Japanese electronics maker Panasonic has confirmed that it is working on its new video-focused version of the full-frame mirrorless camera called the Lumix S1H. The new mirrorless camera’s prototype was showcased at an event in Los Angeles, USA. With the addition of the Lumix S1H, the company will be adding another product to its catalog and it will be the third camera in Panasonic’s new S1 series of full-frame mirrorless cameras. According to the company, the Lumix S1H would be unveiled globally at the Q3 2019.
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Panasonic Lumix S1H price and availability
The Panasonic Lumix S1H has an estimated price of $4,000 (approximately Rs 2,77,680) and as mentioned above, it will be launching at the Q3 2019. Once the mirrorless camera from Panasonic is launched, it will be made globally available.
Panasonic Lumix S1H specifications and features
Panasonic Lumix S1H falls in a similar category as the Lumix S1 and the Lumix S1R professional, full-frame mirrorless cameras. According to the company, the Lumix S1H is the first interchangeable lens mirrorless camera which can shoot 6K videos at 24fps and 5.9K videos at 30fps with an aspect ratio of 16:9. The new video-focused mirrorless camera from Panasonic will also support video recording in multiple aspect ratio like 16:9 and anamorphic 4:3.
Other than that, the company has also said that the camera will be the first in the world to shoot 10-bit 4K and Cinema 4K video at 60fps. It also has a wide colour gamut and it compares against the Cinema VariCam cinema cameras. The new Lumix S1H is also capable of shooting V-Log/ V-Gamut with its wide and dynamic range of 14+ stops. Other than that, the upcoming camera from Panasonic will be able to record non-stop video (under the regular operating temperatures) till the memory card of the camera is full or till the battery depletes.
Other than the details mentioned above, the company didn’t reveal much details about the Lumix S1H such as the ISO range, Card slots, sensor size etc. All the technical specifications and the details will be revealed by the company once it launches at the Q3 2019. Currently, Panasonic had showcased a prototype of the Lumix S1H at the Cine Gear Expo which was held at Paramount Studios, LA, USA. The event ran from May 30 to June 2.
Cupertino based technology giant Apple will be holding its World Wide Developer Conference (WWDC 2019) today. The event will span over five days and will end on June 7. However, today, the most anticipated keynote of the event will be held and the company will be talking about its all major software-focussed developments for 2019. CEO Tim Cook will be present at the keynote among other key executives of the company. Apple’s WWDC 2019 event will take place at its McEnery Convention Center in San Jose, California.
As always, Apple will be live streaming the keynote session of its WWDC event via its official website as well as the WWDC app. The WWDC 2019 keynote will begin at 10 am PDT, which is 10:30 pm IST. Here’s everything that you need to know if you want to watch the WWC 2018 keynote live and what to expect from it.
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How to watch the live stream of Apple WWDC 2019 keynote
Apple WWDC 2019 keynote will begin at 10 pm PDT, which is 10:30 pm IST. The Cupertino-based technology giant will live stream its keynote across various channels. Apple TV owners can watch the keynote via the Apple Events app. If you own an iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch or a Mac that has the Safari browser on it, you can simply watch the WWDC 2019 keynote live stream via the Apple Events website.
Other than this, the event can also be seen via the WWDC app on any Apple device. Windows users will also be able to watch the keynote, but only via the Microsoft Edge browser. In addition to this. Android users can also watch the event using Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox browsers. We should mention that Apple WWDC 2019 stream required support for MSE, H.264, and AAC.
Apple WWDC 2019: What to expect
There will be a number of key announcements that Apple will be making at the event. Since the services business has become so important and relevant to Apple now, the company will be giving more importance than it usually does to the WWDC 2019.
Apple is expected to give us the first glimpse of the iOS 13, which is said to come with a dark mode. Other than this, the company will also be giving details about its macOS 10.15, Marzipan apps, tvOS, watchOS and some updates about its other services. To know more about what is expected, you can read our detailed story here.
Till now, we have already seen what kind of notches the smartphones come with – regular notch, waterdrop notch, hole-punch notch and no-notch with a pop-up selfie camera. To include the front camera in the smartphones, the notches were somewhat important as they hold the selfie camera and other sensors. There were also some smartphones which came with their own innovative and new ideas to avoid the notch like the Samsung Galaxy A80 with its rotating camera and the Asus Zenfone 6 with its flip-up camera. But now, the Chinese smartphone maker, Oppo has revealed a smartphone with a non-mechanical under the display selfie camera which removes the notch completely without putting any moving parts into the phone.
Oppo’s Vice President, Brian Shen, on the Chinese social messaging platform, Weibo shared a short video which shows a smartphone’s prototype. This prototype smartphone comes with no visible notch and no-pop up selfie camera or moving cameras of that sort. But when the front facing camera icon is tapped, the smartphone opens the front camera even though there is no front camera visible on the smartphone. When the front camera of the prototype is opened, it shows the ceiling of the room it is kept in, the user also hovers his finger above the smartphone, the action is reflected back on the smartphone screen showing that the camera of the smartphone is working and is not just a gimmick.
Oppo’s VP Chen also said that the new smartphone camera technology is still in its early part of development. He said, “At this stage, it’s difficult for under-display cameras to match the same results as normal cameras, there’s bound to be some loss in optical quality. But, no new technology jumps to perfection right away.”
It is true that the under-display camera cannot match the same quality of image as the normal above display cameras. But it should also be noted that, if the new technology is perfected then it can surely replace the current ‘notched’ camera smartphones. And unlike the moving cameras like the pop-up selfie cameras, the under-display camera won’t be prone to damages or wear and tear damage.
The company currently hasn’t revealed when it will be using this technology on a mass-produced smartphone but since the new camera technology is far from perfect, we would have to wait for it to come out for the masses.
For those seeking the perfect, notchless smartphone screen experience – prepare to be amazed. 📲
You are taking a very first look at our under-display selfie camera technology. RT! 🤯 pic.twitter.com/FrqB6RiJaY
Other than Oppo, another Chinese smartphone giant, Xiaomi had also showcased a video of a prototype of Mi 9 where the company’s president said, “No hole, no notch, no pop-up camera.” In other words, Xiaomi is also testing its own version of the under the display camera. But it hasn’t yet revealed when will it be placed in a smartphone or what smartphone will be launched with the new camera technology.
Earlier in January, ahead of the CES 2019, the South-Korean electronics maker LG announced the world’s first 8K OLED TV named – LG OLED88Z9. The TV offers 8K resolution display which the consumer can use to play 8K content. The new 8K thin tube from LG has a resolution of 7,680 x 4,320 pixels and has an OLED screen size of 88-inches.
It is also interesting to note this TV is amongst the first televisions that offers 8K resolution on mainstream television. LG has after months of its showcasing has put the LG OLED88Z9 up for pre-orders in South Korea. Soon, the 8K OLED TV will reach the North American and European markets. News is by the third quarter of 2019 (July – September) it will reach these shores. Although the TV is up for pre-order but its price hasn’t been revealed by the company. But seeing the technology it offers, it will definitely be priced at a premium segment.
When it comes to technical specifications, the new LG OLED88Z9 offers 33 million pixels on the screen and as mentioned above, it offers a resolution of 7,680 x 4,320 pixels. It is also the world’s first 8K OLED TV and supports HDR along with Dolby Vision formats on content. 8K is currently the highest resolution any TV has to offer. 8K TV is 32 times sharper than the regular HD TV, 16 times sharper than the Full HD TVs and offers four times more sharpness and details than the regular 4K TV. But currently there isn’t much 8K content available. Also, do not expect it any time soon. But it should be noted that this is what had happened when the world was first introduced to the 4K technology, there just wasn’t enough content for the 4K TV to play. But now, 4K has become the norm and so will 8K in the future.
