Apple fans, your wait to buy the new MacBook Air is over. Apple last month unveiled the updated version of its best-selling laptop, along with the new iPad Pros and the upgraded Mac mini, at its event in Brooklyn. And this week, the new Apple MacBook Air quietly went on sale in India.
The upgraded MacBook Air sports a Retina display, a first for the series, and features a Touch ID enabled by a T2 chip. Here are the pricing and availability details of the MacBook Air 2018 that you should know about:
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MacBook Air price in India
The new MacBook Air comes in two variants in India. One has 8GB of RAM and 128GB of internal storage and the other has 16GB of RAM and 256GB of onboard storage. While the base model is priced at Rs 1,14,900, the high-end version costs Rs 1,34,900. Both the models of MacBook Air are available in Gold, Silver, and Space Grey colour variants. You can head to official Apple stores like iWorld and Unicorn to get one for yourself. We confirmed with iWorld as well as Unicorn store and both said that MacBook Air 2018 is available with them for sale. A complete list of stores where it is available can be found here.
MacBook Air specifications
Coming to the specifications of the new MacBook Air, it features a 13.3-inch Retina display with a resolution of 2560×1600 and has 50% narrower bezels than its predecessor. The company has claimed that the display shows 48% more colours. Like we mentioned earlier, the Apple MacBook Air 2018 comes with a Touch ID that works with the T2 chip. This ensures that the system’s software doesn’t get compromised and isn’t tampered with. The laptop comes with Apple’s digital assistant Siri and does data encryption for SSD.
Apple MacBook Air 2018 is powered by an 8th generation dual-core Intel Core i5 processor and its battery life is said to last for 12 hours with web browsing and 13 hours when movies are being played off iTunes.
The device comes with a 4th generation butterfly type keyboard and Apple says that it is more responsive and precise than it ever was. All the keys of the new MacBook Air’s keyboard are individually backlit and it comes with a Force Touch trackpad which has 20% more area. The new MacBook Air’s speaker is claimed to come with twice as bass as the previous laptop in the series.
Last week, media reports suggested that Facebook is getting the unsend feature to its Messenger app. The social networking giant decided to take this step after it faced a lot of backlash after deleting CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s messages from several recipients’ inboxes earlier this year.
The very transparency of the platform was questioned. It was then that Facebook announced that it will get the ‘Unsend Message’ feature to its Messenger and make it available to all. And now, the feature has finally been rolled out in Facebook’s app.
The Unsend Message feature has started rolling out to both Android and iOS users in Poland, Bolivia, Colombia, and Lithuania. And according to a report in Techcrunch, a Facebook spokesperson has confirmed that the worldwide roll out will also be happening “as soon as possible”.
The feature is called ‘Remove for Everyone’ and it will enable users to delete any message or file they have sent in Messenger. However, they will only be able to do it within 10 minutes of sending it.
Here are the steps to use the new ‘Remove for Everyone’ feature on Facebook:
Long press on the message you want to recall.
On doing this, two options will pop-up on the screen — ‘Remove for Everyone’ and Remove for You’.
Select ‘Remove for Everyone’.
Facebook will then prompt a warning message — ‘You’ll permanently remove this message for all chat members. They can see that you removed a message and still report it’. This will be coupled with ‘Cancel’ and ‘Remove’ options.
Select Remove.
After this, your message will be replaced by a tombstone message saying ‘You removed a message’. This is similar to what happens on WhatsApp. However, you can only do it within 10 minutes of sending the message. And Facebook’s head of Messenger Stan Chudnovsky explained the deadline by saying, “We looked at how the existing delete functionality works. It turns out that when people are deleting messages because it’s a mistake or they sent something they didn’t want to send, it’s under a minute. We decided to extend it to 10, but decided we didn’t need to do more.”
He has also been quoted saying that the feature rolled out to common public isn’t the same as the one that is available to the executives of the company. It is also worth noticing that when Mark Zuckerberg’s messages were deleted from people’s account, the tombstone message indicating that a message was removed.
If you are a working professional, you would realize how important Google has truly become. There are a number of Google products that are being used by professionals every day like Google Docs, Google Sheets, and even presentations and forms. The best thing about them is that they get synced across all your Androiddevices and you can share them with multiple people via Google Drive. Furthermore, you can track changes.
It’s actually all so simple to use that we often forget how it has changed our life for the better. Remember the days when an entire mail trail was basically one Word document being sent back and forth with new changes? Yes, we don’t want to remember them too.
If you thought that these Google products cannot get better, then Google just proved you wrong. The technology giant has rolled out a handy new shortcut that will entirely change the way you access Google Docs, Google Sheets, Google presentation, Google sites and Google forms.
So going forward, instead of first going to your Gmail, then accessing your Google Drive, and then opening Docs or Sheets or other services you wish to, you can just use URLs that Google rolled out recently.
Introducing a ✨ .new ✨ time-saving trick for users. Type any of these .new domains to instantly create Docs, Sheets, Slides, Sites or Forms ↓ pic.twitter.com/erMTHOsdyH
So say, for instance, you have to open a new Google Doc, you just have to type ‘doc.new’ in your browser and you’ll be taken directly to a new Google Doc.
Here are all the shortcut URLs you should know to make your life easy and save some time:
http://doc.new or docs.new or documents.new – Opens a new Google document.
http://sheets.new or sheet.new or spreadsheet.new – Opens a new spreadsheet in Google Sheets.
http://deck.new or slide.new or slides.new or presentation.new – Opens a new presentation in Google Drive.
http://site.new or sites.new or website.new – Creates a new website in Google sites.
http://form.new or forms.new – Opens a new Google form.
It’s not a major change, but if you ask us, it’s a big time saver. You can actually save even more time if you keep these shortcut URLs bookmarked in your browser. Just press Ctrl+D on your keyboard once you access the service you wish to bookmark and it’ll be done.
Then, instead of typing these shortcuts again and again, you can simply to go your Bookmarks by pressing the three dots icon on the top left of your browser (if you use Chrome), and select the bookmark for these shortcut URLs. It can really not get simpler than this.
Renders of the upcoming Moto G7 had surfaced online last month, and now, the first press renders of the device have been shared by Mr Gizmo. There is a tiny notch on the top of the device and the display comes with more screen to body ratio. The chin at the bottom has Motorola’s branding on it and at the back, a dual rear camera setup and a fingerprint sensor are placed. The fingerprint sensor is housed inside the Motorola ‘batwing’ logo. In the renders, the smartphone seems to be made up of a glass back.
Moto G7 will be the successor of Moto G6 that was launched this year and the smartphone will reportedly be available in Red, Black, and Silver colour options. It is expected to get official early next year and prior reports have suggested that this time, Motorola’s lineup will have four devices – Moto G7, Moto G7 Plus, Moto G7 Play and Moto G7 Power. The ‘Power’ variant in the Moto G7 lineup is expected to be powered by a big battery. This year, the company launched three devices in its Moto G series namely Moto G6, Moto G6 Play and Moto G6 Plus.
Speaking of the display, reports suggest that Moto G7 mobile will come with a 6.4-inch full-HD+ screen with a waterdrop-shaped notch. The device will support dual SIM functionality and is said to run Android 9.0 Pie operating system out of the box.
As far as the processor goes, the device will be powered by Snapdragon 660 14nm SoC coupled with Adreno 512 GPU and 4GB of RAM. It is said to have 64GB of internal storage. For imaging duties, there will be a 16MP primary camera with a Dual LED flash coupled with a 5MP sensor. On the front panelof the smartphone, there will be a 12MP selfie camera. Moto G7 will house a 3,500mAh battery that will have support for Turbo Charge fast charging and 10W wireless charging.
That’s all that we know about the device so far. There are no speculations about the upcoming Moto G7’s price available, but we will keep you updated as more information about it comes in.
We are always delighted when a little birdie drops a note at our doorstep with industry news. This time it is somewhat announced and shown. Yes, we are talking about the upcoming Nokia event which is doing the rounds. HMD Global who owns Nokia, its CEO has put out a save the date tweet showcasing some of the phones. At least a part of the upcoming Nokia smartphones can be seen in the tweeted image.
As soon as he tweeted the rumour mill began to churn. Nokia is likely to bring out three devices as shown in the image with Notch displays. The first one is touted to be the Nokia 2.1 Plus which will be their entry level smartphone and will be built on the Android One platform. A low-end Qualcomm snapdragon CPU is what might be seen on this one with 2/3 GB RAM.
Next mobile is most likely to be the much-awaited Nokia 8 Siroccos upgrade, the Nokia 8.1. The Nokia 8 made quite a wave when it was launched and was loved by many users and reviewers. The next version should have a smaller notch design and should come with twin cameras at the back.
The third one will be the company’s flagship devices most likely to be called Nokia 9. It should sport over 6-inch touchscreen with HD+ resolution support. It is likely to be built on the Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 circuitry and would support storage memory of up to 256GB. Over that, reports strongly suggest that the Nokia 9 will have 8GB RAM inside and over 4,100 mAh battery. If all this is true then it will be one of the strongest phones to compete with the likes of OnePlus 6T.
In 2018, HMD Global’s Nokia has launched over 10 devices in India and seems like the year is still not over for them. The event is going to take place on 5 Dec in Dubai and we are going to see 3 more big device announcements from the company. Recently, Nokia has also been on an OS updating spree. With its phones getting Android P updates at a rapid pace, Nokia has become one of the most updated smartphone manufacturer.
To celebrate Xiaomi’s lead in the Indian smartphone market for the fifth consecutive quarter, the company’s India MD and Global VP, Manu Kumar Jain has announced a price cut on three Xiaomi smartphones in India.
Starting today, Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 Pro, Xiaomi Redmi Y2 and Xiaomi Mi A2 Android One will be available at a discount of Rs 1,000.
To celebrate No. 1 position for 5 Qs, we are dropping prices of 5 phones by ₹1000! * Redmi Y2 (4+64): ₹11999 * RN5Pro (4+64): ₹13999 * RN5Pro (6+64): ₹15999 * Mi A2 (4+64): ₹15999 * Mi A2 (6+128): ₹18999#HonestPricing#1SmartphoneBrand (2/2) pic.twitter.com/DD7f4ckq6Q
But the, another reason for reducing the cost of these smartphones is because their component costs have gone down. The company said in a statement, “We are delighted to share that we have seen a reduction in component costs of some of our best-selling phones. Following the above philosophy, we are happy to announce price drops of these popular devices, where we have seen a reduction in component costs.”
However, not all deals are what they look like. Although the company has said that it is offering a discount of Rs 1,000, we noticed that the prices of some of the smartphones have not been reduced as the company claims.
With this price cut, Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 Pro’s 4GB RAM/64GB storage model will be available for Rs 13,999 and the 6GB RAM/64GB storage variant can be picked up for Rs 15,999. It is strange that even after a discount of Rs 1,000, the base model of Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 Pro is available for Rs 13,999 as it was launched at the same price too.
Speaking of Mi A2, its 4GB RAM/64GB storage model and 6GB RAM/128GB storage variant have received a price cut. You can buy the base model for Rs 15,999 and the high-end model at Rs 18,999. However, if we recall, the 6GB RAM/128GB storage model, which got launched in India in October this year, was priced at Rs 17,999. So although the company claims that it is available at a discounted price of Rs 18,999, they are actually charging you higher than the launch price.
The 4GB RAM/64GB storage model of Xiaomi Redmi Y2 is also available at a discounted price of Rs 11,999. This model of the selfie-focussed smartphone was originally launched at Rs 12,999.
It is worth noticing, that the company has announced a reduction in these prices just days after it increased the prices of its five devices including Redmi 6A and Redmi 6 smartphones, 10000mAh Power Bank 2i, Mi TV 4C Pro 32-inch and Mi TV 4A Pro 49-inch.
