BenQ ZOWIE G-SR-SE Red e-sports special edition mousepad launched: Price and specifications

Taiwanese electronics maker BenQ has launched its ZOWIE G-SR-SE Red e-sports Mousepad in India to enhance the gaming experience of the players. BenQ ZOWIE G-SR-SE Red is a special edition mousepad and is the successor of the company’s ZOWIE G-SR-SE Blue. The newly launched mousepad gives gamers a new look, a new colour option along with refreshed design. Here’s everything you should know about the newly-launched mousepad:

BenQ ZOWIE G-SR-SE Red e-sports mousepad price and availability

BenQ ZOWIE G-SR-SE Red e-sports mousepad bears a price tag of Rs 2,500 and it is available on Amazon India’s website. The ZOWIE G-SR-SE Red is also available in select retail stores and select ZOWIE resellers across the country.

BenQ ZOWIE G-SR-SE Red e-sports mousepad features

BenQ ZOWIE G-SR-SE Red e-sports mousepad offers gamers a smooth and even textured surface for mouse movement which results in better traction to the mouse’s sensors. BenQ ZOWIE G-SR-SE Red e-sports mousepad comes with a 100 percent flat rubber base which increases the stability on any surface.

The new mousepad by BenQ can be used with their trackball mouse, optical mouse or wireless mouse. Its dimensions are 470 x 390 mm ± 10 mm/ 18.5 x 15.3 inches ± 0.4 inch.

While the base of the BenQ ZOWIE G-SR-SE Red e-sports mousepad is made of rubber, its upper surface has cloth on top. The build and the materials used for the mousepad offers the gamers comfort for long durations of marathon gaming. Being a special edition mousepad, the ZOWIE G-SR-SE Red e-sports by BenQ gives a slightly different glide and movement of the mouse than its standard black G-SR mousepad and it also carries a different look.

G-SR-SE-RED-Photo_2
G-SR-SE-RED

This year, BenQ also launched a gaming monitor in its ZOWIE series named ZOWIE XL2546 240Hz DyAc 24.5-inch e-Sports gaming monitor along with two gaming mice named ZOWIE EC1-B and EC2-B. Both the gaming mice from ZOWIE come equipped with 3360 sensors which gives the gamers a different mouse tracking feel. The EC-B series of ZOWIE mice comes with a USB report rate switch with indicator lights at the bottom. It makes the adjustments of settings more convenient and allows the gamers to check their mouse rate without any additional software.

The DPI lights and the feet of the mouse has also been changed. So now, the DPI indicator light is placed at the bottom of the mouse. Other changes in the ZOWIE EC-B series mice includes an inclusion of the 2 large mouse feet, which have been replaced with 4 smaller ones.

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OnePlus Beta programme is out now for OnePlus 6T, OnePlus 6, OnePlus 5T and OnePlus 5

OnePlus smartphones have always been known for offering premium features at an affordable price. And since last year, the company has also started rolling out timely software updates for its devices. Since the beginning of the year, the company has been pushing out new Android updates for its devices, both new and old.

While it has been a while since OnePlus 5, OnePlus 5T, OnePlus 6 and One Plus 6T got the latest update, the and the OnePlus 3 and OnePlus 3T got the beta update just recently. And the final stable update is expected to come to the two smartphones in the near future.

And now, the company has announced an Open Beta programme for the OnePlus 5 (Open Beta 29), OnePlus 5T (Open Beta 27), OnePlus 6 (Open Beta 15), and OnePlus 6T (Open Beta 7). The new update brings many changes and improvements, and some of them include tweaks in the photo editor tool in the Gallery of the devices, and some fixes in the Weather app, among other improvements.

Currently, the Open Beta programme update is being rolled out through the OTA (over-the-air) update for the users. But it is only limited to the users who are part of the Open Beta programme for the above-mentioned devices. For joining the Open Beta programme, the users need to side-load the beta software package on to their devices. Once it is side-loaded, users need to install the software. After the successful installation of the software, users will be able to enjoy all the changes and features that the update brings.

The new Beta update for the OnePlus 6 and the OnePlus 6T brings new features such as optimisations for the screenshots and the Phone app. Other new features that the beta update brings include an improved colour adaptation for cards in the shelf along with improvements in the weather app and support for permission migration or the OnePlus Switch tool. There are also additional improvements in the photo editor tool in the Gallery app.

The update for the OnePlus 5 and the OnePlus 5T brings all the changes and new features with the exception of the photo editor tool of Gallery app.

Although it’s an update, the users should keep in mind that these updates are still in their beta phase. So if you get the beta update for them, it may come with some issues, glitches and bugs. The final update is speculated to come in the next few weeks.

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10 tips that all Apex Legends players should know

Apex Legends is best known for becoming a huge hit right after its launch. The game was very quick to garner a huge user-base and received largely positive reviews from most people who played it. If you are just starting out with the game, or are not able to score that well, here are some tips and tricks that will help you:

Make use of different characters

apex legends

One thing that makes Apex Legends unique is its cast of characters. Each of the characters in the game has a passive ability and a tactical ability that they can activate. We recommend that you give all the characters a try and see which one fits your style the most. And use your character’s ability, that is how you’ll know who you like playing as.

Identify what’s worth going after

apex legends 7

Like most battle royale games, Apex Legends gives you an array of items that you can go after. However, there is a colour-coding that it uses that will help you differentiate between the value of these items. The items on the game will be coloured in White, Blue, Purple and Gold. While the Gold items are the best ones that you can get, Purple, Blue and White follow (in the same order). Although Gold and Purple will mostly provide you with the same armor, the difference will be that the Gold one will come with additional perks.

Pay attention to coloured numbers when you attack

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Whenever you shoot an enemy, you will see a coloured number pop up. In Apex Legends, the colour of the number will always match the colour of the armor the enemy has. Additionally, Red numbers indicate that your enemy does not have armor and Yellow indicates a headshot.

Carry different kinds of weapons

apex legends 11

This is a staple rule of every battle royale. Most of these games provide users with a number of weapons to choose from and Apex Legends is no exception. You will find weapons like handguns, shotguns and sniper rifles. Once you drop, you will have to make do with whatever you can find first. However, as the game progresses, we recommend you to find weapons that complement each other.

Know the ammo type of your weapon

apex legends 15

Each weapon has its own specific ammo type and is colour coded, so you can identify them easily. The brown weapons including pistols, SMGs, and smaller rifles would have light ammo, while the green ones like assault rifles, snipers, and the Wingman hand cannon will have heavy ammo. Similarly, the shotgun shells are red and Yellow ones will have energy ammo. We recommend you not to keep two weapons of the same ammo type.

Remember that you can revive

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The best way to win Apex Legends is to keep your three-man squad alive for as long as you can. However, if one of your teammates goes down because of losing their health, remember that he can still be revived. If you lost all your health and are down, you should crawl slowly to avoid danger and get closer to your teammates. But do remember to protect yourself with a knockdown shield while doing this. Another thing to remember is that the time to revive a team player who is down is limited, so others should act in time to do the necessary. If the player gets killed, and their teammate managed to pick up their banner in time, it can be brought to respawn beacon to resurrect them.

Communicate with your team

apex legends 3

If you are comfortable with it, use voice chat as it is the quickest way to communicate with your team. However, if you are not, you the pinging system in the game, but do communicate with your teammates. It may sound minor, but it is one of the key things that make you win.

Use the map effectively

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Another very important point that you must remember while playing Apex Legends is that using the map is a must. Also, since the circle starts shrinking over time, you will have to move around often and effectively in order to take the crown. Do look out for the red balloons on the map and use them to glide to other places quickly. Also, remember that there is no fall damage in the game. So even if you fall from a mountain, you will not be hurt.

Play smart

apex legends 8

Unlike other battle royales, Apex Legends does not have too many players per game, so it is highly unlikely that you will get into a big fight right away. So, you can use this time to find weapons of your choice that suit your style of playing the game. Start attacking enemies once you are done looking for these weapons. Be aggressive when fighting your enemies, but remember to not be reckless. Attack or get attacked – this is the only thing that you should remember while playing Apex Legends.

Remember to dispose of weapons too

apex legends 12

In Apex Legends, you have limited inventory space. So remember to review it regularly so that you can drop anything that you cannot use. However, if you do this, ping it to your teammates. What’s not useful to you may be useful for them.