There are various online streaming platforms which offer TV Shows and movies to its users in 4K quality. After the 4K, the 4K Blue Ray format has become highly popular. Even YouTube offers some content in 4K. Tokyo Olympic Games 2020 is right around the corner, and it is expected that the Olympics 2020 will be broadcasted in 8K resolution, which will be a first.
The LG OLED88Z9 is a smart TV as well, it comes with support of Google Voice Assistant and Amazon Alexa. Although not much details are known about this new 8K TV but when launched, it will come with all the features a smart TV comes with and many new features as well.
HMD Global is one among the smartphone makers that is known for rolling out software updates timely to its handsets. The company has also ensured that all its Nokia smartphones are a part of Google’s Android One programme. Any smartphone which is under the Android One programme is promised to get timely Android updates for two years and security patches for three years. Now, the company has rolled out the latest Android 9.0 Pie update to its Nokia 3 smartphone, which is one among the entry-level handsets by the company.
We should mention that the smartphone was launched by the company two years ago and this means that HMD Global really sticks to its work when it comes to rolling out updates to its smartphones. HMD Global’s Chief Product Officer, Juho Sarvikas took to Twitter to announce that Nokia 3 smartphone, which was unveiled first in 2017, has started receiving the latest Android 9.0 Pie update. He also said that the company kept its promise of delivering two years of Android updates to the smartphone.
His tweet reads, “The wait is over! Keeping up with our promise of 2 years of Android updates, Nokia 3 (2017) is now officially running on Android 9 Pie! Step up to Nokia smartphones, they Just Keep Getting Better!
A number of new features have come to the Nokia 3 smartphone along with the update. The Android 9.0 Pie update changelog includes new system navigation, adaptive battery, adaptive brightness, and revamped settings and notifications. The update has also got the May Android Security patch to the smartphone. The update is being rolled out over-the-air (OTA) and if you have not already received it, your device will get it shortly.
To recall, Nokia 3 smartphone was launched in India in June 2019 and it was priced at Rs 9,499. At the time of its launch, Nokia 3 smartphone was running Android 7.0 Nougat operating system. But then, it received updates to Android 8.0 Oreo, Android 8.1 Oreo and now, it has finally received the Android 9.0 update too.
Coming to the specifications of the smartphone it comes with a 5-inch IPS LCD display that has an HD resolution. Powered by a quad-core MediaTek 6736 SoC, Nokia 3 comes with 2GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage. The smartphone from Nokia comes with support for a microSD card of up to 128GB. The handset houses a 2,630mAh battery. For imaging duties, there is an 8Mp primary camera with an LED flash and there is an 8MP front-facing camera to click selfies and make video calls.
The 6GB RAM version of the Redmi Note 6 Pro smartphone has received its first price cut in India. The company has announced a price cut of Rs 2,000 in India and now it can be picked up at Rs 13,999 from Mi.com and Flipkart. The variant that comes with 4GB of RAM has also got a price slash of Rs 2000 and can now be bought at Rs 11,999. We should mention that the device was launched in November last year, and Xiaomi also launched its successor Redmi Note 7 Pro in February. Among the key highlights of the smartphone are a 19:9 display, a dual selfie camera, P2i water repellent nanotechnology, and a massive 4,000mAh battery.
Xiaomi Redmi Note 6 Pro’s 6GB RAM/64GB storage variant can now be bought at Rs 13,999 and its 4GB RAM model is now priced at Rs 11,999. The smartphone can be picked up from Flipkart, Mi.com, and Mi Home stores. The company is offering a number of discounts including an exchange offer, no-cost EMI options an Instant Jio cashback of Rs 2,4000 and up to 6TB Jio 4G Data benefits. You can also get an instant discount of 10% if you buy your smartphone from Flipkart using an Axis Bank Buzz credit cards.
Redmi Note 6 Pro specifications
The Xiaomi smartphone features a 6.26-inch Full HD+ display with a 19:9 aspect ratio that is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass. Powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 636 14nm processor, Redmi Note 6 Pro comes with up to 6GB of RAM and 64GB of onboard storage.
For imaging duties, the smartphone comes with four cameras in total. The back panel of Xiaomi Redmi Note 6 Pro houses 12MP+5MP dual rear cameras and the selfie cameras come with two 20MP lenses. The front-facing cameras of the smartphone come with AI Portrait Selfie mode and AI scene detection.
The smartphone houses a 4,000mAh battery that supports Quick Charge 3.0 technology and promises a standby time of 12 days. At the time of launch, Redmi Note 6 Pro had Android 8.1 Oreo skinned with MIUI 10.
We should also mention that most of the specifications of the smartphone are the same as the smartphone’s predecessor, Redmi Note 5 Pro. The specifications that are common between the two smartphones are their dual rear camera setup, the battery capacity and the processor.
Bharti Airtel has strengthened its partnership with ZEE5 and has now announced that Airtel will be offering more digital content to its subscribers. Airtel has upgraded its #AirtelThanks in which it offers a wide range of exclusive benefits. The Airtel Platinum customers will now get unlimited access to the full ZEE5 catalogues and content as a part of the monthly recharge plans. To avail this offer, the subscribers would need to recharge with the Infinity Postpaid Plan of Rs 499 after which they will be available for the benefits #AirtelThanks brings with it.
Shashwat Sharma, Chief Marketing Officer of Bharti Airtel said: “#AirtelThanks has received phenomenal response and we are delighted to bring ZEE5’s exciting content to our Platinum customers as part of the value proposition. We will continue to expand our ecosystem of partners to enable a differentiated experience for our customers.”
The contents which ZEE5 will provide to the subscribers of #AirtelThanks is its VOD (Video on Demand) network content along with the exclusive and new ZEE5 originals. It includes movies, TV shows, music videos, lifestyle shows, kids shows, and plays. Some of the best movies which ZEE5 will be offering to the subscribers of #AirtelThanks – Karenjit Kaur – The Untold Story of Sunny Leone, Rangbaaz, Skyfire, The Final Call, Hutatma (Marathi), Auto Shankar (Tamil), High Priestess (Telugu), Kaafir, Bombers. It is also offering new movies such as Uri – The Surgical Strike, Simmba, Kedarnath, Veere Di Wedding, etc.
The users of Airtel Platinum can claim the free ZEE5 Subscription offer from Airtel Thanks section of My Airtel app. After that, they would need to download the ZEE5 application to receive the premium content of the offer.
Manish Aggarwal, Business Head of ZEE5 India said, “This partnership is in line with our growth strategy as it is a crucial step towards fulfilling our aim to offer new and exciting content. It will strengthen our reach by the potential proliferation of ZEE5 premium content to a wider and new set of audience. We are happy to partner with Airtel, and via similar partnerships we will continue to enhance our offerings with the customer at the center.”
Other than that, the Airtel Platinum customers will also get VIP services like premium content, e-books, device protection along with exclusive invites and priority access to the events and sales.
The new plan is currently live and the Airtel Platinum users can avail the offer to enjoy the full content in various languages on ZEE5.