Last week, Samsung unveiled its foldable phone along with a brand new UI. Dubbed One UI, Samsung’s new interface is based on Android 9.0 Pie and the company announced at its developer conference that its current flagships — Galaxy S9, Galaxy S9+ and Galaxy Note 9 — would be getting an update to it.
Samsung is setting up its own beta program for Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+ mobiles, which begins today. According to a report in SamMobile, the One UI beta program is now live in South Korea and a report in Max Weinbach says that it is available in the United States too. The South Korean technology giant is expected to get it beta program to Germany too.
With the update, users will be able to upgrade their smartphones to Android Pie and will get access to One UI’s newest improvements too. This will include cosmetic changes as well as new features of the user interface.
In case you haven’t rolled into the One UI beta program yet, you can visit Samsung Members or Samsung+ app to do so. There, once you tap on the ‘Notices’ button, you will be able to see the option for enrolling in the beta program. Once you do this, you can also download the Android Pie build by heading to Software updates in Settings of your device. When you go to Software updates, tap on ‘Download updates manually’ to get Android Pie.
Android Pie beta updates are expected to come on a bi-weekly basis starting today till the year ends. So, three beta updates are expected to come to the device before the stable update is rolled out in January.
Speaking of One UI, it can be considered as a successor of Samsung’s current user interface, Samsung Experience. It is said to be one among the most radical deviations from the company’s current design language. With One UI, Samsung aims to improve one-handed usage of its devices, enhance the experience of night-time reading by getting a system-wide dark mode, etc.
It is also worth noticing that Samsung’s last year’s flagship devices — Galaxy S8, Galaxy S8+ and Galaxy Note 8 — would not be getting an update to One UI.
OnePlus 6T Thunder Purple edition has finally gone on sale in India today. The Thunder Purple coloured OnePlus 6T comes with a gradient back panel and comes with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of onboard storage. The smartphone is priced at Rs 41,999 and comes with the same set of specifications as other variants of OnePlus 6T (review).
OnePlus 6T Thunder Purple colour variant can be bought from OnePlus India’s website, Amazon India, Croma outlets, Reliance Digital stores and all OnePlus exclusive offline stores. The mobile phone be picked up from offline stores starting 11am and can be bought online starting 2pm. Here are all the launch offers on the Thunder Purple colour variant of OnePlus 6T smartphone that can be availed by you if you buy the new coloured model:
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Rs 1,500 cashback
If you have a credit card or debit card from HDFC Bank, you will be eligible to get Rs 1,500 as cashback on OnePlus 6T’s Thunder Purple edition.
Instant cashback of Rs 5,400
OnePlus has tied up with Reliance Jio to offer an instant cashback of Rs 5,400. It is worth noticing that users will get this cashback in the form of vouchers once they get a recharge of Rs 299 done. Under Reliance Jio’s Rs 299 offer, users will get 3GB of 4G data per day coupled with unlimited voice calls, SMS and access to entire suite of Jio apps. In a nutshell, users will be getting 3TB of 4G data that they can avail in 36 recharges using vouchers.
No cost EMI
Buyers can get a no-cost EMI scheme on buying the Thunder Purple edition of OnePlus from Amazon India’s website or OnePlus offline stores. The no-cost EMI will be valid for three months.
Free damage protection
The Chinese smartphone maker has partnered with Kotak Servify to offer OnePlus 6T Thunder Purple edition buyers free damage protection that will be valid up to a year.
Discount on Amazon Kindle
This launch offer will be liked by those who love to read. If you buy the OnePlus 6T Thunder Purple edition, you will get a discount of Rs 500 on Amazon Kindle.
It is interesting to see how the industry is quickly picking up the latest Android version and bringing it to its new devices. The next in line to announce that they will bring the Android 9 Pie update to its smartphone is Motorola. The company has gone out and sent notifications to the Motorola One Power users that they will receive the update in the next few days. For the unaware the smartphone was first showcased at IFA this year.
The notification to the users clearly says “We’re happy to let you know that you’ll be able to enjoy all the features of Android 9.0 Pie on your Motorola One Power in the next few days. There is a ‘learn more’ feature enabled next to the notification, which allows the users to know further about this update coming to the smartphone.
We for one are quite impressed with how quickly Motorola has adapted to the new OS and are kind enough to send a courtesy message to its users before sending the actual update out. Android 9 Pie has been a game changer for Google and it takes care of major bugs and fixes a lot of UI, and other issues that were seen in its previous edition. Many other makers have already started rolling out the Android Pie 9 update on their smartphones. The list includes OnePlus, Nokia and the first one to get Google Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL.
Interestingly, before Motorola sent out this alert the One Power device was spotted on Geekbench scores with the Android Pie update. Seems like the company has been testing it out on various benchmarks to see how the device performs in popular tests many swear by. Overall, a very good move by the company and as said before we loved the way Moto sent out a message first getting the users excited about the upcoming update on their smartphone.
Each time when an iPhone is launched, Apple fans go to great lengths to buy the latest smartphone by the company. And this year was no different. A man in Moscow decided to buy the iPhone XS, which is one among the smartphones from Apple’s latest lineup. But it was the way he went to buy his new iPhone that makes this one among the craziest things we have heard an Apple fan do.
The man went to one of the Apple resellers in Russia to buy the iPhone XS with a bathtub of coins. Yes, you read that right. The Apple fan collected 1,00,000 Russian Rubles, which is approximately Rs 1,08,000, and wanted to pay for his new device with them. According to reports, the bathtub he took along with his friends to Evropeisky Mall in central Moscow weighed around 350 kilograms.
A video has of this entire episode has been posted by Russian blogger Svyatoslav Kovalenko on Instagram. The video shows the man filling up the bathtub with coins, then keeping it in his car and then carrying it to the store in the mall’s elevator.
And if you are curious about knowing what happened next and whether or not the store clerk accepted this rather unusual way of payment, we should tell you that this guy got his happy ending.
The coins were counted, and the man was allowed to pay with them to buy his new iPhone XS. He bought the 256GB storage model of the newly launched smartphone by Apple.