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Getac K120-ANSI and Getac K120-Ex rugged tablets launched: Price and specifications

Taiwanese electronics maker Getac has launched two new fully-rugged tablets named K120-ANSI and K120-Ex. The company has promised that both the tablets will offer safety and performance in a hazardous working environment. Being rugged tablets, they can work in extreme temperatures and offers good performance as they are powered by the Intel i5 and i7 CPUs and run Windows 10 Pro. Here’s a look at their pricing details and specifications:

Getac K120-ANSI and K120-Ex price and availability

Although Getac K120-ANSI and K120-Ex are said to be available for purchase globally starting today, its pricing was not mentioned on the website at the time of writing. We will update you as soon as there is an official word from the company.

Getac K120-ANSI specifications

Getac K120-ANSI comes with different CPU variants – two comes in Intel Core i7 CPU, among whch one is powered by the Intel Core i7-8550U CPU clocked at 1.8GHz while the other is powered by an Intel Core i7-8650U CPU clocked at 1.9GHz. There are two more CPU variants of the K120-ANSI – one is powered by an Intel Core i5-8250U CPU clocked at 1.6GHz while the other is powered by the Intel Core i5-8350U CPU clocked at 1.7GHz. The tablet runs Windows 10 Pro and it sports a 12.5-inch Full HD (1920 x 1080 pixels) IPS TFT LCD display with 1200 nits LumiBond brightness. Getac K120-ANSI comes with 4GB DDR4 RAM which can be expanded up to 32GB while it comes with 128GB, 256GB, 512GB and 1TB SSD storage variants. It has got a capacitive multi-touch screen with optional dual mode touchscreen. There is also an optional 1D/2D imager barcode reader along with USB 2.0 port. It packs two 2,100mAh batteries but there is also an optional 3,450mAh x 2 battery variant of the tablet.

On the camera front, the Getac K120-ANSI comes with an 8MP auto focus rear camera while the front camera is a Full HD webcam. The users can also get the optional Windows Hello face-authentication camera at the front. For ports, the Getac K120-ANSI comes with a DC in jack, a USB 3.0 port, a USB 3.1 Gen Type-C port along with a LAN port. There is also an HDMI port and a microSD card slot on top of K120-ANSI.

For connectivity the K120-ANSI comes with 10/100/1000 base-T Ethernet, Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 8265, 802.11ac, Bluetooth (v4.2)I, an optional dedicated GPS and an optional 4G LTE mobile broadband. The K120-ANSI is 329.5 x 238 x 24mm in dimensions and weighs 1.82kgs.

Getac K120-Ex specifications

Coming to Getac K120-Ex, it is available in different CPU variants as well – two come with Intel Core i7 CPU, among which one is powered by the Intel Core i7-8550U CPU clocked at 1.8GHz while the other is powered by an Intel Core i7-8650U CPU clocked at 1.9GHz. There are two more CPU variants of the K120-Ex – one comes powered by an Intel Core i5-8250U CPU clocked at 1.6GHz while the other is powered by the Intel Core i5-8350U CPU clocked at 1.7GHz. The K120-Ex sports a 12.5-inch Full HD (1920 x 1080 pixels) IPS TFT LCD display with 1200 nits LumiBond brightness technology. The display of the tablet has the capacitive multi-touch screen with an optional dual mode touchscreen. The rugged tablet comes with 4GB DDR4 RAM which is expandable up to 32GB. The storage of the K120-Ex includes 128GB, 256GB, 512GB and 1TB SSD.

There is also an optional 1D/2D imager barcode reader and an optional Serial port (9-pin; D-sub), or USB 2.0 port variant of the device. On the camera department, the Getac K120-Ex comes with an 8MP auto focus rear camera while the front camera is a Full HD webcam. There is also an optional Windows Hello face-authentication front-facing camera. The device also comes with a headphone jack and mic-in combo in the tablet.

For ports, the Getac K120-Ex comes with a DC in Jack, a USB 3.0 port, a USB3.1 Gen 1 Type-C port, a LAN (RJ-45), an HDMI port and a MicroSD slot. Other features of the Getac K120-Ex includes 10/100/1000 base-T Ethernet, Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 8265, 802.11ac, Bluetooth (v4.2)I, an optional dedicated GPS and an optional 4G LTE mobile broadband. Other optional features of the K120-Ex comprise of an inclusion of optional Intel Pro Technology, TPM 2.0, optional Smart Card reader or HF RFID Reader, and Kensington lock. The device packs two 2,100mAh battery, its dimensions are 329.5 x 238 x 24mm and weighs at 1.86kgs.

It is MIL-STD-810G certified and IP65 certified making it dust and water resistant. The company has assured that it is 6 feet drop resistant. The device comes with a warranty of 3 years which includes accidental damage of the device.

Both the devices come with anti-explosive, intrinsic safety technology and can work in temperatures ranging from -21-degree Celsius to +63 degree Celsius making them rugged beyond imagination.

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Xiaomi shares a video of its double-folding smartphone

Foldable smartphones are definitely the latest rage in the world of technology. While Samsung and Huawei have already launched Galaxy Fold and Mate X respectively, the next expected foldable device is expected to come from Xiaomi. And now, the Chinese smartphone brand has shared another video of its prototype foldable smartphone.

It is worth mentioning that Xiaomi has not thrown any light on the specifications of the smartphone in the video, but it does confirm that the company is still working on its foldable device. Xiaomi’s foldable prototype smartphone was first showcased in January this year and unlike Samsung Galaxy Fold and Huawei Mate X, it comes with a double-folding design. Although this video does confirm that the company is still serious about its foldable device, we still don’t know when we can expect the device to be launched.

The video was shared by the company on its official profile on Chinese social networking website Weibo and it was then re-uploaded on YouTube. We should mention that the new video does not show anything that is not known about the device yet. If you watch the video, you will be able to see a person using the smartphone in portrait mode when it is unfolded. The person then folds the device from both the sides and places it on top of a box of noodles.

It is worth noticing that there is a slight software lag in changing the orientation of the screen as well as turning the UI from tablet to smartphone mode can be seen in the video. Xiaomi will have to work more on the device to fix these issues before it finally becomes available.

While Samsung and Huawei have already launched their foldable phones and we know about what Xiaomi is planning, we should also add that Apple and Motorola are also working on their respective foldable phones.

In unrelated news, Samsung also published a video of its Galaxy Fold smartphone today, giving the world a first glimpse at what the device looks like when it is folded. The video showed a number of Samsung Galaxy Fold smartphones undergoing stress tests by being folded and unfolded repeatedly.

Samsung Galaxy Fold and Huawei Mate X will also be launching in India, although the timelines for their respective launches are not clear as yet. Samsung Galaxy Fold’s India launch was confirmed to select media on the when the company’s Galaxy S10 series was unveiled in the country.

Video courtesy: Xiaomishka

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Lenovo Z6 Pro may be able to produce 100-megapixels images: VP Cheng

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Chinese smartphone brand Lenovo has been teasing its Lenovo Z6 Pro flagship smartphone for quite some time now. The Lenovo Z6 Pro is the successor of the 2018 Lenovo Z5 Pro GT which came with 12GB of RAM and 512GB of internal storage. The company has announced that the device will be launching on June 2019.

And now, a revelation has been made by the company’s VP Chang Cheng that the Lenovo Z6 Pro’s might be able to capture and produce 100-megapixels images. The image was teased on the Chinese social networking platform Weibo. The VP had posted about the Lenovo Z6 Pro on Weibo using a Chinese hashtag which means ‘a billion pixels’, or 100-megapixels (also means 100 million pixels in some cases.

The news comes after Qualcomm’s announcement about its processors already possessing the capability of supporting images of more than 100-megapixels. But is should be noted that making a 100-megapixels image would require the smartphone camera to capture and combine multiple shots of a single frame and bring them together into making one large picture.

Lenovo Z6 Pro camera features and specifications (expected)

Although not much is known about the specifications of the device, but the Lenovo Z6 Pro is expected to be powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 SoC which the company used in its predecessor, the Lenovo Z5 Pro GT. As mentioned earlier, the Lenovo Z5 Pro GT was launched in December 2018 and it packed 12GB of RAM, so its successor is expected to pack something similar if not better specifications.