HMD Global might soon launch the next device in its Nokia 6-series – the Nokia 6.2 on June 6. The Nokia 6.2 is also known as Nokia X71 in some markets. The company last week had revealed that it will be hosting a global launch event on June 6 but it did not reveal what smartphones or devices the company will be launching at the scheduled event, and even the launch venue was not revealed. Now, a tweet by Nokia Anew reports that the company might launch its Nokia 6.2 at the launch event.
Nokia Anew’s tweet reveals that the Nokia 6.2’s pricing will be the same as Nokia 6.1. So we might see the Nokia 6.2’s price at around $290 (approximately Rs 20,200). When Nokia 6.1 was launched in India, it came with a price tag of Rs 16,999 so there is a possibility that the new Nokia 6.2’s price will be the same as its predecessor. It should be noted that HMD Global launched Nokia X71 few weeks ago in Taiwan and according to a tweet, the Nokia X71 is Nokia 6.2 itself with a different name. Rumours suggests that the Nokia 6.2 is the global variant of the Nokia X71.
Nokia 6.2 specifications (expected)
Coming to the specifications, Nokia 6.2 is the global variant of the Nokia X71. So, we may see some changes in their specifications but most of them are expected to remain the same. The Nokia X71/Nokia 6.2 will sport a 6.39-inch Full HD+ PureDisplay with an aspect ratio of 19.5:9. It is powered by the mid-range Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 660 SoC paired with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of internal storage. The device packs a rear-mounted fingerprint scanner, runs Android 9 Pie and it packs a 3,500mAh battery.
For imaging duties, the Nokia 6.2 features a triple-rear camera setup which comprises of a ZEISS-certified 48MP main sensor with an f/1.8 aperture paired with an 8MP 120-degree super-wide angle lens. The third camera is a 5MP depth sensor. On the front, there is a 16MP selfie camera with an f/2.0 aperture.
Nokia 6.2 will be presented soon enough – in spring. So we don't have long to wait. The smartphone will probably be a hit, continuing the tradition of the 6 series. Nokia 6. is the best – selling series.
The price remains at the same level as in Nokia 6.1.#nokia6#exclusive
More details about the device will be made available once it launches few days from now. We would have to wait for a few more days to find out what Nokia has up its sleeve. Stay tuned with us to get regular updates!
We still remember how OnePlus started off with an invite-only way of buying a smartphone that had the works. It started with the OnePlus One and it was very intriguing for us to know more about this company. That wants to sell a good smartphone only to limited people who hold a golden invite to purchase it. Well, the strategy worked and more than 7 versions down the years, the company has built itself a brand name that is as premium as Apple and Microsoft. OnePlus 7 Pro is their latest innovation which has stunned critics and fans everywhere.
This smartphone not only is attractive to look at but has top-of-the-line technical specifications which puts most in the category or even above its pay scale to shame. We spent over half a month with the device to understand its superpowers. This is our review of the OnePlus 7 Pro, fully tinkered with and scrutinised.
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Design and Display
Let us start with the aesthetics of the OnePlus 7 Pro. This is the first time OnePlus has gone with an all screen flagship. You read that right, there are almost no bezels or as the Sacred Games character ‘Bunty’ says, no kala patta (sidebands) on this smartphone. The chin is also mostly gone and what users get is a 6.67-inch edge to edge phablet with QHD+ OLED display that has 516 PPI and 1 lakh:1 contrast ratio. So, what that essentially does is that users will find vibrant colours on deeper blacks.
The screen is protected by 3D Corning Gorilla glass, and just when you thought that was enough, OnePlus 7 Pro hits you in the face with a 90Hz screen refresh rate. Which is better than some of the best-selling gaming monitors in the country. To elaborate further, this screen refreshes 90 times per second. Some of its competition does half of that.
OnePlus calls it Fluid viewing experience and we loved every bit of it. HDR10+ tech is also part of the package which works seamlessly. We played a lot of games like Asphalt 9 and Alto’s Odyssey on it and the screen just kept throwing great sharp graphics back at us. We must say a very immersive experience indeed. Watching videos too is a pleasant experience, especially if you are watching FHD+ content. The daylight legibility of the touchscreen is nice, however, when in auto mode the screen does go very dark at times. Which makes it hard to read and one has to come back to manual screen mode.
The text on the screen is crisp and one can see no lag when apps pop open or when you swipe around on the home screens or app drawer. Which made us wonder has OnePlus put all its eggs in one “display” basket? The answer is No, they have not. They have done some incredible things all around and thanks to their listening habit (to the community), the OnePlus 7 Pro is a great collaboration between the fans and the company.
Since it is an all display smartphone you find an elevating selfie camera on the front with the large ear speaker grille being pushed upwards towards the edge of the panel. The Curved display merges into the metal sideband, which has the power button with a dedicated ringer slider key on the right and the volume rocker keys on the left. At the bottom, OnePlus 7 Pro has the 2 Nano SIM card tray, the USB type C charging port and the speaker grille.
The craftsmanship can be seen on the front as well as the back of the OnePlus 7 Pro. The chrome plated metal sideband also holds another 3D corning gorilla glass, this time at the back, firmly in place. The form factor does remind you of what Samsung has been doing with its Galaxy S and Note series since the past few years, nevertheless is refreshing to see with no notch or punch holes on the OnePlus 7 Pro.
The back is dressed in Nebula blue colour, which gives a gradient like effect. One can find dark ink blue at the top to a lighter shade of blue towards the bottom. The smartphone is available in a couple of other colours too and we did find the Almond white version to be quite attractive as well. At the back, you will also find a triple rear camera bump (vertically stacked), with an LED flash and OnePlus branding under it.
The phablet does take time getting used to since it is larger than others in the category and does take an extra bit of space in the trouser pocket. However, once you are comfortable with this giant, you will find a gentler side to it.
Performance and Cameras
When it comes to performance, we have to start with the dragon. OnePlus 7 Pro is the first smartphone to sport the Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 chipset. This is the top-of-the-line CPU from the company and is supposed to be 30% faster than the SD 845. Not that we needed the extra boost over the 845, but hey what the heck anything that will enable us to the get the kill faster in PUBG is always welcomed. The clock speed of the new CPU can go up to 2.84GHz. Also, graphics are powered by a 640 Adreno GPU. Together they do make up for a killer combination, but hey that is just half of the story.
With it the OnePlus 7 Pro has a whopping 12GB RAM. Side note, there are 6GB and 8GB versions available too at a lesser price. On the 12GB variant, users get 256GB of storage, which is not expandable since there is no microSD card slot available on the device. UFS 3.0 is supported on this smartphone, which basically means you can transfer files and photos from and to the mobile from any computing device very-very quickly.
Also, what OnePlus has done is put in a liquid cooling system on the chipset that keeps the CPU and GPU cool at all times. We tested this feature out further and found it to be great on most occasions. However, when playing in hot climates like New Delhi the top part of the rear does get a bit warm. Which is not the case when you are playing indoors or in an air-conditioned car.
As for the battery, that has got a boost too, now you get a 4,000 mAh battery on the OnePlus 7 Pro, which is a bump of 300 mAh over OnePlus 6T. This is united with Warp Charging, which we saw in the OnePlus 6T McLaren edition as well. What it essentially does is gives you 48% of charge in just 20 minutes. That is almost 12-16 hours of battery life (under nominal use) in just 20 minutes. When fully charged we were able to keep it alive for 32 hours straight. This involved a lot of phone calls, WhatsApp exchanges and hour or two of Asphalt 9 sessions and GPS navigation. All of it with WiFi and 4G enabled.
