistan High Commission, it was denied entry inside the diplomatic area. The party finally held the protest outside the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library.

aay and Pakistan hosh mein aao, slamming Pakistan for refusing to admit that the “surgical strikes” had taken place. Party workers also raised slogans such as Bharat Mata ki Jai and Vande Mataram.

While AAP offered its support to the central government, it continued to seek the same thing Kejriwal had asked asked for, and over which he had been attacked by the BJP: a response to Pakistan’s “false propaganda”.

“We have several differences with you, but we are with you on issues of national interest,” said AAP’s Delhi convenor Dilip Pandey, as he addressed a gathering of party workers inside the Chanakya Puri police station where he, along with other senior AAP leaders, were detained. They were released later.

Saying the party “completely trusted the Army”, Pandey said, “Our Army has given muh tod jawab (befitting response) to terrorists, we want a similar “muh tod jawab to Pakistan’s propaganda”.

He also criticised the BJP for “questioning Kejriwal’s intentions”, claiming that Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad’s comment on the issue “exposed the BJP’s petty politics”.

Responding to the video, Prasad had said the AAP leader should answer whether he “believed in the Indian Army” or not.

Meanwhile, AAP workers claimed that the protest was held to project “national unity and integrity”.

“It is a matter of national interest. We are with our country. He is our Prime Minister too,” said Mukesh Kumar, a contractual worker at the Delhi Secretariat.

Kumar said, “We want evidence of the strikes too”, but quickly added “that’s a different issue”. “The international media is criticising us. We must give them evidence,” he said.

Another participant, auto-rickshaw driver Bhagwan Swami, said the AAP’s protest should not be interpreted as the party’s “support for BJP”. “We are not supporting the BJP. We are opposing Pakistan for the wrong things it is doing. We are also Indians,” he said.

“Our Army has done a great job… we are supporting them. Pakistan has refuted it (strikes), it will demoralise our Army,” said AAP member Kadambari Yadav.

“Our party believes in doing the right thing,” said Yadav, adding that the protest was held to display the AAP’s support for the country and the armed forces.

Meanwhile, at a protest held by the BJP’s Delhi unit near Kejriwal’s residence, the party accused him of providing “veiled support” to Pakistan.

Delhi BJP chief Satish Upadhayay, who led the demonstration along with Leader of Opposition Vijender Gupta, accused Kejriwal of working for “foreign agencies” who were trying to “destabilise” India.

“Never has the country seen a Chief Minister commenting on Army operations like Kejriwal did… this is against constitutional propriety…,” said Upadhayay.

Gupta said it was “disheartening” when a Chief Minister “demanded proof” of Army operations.

Ink thrown at Arvind Kejriwal in Bikaner, 2 ABVP workers detained

Two youths affiliated with the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) threw ink at Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal Tuesday night as they were “angry at his comments on the Indian Army”, said police.

Sub-inspector Ajay Kumar, Kotegate police station, Bikaner, said, “We have detained Dinesh Ojha (24) and Vikram Singh (26) for throwing ink at Arvind Kejriwal. Both are affiliated with the ABVP and they said they were angry with him over his comments on the Indian Army.”

Party worker Prashant Kumar, who was at the spot, said, “The chief minister was coming out of the home of former party treasurer Krishna Kant Seveda. He had barely stepped out when three youths hurled ink at him, along with the bottles, which landed on him and those standing nearby. One person managed to flee while two were apprehended.”

Kejriwal, said, “A lot of people were waiting for the chief minister and he was acknowledging them with folded hands at the threshold of the house. He was about to get in the car when the youths hurled ink at him. The volunteers and police immediately helped him into the vehicle and escorted him to the railway station.”

He added, “It is a shameless act. Someone’s mother had passed away and the family is in mourning. Is this how ABVP behaves with visitors to the house?”

The incident took place around 10.10 pm, when Kejriwal had left Seveda’s house to catch a train back to Delhi. Kejriwal had arrived in Bikaner to pay his respects after Seveda’s mother had passed away recently. Soon after the incident, Kejriwal Tweeted: “Hmmm. God bless those who threw ink at me. I wish them well.”

Bangladesh: setting a global standard in ending poverty

There is a lot for Bangladesh to celebrate in the latest World Bank research on global poverty and inequality.

The new report, “Poverty and Shared Prosperity 2016: Taking on Inequality”, uses revised data to give a more accurate estimate of how many poor people live in Bangladesh. What the report shows is that 18.5 percent of the population was poor in 2010 compared with 44.2 percent in 1991.

This is a major achievement that will receive global recognition on October 17 when the World Bank Group marks End Poverty Day with the Bangladesh people at an event in Dhaka.

This achievement means that 20.5 million Bangladeshis escaped from poverty between 1991 and 2010. It means that Bangladesh beat the deadline by an impressive five years in achieving Millennium Development Goal number 1, an internationally recognised target to cut extreme poverty rates by half by 2015.

It is worth remembering how far Bangladesh has come.