It is also expected that the Lenovo Z6 Pro will come with 5G support. But the company might also launch a non-5G variant of the device similar to the Samsung Galaxy S10 series.

As the company’s VP Cheng had teased on Weibo about the Lenovo Z6 Pro having a HyperVision camera it can be speculated that the device’s camera will be its main feature. And the second teaser from the VP proves that point. Cheng’s post on Weibo was spotted by IT Home and the post reveals the Lenovo Z6 Pro’s Hyper Video feature. Cheng has used the hashtag which translates into ‘billion level pixels’, meaning the device will be able to produce larger images. Cheng had also posted a video teasing the Lenovo Z6 Pro’s hyper video and super macro capabilities on his Weibo account.

But there is a possibility that the Lenovo Z6 Pro might not have the features the VP is teasing about so the news should be taken with a pinch of salt. For now, we will have to wait for the launch of the device to see what features and capabilities the Lenovo Z6 Pro possess.

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Microsoft will not be playing pranks on you this April Fools’ Day

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April Fool’s Day is just around the corner, which basically means that you are not only going to be trolled by your peers but by technology companies too. A number of technology companies including Google, Microsoft, Tesla, Amazon, Netflix, Snap, among others are known for playing pranks on users on April 1. However, Microsoft decided to do something different this year and has taken a stand against its own pranks.

The software giant’s marketing chief Chris Capossela has issued a warning to all employees of Microsoft to not indulge in the process of annoying hoaxes on Monday. Technology website The Verge obtained an internal memo win which Capossela has explained that “data tells us these stunts have limited positive impact and can actually result in unwanted news cycles.” In addition to this, he has also told all the teams at Microsoft to not come up with any April Fools’ Day stunts for the public.

Capossela has been quoted saying, “I appreciate that people may have devoted time and resources to these activities, but I believe we have more to lose than gain by attempting to be funny on this one day.” We should add here that considering some April Fools’ Day plans by technology companies shave back-fired in the past, it’s probably safe to follow this.

To recall, Google had to apologize for adding Despicable Me minions into emails and for muting threads, that created quite a chaos for scored of Gmail users a few years ago. Even Microsoft has been a part of the companies who have pranked their users on April Fools’ Day in the past.

It is worth adding that Microsoft’s ban on April Fools’ Day comes when the software giant resurrected its Clippy Office assistant before killing it again a day later. The employees of the company transformed the paperclip into an animated pack of stickers and used it for Microsoft’s Teams chat software. However, it has been reported that the paperclip was shut down a day later by the ‘brand police’ inside Microsoft.

Here’s a look at the full internal memo sent by Capossela:

Hey everyone,

It’s that time of year when tech companies try to show their creativity with April Fools’ Day stunts. Sometimes the outcomes are amusing and sometimes they’re not. Either way, data tells us these stunts have limited positive impact and can actually result in unwanted news cycles.

Considering the headwinds the tech industry is facing today, I’m asking all teams at Microsoft to not do any public-facing April Fools’ Day stunts. I appreciate that people may have devoted time and resources to these activities, but I believe we have more to lose than gain by attempting to be funny on this one day.

Please forward to your teams and internal partners to ensure people are aware of the ask to stand down on external April Fools’ Day activities.

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Redmi Go to go on sale today at 2pm IST: Know all the details here

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The most affordable smartphone from Xiaomi – Redmi Go – will go on its fifth sale today at 2pm (IST). The Redmi Go smartphone will be available for purchase on Mi.com, Mi Home stores and Flipkart. Redmi Go was launched last week in India and its first sale went on March 22, Friday. The device is the most affordable smartphone from the Chinese manufacturer Xiaomi and it is aimed at the first-time Android users. The Redmi Go comes with unlimited Google Photos storage which is one of its highlights.

Redmi Go price, availability and sale offers

The Redmi Go is priced at Rs 4,499 and as we mentioned earlier, it can be purchased via Mi.com, Mi Home stores and Flipkart.

The smartphone comes in two colour options – Black and Blue.

As a part of launch offers, the company is offering up to Rs 2,200 Jio cashback and up to 100GB Jio data for free. Flipkart is also giving 5 percent instant discount on the purchase of the Redmi Go smartphone on EMIs using Axis Bank credit cards and 5 percent discount if purchased using Axis Bank Buzz credit cards.

It should be noted that the sale which will start from 2pm IST today will be the fifth sale of the Redmi Go. Earlier, the Redmi Go went on sale on March 22, March 25, March 26 and March 27.

People who want to purchase the device can click the ‘Notify me’ button on Flipkart to get notified when the sale is about to begin and the Redmi Go comes in stock.

Redmi Go specifications

The Redmi Go smartphone sports a 5-inch HD (720 x 1280 pixels) resolution display. It is powered by a 1.4GHz quad-core Snapdragon 425 SoC coupled with Adreno 308 GPU. The Redmi Go comes with 1GB of RAM and 8GB of internal storage and can hold a microSD card of up to 128GB. The affordable device comes with dual-SIM card slot (Nano) and has its own dedicated microSD card slot. Redmi Go runs Android 8.1 Oreo (Go edition) and packs a 3,000mAh battery.

On the camera front, the Redmi Go packs a single 8MP rear camera with 1.12-micron pixels and an f/2.0 aperture paired with an LED flash. While on the front, there is a 5MP selfie camera with 1.12-micron pixel size and an f/2.2 aperture.

For connectivity, the Redmi Go includes 4G VoLTE, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth v4.1, GPS/ A-GPS, Micro-USB, and a 3.5mm headphone jack.

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Tiitan Tii54 smartphone with 13MP camera, 3GB RAM launched in India: Price and specifications

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ShopClues, the Indian e-commerce platform, has launched a multi-featured smartphone at a very affordable price point. The device is named Tii54 smartphone and is made by Tiitan Holdings. The Tii54 smartphone is an entry-level smartphone with an HD display, 3GB RAM, 32GB internal storage and it is powered by a MediaTek processor. The company has targeted it towards the tier II, tier III, tier IV cities in India.

Tii54 smartphone price and availability

The Tii54 smartphone bears a price tag of Rs 4,999 and it available on ShopClues exclusively. The device comes in multiple colour options to choose from including Red, Black and Purple.

Tiitan Tii54 smartphone specifications

The Tii54 smartphone sports a 5-inch HD display and is powered by a 1.5GHz quad-core MediaTek SoC coupled with 3GB of RAM. The internal storage of the device is 32GB and it supports microSD card of up to 64GB. The dual-SIM smartphone has a face ID detector and front mounted fingerprint scanner and it houses a 3,000mAh battery. The Tii54 smartphone runs Android 8.1 Oreo but the company has promised that it will update it to the latest version of Android Pie.

Tii54 smartphone sports a single 13MP camera at the back which is a big plus considering the price point it sells for. Its build quality is also good as it comes with a multi-layered rubberised finish. According to the company, the Tii54 smartphone comes with good speakers which are capable of delivering ‘excellent sound quality’.

Tiitan TII54
Tiitan TII54

Since the device is targeted towards the smaller Indian cities, holding a price tag of Rs 4,999 is a good selling point for the Tii54 smartphone. It can also be used by the first-time Android users who are just moving on from their feature phones.

Tiitan TII54 Black
Tiitan TII54 Black

At the given price point, the newly launched Tii54 smartphone competes directly with the likes of Redmi Go, Asus Zenfone Lite L1 and Nokia 1. If we consider the specifications of the Tii54 smartphone including its 3GB RAM, 32GB storage, fingerprint scanner, 3,000mAh battery, the device seems to be good on paper at the given price bracket. Although the Tii54 smartphone is a new device and it doesn’t have a big brand backing it up, it has the potential of doing well in the regions it is targeting thanks to the specifications and features that the smartphone packs.

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Twitch announces new Squad Stream feature: Here’s what it can do

We have some news for gamers who use Twitch. The live streaming video platform for gamers has today announced a new feature that will help creators to boost the profile of smaller streamers on Twitch. The feature is called Squad Streams and it would also help streamers collaborate better with one another. In addition to this, using Squad Streams, up to four Twitch streamers will be able to go live simultaneously in one window.

Besides giving viewers the chance to watch the action from four different angles, the new feature will also let bigger channels the opportunity to host smaller creators and also share their screen with the audience at the same time.