Well, this is not the first time we have heard of such a story related to Apple devices. And this is certainly not the last one too. But one thing is for sure, whenever someone recounts of crazy things fans have done to buy a new iPhone, this one will surely make it to the list.
To recall, Apple iPhone XS was launched in September this year along with iPhone XS Max and iPhone XR, which is being touted as the affordable iPhone in Apple’s this year’s smartphone lineup. While the base model of iPhone XS bears a price tag of Rs 99,900, the iPhone XS Max is available at a starting price of Rs 1,09,900 in India. Speaking of iPhone XR, its base variant costs Rs 76,900 in India.
Xiaomi Redmi Note 6 Pro, which is the successor of Redmi Note 5 Pro, will be launched in India next week on November 22. The Chinese smartphone maker has sent out media invites for the same.
Although the invite doesn’t specifically mention which smartphone is set to be launched at the event, it does say, ‘The New Note Rises’. So it’s easy to guess that the company is set to launch a smartphone from the Note series. And since Xiaomi Redmi Note 6 Pro is the most recent in the said series, it has to be that one.
Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 Pro was hugely successful in the budget segment of the Indian smartphone market and fans are looking forward to the successor of the smartphone too. Xiaomi Redmi Note 6 Pro has been launched already in Indonesia and Hong Kong.
Mi fans! Today's first #Super3 announcement is here for you:
Pumped up to announce that #RedmiNote6Pro is coming to India! 🤘 The new Note rises on 22.11.2018.
Xiaomi Global VP and Managing Director of Xiaomi India, Manu Kumar Jain has also tweeted that Redmi Note 6 Pro will soon be launched in the country and has shared a countdown page along with it.
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Xiaomi Redmi Note 6 Pro expected price in India
Xiaomi Redmi Note 6 Pro was launched in Hong Kong in September and earlier this month in Indonesia. While Hong Kong only saw the 4GB RAM/64GB storage model, in Indonesia a 3GB RAM/32GB storage variant was also launched.
In Thailand, this model was priced at THB 6,990. On converting it, that becomes Rs 15,300. Xiaomi has listed on its countdown page that Redmi Note 6 Pro will first go on sale in the country on November 23 at 12pm, which is a day after the launch.
Xiaomi Redmi Note 6 Pro specifications
Xiaomi Redmi Note 6 Pro comes with dual SIM functionality and runs Android 8.1 Oreo skinned with MIUI 10. The smartphone features a 6.26-inch Full HD+ display that has an aspect ratio of 19:9 and is protected with Corning Gorilla Glass.
Powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 636 processor, the smartphone is available in the above mentioned RAM and storage options. However, there is no word on which ones will be launched in India.
On the camera front, the mobile phone comes with quad cameras — two on the back panel and two on the front. The dual rear camera setup of the smartphone comes with 12MP and 5MP sensors with dual pixel autofocus, 1.4-micron pixels and AI portrait 2.0.
For selfies and video calls, there are 20MP and 2MP sensors that come with 4-in-1 super pixel and AI face unlock. Much like Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 Pro, Redmi Note 5 Pro also comes with a 4,000mAh battery.
A few weeks back, research firm Counterpoint reported that OnePlus led the premium segment of Indian smartphone market for the second quarter in a row. It also said that OnePlus 6 swept away the most sales in this segment.
And now, International Data Corporation or IDC has also shared its Q3 results of Indian smartphone market. Like Counterpoint, IDC also says that OnePlus led the said segment and had a 37% market share in India.
IDC further said that OnePlus was followed by Apple at 33% and Samsung at 26% and 7%. IDC has also said that OnePlus also led the shipments in the said quarter in India.
This observation is different from Counterpoint’s, which had reported a 28% market share for Samsung and 25% for Apple. Counterpoint had also said that Samsung managed to grab the second place because of sales of its Galaxy Note 9 and Galaxy A8 Star smartphones.
Speaking on OnePlus dominating the premium smartphone market in India, Upasana Joshi, Associate Research Manager, IDC India said, “OnePlus climbed to the leadership position at the back of OnePlus 6, surpassing Samsung and Apple. With its dedicated community building activities and high decibel promotional activities on social media platforms, the vendor has been gradually scaling up in volumes.”
This year, the premium smartphone market in India saw a number of new additions with the likes of Vivo Nex, Oppo Find X, Huawei Nova 3, Asus Zenfone 5Z and LG G7+ ThinQ. Most of these were priced in way that they posed a direct competition to OnePlus 6.
It is worth noticing that recent reports have said that Apple’s yearly sales in India will be declining for the first time in four years. While some analysts have said the high pricing and lack of new features in the new models are responsible for it, others have blamed the sliding value of Rupee against the Dollar for it.
Apple has also increased prices of certain devices in India recently and has cited the value of Rupee going down as the reason for it.
If the price of OnePlus smartphones remains unchanged, this may prove to beneficial for company’s results in Q4 2018.
But then, most analysts also believe that Apple will revive its sales in India and its brand value will act as an added advantage.
We are waiting to see which company emerges as the dominant one in Q4 2018 and it will be interesting to see how they plan to compete with each other.
Gaming accessory maker HyperX has announced its Cloud Revolver Gunmetal gaming headset in India. The HyperX Cloud Revolver Gunmetal gaming headset is said to bring immersive audio profiles and the company claims that it brings together comfort and durability. The headset is also claimed to provide an experience of a larger sound stage for FPS and open environment gameplay.
The company claims that it can also provide a concert hall-like audio experience to the user.
The Cloud Revolver Gunmetal gaming headset by HyperX weighs around 376g along with their cable. They use 50mm drivers to direct sound into the ear and are said to provide precise audio positioning and a clean, crisp sound with enhanced bass and treble.
According to the company, the newly launched headset comes with detachable noise-cancelling microphone that is certified by TeamSpeakTM and discord.
The frequency response of HyperX Cloud Revolver Gunmetal gaming headset’s headphone ranges from 12Hz to 28,000 Hz. On the other hand, the frequency response of the microphone of the headset starts from 50Hz and goes up to 18,000 Hz.