A fast in display fingerprint reader does a comeback in this smartphone too and a new vibration mode has been added as well. Talking about which the indisplay fingerprint reader is much faster than its predecessor. It is the fastest that we have seen so far in any smartphone.
Over that, screen gestures and navigation swipes comeback to the OnePlus 7 Pro as well. These work really well and as an avid user of the OnePlus 6T, we felt right at home. For the unknown, one can get rid of the bottom navigation buttons and instead use gestures like swiping up from the bottom right or left to go back. Swiping up from the bottom middle to exit an app and swiping up in the same manner and holding will pop out the recently used apps. Again, once you get used to this, there is no going back as it gives you a better edge to edge screen experience.
Moving to the Audio part, this smartphone comes with Dolby Atmos surround sound experience since the speaker at the bottom and the ear speaker grille act as stereo speakers. Giving the user better resonance. Like the screen, the sound is very immersive too. Together they make up for a killer combo at the price point.
The operating system on the OnePlus 7 Pro is Android 9 Pie with the latest Oxygen OS 9.5 that has all the goodies like a separate app drawer. The Experience of the Oxygen OS is very close to stock Android and you get almost no bloatware on the device except for few Amazon and Google native apps. With 12GB RAM, the first impact is of a splendid user experience. The smartphone responds to each tap and swipe with extreme accuracy. The apps open unrealistically quick and one can hardly find any gaps on the OS.
A Zen mode has been added to the mix that locks the mobile for 20 minutes. This is a quick way of digital detox. You will not be able to operate the smartphone for those many minutes. Except you can pick incoming calls and make emergency calls. For connectivity, Bluetooth 5.0, Wifi 802.11, APTX, NFC, GPS and LTE come from the get-go.
We ran the usual barrage of tests on the OnePlus 7 Pro. On GeekBench it scored 3,433 on the Single Core CPU test, 10,733 on multi-core CPU test and 7,455 points on compute test. On Antutu it scored 3,55,473 points that puts it way above the rest in the premium smartphone pack.
Now to talk about another great aspect and first time inside any OnePlus device is the triple rear camera array. This has a 48MP primary camera with Sony IMX586 sensor with 7P lens quality. This is accompanied by an 8MP telephoto lens having an aperture size of 2.4 and an ultra-wide-angle lens with a 16MP sensor and an aperture size of 2.2. Optical image stabilisation is available on the rear cameras and the brilliant nightscape mode, as well as the ability to record 4K videos at 60FPS, are part of the package. For the smart shooter, the Pro mode is also available.
The elevating front camera on the OnePlus 7 pro has an elevating 16MP Sony IMX 471 sensor with an aperture size of 2.0. The company has tested the slide function of the front camera for 300,000 times. That should last you for a very long time without faltering. Also, the sliding camera detects fall. If the camera is out and the phone accidentally slips from your hand, the camera will automatically detect the fall and go back in.
We tested both the cameras in daylight, indoors and at night. The results in daylight as well as indoors (in well-lit conditions) were great and better than the OnePlus 6T. However, the initial tests of the nightscape mode were not very good. We found the OnePlus 6T to be better here.
But after the recent May end update, the nightscape mode has become much better. Same can be said about the selfie camera. We do not use third party apps for camera tests, so the native OnePlus app for both the cameras was tested to its full potential and we were quite happy with the results. The only exception for the selfie app is low light to dark areas where you can see a bit of grain seeping into the images. Other than that, they are right up there with the rest of the competition.
Verdict
The OnePlus 7 Pro price starts at Rs 48,999 for the 6GB version, Rs 52,999 for the 8GB version and Rs 57,999 for the 12 GB version (the one we reviewed). Yes, these are the costliest flagships from the company but every bit of the price is justified. The latest machinery comes inside a well-packaged skin that not only looks good but is premium to hold. Yes, there are few software chinks in the armour. But as we have seen in the past OnePlus quickly learns and updates its OS so that these go away. With the OnePlus 7 Pro, we have fallen in love with OnePlus all over again. If you have a budget of over 45K, go for it in a blink of an eye.
Chinese smartphone brand Realme had earlier launched its flagship named Realme 3 Pro in April 2019. Till now, the device was selling on flash sales on e-commerce platforms, but now, the Realme 3 Pro will be up for open sale on Flipkart, Realme.com and other offline stores. Some highlights of the Realme 3 Pro include a Snapdragon CPU, a 4,045mAh battery and a dual-rear camera setup. The open sale of the Realme 3 Pro was announced by the CEO of Realme India, Madhav Sheth.
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Realme 3 Pro price and availability
The Realme 3 Pro holds a price tag of Rs 13,999 for the 4GB RAM/ 64GB storage while its 6GB RAM/ 64GB storage is priced at Rs 15,999. The top-end variant of the device sells for Rs 16,999 and it has 6GB RAM/ 128GB storage. The Realme 3 Pro comes in three colour options – Carbon Grey, Nitro Blue and Lightning Purple.
The Realme 3 Pro will be available on Flipkart, realme.com and other offline stores. According to the company, the Realme 3 Pro will be available on 8,000 offline stores across the country. The new device will also be made available on the Realme exclusive Kiosk at the Pacific Mall, Subhash Nagar, New Delhi.
Commenting on the sale, Madhav Sheth, Chief Executive Officer of Realme India said, “Considering the rapidly growing customer demand towards Realme 3 Pro, we are increasing the stocks and making our flagship device available at an open sale. We saw a phenomenal response from our customers for the flagship smartphone and had sold 1,70,000 lakh + units in 8 minutes of its first sale. The initiative is to fulfil our commitment to deliver best consumer experience to our customers.”
Realme 3 Pro specifications and features
The Realme 3 Pro sports a 6.3-inch Full-HD+ (1080 x 2340 pixels) IPS display with an aspect ratio of 19.5:9. The 2.5D display of the device comes with Corning Gorilla 5 protection on top. It is powered by an octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 710 SoC paired with Adreno 616 GPU. The new smartphone from Realme comes with either 4GB or 6GB of RAM paired with 64GB and 128GB of storage options. The smartphone has support for a microSD card of up to 256GB. The Realme 3 Pro runs Android 9 Pie skinned with ColorOS 6 and it packs a 4,045mAh battery with VOOC 3.0 fast charging support. The device comes with a rear-mounted fingerprint scanner along with Widevine L1 certification which allows the users to stream HD content from Amazon Prime Videos and Netflix.
For imaging duties, the Realme 3 Pro features a dual-rear camera setup with a 16MP main camera (IMX519 sensor) with an f/1.7 aperture and a 5MP secondary camera (GC5035 sensor) with an f/2.4 aperture. On the front, there is a 25MP selfie camera with an f/2.0 aperture. The Realme 3 Pro comes with camera features which includes 960fps super slow motion video recording, Ultra HD mode for capturing 64MP images along with an optimised Nightscape etc.
Other features of the Realme 3 Pro include 4G LTE, Wi-Fi 802.11ac (2.4GHz+5GHz), Bluetooth v5, a 3.5mm headphone jack, and a Micro-USB port.
South Korean technology giant Samsung has announced its new Notebook 7 laptops. Among one of the most noticeable things about the Samsung Notebook 7 laptops is their design, which looks inspired by Apple’s currently MacBook Pro laptops.
The new Samsung laptops will be available in 13-inch and 15-inch versions and they both run the Windows 10 operating system. The newly launched laptops come with diamond-cut edges, a wide trackpad and slim bezels surrounding their displays. Other than this, the font that the company has used on the keyboard, and the wallpaper are a lot like the ones we have seen on MacBook Pro laptops too.
In addition to this, there is a wide indentation that is present into the metal chassis that make it easier to hold the screen up. Among the two laptops, the 13-inch model resembles the Apple MacBook Pro more because of its keyboard arrangement and centre-aligned trackpad. If we speak about the 15-inch one, the laptop looks a little different with a numpad on its keyboard, because of which all the keys and its trackpad are placed left-of-centre.
However, unlike Apple’s MacBook Pro, Samsung’s NoteBook 7 comes with a number of useful ports including two USB 3.0 ports, a USB-C port, HDMI, and a microSD slot. But then, we should also point out that there is no support for Ethernet on both the variants.
Samsung Notebook 7 starts at a price of $999.99 and will be released in the United States on July 26. Interested customers will be able to pick the device from Amazon or Samsung’s official website.
Most of the specifications of the two variants of Samsung Notebook 7 are the same. The newly launched laptop is powered by an 8th Gen Intel Core processor and they come with 8GB of RAM. The displays of the laptops come with 1080p resolution and both the variants sport a fingerprint scanner.
However, the 15-inch variant of the laptop comes with Nvidia’s GeForce MX250 discrete graphics that are supposed to be better than Intel’s integrated graphics. It also has support for an additional SSD.
Another new laptop that the company has launched is a 15-inch Notebook 7 Force, which is a lot like Notebook 7. The new Samsung Notebook 7 Force is priced at $1,499 and it is powered Nvidia’s GeForce GTX 1650. The laptop comes with 16GB of RAM, an Ethernet port and two slots for storage expansion. The company has touted the video editing and gaming capabilities of the laptop.
Apple’s WWDC 2019 will kick-start today and the Cupertino-based technology firm will be speaking about the updates in its iOS 13 and various services today. Although the new iPhones 11 won’t be launching at today’s event and there are months for its launch event, but that hasn’t stopped the leaks and renders of the upcoming iPhone. According to various reports, just like last year, Apple will be launching three models of the new iPhone 11, which will be the successors to iPhone XR, iPhone XS and the iPhone XS Max. Now, a new mock-up has revealed the presence of a triple-rear camera setup on the back of the iPhone 11 and the iPhone 11 Max.
This time around, the relatively affordable of the lot will be named as iPhone XR 2, according to the report. The mock-up reveals that the new iPhone 11 and the iPhone 11 Max will have a square-shaped camera arrangement with three cameras at the back paired with an LED flash. But the camera placement and setup of the affordable iPhone XR will be different to the ones used in its costlier counterparts. Other than the camera placement, the design and build of these devices has also been revealed.
The new mock-up of the iPhone 11 and the iPhone 11 Max was revealed by the tipster named Ben Geskin and it is similar to the previous renders of the iPhone 11. As mentioned above, the iPhone 11 and the iPhone 11 Max will follow the smartphone trend of 2019, which is packing triple-rear cameras on the back of the flagship devices. Other than the camera placement, the design of the upcoming iPhone 11-series will be a lot different than the previous year iPhone devices. The mock-up device reveals an iPhone of golden colour and the Apple logo sits besides the squared-camera module which is silver in colour.
Talking about the iPhone XR 2, it will hold a dual-rear camera setup and will come in bright and vibrant colour options which earlier reports suggested. But the iPhone 11 and the iPhone 11 Max will come in the same basic – Black, White and Gold colour options. Although the company hasn’t revealed the specific launch date of the new iPhone 11-series, but judging by its previous launches we could see the device launched around September or October of 2019.
Microsoft’s Windows 10 has released its new update which was earlier promised by the company. This is the update that the users were waiting for as a few aspects of the previous Windows 10 were not something which let out positive results. Prior to this, Microsoft had promised the users of the Windows 10 that it will allow the ‘control, quality and transparency’ for both its minor and major upgrades. And it has done that with the new update of Windows 10 1903. But the thing is, some of the Windows 10 Home users (around 800M active user) have found out that they can’t automatically defer any updates of the OS.
According to CNet, the Windows 10 slowly learns with the new update, so, with this this update, users can’t automatically defer any updates. In other words, they aren’t getting the promised controls that Microsoft touted earlier. All they get is the option to manually pause the updates for around 35 days. The Windows 10 Home users would then have to repeat this process every week to delay the updates of the OS.
Earlier the Windows 10 Home users had the option to cancel or not let their previous version of Windows update to the latest version which in some cases came with problems and bugs. But this time, Microsoft is applying the ‘end-of-service dates’ to all the Windows 10 versions. So, when the company will start pushing out new updates for Windows 10, they will be installed automatically without needing the permission of the user. Even if the user had deferred the permission to install the new updates, they still would be downloaded and installed. So, this time, the users don’t have a say in this.
The users can find out if their version of Windows 10 is still in service or not. For that, they need to go to Settings, then to System and then to About. They can then be able to locate the version number on the official Windows 10 Release information website.
Other than the Windows 10 Home users, the Windows 10 Pro, Education and Enterprise users have the option to defer the updates automatically for both the types of updates. So, the Windows 10 Home users are on the short end here. Earlier, there were updates for the Windows 10 which came with several problems like decreasing the gaming performance or deleting the user’s personal data to name a few.
The other version of Windows 10 is getting the option to defer the updates for 36 months, but the Windows 10 Home users won’t be getting the same option.
Ahead of Apple’s WWDC 2019 event that is scheduled for today, a number of reports have surfaced online that claim that the Cupertino-based technology giant may have plans of closing down iTunes. Till now, Apple has not broken its silence on the matter, so iTunes being broken down into various services is just a speculation. While Apple may be still tight-lipped about it, it has given a big hint that the reports may be true. According to a report, Apple has cleared out the Instagram and Facebook pages of iTunes. So all the posts pictures and videos that were till now present on the page has now been removed.
With this, the days of iTunes are really looking numbered. The report of the Instagram and Facebook pages of iTunes being cleared out first appeared in MacRumors and it was discovered by some Redditors. According to the report, Apple seems to have migrated the iTunes accounts to Apple TV counterparts on Facebook and Instagram. However, the Twitter account of the service is still intact and no one knows its fate till now.
Reports about Apple’s plans on closing down iTunes and/or disintegrating it have been around for a while now. Some off them suggest that Apple will be breaking down the service into various other services like Music, Podcasts, and TV. Some leaked screenshots also surfaced online last week that showed a glimpse of what was supposed to be Apple Music and Apple TV apps. A report in Bloomberg has also indicated that the Cupertino-based technology giant will be closing down iTunes in favour of various different apps.
However, we will have to wait for a few more hours to find out what exactly Apple has up its sleeve. Apple’s WWDC is scheduled for today at 10 am PT. The event will take place at the McEnery Convention Center in San Jose, California. Every year at its developer conference, the company talks in detail about the newest software that will come to its devices later during the year. WWDC 2019 event will be very important for Apple as it has been focussing on its software and services business now more than ever.
Other than talk about services, Apple will also be giving us a first look at its iOS 13 software, so we would know what new features will be coming to iPhones and iPads. Announcements around macOS, WatchOS and tvOS are also expected at the event.
A number of web services including YouTube, Snapchat, Gmail, Nest and Discord suffered major outages today. Users from various parts of the world have claimed that they could not access any of these services for a few hours today. The root cause of this is said to be an issue with Google’s cloud service that powers apps other than the technology giant’s own services. The issue in Google’s cloud service started at around 3 pm ET and it took the company more than four hours to resolve them completely.
Mostly, users in the East Coast of the United States were affected by the outage. however, some people across Europe also pointed out that they were not able to access YouTube and Gmail. Google’s G Suite Status dashboard also showed problems with a number of Google web services at one point. Other than this, Down Detector listed that YouTube suffered an outage in a number of countries across the globe.
As we mentioned earlier, YouTube and Gmail were not the only ones that suffered. Discord, Snapchat and Vimeo users were also affected and it is worth mentioning that all of these use Google Cloud on the backend. It has been reported that Spotify also experienced problems because of the outage in Google’s cloud service. This also stopped some of the stores from processing credit card payments for hours.
The technology giant has blamed “high levels of network congestion in the eastern USA” for the issues that have been caused in its cloud service. Speaking to technology website The Verge, the company said, “We will conduct a post mortem and make appropriate improvements to our systems to prevent this from happening again. We sincerely apologize to those that were impacted by today’s issues.”
We should mention that this isn’t the first time this year that such an outage has taken place. Earlier this year, YouTube was down for more than an hour and a half before the company restored the service.
Other than this, a big outage was also faced by Facebook and most of its services including Instagram, WhatsApp and even Oculus this year. All the apps and websites of the company were down for several hours across the globe before the social media giant managed to restore them.
Facebook addressed the outage by saying, “Earlier today, some people may have experienced trouble connecting to the family of apps. The issue has since been resolved; we’re sorry for any inconvenience.”
Apple’s WWDC 2019 event is scheduled to begin tomorrow. During the WWDC, Apple has always given us key details about its services and software. Given that Apple has already had a service-driven event this year, it will be interesting to see what announcements it has up its sleeve for its upcoming event. Here’s a look at the key announcements that are expected at the WWDC 2019:
In This Article
iOS 13 for iPhone
Apple is expected to unveil the iOS 13 at the WWDC 2019. It gives us a glimpse of its new operating system every year at the WWDC event and this year should be no different. Some screenshots of the iOS 13 have already been leaked by 9to5Mac and according to them, the Dark Mode is finally coming to Apple’s operating system. In fact, that will be the key highlight of the new iOS version. The Dark Mode ensures that users’ eyes are not strained too much and at the same time, it also saves battery on smartphones. Besides this, the company is also expected to update its other apps like Mail, Messages, Health and Reminders. Apple’s Find my Friends and Find my iPhone apps are also expected to be combined into a single app called ‘Find My’.
Updates to the iPad
For the iPad, Apple will be updating the Files app and introducing a better way to multitask for the device. However, there is very little that is known about it so we will have to wait to find out more about it.
MacOS 10.15
Last year, Apple teased that it will make an easier way to get iOS apps on the Mac. The project of the Cupertino based technology giant has been named at ‘Marzipan’. With this, developers will be able to port the apps that they have developed for the iPad and use it in Mac. In addition to this, Apple will also be adding more apps and some Siri shortcuts to Mac. We should also be getting Screen Time and Family Sharing on the Mac as well.
An end to iTunes
After 18 long years, Apple is finally going to break up the iTunes app. iTunes is basically the perfect example of a program that grew to the point that it was used to do too many things. But now, it has been reported that Apple will be breaking the app up into a new Music, Podcasts, TV and Books app. Well, we would say that this doesn’t come as a surprise as Apple has already made a separate app for Music and it has made multiple partnerships for a revamped TV app.
New updates for Apple Watch
Even now, Apple Watch is dependent on the iPhone for a number of tasks. However, Apple is expected to give the wearable more independence this year as it is launching an App Store of its own. The WatchOS will also get some updates on health as there are rumours that suggest an updated Health app for the Apple Watch. A Voice Memo app should be added to the Watch later too. We are also sure that the company will be adding more Watchfaces.
A Mac Pro?
According to a report, this year’s WWDC will also see the launch of a hardware product from Apple. While nothing iPhone related is expected, Apple may have plans of launching a new Apple display.
Updates to tvOS 13
Given that Apple has had an event this year which focussed primarily on its new TV service, we are not expecting too many changes on this front. However, the company may give us some key updates about it that it did not during the previous event.
Google Maps is one of the best apps to so to when you are looking for a way in a new place, trying to find a location or trying to find an alternative route to your destination. But it can also be used to find other people or let other people find you.
Google Maps comes with a feature which can help you share your real-time location to any one of your contacts so that they know exactly where you are and know about your whereabouts.
Share your location on mobile devices also for an easy finding.
Here are the steps by which you can share your real-time location to anyone.
Tap on the Blue dot which will show you your current location.
Then you can tap on the ‘Share Location’ which appears under the location details.
You can then choose how long you want your location to be shared. You can set the time by increasing or decreasing the hours or minutes. You can even set the time to indefinitely which later can be disabled manually.
If you are an Android user, you need to select the person from your list of contacts with whom you want to share your location. Or you can share your location using WhatsApp, Gmail or Messages.
If you are an iPhone user, you need to tap on the ‘Select People’ to choose the person from your list of contacts. Then you can send them your location through Messages or by any other means of communication.
But if you want to share your location through the app itself, you would need to select a contact and then share your location with them.
Once done, it would send a notification on the phone of the person with whom you had shared your location.
How to Share your Trip’s Progress?
You can even send your location to a person so that they can see your estimated time of arrival at the destination.
Open the Google Maps app and start your navigation. You can set the starting location and the destination location.
Then ‘Start’ to begin the navigation.
After that, you need to tap on the arrow key on the bottom of the screen ‘^’.
Then you need to tap on the ‘Share trip Progress’ from the list of menus.
Select the person with whom you want to share the trip progress.
After that, your shared trip details will be shared with the person.
Software updates are very critical in keeping Android smartphones up to date. Since last year, a number of smartphone makers have improved in terms of rolling out Android updates and security patches to their handsets. But then, there are those who are still very laid-back about it. While there is no control over when a smartphone maker rolls out an update to its devices, what we can do is make sure we update our handset timely once we receive the update. Keeping our smartphone updated to the latest Android version makes sure that its performance remains intact.
If our smartphone is not updated to the latest version, it may become very slow to work with and it may even wrongly interpret and perform various functions. Here, we have listed down how you can check whether your smartphone has an Android update or a security patch and how to update it.
Firstly, let’s begin with checking whether or not your smartphone even has an update. The need for checking for an update arises because there are times when smartphone makers roll out updates in phases. They may differ region to region and even handset to handset. In most cases, your smartphone will get a notification as soon as it gets an update. You can head to Settings > System Update > Check now/ Check for updates in case others around you receive the update and you don’t. If there is an Android update available for your handset, it will appear on the screen,
Now, let’s look at the steps of installing an Android update on your smartphone. But please note that these are only applicable for Samsung, OnePlus, Nokia, and Google devices. Here are the steps that you should follow:
In the search bar, type ‘Update’. In the results, ‘System Update’ or its equivalent will pop-up.
Tap on System Update and then click on ‘Check for updates’. The option of ‘Check now’ may have also been used instead of ‘Check for updates’.
Once the update appears, click on ‘Download and Install’.
This will update the Android version on your smartphone. Your smartphone will restart during this process. Even if it restarts more than once, don’t fret about it.