Twitch‘s Squad Stream uses the discoverability features that are already there on the platform like raiding and hosting. We should mention that these features let large creators get others in the spotlight either by sending a wave of viewers to their channel or by mirroring someone’s stream to broadcast it to their followers if they are more in number.

According to Twitch’s vice president of creator experience, who wrote about the new feature on Medium, “streamers actively team up with other creators to benefit everyone in a channel.” He further added, “Creators can join forces right from the dashboard, stream content they wouldn’t normally stream, and grow their communities all at the same time. Viewers get more angles on the action, a way to support more of their favourite streamers with ease, and a chance to chat with several great communities at once — or join a new one.”

The video-streaming platform for gamers has touted the feature for being useful for everything ranging from tabletop streams to speed-running sessions. However, the feature will be the most useful to the more mainstream section on Twitch who spend their time watching team-based battle royale games like, Apex Legends, Fortnite and League of Legends.

The company has also posted some promotional streams to show the new feature to everyone and if you watch those, you would be able to see that Twitch has enlisted some popular streamers like Michael ‘Shroud’ Grzesiek and Imane ‘Pokimane’ Anys. While Grzesiek showed off how well the feature works for games like Apex Legends, Anys used it with League of Legends. The new Twitch feature will begin rolling out first with Partners, and Twitch Affiliates will follow.

Speaking more about the feature, Thieblot said, “Most streamers stream in 720p or above, so without video quality options, the squad viewing experience can be taxing since it would display up to four 720p+ streams at once. Our plan is to make Squad Stream available to Affiliates and all other streamers as we continue expanding our transcodes capacity.”

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WATCH: Samsung Galaxy Fold’s folding skills in a company video

South Korean technology giant Samsung has not exactly been receptive towards the idea of anyone trying out its Galaxy Fold smartphone for real. However, now it seems like the rule does not apply to robots. And particularly to Samsung’s specialized stress testing machines.

The company has released a video in which it has showcased the bending abilities of Samsung Galaxy Fold handset. We have to admit, the video looks very amazing as it shows so many Samsung Galaxy Fold smartphones open and shut in perfect synchronization. However, we should also add here that the video showing stress tests has so far given us the best look at what exactly the Samsung Galaxy Fold looks like when it is folded.

If you look at the video, you would know that the Galaxy Fold is able to fold perfectly well and looks polished when folded. The screens turn on quickly when unfolded and when the device folds, there isn’t much of a gap between the two sides. Furthermore, unlike what the previous reports suggest, there doesn’t seem to be any creasing issue.

But then, we should add here that the video has been produced by Samsung, and the company must have taken care to hide all the visible flaws (if any) before it was published. We would have to wait before we get to see the handset in real to know if it is actually this polished or not.

The South Korean technology giant has also promised that the Galaxy Fold smartphone will be able to “outlast 200,000 folds and unfolds”. We should point out that this means approximately five years of usage, assuming that an average would fold it may be hundred times in a day.

Samsung Galaxy Fold’s price starts at $1,980 and it is all set to release next month on April 26. The company has also confirmed that the Samsung Galaxy Fold will also be launched in India.

At the India launch of Samsung Galaxy S10 series, the company’s President and CEO of IT & Mobile Communications Division, DJ Koh reportedly said to select media, “Indian market is, I clearly said, most important market — not only investment and everything, my long-term commitment is towards the market. In this market, why will I not deliver my newest technology innovation? Yes, I will do.”

Although he did not share an exact timeline of launch, we can expect Samsung Galaxy Fold to come to India around the same time as other major markets.

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Myntra launches its first Bluetooth earbuds Blink Play at Rs 1,349

Myntra, the shopping platform owned by Flipkart, has launched its first fitness-based earphones in India named Blink Play. The Bluetooth earphones were developed at Innovation Labs of Myntra-Jabong after the acquisition of Witworks. The earphones are capable of connecting with the Blink Fit mobile app to offer advanced fitness tracking features. Although the Blink Play comes with a basic audio playback function, it also supports Google Assistant and Apple’s Siri as well.

Blink Play price and availability

Blink Play is sold by both Myntra and Jabong, but both are selling different variant of the earphones at different prices. The Blink Play with Carbon Black and Rose Gold is selling for Rs 1,799 on Myntra while the Limerick and Tangerine colour variants are selling for Rs 2,250.

While on Jabong, the Tangerince and Timerick colour variant is selling for Rs 1,349 which is the lowest price of the device.

The Blink Play comes in different colour options – Carbon Black, Moon Silver, Rose Gold, Limerick, and Tangerine.

Launch offers of the Blink Play on Myntra include a 15 percent cashback on American Express cards, a 10 percent instant discount on purchase using the ICICI Bank cards and flat Rs 200 cashback if the payment is made using Airtel Payments Bank. There is also 10 percent supercash on MobiKwik.

While Jabong is also giving the MobiKwik offer along with 10 percent cashback if the purchase is made through the Payzapp app.

Blink Play specifications and features

Blink Play comes with Qualcomm audio chipsets and in-built mic. It has three buttons which can be used for different purposes.

Amar Nagaram, Head of Myntra and Jabong, said in a statement, “In-house innovation is a very strong working principle at Myntra and Jabong and this has helped us stay ahead as frontrunners at the intersection of fashion and technology. BLINK PLAY combines ultra-premium fitness features on a wearable device through compact design, while also ensuring accessibility and affordability for the masses, thanks to the efforts of our Innovation Labs team that has made this product a reality. It is a fitness guide and coach like no other with its vivid functionality, aiding in wellbeing.”

The Blink Play not only offers the user sound and music playback but it also offers some of the features of a fitness band. When connected to the Blink Fit mobile app, it is able to calculate the number of steps the user has walked and the amount of sleep he has gotten and the calories he has burnt. The app also offers an audio coach for fitness. The Blink Fit app also offers the users guided audio training sessions where the users can choose from varieties of fitness exercises like indoors, runs, walks or cycling. Blink Play comes with Google Assistant and Siri support.

The Blink Fit app also features something called Leaderboards which allows the users to challenge themselves and their friends on fitness tasks and goals. It then compares the results and ranks the leaderboard depending on the scores.

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Huawei eyeing a 10% share of Indian premium smartphone market with P30 Pro and P30 mobiles

Chinese smartphone brand Huawei eyes to create a serious dent in the premium segment of the Indian smartphone market. The handset maker has also said that it plans to do the same with its newly launched Huawei P30 Pro and P30 smartphones.

A report in the IANS which quoted a top company executive said that Huawei is also betting big on the roll-out of 5G connectivity in India and will soon begin trials with the telecom companies it has partnered with in the country too. The executive also said that Huawei is looking to capture a bigger share in the smartphone market in India.

According to Huawei Consumer Business Group’s CEO Richard Yu, with its P series smartphone, the handset maker is looking to capture 10% of the premium mobile phone market in India by the end of 2019.

It has also been reported that Huawei is planning to replace Samsung and other leaders of the premium smartphone market like Apple and Google with its P30 Pro and Pro handsets. The Chinese smartphone brand got a lukewarm response after the launch of its P20 handsets that were launched in India last year. However, it now aims to change this with Huawei P30 Pro and P30 smartphones that come with a number of enhanced camera features.

Yu was quoted saying, “We are so low in the premium smartphone market in India. Last year, we invested to make our phones better and with the new P series, we are confident to have a 10 percent share in the Indian premium smartphone market.”

We should add here that Huawei P30 Pro and P30 smartphones are available at starting prices of EUR 999 and EUR 799 respectively. However, the two handsets would be priced more reasonably in India next month as the company plans to manufacture the devices in the country itself.

Speaking on his, Yu added, “Manufacturing will depend on volumes. Once we have that, our Indian facility will start rolling out the new phones.” He also said that the company would develop some local features and apps for their smartphones in India.

However, when asked about whether the company is working on a new operating system, Yu avoided the question.

He also maintained silence on the Indian pricing of Huawei P30 Pro and P30 smartphones and only said that the cost would be similar to that of P20 series that was launched last year. While Huawei P20 smartphones sold 60 million units across the globe and in India, the number reached 20 million. Huawei claimed that the global numbers touched 206 million units in 2018. Yu said that with the launch of Huawei P30 Pro and P30 smartphones, the numbers would grow by 25-30% this year.

