Finally, it’s confirmed the all-new range of Apple’s iPhone 11 will be unveiled on September 10. The company has also started sending invites to the press for the Apple Special Event that will be held at Steves Jobs Theatre in Cupertino, California.
At the Apple Special Event, the company is expected to introduce the new series of iPhone 11. Although the press invite did not bear that the new generation of the iPhone will be unveiled or not. But if we look at the press invite carefully we can see the Apple’s logo donning five vibrant colours dropping a hint that the new iPhone 11 model might be introduced in five new pulsating colour options. But if we go by the rumours the company might launch three new models of iPhone at the September 10’s event.
All the three models will be the successor of the iPhone XR, XS, and XS Max. In which the two models are expected to arrive with a triple rear camera set up and the XS model might also feature a bigger 6.1-inch display screen than its predecessor that owns a 5.8-inch display. Apart from that, we can expect the new series of iPhones to come with better imaging capabilities and a more powerful processor, Bionic A13.
According to some reports that surfaced on the web, the 2019 iPhones could be supported by bidirectional wireless charging feature that will allow the AirPods to charge with the use of the company’s new wireless charging case. Apart from that, the phones might feature Face ID biometric security along with a larger battery and the use of shatter-resistance technology.
Like always the premium smartphone making company will be bringing a few more products this year alongside iPhone 11 models. Last year the company launched Apple Watch Series 4 along with a software update for the HomePod. So as the rumours suggest this year also the company will come up with a new 16inch MacBook Pro along with new iPad and iPad Pro.
Alongside the 2019 iPhone series of smartphone, the company is planning to launch Apple watch in two new casing of titanium as well as ceramic. The upgraded version of the watch will arrive in 40mm along with 44mm sizes similar to the Apple Watch Series 4.
Sources close to Gadget Bridge have confirmed, the price of the smartphones for the Indian audience will be announced right after the event. The base variants of iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 max/pro will lie between Rs 69,999 and Rs 84,999.
Asus smartphones have started receiving new software updates. The FOTA updates are being rolled out for ZenFone Max M2, ASUS 6Z, ZenFone Max Pro M2 and ZenFone Max Pro M1. All the smartphones were launched by the company a few months ago.
The Taiwanese company launched the Asus 6Z at a starting price of Rs 31,999 while the ZenFone Max M2 costs Rs 7,499. ZenFone Max Pro M1 and Max Pro M2 are available at Rs 8,499 and Rs 9,999 respectively.
ZenFone Max M2
The smartphone is receiving a software update with version 16.2018.1908.48. The software update also brings August Google security patches. The software update comes with improved charging efficiency that ensures that the phone will charge safely without damaging the battery even if the device is kept plugged in for extended periods of time. It will automatically get disconnected if the device is kept plugged in above 48 hours.
ASUS 6Z
ASUS 6Z Fota update comes with version number 16.1220.1908.189_M3.6.17.31_20190814. The software update brings with the support for more than 18 SmartKey functions. The functions include Open Calculator, Open Currency converter, Open Unit Converter, Open Stopwatch, Toggle preset alarm, Open Timer, Open Gallery, Show QR code , Open recent files start/Stop video recording, Alarm snooze, Quick Dial call, Answer Calls, WiFi ON/OFF, Hotspot ON/OFF, Bluetooth ON/OFF, Open Camera app and take a picture, Open Camera app and record video.
The new update offers an enhanced camera and improved call audio quality in addition to this it also brings the August Android security patch.
ZenFone Max Pro M2 and ZenFone Max Pro M1
ZenFone Max Pro M1 and M2 updated FOTA software come with version number 16.2017.1906.069 and 16.2017.1908.057 respectively. Besides getting the updated software it will also receive August Google security patches that will fix all the security vulnerabilities and stay clear of any breaches in privacy.
Techno announced the launch of two new smartphones in India. The company introduced Tecno Spark Go and Tecno Spark 4 Air under the budget segment. Both the latest smartphones come with 6.1-inch waterdrop-style notch display and are powered by Helio A22 quad-core SoC. The smartphones house a 3,000mAh battery along with the face unlock feature.