The key features of the HyperX Cloud Revolver Gunmetal gaming headset include memory foam with leatherette, steel frame and multi-platform compatibility. The headset is compatible with PCs, PS4, PS4 Pro, Xbox One, Xbox One S1, Mac, smartphones, Nintendo Switch, and other systems that come with 3.5mm ports.
HyperX Cloud Revolver Gunmetal gaming headset is priced at Rs 14,900 and comes with a warranty of two years. The company claims that in order to enhance the comfort of the users, designers have made it circumaural with a closed back.
Speaking on the launch of the gaming headset, Vishal Parekh, Marketing Director, HyperX India, said, “The Cloud Revolver is known for its incredible studio-grade sound stage which gives an advantage during FPS gameplay. The drivers are tuned for players to identify footsteps and gunshots quickly and more accurately than the competition. The Cloud Revolver recently won PC Gamer’s ‘Headset of the Year’ award, and we are thrilled to offer a new gunmetal model option featuring a premium matte finish and comfortable design to gamers all around the world.”
Samsung is all set to launch its Galaxy A9 (2018) in India next week. The smartphone is aimed at photography lovers and comes with four cameras on its back panel. Earlier, some reports suggested that the smartphone would be launched in India on November 4, but that obviously didn’t happen. But this time, we know for sure as the company has sent out media invites for the launch of Samsung Galaxy A9 (2018). Here’s everything you need to know about it:
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To be launched on November 20
Samsung will be launching its Galaxy A9 (2018) smartphone on November 20. The media invite sent by the company says that the launch event will be held in New Delhi coming Tuesday.
Indian e-commerce giant Flipkart already has a landing page of Samsung Galaxy A9 (2018). this suggests that the smartphone will exclusively be available on the website. However, it has not gone on pre-orders yet, so we may have to wait for the launch day for that to begin.
First ever smartphone to come with a quad-camera setup
The key feature of Samsung Galaxy A9 (2018) is its quad camera setup at the back. The smartphone is the first ever to sport four rear cameras and this makes it an obvious choice for someone who loves smartphone photography. The rear camera setup comprises of a 24MP primary lens, a 10MP telephoto lens, an 8MP ultra-wide lens and a 5MP depth camera.
The selfie camera
Besides the four cameras on its back, Samsung Galaxy A9 (2018) also has a selfie camera that photography enthusiasts may like. The front facing snapper has a 24MP sensor with an f/2.0 aperture.
Available in three colour options
If you are interested in buying Samsung Galaxy A9 (2018), you have three colour options to choose from — Bubblegum Pink, Caviar Black, and Lemonade Blue.
The processor is not the most high-end one available
While the cameras of the smartphone are impressive on paper, the processor could have been more high end. Samsung Galaxy A9 (2018) packs a Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 processor. It’s arch rival OnePlus 6T, which is priced similarly, is powered by the most powerful processor in the world — Snapdragon 845.
RAM and storage options
Samsung Galaxy A9 (2018) is available in 6GB RAM and 8GB RAM options. The device has 128GB storage onboard and can hold microSD cards of up to 512GB.
The battery
The new smartphone by Samsung houses a 3,800mAh battery that comes with support for fast charging.
Just after Apple accepted the its tenth anniversary special iPhone X has some display issues and offered free repairs for the same, a new problem for the technology giant seems to have cropped up.
A Twitter user with the name of Rocky Mohamadali has claimed that his iPhone X “got hot and exploded in the process of upgrading to 12.1 iOS.” Mohamadali also posted photos of what looks like a damaged iPhone X.
Apple Support has acknowledged the tweet and replied saying, “That’s definitely not expected behavior. DM us, so we can look into this with you.” However, it is worth noticing that this is a standard reply that is sent to most queries that are raised.
That's definitely not expected behavior. DM us, so we can look into this with you: https://t.co/GDrqU22YpT
Technology website Gadgets360 reached out to the user who tweeted the isse. It has been reported that Mohamadali plugged in his iPhone X mobile, which he bought 10 months back, for charging while it was being updated to iOS 12.1. However, on the completion of the update, the iPhone X started emitting dark grey smoke. According to Mohamadali, the smoke was followed by fire.
While the user has claimed that the incident has taken place in Federal Way, a city in Washington, his Twitter bio says that his location is Syria. So, there is a confusion on where exactly it happened.
Mohamadali has also clarified that he was using an official Apple Lightning cable along with the adapter that he got with his iPhone X for charging it. It is worth noticing that this is the first ever report of an iPhone exploding.
There can be a number of reasons behind a smartphone exploding. Reasons ranging from water exposure to battery damage can be responsible for it. But what exactly happened in this case is not clear yet.
There has been no word from Apple regarding this issue.
As we earlier mentioned, Apple had recently admitted that some units of iPhone X are effected by some display issues. These displays of these units are either not responding when they are being touched or sometimes act without being touched at all. In either case, Apple is offering a free replacement of displays to users who own these ‘defective’ iPhones.
It is one of the hottest smartphones available right now in the market. Yes, we are talking about the OnePlus 6T Thunder Purple edition. Besides the really good looking exteriors, it has Qualcomm 845 Snapdragon chipset, 8GB RAM, 128GB storage and comes at a price point of Rs 41,999. The rear cameras has 16MP + 20MP sensors, while the front one is powered by 16MP sensor.
*Compared it with the OnePlus 6T Mirror Black Edition.
It has become a pattern. Snapchat gets a feature, Facebook first tries it on Instagram and then gets it on WhatsApp. We saw the company do this with Stories and Stickers, and now it is taking the same route for the QR Scanning feature.
QR scanning is a feature that first came to Snapchat. So instead of searching for someone’s username, users could just scan someone’s QR code to add them as a friend.
Recently, we saw Instagram get the same feature and just weeks after that happened, WABetaInfo, a Twitter account that tracks updates in WhatsApp Beta, has reported that the messaging app is testing the feature too.
Boom! Spotted new WhatsApp QR Code and "Add Contact" features on IOS and Android, under development!https://t.co/NjmSleCeRT
On detecting a QR code, the instant messaging app will automatically fill all fields and the contact will be added in your address book.
To keep its users’ safety intact, WhatsApp will also give users the option of revoking the QR code so that they can stop other future users scan their code and get access to their contact information. Furthermore, an old WhatsApp QR Code can be revoked unlimited times.
As of now, QR code has only been spotted on iOS, but it will also be available on WhatsApp’s Android version.
Facebook-owned instant messaging app is also adding an ‘Add Contact’ functionality to its both Android and iOS platforms. Although the functionality does exist in the app even now, it is being said that the upcoming feature will replace the current option. So the upcoming ‘Add Contact’ feature is said to be located in the same menu.
According to WABetaInfo, the UI of the new ‘Add Contact’ feature is very simple and intuitive. Users will have the option of choosing the country where the contact they wish to add is located, so WhatsApp will automatically insert the country code, then the user can insert the phone number.
The messaging app is currently working on these two features since a few weeks and is said to be adding new improvements to them. The report suggests that these features need some improvements and that it why they are being worked upon before they are made available for everyone.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has reportedly told his management team to only use Android smartphones, considering that the operating system has more users than iOS.
According to a report in The New York Times, Facebook CEO ordered this only after Apple CEO Tim Cook criticized the social networking giant in an interview with MSNBC. To recall, Cook had said the Facebook is a service that traffics “in your personal life.”
In March, Apple CEO Tim Cook was also questioned about how he would deal with the fallout from the Cambridge Analytica scandal had he been in Mark Zuckerberg’s place. Cook simply dismissed the question by saying, “I wouldn’t be in this situation.”
Zuckerberg did not ignore what Cook said and in an interview with Recode, he said that said that comments made by Apple CEO were “extremely glib”. He went on to say, “I think it’s important that we don’t all get Stockholm syndrome and let the companies that work hard to charge you more convince you that they actually care more about you. Because that sounds ridiculous to me.”
However, till now there is no clarity on whether the decision for Facebook employees to use on Android smartphones came after Cook’s comments or if it’s a rule that existed earlier. But considering that Android is the most dominant operating system in a number of regions including South America, Europe, Russia, South Asia, and parts of the Middle East, it does sound like a reasonable business decision. Also, Facebook is not the only company which follows this. Even Snap strongly encourages its employees to use Android smartphones instead of iPhones.
Android and iOS are two very different operating systems and one needs to work differently in order to make apps for two. The reason why tech workers are asked to use Android is because companies want to focus on the operating system that is most used in the world.
However, it is possible that Facebook employees have switched to Android smartphones for work and those who have a preference for iOS devices are continuing to use iPhones in personal lives.
Samsung Galaxy S10’s launch may be months away. But that doesn’t stop speculations and reports about the upcoming device from surfacing online. And the latest leak about Samsung Galaxy S10 comes from tipster Evan Blass.
According to the renowned leakster who managed to obtain some details about the upcoming flagship smartphone, Samsung Galaxy S10 will come with a ‘punch hole’ selfie camera, which sounds like the Infinity-O display that the technology giant spoke about at its developer conference last week. Besides Infinity-O display, Samsung had also spoken about its Infinity U and Infinity V notch styles.
The smartphone will sport an ultrasonic in-display fingerprint scanner and come with three cameras. Apart from the primary sensor, the device will come with wide-angle and telephoto lenses.
The new flagship device will reportedly run Android 9.0 Pie skinned with Samsung’s latest One UI and will pack a more powerful Exynos chip. Samsung’s revamped user interface will also be coming to its current flagships – Samsung Galaxy S9, Galaxy S9+ and Galaxy Note 9.
It has also been reported that Samsung plans to dedicate 30% of Galaxy S10’s screen to the fingerprint sensor. This basically means that the user will be able to unlock the device by placing his finger anywhere on that area of the display. This, according to us, is definitely a plus and we are looking forward to it.
The smartphone will compete with the likes of Apple’s current flagship – iPhone XS Max – and Huawei Mate 20 Pro.
It has been said that Samsung is planning three smartphones in the Galaxy S10 lineup instead of the usual two. Reports have also suggested that Samsung’s smartphone will make a debut at the Mobile World Congress 2019 which will be held in Barcelona, Spain.
Google unveiled its flagship devices Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL to the world last month. And just a few weeks back, the smartphones went on sale in India. However, early buyers have been facing some issues with the devices.
While previously there were reports about overheating and audio quality, a new report has surfaced online which claims that users are facing a problem with text messages on their device.
According to the report, all the text messages of Google Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL users are getting erased on their own from the Messages app. The issue seems to have cropped up after the devices received the November security patch or after a new update to the Messages app. Although the technology giant has acknowledged the issue, it doesn’t have a fix for it yet.
This issue was first reported by Android Police after it was discussed on several Reddit threads. Users have claimed on Reddit that the entire data on their Messages app was deleted and they didn’t have any prior warning about it.
Furthermore, the messages that have disappeared have not even been archived. They have been deleted. Users who did have a backup of their messages on their old Pixel phones do have access to some old messages, but there is no way of tracing the new ones.
A user on Reddit has suggested that one can get the lost data back by going back to the previous version of Messages app. What’s more, other users have agreed that it works, which means that the bug could be a part of the latest Messages app update.
A number of users have tried to contact Google regarding the matter and the technology giant’s support team has said that engineers are working to fix the issue. Till now, they haven’t been able to find a solution.
If you are facing this issue too, and want to go back to the previous version of the Messages app, head to Messages section under Apps & Notifications in Settings of your smartphone. From the App Info page, click on the Menu button and select Uninstall updates.
Customers in United Kingdom are not very happy with Xiaomi. The Chinese smartphone brand made its foray in the country earlier this month with its Mi 8 Pro and Redmi 6 smartphones and its Mi Band Pro. And recently, the company announced its popular flash sale under the name of ‘Crazy Deal.’ Under the ‘Crazy Deal’ flash sale, Xiaomi was offering a few of its smartphones at a price of GBP 1.