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Huawei Watch GT Active launched; Huawei FreeLace, FreeBuds Lite wireless earphones unveiled

At the launch of its Huawei P30 Pro and P30 smartphones, the Chinese electronics company also took wraps off its Huawei Watch GT Active and the Huawei Watch GT Elegant smartwatches. Along with that, the Huawei also unveiled the new FreeLace and the FreeBuds Lite wireless headphones. The company also partnered with the South Korean fashion brand Gentle Monster to launch a new line-up of smart eyewear. The Huawei smart glasses are capable of making and receiving phone calls and come with digital assistant support. The company also launched its 12,000mAh 40W SuperCharge fast charging power bank capable of powering smartphones and laptops as well.

Huawei Watch GT Active specifications and price

The Huawei Watch GT Active is an addition to the Huawei’s smartwatches series and it comes with 46mm case size with 1.39-inch AMOLED HD display with 454 x 454 pixels resolution. The Huawei Watch GT Active comes with a Triathlon mode which enables the tracking of open-water swimming, outdoor cycling and outdoor running. The company has said that it will bring this feature to its older smartwatches as well through an update in the next few months. According to the company, the Huawei Watch GT Active can work for two weeks on a single charge. Other features of the Huawei Watch GT Active include GPS, GLONASS, and GALILEO for precise location tracking. The Huawei Watch GT Active Edition bears a price tag of EUR 249 (approximately Rs 19,300).

watch GT
watch GT

Huawei Watch GT Elegant Edition specifications and price

The Huawei Watch GT Elegant Edition comes with a smaller 42mm case size and it has 1.2-inch AMOLED HD display with 390 x 390 pixels resolution. Similar to the Watch GT Active Edition, the Huawei Watch GT Elegant Edition also features the Triathlon mode which enables tracking of open-water swimming, outdoor cycling, and outdoor running.

The Huawei Watch GT Elegant Edition comes in two colour options – Magic Pearl White and Tahitian Magic Black Pearl. The Watch GT Elegant Edition packs a one-week battery life capacity with a heart rate monitor. The Huawei Watch GT Elegant Edition comes with a price tag of EUR 229 (approximately Rs 17,800).

Huawei FreeLace wireless headphones specifications and price

The Huawei FreeLace wireless headphones come with USB Type-C connector which joins the right earbud with the left earbud. The Huawei FreeLace wireless headphones can also be fast charged through any smartphone, tablet or PC that has a USB Type-C port.

According to Huawei, the Huawei FreeLace wireless headphones is capable of delivering up to 18 hours of playback or 13 hours of talk time on a single charge. The company has also said that the wireless headphones are also able to give up to four hours of playback time with a five-minute of quick charge.

freelace
freelace

The wireless headphones also support the company’s HiPair technology which makes the Bluetooth pairing with any Huawei smartphone quick and easy. The FreeLace headphones come with 9.2mm dynamic driver units and have TPU diaphragm.

Other features of the Huawei FreeLace wireless headphones includes a dual-cavity microphone design which makes an additional channel for air ventilation. There is also a Magnetic Switch and a built-in Hall sensor onboard. They also have titanium plating on top. The in-line remote adjusts the volume of the headphones and supports inputs such as a two-second-long press to activate the voice assistant and a double-tap to skip the current track. The headphones also include features such as a dual-channel wind noise reduction and Bluetooth noise cancelling algorithm. The headphones come with Bluetooth v5.0 connectivity. Furthermore, the Huawei FreeLace wireless headphones are IPX5 water and dust resistant.

The Huawei FreeLace headphones costs EUR 99 (approximately Rs 7,700) and will go on sale in select countries starting April 11. It is available in Graphite Black, Amber Sunrise, Emerald Green, and Moonlight Silver colour options.

Huawei FreeBuds Lite earbuds specifications and price

freebuds
freebuds

The Huawei FreeBuds Lite earbuds have an AirPods-like design and come with an IPX4-rating which makes it water and dust resistant. Huawei has also included other features in the Huawei FreeBuds Lite earbuds such as true wireless stereo audio along with an in-ear design. According to Huawei, the Huawei FreeBuds Lite earbuds can give up to 12 hours of battery life when the available case is used. The Huawei FreeBuds Lite earbuds holds a price tag of EUR 119 (approximately Rs 9,200).

Huawei smart glasses

The Chinese smartphone maker has tied up with the South-Korean fashion brand Gentle Monster to bring its first smart eyewear. As of now, the smart glass doesn’t have a name but it comes with the ability to let the users make or receive voice calls. There are dual microphones and speakers onboard the smart glasses which gives it the ability to attend calls. The smart glasses also have the capability of accessing voice assistants like Google Voice Assistant when it is connected with a smartphone.

The Huawei smart glasses also come with the IP67 rating, making it water and dust resistant. The smart glasses can be charged wirelessly through their case or directly using in-built the USB Type-C port. The case of the smart glasses has a 2,200mAh battery, it can be used to charge the device.

Currently, Huawei hadn’t announced the price of its smart glasses. But it has mentioned that the smart glasses might come in a more than one models around July 2019.

Huawei 12,000mAh 40W SuperCharge Power Bank

The company in the midst of all the new devices has launched a 12,000mAh 40W SuperCharge Power Bank capable of supporting two-way fast charging. It is also capable of giving a 40W USB Type-C power output. The newly launched power bank can charge not just smartphones, but tablets and laptops as well. The company has also said that the Power Bank can be fully charged in 2 hours and 14 minutes if a 40W charger is used.

The Huawei 12,000mAh 40W SuperCharge Power Bank comes with a 12-Layer Comprehensive Safety Protection which Huawei claims to protect the device from over current, over-power, and short circuit.

The Huawei 12,000mAh 40W SuperCharge Power Bank holds a price tag of EUR 99 (approximately Rs 7,700) and it will be available in White and Blue.

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Fitbit Versa Lite Edition, Fitbit Inspire, Fitbit Inspire HR and Fitbit Ace 2 go on sale in India

Earlier this month, Fitbit announced four new additions to its list of fitness devices which came with fitness trackers and many other features. The devices were – Fitbit Versa Lite Edition, Fitbit Inspire HR, Fitbit Inspire and Fitbit Ace 2. All these smart wearables varied in their price range and their features as well.

All of them can be connected with the Fitbit mobile app and the details of the devices could be seen on the smartphone via the app. Although the devices were announced, they weren’t available for purchase yet. And now, after almost 20 days, the company has made the products available in the market.

Fitbit Versa Lite Edition, Fitbit Inspire HR, Fitbit Inspire and Fitbit Ace 2 price and availability

The Fitbit Versa Lite Edition bears a price of Rs 15,999 while the Fitbit Inspire HR cost Rs 8,999. The Fitbit Inspire costs Rs 6,999 and lastly the Fitbit Ace, 2 can be picked up at Rs 6,999 respectively.

All four Fitbit devices are now available for purchase on Amazon.in, Flipkart, Reliance Digital, Croma, Helios and also in some retail stores.

Fitbit Versa Lite Edition specifications

The Fitbit Versa Lite Edition is the costliest of the lot and it comes with an activity tracker, 24/7 heart rate monitor and sleep stage tracker. The Fitbit Versa Lite Edition is more like a smartwatch than a fitness band and it comes with connected GPS and smartphone notification along with more than 15 goal-based exercise mode. With the exercise modes, the user can choose any setting of his choice for exercises.

Fitbit Versa Lite Edition

The device comes with more than 4 days of battery life and it has a single button on its lightweight body.

Fitbit Inspire HR specifications

The Fitbit Inspire HR also comes with an all-day automatic activity tracker where the user can track his activities throughout the day. Similar to the Fitbit Versa Lite Edition, the Inspire HR comes with more than 15 exercise modes.

Inspire HR

Other features of Fitbit Inspire HR include relax guided breathing and connected GPS.  It offers up to 5 days of battery life.

Fitbit Inspire specifications

The Fitbit Inspire is the lower version of the Fitbit Inspire HR and it is also the cheapest of the lot. According to the company, it is aimed for people who are new to the smart wearables and want a low-cost device to keep a track of their fitness.

Inspire

The Fitbit Inspire comes with features similar to the Inspire HR but the connected GPS feature is missing from the Fitbit Inspire. Just like other Fitbit devices mentioned here, the Inspire is also swim proof and comes with a touchscreen display with support for smartphone notifications. The Fitbit Inspire too offers up to 5 days of battery backup.