Tecno Spark Go, Tecno Spark 4 Air price and availability
Tecno Spark Go has been launched in a single 2GB RAM with 16GB internal storage option while on the other hand Tecno Spark 4 Air will be available in 3GB RAM with 32GB onboard storage option. The younger sibling will come with a price tag of Rs 5,499, whereas the elder sibling will cost Rs 6,999. The company is offering both the smartphones in two colour options Nebula Black and Royal Purple colour. These phones will be available across all the offline retailers in the country.
On the purchase of Tecno Spark Go the buyers will get a free Bluetooth earpiece worth Rs 799 as a complimentary gift. The buyers will also get a one-time screen replacement, 100 days’ free replacement along with one-month extended warranty.
Tecno Spark Go specifications
Tecno Spark Go is powered by the 2.0GHz Helio A22 quad-core SoC paired with 2GB RAM along with 16GB of storage expandable up to 256GB via microSD card. It features a 6.1-inch HD+ display with 19.5:9 aspect ratio, 85 percent screen-to-body ratio and 450nits brightness. The Smartphone runs on HiOS 5 built over Android Pie.
On the part of the camera, the smartphone comes with along 8MP AI rear camera, F2.0 aperture and night Algorithm 2.0 paired with Dual Flash that offers Portrait Mode, HDR, Night Mode and professional camera settings. On the front it sports a 5MP AI selfie camera with a Micro slit front flash that comes with AI Beauty Mode, Portrait Mode, in-build localized AR Stickers and Wide Selfie Mode for better selfie experience.
The Tecno Spark Go houses a 3,000mAh battery. It offers Face Unlock 2.0 comes with a screen fill-light feature that comes with advanced security function of not unlocking the device when eyes are closed.
Tecno Spark 4 Air specifications
Tecno Spark 4 Air, features a 6.1-inch HD+ display with 19.5:9 aspect ratio, 85 percent screen-to-body ratio, and 450nits brightness. It runs on HiOS 5 based Android Pie and is powered by the 2.0GHz Helio A22 quad-core SoC coupled with 3GB RAM that offers 32GB of storage that can be further expanded up to 256GB via microSD card. It has a 3,000mAh battery and features Face Unlock 2.0 supported by screen fill light feature in a device that helps users to unlock quickly in a dark environment.
On the camera front, Tecno Spark 4 Air comes with a 13MP f1.8 primary sensor that captures perfect portraits along with supported features like Portrait Mode, HDR, Night Mode and professional camera settings. On the front, it 5MP AI selfie camera with Micro slit front flash that comes with the same features as Tecno Spark Go.
Amazon announced that it will now be offering more than 30,000 skills by the top brands and developers to the Alexa users in India. The company stated that its voice assistance service store will now provide Alexa skills across various categories like Astrology, Bollywood, Cricket, Devotion, Entertainment, Education, Food & Recipes, Homes Services, Kids, among others.
Dilip R.S., Country Manager for Alexa Skills and Voice Services, Amazon India said, “Voice is the future. Coupled with the advent of web and mobile, voice will be a step change for human interaction with technology. With over 30,000 skills in the Alexa Skills Store in India, brands and developers truly understand the opportunity that voice presents. Today, over 40 devices with Alexa built-in are available to Indian customers, from multiple brands like Sony, LG, Bose, iBall, Panasonic and boat. We look forward to connecting with the community at Alexa VOXCON, share and learn from each other,”
The Indian developers have built Alexa skills specifically for the Indian consumers that include Sanjeev Kapoor recipes, Ganesha Speaks, Bollywood Quizzes and many more. Devotional skills like Hanuman Chalisa, Gayatri Mantra, Sai Darshan and music skills like All India Radio have also been included to lure new customers in the market.
The Alexa skills also include kids-oriented categories like Wild Planet, ChuChu TV, Hello Rhymes and Bedtime Stories. According to the company the developers have also included more locally used words and phrases in their Skills. The Edutainment section comes with WikiHow, Word of the Day, