If you don't have Aadhaar number, soon your phone will not work

All mobile phone numbers in the country, whether pre-paid or post, will be linked to Aadhaar number in the coming months. This is a mandatory exercise ordered by government. Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has sent a notice to telecom operators that all phone numbers in the country needs to be re-verified using e-KYC processes powered by Aadhaar card. Any unverified number, or any number that is not linked to a Aadhaar number will be illegal in India after February 6, 2018.

The DoT directive, issued on March 23, notes that the Supreme court "while taking into cognizance of Aadhaar based e-KYC process for issuing new telephone connections has inter-alia observed that an effective process has been evolved to ensure identity verification, as well as, the addresses of all mobile phone subscribers for new subscribers. In near future, and more particularly within one year from today, a similar verification will be completed, in case of existing subscribers." The directive was first noticed by Medianama.

The directive then says that following the court ruling, a meeting was held in which it was decided that Aadhaar number will be mandatory for mobile phone users.

"A meeting was held on 13.02.2017 in the Department with the telecom industry wherein UIDAI, TRAI and PMO representatives also participated to discuss the way forward to implement the directions of Hon'ble Supreme Court,"  notes the DoT directive.

It then says that telecom operators will notify mobile users about the re-verification process through all means possible, including by advertisements in newspapers. It also says that telecom operators must come with methods so that there are no long queues when they carry out the re-verification exercise. "The licensee shall follow the above instructions strictly and should complete the re-verification exercise of existing subscribers before 06.02.2018," notes the DoT directive.

The move comes a day after Lok Sabha passed the Finance Bill, with an amendment that makes Aadhaar mandatory for filing tax returns. This year when you file the tax returns, you will also have to quote your Aadhaar number along with the PAN number. In fact, all PAN cards in the country will have to be linked to Aadhaar or else they will be cancelled. A few days ago, UGC also asked universities in the country to degrees to students only after they have submitted their Aadhaar numbers.

Redmi 4A or the Redmi 3S? Which one to buy

The Redmi 4A is here at Rs. 5,999 and the Redmi 3S is already selling for Rs. 6,999. There is a Rs. 1,000 difference, both are very good handsets so which one should you buy, the Redmi 4A or the Redmi 3S?

Redmi 4A Vs Redmi 3S

There are some minor specs difference, and Redmi 4A body is plastic whereas Redmi 3S body is metal. 4A is light weight (131 grams) and powered by Snapdragon 425 quad core chipset and 3S is slightly heavier (145 grams) than 4A and powered by Snapdragon  430 octa core processor. Both are 64 bit chipsets.

Redmi 4A Antutu benchmark = 36168 / 2515
Redmi 3S Antutu benchmark = 42150 / 7435

Interestingly both Redmi 4A and Redmi 3s comes with 10 point multi touch that offers smoother multi touch experience. Also screen quality is very good on both handsets.

Looking at the benchmark scores you can see that Redmi 3S scores higher and even in real life scenario 3S does better when using heavy apps like Games. In simple words if you are gaming user then go with Redmi 3S.

For other users it does not matter if they go with Redmi 4A or the Redmi 3S.

3S camera is better with f/2.0 compared with Redmi 4A that comes with f/2.2 aperture.

In general Redmi 4A feels really good to use, cause of the size and weight. Also heatup is less on both handsets.

 The battery of the Redmi 3s is bigger then the 4A 

Share your location in real time with Google Maps

Now Google Maps allows you to share your location in real time. You can select the contacts you want to share your location with and they will be able to track you in real time on their Android phone, Apple phone, Desktop and from Mobile Web.

The next time you are heading to a dinner or a party or an event, instead of your friends/family members asking you about your location every now and then , just enabled location sharing from Google Maps and your friends/family can keep track of you in real time.
This feature not only is quite useful to know when a particular person is going to arrive, but the same system can also be used as a security feature to constantly monitor your loved ones specially when they are traveling.

How to enable location sharing in Google Maps

Start Google Maps and just open the side menu and tap the blue dot that shows your current location. There you will see the share location option. Tap that and you can then decide with whom you want to share your location and for how long.

A link will be sent to the contact you selected and they can use the link to monitor your location in real time on their smartphone, tablets, laptops and even desktop.

At any point of time if you wish you can stop sharing your location.

Reliance Jio Prime Member Benefit and Prepaid, Postpaid tariff plans

Reliance Jio Postpaid plan for Jio Prime as well as non-Jio Prime users

For Reliance Jio postpaid customers there are 3 plans

Rs. 303 – Prime Members (Unlimited / 28GB for 28 days and 1GB/day) – Non-Prime Members (2.5GB for Bill Cycle)
Rs. 499 – Prime Members (Unlimited / 58GB for 28 days and 2GB/day) – Non-Prime Members (5GB for Bill Cycle)
Rs. 999 – Prime Members (Unlimited / 60GB for 28 days and no FUP per day) – Non-Prime Members (12.5GB for Bill Cycle)

Reliance Jio Postpaid Plans for Prime members come with unlimited data which means once they use the FUP data / data limit they can continue using data at lower speed. However Jio Non-Prime Members not only have data limit / restrictions but they also do not get the unlimited option.

Non-Jio Prime Membership plans		Jio Prime Membership plan
MRP (in Rs.)	Data	Validity (in days)	Data	Validity (in days)
19	100MB	1	200MB	1
49	300MB	3	600MB	3
96	600MB	7	7GB with 1GB/day FUP	7
149	1GB	28	2GB	28
303	2.5GB	28	28GB with 1GB/day FUP	28
499	5GB	28	56GB with 2GB/day FUP	28
999	12.5GB	30	60GB No FUP	60
1999	30GB	30	125GB No FUP	90
4999	100GB	30	350GB No FUP	180
9999	200GB	30	750GB No FUP	360

Reliance Jio Prepaid plan for Jio Prime as well as non-Jio Prime users

Rs. 19  – Prime Members (200MB  for 1 day) – Non-Prime Members (100MB  for 1 day)
Rs. 49  – Prime Members (600MB  for 3 day) – Non-Prime Members (300MB  for 3 days)
Rs. 96  – Prime Members (7GB  for 7 day – 1GB/day FUP) – Non-Prime Members (0.6GB  for 7 days)
Rs. 149  – Prime Members (2GB  for 28 days) – Non-Prime Members (1GB  for 28 days)
Rs. 303  – Prime Members (Unlimited – 28GB  for 28 days – 1GB/day FUP) – Non-Prime Members (2.5GB  for 28 days)
Rs. 499  – Prime Members (Unlimited – 58GB  for 28 days – 2GB/day FUP) – Non-Prime Members (5GB  for 28 days – 2GB FUP / day)
Rs. 999  – Prime Members (Unlimited – 60GB  for 60 days – NO FUP) – Non-Prime Members (12.5GB  for 28 days)
Rs. 1999  – Prime Members (Unlimited – 125GB  for 90 days – NO FUP) – Non-Prime Members (30GB  for 30 days)
Rs. 4999  – Prime Members (Unlimited – 350GB  for 180 days – NO  FUP) – Non-Prime Members (100GB  for 30 days)
Rs. 9999  – Prime Members (Unlimited – 750GB  for 360 days – NO  FUP) – Non-Prime Members (200GB  for 30 days)

So as you can see Reliance Jio Prime Members get more data / validity period for the same price