Fitbit Ace 2 specifications

Lastly, the Fitbit Ace 2 is a device aimed at children more than 6 years of age and it focuses on building a healthy habit from an early age. It encourages children to spend more active time with their friends and family and stay active.

Ace 2

The Fitbit Ace 2 also comes with a swim proof build and has a bumper to protect the screen when the children are involved in games and sports or other activities. Being aimed at kids, it comes in bold and funky colours with patterned design options. The Fitbit Ace also has an animated clock with motivating challenges to keep the children moving. The Ace 2 also gives the option of adding colourful avatars and photos to personalize their profiles within the Fitbit app.

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Spotify to soon get personalised editorial playlists

Popular music streaming app Spotify made its way to the Indian market just a few weeks back. And now, it will soon start offering personalised playlists that will be created on the basis of the listener’s interest and browsing history. According to the streaming service, it will personalise human-curated playlists algorithmically in order to ensure that “music has a better chance of getting into the ears of the right listeners.”

The personalised editorial playlists are being tested by Spotify for a while now and the company has claimed that 80% of the users seek out the track on their own to listen to it repeatedly and the average number of times a listener saves a track goes up by 66%.

We should mention that earlier, Spotify has thousands of playlists that were curated by its editors and the same playlist was heard by all the users of the music-streaming app. However, now this is set to change as the music-streaming app is going to personalise some playlists for each of its listeners, and they will be based on the genre of music they like. This also means that as far as these playlists go, listening experience of no two users will be the same.

The company has also added that it has been testing the new personalised editorial playlists system for some time now and it has observed in this time that users started listening to music on Spotify app for longer durations. In addition to this, the personalised editorial playlists increase the number of artists that are featured on playlists by 30% and the number of songs that are being discovered by listeners increase by 35%.

Speaking about the feature, Spotify noted, “When a song is added to one of these playlists, it won’t necessarily appear on every listener’s personalised version of that playlist. That’s why, starting today, we’ll create unique links to these playlists for artists to share via Spotify for Artists and Spotify Analytics. Anyone who clicks a unique link shared by an artist will see a personalized version of the playlist with that artist’s track as the first song. (For editorial playlists that are not personalised, artists should continue to use public links as they do now.) When songs get added to one of these playlists, an email notification gets sent to artists and their teams, so they can share the good news with fans.”

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Fortnite update 8.20 brings the ‘Floor is Lava’ mode: Here’s everything that has changed

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In the midst of the arrival of new and more engaging battle-royale like Apex Legends and Battlefield Firestorm, Fortnite has released a new update for its game. The new update – Fortnite 8.20 brings new features, tweaks and fixes over the last update and a new limited time mode called the Floor is Lava.

As the name suggests, in the new mode, the Floor becomes Lava. So basically, Lava rises from the lowest parts of the map and the players has to save themselves from the rising Lava, the zone and the other players as well to be victorious. For the new mode, the company behind Fortnite, Epic Games said that the players now need to drop in fast and quickly loot the guns, armours and building materials to reach the higher ground before the lower ground gets consumed by Lava.

The new update is 150MB in size for the iOS with additional in-game download after the update is finished. The new update also adds other features such as fixes for the 21:9 aspect ratio and reactivating voice chat for iOS.

Fortnite update 8.20 patch notes

Floor Is Lava LTM: A few minutes into the match, the lava will begin to rise. The lava moves at a steady speed until the entire map is covered. Touching the lava will apply damage directly to your health and bounce you up in the air. You can build on the lava. Players will be given a small number of materials every second, to help out in those “entire map is on fire” situations.

  • Dedicated use buttons now support hold to swap.
  • Voice Chat has been reactivated on iOS.
  • Emote button now supports hold to replay last emote.
  • Updated the Baller button icons.
  • Updated the battery icon to indicate the device is charging. Refreshes visibility every 2 seconds.
  • Cycle left button added to the HUD layout tool.
  • Added loot pickup stream UI.
  • This is the part of the UI that tracks how many resources and ammo you’re picking up.
  • Net Debug Stats is now movable in the HUD Layout Tool.
  • Enabled Squad Communication and Emote buttons while DBNO.
  • Fixed field of view on 21:9 devices.
  • Fixed an issue with quickbar and extra buttons that made it possible to cause fire state to be stuck on a continuous loop.
  • Fixed an issue causing the camera to jump on initial touch input.
  • This will also fix the issue where HUD control buttons are missing when starting a match on some Android devices.
  • Fixed an issue causing incorrect building pieces to gain focus when editing.
  • Fixed missing outline effect for squad members.
  • Fixed minimap remaining on screen during Victory Royale sequence.
  • Fixed not being able to select building material while being a passenger in a vehicle.

Fortnite has around 250 million registered players as Epic Games noted at the GDC 2019. The numbers are huge as the game was released only 18 months ago and since then the numbers kept on growing. The company also said that at its highest point, the game saw more than 10.8 million players online.

But it should be noted that the new update comes days after the Battlefield Firestorm was released. With the inclusion of Firestorm in the battle royale genre, the competition has gotten tougher so the new update might add ‘new-ness’ to the game.

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WhatsApp for Android’s beta version gets Dark Mode, but there’s a catch

Popular messaging app WhatsApp has rolled out an update to its Android beta app which upgrades it to version 2.19.82. The teardown of the WhatsApp Android beta app version 2.19.82 shows that the company has finally made a progress with Dark Mode. The much-awaited feature has popped up a few times in the past and the latest update of WhatsApp gives us the first proper look at the Dark Mode. Needless to say, this is a hint that the feature will be rolled out to more people soon.

As of now, even in the beta version, the feature is under development and not available for everyone to use. Some recent beta versions of WhatsApp also indicate that the company is also working on a new forwarding feature. We should mention that as of now, there is no official word from WhatsApp about when the Dark Mode will be launched in a stable version.

It is worth adding that this update was first found by WABetaInfo, a Twitter account that tracks changes in WhatsApp beta app. To support its claim, WABetaInfo has also published a few screenshots of the Dark Mode on WhatsApp 2.19.82 beta update. According to the tipster, as of now, WhatsApp has used the Dark Mode in Settings only and the screenshots show the new mode in data and storage settings, chats settings, notifications settings and even account settings.

The tipster has also added that the Dark Mode on Android “won’t be OLED friendly but it’s based on very dark grey colour.” As we mentioned earlier, although the feature is a part of the update, it has not been enabled yet. And because it has been disabled by default, you would not be able to see it even when you update your app to the latest 2.19.82 version of WhatsApp for Android. It is worth noticing that the company has been working Dark Mode since last year.

Speaking of WhatsApp for Android version 2.19.80, two new features have been added – Forwarding Info and Frequently Forwarded. Among the two, Forwarding Info will enable users to get more details about a forwarded message and tell them how many times the message has been forwarded. On the other hand, Frequently Forwarded will show up as a label if one message has been forwarded more than four times.

To get the latest updates of WhatsApp, you can read our step-by-step guide on how to become a beta tester of the app. However, we should add that if you do this, your app will be updated a lot more than usual and not all updates are bug-free.

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Microsoft Surface Hub 2 event scheduled for April 17

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Software giant Microsoft is planning to hold a special press event in New York City next month. The company has also started sending out press invites to the technology media today for the work-focussed event that is scheduled for April 17. It is worth mentioning that Microsoft’s event will include Steelcase, which is the same company that it had partnered with for Surface-powered office of the future that it demonstrated last year.

The invite that has been sent by Microsoft reads, “Microsoft & Steelcase invite you to experience new ways to work better, together.” This means that we can finally get to see the Surface Hub 2S. The company may also throw light on its detailed plan for Surface Hub 2S.

To recall, Microsoft gave us a first look at the Surface Hub 2 last year and promised to launch the Surface Hub’s next model in Q2 2019. And it seems like the company is keeping up with its promise. From what we know till now, Microsoft’s 50-inch display will work with removable hardware cartridges and allow users to keep their devices upgraded in future.

The software company is also planning to deliver a Surface Hub 2X cartridge by next year and that will come with new software and the ability to rotate the device.

Microsoft has had it on its mind to create workspaces of the future for a very long time and now it seems like the company’s plans are finally materializing. We would have to wait to find out more about the company’s plans till April 17 though.