However, we should mention that if you cannot see an update after Step 3, it may mean that your smartphone manufacturer has not rolled it out to your device yet, so maybe you can try again after a few weeks.
Sweden-based music streaming website Spotify has started testing a new feature called ‘Social Listening’. As the name suggests, the feature enables multiple users to add songs and make playlists in real time. However, as of now, the feature is only being tested by the employees of the company and there is no word on whether it will roll out to the app’s over 100 million users across the globe.
Renowned reverse engineer Jane Manchun Wong tweeted this week, “Spotify is working on ‘Social Listening’, letting friends to control music together with their own devices. Scan Spotify Code or open link for it to begin.”
Along with his tweet, Wong also shared song screenshots of the Android version of the app that shows the screen set-up ready to let users scan each other codes. The option of sharing a link to create a shared queue can also be seen.
Spotify is working on Social Listening, letting friends to control music together with their own devices
In a statement to technology website TechCrunch, Spotify said, “We’re always testing new products and experiences, but have no further news to share at this time.”
We should also mention that earlier this month, the Sweden based company revealed that it is working on its first ever hardware – a voice-controlled music and podcast player called ‘Car Things’. As the name suggests, the upcoming player is aimed at cars. The test of ‘Car Things’ will be limited to the United States and the company will invite a select few Spotify Premium users for it. The company has also stated that it does not have any plans to launch the device for consumers in the near future.
It has also been revealed that the device can be plugged into the vehicle’s 12-volt outlet for power and it can now be connected to a person’s car as well as Bluetooth at the same time. The test is meant to include a small group of people and hence, some premium users would receive the device for free.
In an unrelated piece of news, Spotify has released a list of the most discovered artists by ‘Gen Z’ in India. According to Spotify, the 18 to 24 years old listeners in India are discovering music which is not just limited to the Western and pop, but they are also expanding their taste in music by listening to K-pop and EDMs. Spotify also states that 18 to 24 years old listeners are the largest Spotify listeners on a global scale with more than 34% of overall listeners.
A 16-year-old boy had a cardiac arrest while playing PUBG Mobile for 6 hours at a stretch in Madhya Pradesh and died because of it, according to his father. The deceased has been identified as Furkan Qureshi, who was a student in Class 12. The incident happened on May 28 when the boy, along with his family had visited Neemuch to attend a wedding. Otherwise, the family is settled in Nasirabad in Rajasthan, revealed the deceased’s father Haroon Rasheed Qureshi.
According to the Police, they have not launched a probe on death yet as they have not been informed about it by the family of the deceased. Speaking to PTI, Qureshi said that before the boy became unresponsive while playing PUBG Mobile on his smartphone, he shouted: “blast it, blast it.”
He further said, “He was a very active lad. My son was so engrossed in PUBG game that he played it from Sunday evening to early hours of Monday. He slept for a few hours and after getting up had his breakfast and then played the game for six hours at a stretch.”
Qureshi also said, “Furkan shouted ‘blast it, blast it’ after his character in the game lost a battle.” The family immediately took the boy to the hospital after he became unresponsive while playing PUBG Mobile. However, he could not be saved there.
Speaking about the matter, cardiologist Ashok Jain said, “I examined him at my nursing home. He was unresponsive. His heartbeat had stopped. I tried my best but he was brought dead.”
According to another cardiologist, Vipul Garg, said that nowadays, children get so involved in playing games on the smartphones their emotions run very high due to the thrill and excitement. With all of this, they become vulnerable to heart failure. He also added that children should be kept away from mobile games like these.
Kotwali police station inspector Ajay Sarwan has said that they have not been informed that the boy’s death happened because of a mobile game and hence, they are not probing it.
We should mention that PUBG Mobile has repeatedly been facing flak for being too addictive and violent. Scores of users around the world are addicted to the game and spend hours every single day while playing the game. The game has also been banned in Gujarat on the ground that it leads to violent behaviour among the youth.
TPV Technology has announced a Hit the Hat-Trick offer with deals on its various products, with an aim of enhancing the World Cup experience for its consumers. The company is kick-starting 5 weeks of the offer today and it will continue for the next five weeks. During this time, deals will be available on all popular models in the Philips Home Audio and Television range of products.
In addition to this, the offer can be availed via online as well as offline channels. TPV has also said that in order to make the offer more inclusive, it has ensured a participation opportunity for its customers across purchase slabs starting from Rs 5,000 and going up to Rs 75,000 and above.
Customers who fall in the purchase range of Rs 5,000- Rs 10,000 can get benefits in kind worth Rs 5,000. Those who have made a purchase within the range of Rs 10,001-Rs 25,000 are entitled to benefits worth Rs 10,000 and customers who have made purchases worth Rs 25,001- Rs 75,000 will be getting benefits of Rs 15,000. And finally, customers who spend above Rs 75,000 can get benefits worth Rs 20,000.
The company has also said that one lucky winner every week will get a chance to win the new 65-inch Philips Ambilight television worth Rs 1,38,999. We should mention that the company says that this is available in its three-sided Ambilight avatar.
TPV Technology will also feature lucky winners on Philips TV social media handles as part of the Philips Ambilight television campaign. The company had recently launched its flagship 65-inch Philips Ambilight television in India.
Speaking about the offers, Mr Arun Menon, Country Business Head, Philips Branded Television and Audio, TPV Technology India Pvt Ltd said, “The world cup is like a festival for India. We understand the passion of our consumers and their support for our team is commendable. I believe that this offer will give them a chance to enjoy the most prestigious tournament through a more immersive viewing experience. With the best in class technology, the Philips Ambilight Television takes visual experience and emotions #beyondthescreen. TPV wishes team India and all the viewers the best for the upcoming championship.”
You can avail the offer till July 7, 2019, and can be availed on online channels like Amazon India and Flipkart. If you prefer to shop offline, you can head to retail stores like Croma, Vijay Sales and Reliance Digital.
Stories were initially started on Snapchat, which let users share images and videos with their friends for 24 hours. After multiple unsuccessful attempts of buying Snapchat and its building its own versions of the app, Facebook just took inspiration from the feature and introduced it on Instagram. Since Instagram is a photo-sharing platform, Stories became an instant hit there. Following this, the social media giant rolled out the feature to WhatsApp, Messenger and Facebook. If anyone is under the misconception that Facebook Stories are not as popular as the ones on other platforms, we should tell you that the social media giant recently announced that it has more than 500 million people use the feature on its platform every day.
Yes, it’s a big number and it clearly indicates that scores of people across the globe are using Facebook Stories. However, if you have not started using it till now, it’s never too late. They work a lot as Instagram Stories do. But apart of ‘Filters’, Facebook Stories come with ‘Frames’.
If you are new to Facebook Stories, we should tell you about Frames as they would help you make your Story different and more interesting. As the name suggests, Frames are basically different kind of outlines and drawings that can be added to the photo or video you are uploading on your Story to make it look more attractive. Various companies have also made their own Frames and put them on Facebook. For instance, LG made some frames for Facebook Stories to celebrate its 22 years in India. There are frames available for Salman Khan’s movie Bharat and also the famous ‘Pyar ek dhoka hai’ frame from AIB.
Here’s how you can find and use frames on Facebook Stories:
You will see rectangular shaped icons on the top of the page. These are your friends’ Facebook Stories. There will also be one with your profile picture on it. Click on it to make your own Story.
You will see the option of adding a picture or a video, text, taking a selfie for the Story, making a Boomerang or creating a Poll.