Xiaomi has also held such sales in Indian smartphone market during the festive season, where a few of its devices are available at Re 1. But, in the UK, the sale left the customers miffed. Much like what Xiaomi does in its Re 1 flash sales in India, the company made only 10 units of its Android smartphones available at GBP 1. As a result of this, the units were sold out within seconds of the sale beginning, just like it happens in India. However, customers in the United Kingdom associate ‘Flash Sale’ with something that has more than 10 units on discount. And this was what created a furore.
Xiaomi tweeted an apology saying, “We can confirm that 10 customers have purchased a Xiaomi device for GBP 1. Of the thousands who clicked ‘buy’ simultaneously, our system randomly selected the winners, and he or she should have been able to add this item to the shopping cart and pay for this handset at GBP 1. No changes to the T&C were made that impacted the promotion itself in any way.”
The company further added, “@XiaomiUK would like to apologise for any misunderstanding.”
According to a report in BBC, the ads watchdog in the UK has received a complaint and is thinking over whether an investigation is required or not. The report says that the Xiaomi did not mention on the sales page that only a limited number of unit are being sold in the ‘flash sale’. Instead one could only find this information in a different landing page which detailed terms and conditions. It is also worth noticing that the link for this page was in the footer of the website.
A Twitter user has alleged that the script of the website shows that the ‘Buy Now’ button on the products that were meant to be on sale was set to automatically switch to ‘Out of Stock’ and it did not check for stock limits when the timer went off.
Xiaomi is also said to have held a similar sale in Spain last year and it offered a total of 50 units at EUR 1.
Homegrown smartphone manufacturer Lava has launched a new feature phone today. The company’s latest offering, Lava Prime Z is priced at Rs 1,900 and competes with likes of JioPhone and JioPhone 2.
Although HMD Global has also launched its feature phones under the Nokia branding, their price tags are bigger. Also, the company is only rebranding iconic Nokia phones from the past like the 3310 and 8110, so the audience they are targeting cannot be the same as the one looking for a regular feature phone.
Coming back to Lava Prime Z feature phone, the device sports a 2.4-inch QVGA display and 3D front glass. The latest feature phone by Lava houses a 1200mAh battery that is said to last for five days with its Super Battery Mode.
For imaging duties, there is a 1.3MP camera coupled with flash. The company is promising a better image and video experience and image-zoom capability.
The handset comes with 2G network compatibility and offers up to 32GB of expandable storage. The smartphone also has support for 22 official Indian languages.
Lava Prime Z has a dual SIM functionality and is available only in Black colour. The phone is only available offline in more than 72,000 retail stores.
Lava Prime Z feature phone comes with a two-year replacement warranty. The company has also rolled out a 30 days ‘Money back challenge’.
Under the scheme offered by Lava, if a user is not satisfied with the performance of the phone, he has the option of returning the handset within 30 days of purchase at any Lava service centre and get his money back.
However, there are other terms and conditions to this offer that can be known in detail about at retail outlets selling Lava mobiles.
Speaking on the launch of Lava Prime Z feature phone, Tejinder Singh, Head, Product-Feature Phone, Lava International said, “Our new offering ‘Prime Z’ is the most beautiful looking phone you will find in this segment. It has a sleek design and offers a five-day battery back-up too.”
He further added, “This can be the perfect phone for smartphone users who look for a secondary phone as well as for feature phone users.”
Asus recently launched its Zenfone Max M1 smartphone. Although it is priced at Rs 8,999, as a part of an introductory offer, it of available at Rs 7,499. Asus did make its mark in the mid-range segment with Zenfone 5Z this year, but will it be able to do the same in the entry-level segment?
We spent a few days with the Asus Zenfone Max M1 mobile to find out. Read the rest of our review to know more about this budget smartphone:
In This Article
Asus Zenfone Max M1 Design and Display
When you look at the Asus Zenfone Max M1, you would certainly be reminded of the Zenfone Max Pro M1. Not that they are identical in design, but it’s very evident at the first look itself that they belong to the same family. Asus Zenfone Max M1 has a plastic body and comes in Black and Gold colour variants. The one that we got for review was dressed in Gold.
In spite of the fact that the smartphone has a 5.45-inch display, it was easy to operate and we were surprised at how light-weight the device really is. Even though the smartphone has been touted to have a big battery at an affordable price point, Asus managed to keep the weight of the Zenfone Max M1 at just 150g. Some might say, its build quality is just average. But then, at this price point, it’s okay.
The front of the smartphone houses the display, the selfie camera, the ear piece and the proximity sensor. On flipping over, you will see the primary camera coupled with LED flash, the fingerprint scanner and the Asus branding right below it. The left edge houses the SIM tray and the right side has the power and volume rocker buttons. You can plug in your earphones via a 3.5mm headphone jack located at the top and charge your phone using the microUSB port that is placed at the bottom. The bottom edge also has the speaker grilles.
Coming to the display of the device, like we said, it sports a 5.45-inch HD+ IPS display that comes with an 800:1 contrast ratio. The borders around the display are quite broad, which is expected in the sub-10K budget smartphone sector. The colours that it showcased were accurate and vibrant, and the screen was bright. We were mostly happy with the display of Asus Zenfone Max M1. The viewing angles were also decent. However, the sunlight readability of the device could have been better.
In a nutshell, we really liked the design of the Asus Zenfone Max M1. The biggest plus points of its design are that it is light weight and one-handed usage is a cakewalk. The display of the smartphone is decent too. But we really wish the sunlight readability can be taken up in one of the coming updates.
Asus Zenfone Max M1 performance
Let’s take a look at the rest of the specifications of Asus Zenfone Max M1. The smartphone is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 processor clubbed with 3GB RAM and offers 32GB of internal storage. For more storage, you can install a microSD card of up to 256GB. The smartphone houses a 4,000mAh battery and runs Android Oreo skinned with the company’s own ZenUI. For connectivity, there is Bluetooth 4.0, Wi-Fi, GPS, and GLONASS. Although there is a dual SIM card slot, only one of the two SIM cards will be able to connect with 4G at a time.