As of now, it is being speculated that the company will add unique furniture and additional Surface accessories from Steelcase coupled with some giant touch-driven displays. But other than this, we will have to wait to see Microsoft’s vision for workspaces of the future.

We should add here that Microsoft announced that it is teaming up with Steelcase in 2017. Back then, it was said that the collaboration involved ideas on how to best design workspaces at a time when technology companies are coming up with a number of new devices to fit the new ways of working. The company also highlighted five ‘Creatives Spaces’ that make up the most of Surface hardware.

The software giant first started working on its vision of the future with products like the Surface Hub and Surface Studio. And when the company collaborated with Steelcase, it just took a step closer to making its vision a reality.

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Lok Sabha Elections 2019: Facebook launches initiatives to boost civic engagement

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Social media platform Facebook is used by millions to stay connected to each other on a regular basis. And more importantly, it helps us engage with our elected officials and reach out to them about several issues that matter. Keeping in mind how its platform connects people to their leaders, Facebook India has announced two new features before the Lok Sabha elections of 2019 – Candidate Connect and Share You Voted.

With Candidate Connect, Facebook will help its users learn more about the candidates who are contesting the Lok Sabha elections from their respective constituencies. On the other hand, ‘Share you Voted’ will give users polling information and let them announce and celebrate the fact that they have voted.

Starting next week, voters in India will be able to watch 20-second videos of candidates contesting from their respective constituencies. They will be able to do this either via a message in their News Feed or through a bookmark in the Settings section of their profile. These videos will be presented to users under the ‘Candidate Connect’ tool and will let them engage with the electorate.

Speaking from the candidate’s point of view, they would be able to introduce themselves and talk about how they will address the challenges in their constituencies if they get elected. We should also mention that the questions included as part of Facebook’s ‘Candidate Connect’ tool and the name itself are an outcome of a locally conducted consumer research.

Coming to the other feature that has been launched by the social media platform – Share you Voted – will let people share the fact that they have voted. Furthermore, it will also collect posts and photos from people who have voted to put it together in a collage at the top of peoples’ Facebook Friend’s News Feeds. This will serve two purposes. One, people will be able to celebrate the fact that they voted. And secondly, it will encourage others on the social networking website to participate in the voting process.

We should add here that the two new tools will be available in twelve local languages in India.

Speaking about the new features, Samidh Chakrabarti, Director, Product Management for Civic Integrity, Facebook said, “We believe encouraging civic participation is an important contribution Facebook can make to the community. With the introduction of tools like ‘Candidate Connect’ and ‘Share You Voted’, we aim to better equip our users as they look forward to participating in the political process of the country.”

He further added, “Our elections work is not just limited to increasing users’ involvement in the democratic process, but also to protect its integrity on Facebook. We are working hard to prevent bad actors from interfering with elections on Facebook. We have more than tripled the team working on safety and security to 30,000 people, introduced unprecedented transparency requirements for political advertising, greatly improved our ability to detect and quickly remove fake accounts, and stepped up our efforts to fight false news and misinformation.”

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Xiaomi’s new 100W charger can charge a 3,700mAh battery in 17 minutes

All of us are aware of the various smartphone battery-related issues that can arise and how much problem they can cause. Smartphone companies are aware of it too, and they are coming up with devices that pack heavier batteries that can last at least a day or more, However, with big batteries comes the time required to charge them fully. Try to charge a smartphone’s 4,000mAh battery with a regular charger and you will find out that it takes more than 3 hours to completely charge the handset. That’s where quick chargers come in, and today Xiaomi has taken a lead in developing a 100W fast-charger which is able to charge smartphone carrying a 3,700mAh battery from 0% to 100% in just 17 minutes.

A video was posted by the company on Chinese social networking platform Weibo that was spotted by XDA developers. The video was posted by Redmi’s General Manager Lu Weibing where it showcased Xiaomi’s new 100W charger charging a smartphone with 3,700mAh battery capacity alongside the Oppo’s 50W Super VOOC charger. The Xiaomi 100W charger managed to charge the device completely from 0% to 100% in just 17 minutes while at that time the other charger had managed to charge 65% of the battery.

We should mention that this is the fastest charger the smartphone world has seen yet and it is even faster than Oppo’s 50W charger which was one of the fastest chargers in the market till now. But Xiaomi didn’t comment on the 100W charger details and how does the new fast-charging technology works. But it should be noted that USB Type-C used in smartphones already come capable of supporting a 100W charger and the 100W power drawing capability. However, the problem with a larger power generating output charger is delivering the large amount of power from the charger to the small battery without the danger of overloading it and blowing it up. Currently it is not known how does the Xiaomi’s new charger works and how does it manages to not overload the device and the battery. It is worth noticing, however, that Oppo’s 50W Super VOOC Charger supplies half the power of the new Xiaomi’s charger. But even that much amount of power could overload the device to which the Super VOOC Charger came up with the solution by dividing the 3,400mAh battery into two separate 1,400mAh batteries and then charging them separately.

Till now, Xiaomi has made no comment on the charger or the possibility of bringing the charger for any of its devices. And it also hasn’t commented on the launch or announcement of the new 100W fast-charger. But since the video was posted by the Redmi GM, it can be assumed that one of Redmi devices might be the first to get the charger.

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Mi 9 vs Huawei P30: Specifications aren’t everything

Chinese company Huawei launched its flagship Huawei P30 Pro along with Huawei P30 at an event in Paris yesterday. Both the devices come with great camera capabilities and are powered by the company’s latest processor. However, after the launch of Huawei P30, Xiaomi wasted no time in pointing out that its flagship smartphone Mi 9 has better specifications and is available at a lesser price than Huawei P30. Xiaomi even posted a picture comparing the two devices on some points which it received criticism from the users about doing a selective comparison. We took a look at the comparison too, which seemed to obviously biased. So here, we decided to look beyond specifications in both the devices. Take a look:

Camera

P30 camera

Xiaomi’s Mi 9 sports a triple-rear camera setup that comprises of a 48MP Sony IMX586 image sensor with an f/1.75 aperture paired with a 12MP telephoto lens with an f/2.2 aperture and a 16MP ultra wide-angle lens with an f/2.2 aperture. The camera of the Mi 9 supports macro, wide-angle photography along with laser focus, phase detection focus and contrast detection focus. At the front, the Mi 9 has a 20MP camera with an f/2.0 aperture.

On the other hand, Huawei P30 comes with Leica triple-rear camera setup with a 40MP Super Sensing wide angle lens with an f/1.8 aperture paired with a 16MP ultra wide-angle lens with an f/2.2 aperture and an 8MP telephoto lens with an f/2.4 aperture. Although less in terms of resolution, Huawei P30 comes supports laser focus, phase focus, contrast focus along with AIS (Huawei AI Image Stabilization) and has support for 3X optical zoom and 5X hybrid zoom. The device comes with Laser Transmitter and Laser Receiver for an improved focus and has a feature called SuperSpectrum Sensor that enables and ISO rating of 204,800.

Furthermore, Mi 9 packs a 20MP Beautify selfie camera, while Huawei P30 has a 32MP front facing snapper with AI HDR+ support.

So, in terms of camera capabilities, Huawei P30 clearly wins even though it’s lesser in terms of resolution. We should remind you that resolution in camera isn’t everything, but features are. Even Google Pixel 3 packs a 12.2MP rear camera, but it comes with so many features that it makes it one among the best that are there.

Processor

855

Xiaomi’s Mi 9 is powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 855 processor, which is the most powerful mobile chip in the world. Huawei P30, on the other hand, runs on the company’s own Kirin 980 SoC, which is the most powerful one by the Chinese smartphone brand yet. In this, we have to say that Xiaomi wins.

Display

Mi9

While Mi 9 comes with 6.39-inch Samsung’s AMOLED FHD+ (2340 x 1080 pixels) display with 403ppi, the Huawei P30 comes with 6.1-inch FHD+ (2340 x 1080 pixels) Wide Color Gamut OLED display with 398ppi.

We should point out here that even though Mi 9’s screen size is more, Huawei P30 has an OLED display, which is the same as iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max’s. However, it should be noted that the Mi 9 comes with Gorilla Glass 6 protection which the Huawei P30 lacks.