Select the option of your choice and upload the media that you wish to share.
After this, you can swipe right on the Story you are creating to change filters.
To add a frame, choose the option of ‘Effects’ on the bottom left.
A number of frames will open up in front of you. You can try on a number of them and keep the one you like on your Story.
Once this is done, just click ‘Share to Story’ button on the bottom right.
Earlier this month, software giant Microsoft revealed a major Windows security vulnerability, because of which a ‘wormable’ attack could become widespread by going from one vulnerable computer to the other. This can be a lot like the flaw that led to the spread of WannaCry malware that made thousands of machines stop working. While the company has released patches for Windows systems including the older ones like Windows XP machines, some reports suggest that there are around 1 million systems that are connected to the internet and can be attacked.
According to Simon Pope, director of incident response at Microsoft’s Security Response Center, “Microsoft is confident that an exploit exists for this vulnerability. It’s been only two weeks since the fix was released and there has been no sign of a worm yet. This does not mean that we’re out of the woods.”
He also noted that even that WannaCry attacks started only two months after the release of patches for EternalBlue exploit. So, in spite of the fact that there were 60 days to patch these systems, a number of machines were infected. We should mention that EternalBlue exploit was leaked publicly, and this allowed hackers to create malware freely. The new BlueKeep flaw has not been disclosed publicly, however, that does not imply that there would be no malware.
According to Pope, “It is possible that we won’t see this vulnerability incorporated into malware. But that’s not the way to bet.”
The new major Windows security exploit comes with a critical remote code execution vulnerability in Remote Desktop Services that exists in Windows XP, Windows 7 other server versions. The server versions include the likes of Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2008 R2, and Windows Server 2008. These make up a majority of overall Windows machines in use and this is particularly true for those in corporate environments.
The software giant is, therefore, strongly advising system admins to update machines as soon as they can.
Recently, Microsoft had also recently rolled out the Windows 10 May 2019 update to everyone. The Windows 10 May 2019 comes with a number of new features such as giving users enhanced control over the installation of updates, a dedicated sandbox that can be used for testing apps and more.
Microsoft has announced that the update will be rolled out in a phased manner. You can check for the Windows 10 May 2019 update on your PC by heading to Settings > Update & Security > Windows Update > Check for updates.
Flipkart is back with its Flipstart Days sale. It has started today and will go on till June 3. During the Flipkart Flipstart Days sale, a number of deals and offers on laptops, smart TVs and other gadgets can be availed. Besides discounts, you can also get exchange offers and no-cost EMI options during the next three days on Flipkart. The company has also tied up with Axis Bank to offer a 10% instant discount to the bank’s credit and debit card users. Here’s a look at the five best laptop deals that you can get during the Flipkart Flipstart Days Sale:
In This Article
Acer Aspire 5 (Price: 59,999, Sale price: Rs 39,990)
Acer Aspire 5 laptop has a 15.6-inch display and it is powered by the 7th-generation Intel Core i5 processor clubbed with 8GB of RAM. The laptop comes with a 1TB hard drive and runs Windows 10 Home out-of-the-box. The offering from Acer comes with Nvidia GeForce MX130 graphics card and has 2GB of video RAM. You can even get an additional discount of up to Rs 16,000 on exchanging your old laptop, provided it is in working condition.
HP Pavilion x360 (Price: Rs 47,509, Sale price: Rs 42,990)
HP Pavilion x360 id a 2-in-1 laptop and it is powered by the 8th generation Intel Core i3 processor clubbed with 4GB of RAM. The laptop comes with a 256GB of SSD storage and runs Windows 10 Home. HP Pavilion x360 laptop sports a 14-inch HD display and comes pre-loaded with Microsoft Office. You can also get an additional 10% discount if you pay for your purchase via Axis Bank credit or debit card.
Acer Aspire 3 (Price: Rs 42,720, Sale price: Rs 27,990)
Acer’s Aspire 3 (A315-41) laptop is powered by the AMD Ryzen 5 processor clubbed with 4GB of RAM. The laptop comes with 1TB of conventional hard drive and runs Windows 10 Home. The e-commerce website is also offering an exchange of up to Rs 16,000 and an extra Rs 8,500 on a few laptops.
HP 15q 15.6-inch laptop (Price: Rs 59,247, Sale price: Rs 51,990)
The HP 15q 15.6-inch laptop is powered by the 8th generation Intel Core i5 processor and comes with 8GB of RAM. It also has a conventional hard drive of 1TB. The laptop runs Windows 10 Home and sports a 15.6-inch full-HD LED display.
Asus ZenBook 13 (Price: Rs 78,990, Sale price: Rs 64,990)
Asus ZenBook 13 is powered by an 8th generation Intel Core i5 processor and comes with 256GB of SSD storage and Windows 10 Home. The laptop sports a 13.3-inch full-HD LED display and comes with an anti-glare coating. You can also get an additional discount of Rs 16,000 if you exchange your old laptop provided it is a workable condition.
In their initial few years, wearables were considered to be a luxury that not everyone wanted to pay for. But as they are getting more useful features, the world is getting warmer towards them. International Data Corporation (IDC) has just revealed the wearable shipments for Q1 2019, and the number is a whopping 49.6 million. This is 55.2% more than Q1 of 2018. In addition to this, the research firm also said in terms of shipment volume, market share and year-over-year growth, Apple has grabbed the top spot in Q1 2019 with 25.8% market share. The Cupertino based technology giant is followed by Xiaomi and Huawei with 13.3% and 10% market share respectively.
According to IDC’s ‘Worldwide Quarterly Wearable Device Tracker’, the wrist-worn wearables had a 63.2% share in the market, which is a clear majority, and on the other hand, the ear-worn ones saw 135.1% year-on-year growth, making them the fastest growing in the segment. Ear-worn wearables accounted for 34.6% of all the wearables that have been shipped in Q1 of 2019.
Addressing the new numbers, Jitesh Ubrani, Research Manager for IDC Mobile Device Trackers said in a statement, “The elimination of headphone jacks and the increased usage of smart assistants both inside and outside the home have been driving factors in the growth of ear-worn wearables.”
The Apple Watch has become immensely successful in terms of capturing unit share. But then, we must also point out that dollar share as the average selling price of Apple Watches has gone up from $426 in Q1 2018 to $455 in Q1 2019.
Urbani further said, “Looking ahead, this will become an increasingly important category as a major platform and device makers use ear-worn devices as an on-ramp to entice consumers into an ecosystem of wearable devices that complement the smartphone but also offer the ability to leave the phone behind when necessary.”
Chinese technology company Xiaomi grabbed the No. 2 spot because its Mi Band saw a lot of popularity this year and accounted for around 5 million shipments. Huawei also had a great quarter with a growth of 282.2%. The company’s success in the wearables market is tied directly to its success in the smartphone market, according to IDC. The research firm also said that the reason behind this is that the two products often are bundled together.
Now to talk about another great aspect and first time inside any OnePlus device is the triple rear camera array. This has a 48MP primary camera with Sony IMX586 sensor with 7P lens quality. This is accompanied by an 8MP telephoto lens having an aperture size of 2.4 and an ultra-wide-angle lens with a 16MP sensor and an aperture size of 2.2. Optical image stabilisation is available on the rear cameras and the brilliant nightscape mode, as well as the ability to record 4K videos at 60FPS, are part of the package. For the smart shooter, the Pro mode is also available.