US presidential security adviser Henry Kissinger had dubbed the country a "basket case" at its birth in 1971. Bangladesh emerged from the ashes of a gory War of Independence as the world's second poorest nation. Its population and economy were ravaged and its productive assets -- which once provided the bulk of undivided Pakistan's exports -- were in shambles. Even as well-meaning experts sounded warnings that the fragile state would collapse, Bangladesh increasingly silenced the sceptics by proving resilient against the devastating 1974 famine and a series of crippling cyclones. From 2000 onwards, the economy has been growing consistently at 6 percent a year on average. Development officials from other nations now visit Bangladesh to decipher the secrets of its success.

 

Bangladesh has tackled its challenges in remarkable ways. It has overcome meagre resources to make the most of its strong cultural and intellectual tradition and a national will to build a prosperous nation following Independence.Bangladesh gave the world a revolutionary new micro-financing model to monetise the productivity of the poor and showed that a predominantly Muslim country could unleash the potential of its women, making them a significant partner in progress. Its female stipends programme, widely acclaimed as a model for achieving gender parity of enrolment, has been replicated successfully in several countries. Its vibrant garment sector is giving a whole generation of women jobs that open new opportunities.

Today, Bangladesh is a lower middle-income country with a bright future as a member of the “Next 11”, according to US investment bank Goldman Sachs, which had earlier identified the “BRICS”. The image of Bangladesh as a country with endemic poverty could soon change as Bangladesh finds new pathways to sustainable and equitable growth and aims to achieve middle-income country status by its 50th birthday in 2021.

The sceptics will say that poverty, regardless of the latest World Bank estimates, is a reality in the lives of too many Bangladeshis. They are right. Bangladesh still had 28 million poor in 2010, the latest year for which a household survey is available for the country. Based on the new estimate, Bangladesh is the 64th poorest out of the 154 countries included in the World Bank's global poverty database. Much more, therefore, still needs to be done to end poverty in Bangladesh and to increase the prosperity of the bottom 40 percent of the population. These are the goals that the World Bank Group is pursuing with the government of Bangladesh.

As the government has rightly identified, Bangladesh will do well by addressing infrastructure, energy and regulatory bottlenecks to increase productivity, make exports more competitive and attract more domestic as well as foreign investment.

The country can build on its success in human development and improve the quality of education, vocational training, as well as child nutrition and health services. The country can do more to strengthen institutions, including improving governance and strengthening anti-corruption measures. It can improve the policy environment for businesses, manage rapid urbanisation and adapt to climate change impacts.

The World Bank Group will work with the people of Bangladesh to overcome these challenges every step of the way. The World Bank has invested more than $19 billion in support since 1972 to advance Bangladesh's development priorities. Bangladesh is currently the biggest recipient of credits from the International Development Association, the World Bank's fund for the poorest countries.

There is much to be done to complete Bangladesh's development journey and to give all its citizens the opportunities they deserve. But as the World Bank's new report shows, Bangladesh is an inspiring example to the world on how to overcome poverty. Now is the time to build on these successes and end poverty in Bangladesh in our lifetime.

Qimiao Fan is the World Bank country director for Bangladesh, Bhutan and Nepal.

Quality telecom services still a far cry: survey

Star Business Report from Bangladesh 

Bangladesh has met half the targets for ensuring quality services for mobile subscribers, according to a survey of the South Asian Telecommunication Regulators' Council (SATRC).

The survey categorised the overall consumer protection of the telecom industry in five broad sections and Bangladesh got full points for billing accurac.

The four other measurements were: complaint redressal, quality of service, unsolicited calls and mobile number portability. The survey report was unveiled yesterday at the 17th SATRC summit in Dhaka.

The telecom regulators of nine countries took part in the three-day summit that ends today to discuss the overall situation of the telecom industry in the region. Bhavana Sharma, an adviser to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, presented the report.

The report showed that Bangladesh failed to perform well in basic parameters like audit of the quality of services, survey on customer satisfaction and generating point of interconnection congestion report.

The country scored satisfactorily in the field of quality of service standards, network outage and generating performance monitoring reports.

Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission launched a survey on quality of service, including technical analysis and customer satisfaction, in 100 areas of the country in August 2015. But the report is yet to be finalised.

In all three parameters of billing accuracy, Bangladesh along with India has scored satisfactorily, while Afghanistan and Bhutan have failed, according to the SATRC survey.  Bangladesh also scored satisfactorily in four parameters out of six of complaints redressal and failed in two, while India was the top scorer in the category.

The BTRC recently launched a complaint centre for subscribers but the number is not toll free, even at the operator's level, as per the SATRC standards.

In unsolicited call prevention, Bangladesh could comply with only one parameter but failed in all others like telemarketers' registry, separate number scheme for telemarketers and toll free number to complain against unsolicited calls. Bangladesh also failed in all four parameters of mobile number portability services, as the country has recently indefinitely suspended the auction to appoint a company to launch the services, while India and Pakistan have already introduced MNP.

Of all the parameters, Bangladesh has achieved 14 points and failed to perform well in 10 parameters.

Bangladesh has complied with 14 parameters out of 24 mentioned in the SATRC report, said Shahjahan Mahmood, chairman of BTRC.

“So we are in a good shape already. I hope that by next year, we will comply with the remaining 10 parameters of customer protection,” he told The Daily Star after the launch of the report.

Another senior official of BTRC said they could have complied with more parameters if the amendment to the telecom act in 2010 did not make it mandatory for them to take approval from the telecom ministry for any policy decision.