Since the operating system used in the phone is customized, Asus Zenfone Max M1 has its own icons and comes with pre-installed apps like Instagram, Facebook, Facebook Messenger, Mobile Manager, Weather, Sound Recorder, File Manager and Themes. The usual suite of Google apps is also present on the device.
The device did take more time than usual smartphones for its initial setup. However, there was no other lag in launching apps and switching between them. We didn’t face a lag even when we worked on multiple tabs of Chrome. Pretty neat on offer at this price point.
The device comes with Face Unlock as well as a fingerprint scanner, and in our time with the phone, both worked well. The Face Unlock even worked in dimly lit conditions, which we think is a plus.
In the benchmark tests, the device managed to score 57,983 in Antutu and 665 and 2,478 in single and multi-core scores of Geekbench. Which put it at part with the competition or half a step behind. However, other features like sound equalizer et al make up for it.
What we really love is the battery life of the smartphone. With usage that involved watching YouTube videos, navigation with Google Maps, and a lot of long phone calls, we still had around 50% juice remaining at the end of the day. And a good battery life is always a big plus in our books. There are also some modes that will help you enhance the battery for it to last even longer.
The call quality of the smartphone was good. We faced no problem regarding reception even in areas like basements.
Now let’s talk about the cameras. The 13MP primary camera comes with a f/2.0 aperture and PDAF. For selfies and video calls, there is an 8MP shooter up front with a f/2.2 aperture. The camera app of the phone comes with Beautify, Panorama, HDR, Portrait and Time Lapse modes.
The photos that we took during the day or in well-lit conditions were better than average. One would need to download and see them on a display, since the smartphones screen pixel ratio does not do justice to it. We did face a case or two where the images were not very sharp and lacked details. We overcame that by enabling the HDR mode, which does help a lot. The colours remained accurate in all photos.
As for the low-lit shots, we do recommend to use noise reduction. On the other hand, we were expecting great results from the selfie camera as we got from the rear one. Though the company has come a long optimising the front camera, we were able to extract only average selfies.
Verdict
To conclude, we would say that at a price of Rs 8,999, the smartphone is a good buy. It comes with a good design, has an amazing battery life and an overall smooth performance. The battery, in fact, is the best aspect of the smartphone. The cameras could be better.
Wouldn’t you do anything to get free from work quickly? We know that you would. And what if we told you that it’s literally in your hands to do so. We really mean it. The solution has been there in front you all the time, but now is the time to know how you can use it.
We are talking about your desktop’s or laptop’s keyboard. It is not just a fancy version of the good old typewriter that was used earlier. There are a number of functions that you can perform using it and believe us, you may also consider giving up on your mouse once you do. And needless to say, you would be saving a lot of time at work, which will boost your efficiency and allow you to end your day timely.
If you have any experience with a keyboard, we know that you would already be aware of shortcuts like Ctrl + A, Ctrl + C and Ctrl +V. So we are not including the obvious ones. Read our list to know 20 useful keyboard shortcuts that will help you save your time:
In This Article
Windows key + Print Screen
Take a screenshot of your entire desktop and automatically save it in the Screenshots folder in ‘Pictures’.
Windows key + number
If you have apps pinned to taskbar, you can use this shortcut to access these apps as indicated by the number. So if you press Windows key + 1, the app pinned first in the chronological order would open up.
Windows key + M
Minimize all opened programs on your system to go desktop.
Windows key + Shift + M
Restore all minimized programs on your system.
Ctrl + Shift with an arrow key
Select text. If you press the side arrows, you will be able to select word wise, and with up and down arrows, you will be able to select the text line-wise.
Shift + Page Up or Page Down
Move cursor up or down the screen and simultaneously select text.
Alt + Tab
Switch between all open items on your system.
Shift + Delete
Delete items permanently without moving them to the Recycle Bin.
Just a few weeks back, OnePlus 6T was launched by the Chinese smartphone maker OnePlus at an event in New York. The smartphone is the first ever by the company to sport an in-display fingerprint sensor and it came with a waterdrop-shaped notch.
And now, the concept renders of OnePlus’ next flagship, OnePlus 7, have already surfaced online. And looking at them, it is evident that OnePlus is adding some important features to its upcoming smartphone.
The concept renders were first shared by GizmoChina and they show a triple rear camera setup and an in-display selfie camera. Here are all the features of the upcoming OnePlus 7 that can be seen on the leaked renders:
In This Article
Triple rear cameras
The OnePlus 7 is expected to come with a triple rear camera setup and if reports are to be believed, then the smartphone will come with a 16MP primary sensor, a telephoto lens and a Time of Flight sensor. The third sensor of the smartphone is said to have the capabilities of taking a 3D images.
In-display selfie camera
We saw the in-display fingerprint sensor in OnePlus 6T, and we surely expect it to be there on the company’s next device too. But the leaked renders show something in addition to that. There will be an in-display selfie camera on the device. The front facing snapper will be beneath the display and will be housed in a circular cut-out portion on top of the screen. Reports suggest that the upcoming Android smartphone will some with a 24MP front shooter for selfies and video calls. So one thing is for sure, with an in-display fingerprint sensor and an in-display selfie camera, OnePlus 7 will be one among the smartphones to offer the highest screen to body ratio.
A massive battery
According to the renders that have been leaked, OnePlus 7’s battery will surpass OnePlus 6T in terms of battery. While OnePlus 6T’s 3,700mAh battery is bigger than OnePlus 6’s 3,300mAh battery, OnePlus 7 will reportedly be seen sporting a 4,150mAh battery. OnePlus 7 will also have support for Dash Charging. The technology is said to be based on Oppo’s Super VOOC charging, that can charge the battery from 0 to 100% in less than an hour.
Another thing that we know for sure about OnePlus 7 is the fact that it will not have support for 5G connectivity. The company has already confirmed this and it is suggested that OnePlus’ 5G smartphones would be a part of a different lineup.