As far as display goes, it comes down to what you prefer. Some may opt for Mi 9’s slightly taller display, but personally, we would opt for an OLED screen.

Battery

mi 9

The Mi 9 packs a 3,300mAh with QuickCharge v4.0 and wireless charge support while the Huawei P30 comes with 3,650mAh battery with 40W SuperCharge support. However, it cannot be charged wirelessly.

IP rating

P30

The Mi 9 doesn’t come with any IP rating which makes it susceptible to rain, dust and water damage but the Huawei P30 comes with IP53 rating making the device splash and dust resistant.

RAM and Storage

mi9

Both the devices come with 6GB RAM/128GB storage as the base variants. However, Huawei P30 has another variant with 8GB RAM. The Huawei P30 also comes with nano-memory card support of up to 256GB, which the Mi 9 lacks.

Honorable mention: OneHop

OneHop

Huawei P30 has a very interesting and useful feature called OneHop, which enables users to send photos, videos and documents to Huawei Matebook just by tapping the smartphone on the laptop. This feature also allows the Huawei Matebook to start recording a 60 seconds video of the laptop screen just by shaking and touching the P30 with the Matebook. Copied texts can also be pasted between the devices easily.

Conclusion

Xiaomi’s Mi 9 is price lower than the Huawei P30 which is a big point for the company but there are additional features in the Huawei P30, which the Mi 9 lacks. So even though it’s costlier, we would say that Huawei P30 is worth the money for someone who would want the extra camera features, or a better display experience for watching your favourite shows. Furthermore, we must add here that Xiaomi devices may charge less, but they are also full of bloatware and ads that you can’t get rid of. So, if you are someone who would want to avoid getting annoyed with them, you may want to throw in some extra bucks to buy the Huawei P30 instead.

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Mi Notebook Air 12.5 (2019) launched in China with eighth generation Intel CPUs: Price and specifications

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Xiaomi has launched a refreshed version of its Mi Notebook Air 12.5-inch laptop in China. The Mi Notebook Air 12.5 (2019) is the less costly competitor of the Apple MacBook Air. The refreshed Mi Notebook Air 12.5 (2019) packs Intel’s eighth-generation Core i5 or Core m3 CPUs with 4GB of RAM and up to 256GB SSD. The Mi Notebook Air 12.5 (2019) has a full-metal chassis and it weighs 1.07kgs. The upgraded version of the Mi Notebook Air 12.5 comes with addition of fast charge support and it is launched three-months after the launch of the same series of Notebook powered by seventh-generation Core i5 CPUs.

Mi Notebook Air 12.5 (2019) price and availability

The Mi Notebook Air 12.5 (2019) with the Intel Core m3 chipset and 128GB SSD holds a price tag of CNY 3,599 (approximately Rs 38,400) and the Mi Notebook Air 12.5 (2019) powered by the Intel Core m3 chipset with 256GB SSD is priced at CNY 3,999 (approximately Rs 42,700). The Intel Core i5 chipset with 256GB SSD variant of the Mi Notebook Air 12.5 (2019) is priced at CNY 4,299 (approximately Rs 45,900).

All the variants of the Mi Notebook Air 12.5 (2019) come in two colour options – Gold and Silver – and will go on sale for the first time in China from March 28, 10:00am CST (07:30am IST).

However, Xiaomi has made no comment about the launch of the Mi Notebook Air 12.5 (2019) for markets outside China, so we don’t know if the laptop will be launched in India.

Mi Notebook Air 12.5 (2019) specifications

As mentioned earlier, the Mi Notebook Air 12.5 (2019) comes in two variants when it comes to CPU – one is powered by the eighth-generation Intel Core m3 CPU while the other is powered by the eighth-generation Intel Core i5 CPU. In terms of storage capabilities, the Mi Notebook Air 12.5 (2019) comes in two variants as well – one with 128GB SSD while the other has 256GB SSD. According to Xiaomi, the Mi Notebook Air 12.5 (2019) is the refreshed version of the Mi Notebook Air 12.5 previous model and it sports an all-metal chassis with no-logo design. The Notebook weighs 1.07kgs and it comes with fast-charging support which can charge the device to 50 percent in around 50 minutes. It should be noted that the fast charge support was absent in the previous version of the Mi Notebook Air 12.5. Additionally, the Mi Notebook Air 12.5 (2019) comes preloaded with Windows 10 Home edition.

The Mi Notebook Air 12.5 (2019) comes with 4GB of RAM and has a USB Type-C port, one HDMI port, one USB 3.0 port and a 3.5mm audio jack. The device also comes with three Harman speakers with DTS Surround Sound support and a full-size backlit keyboard.

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Gmail starts receiving AMP support, will let you shop and fill forms within your inbox

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Technology giant Google announced last year that it would roll out the support for AMP in Gmail. The company seems to be keeping its promise as now, Google has rolled out a beta to the general G Suite audience. According to the company, the support for AMP in Gmail is designed to make emails seem more like an interactive webpage so that users would not have to go to a browser for the same experience.

With AMP in Gmail, users will be able to browse image carousels, RSVP to an event or even fill out forms within their inbox. We should mention that this is nothing like the current situation, as in order to do most of this, users need to go the browser that they are using. These emails have been names as ‘Dynamic Emails’ by Google.

The search giant has said that the support for AMP in Gmail is arriving fast on the web version of the email service, and it will soon be rolled out to the mobile app too. However, it is worth adding that just like AMP instant articles, emails would only be able to provide users with the new experience if the company that has sent the email has support for the format.

As of now, the list of partners which have AMP for Gmail is small. The list companies that will be providing the Dynamic Email experience includes Booking.com, Despegar, Doodle, Ecwid, Freshworks, Nexxt, OYO Rooms, Pinterest, and redBus.

However, Google has also pointed out that several other third-party email products including SparkPost, Litmus, Twilio Sendgrid, and Amazon SES and Pinpoint have signed up to add support for AMP. So, marketers who use one among these tools to send emails, you would be able to create Dynamic Emails to send to your target audience or customers too. While these tools don’t have the support for AMP right now, they are supposed to get it soon.

Currently, AMP for Gmail has been made available to G Suite customers. We should add here that you don’t necessarily have to use Gmail in order to see dynamic emails. If you use a third-party email service like Outlook, Yahoo Mail, Mail.ru, you will still be able to see the Dynamic Emails. However, in order to enable it, the admin has to be a part of the beta program.

What do you think of this new Gmail feature? Do you think it’ll prove to be useful, or just add on to some privacy concerns? Let us know in the comments below!

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Ban on some iPhone models in the US recommended by Judge

The ongoing battle between Apple and Qualcomm seems to be turning out in favour of the American chipmaker. The latest news about legal battle comes from the United States, which says that the country may impose a ban on some iPhone models. A US trade judge has said that Apple is guilty of infringing on two Qualcomm patents. While one of them was related to power management, the other was connected to data download speeds.

And as a result of this, International Trade Commission Judge MaryJoan McNamara has said that some models of the iPhone which contain Intel modems may be blocked from shipping from China to the United States. However, the judgement still has to be reviewed by the ITC and there is a possibility that when that happens, things may change for Apple.

We should point out that in a separate ITC ruling, Qualcomm has lost an opportunity for an iPhone ban because the entire commission rejected the initial finding of patent infringement. But in spite of this, the recommendation for iPhone ban by McNamara is a big deal for Apple. It is worth adding here that earlier this month, the company was found to have infringed on three of Qualcomm patents. The American chipmaker was given $31 million after that verdict came out.

But nevertheless, Qualcomm has been building a legal case against Apple steadily and it has also managed to win in various parts of the world, ahead of a larger trial that is scheduled to take place next month. At the trial, the two companies will be seen battling over the core argument of their legal issues, which involves Qualcomm’s alleged anti-competitive licensing strategies and the patent royalties that Apple supposedly owes to the company for flouting the terms of their relationship.

We should add here that the lawsuit was initially filed by Apple more than two years ago, and it has now become a legal battle that is as big as the Cupertino based technology giant’s dispute with Samsung. The original complaint was followed by a number of separate lawsuits that involved patent infringement and the battle soon reached to countries other than the United States. It is worth noticing that this also led to a ban on some iPhone models in China and Germany.

Prior to the legal battle, Apple and Qualcomm had an exclusive licensing arrangement for iPhone models to use modems that were made by Qualcomm.

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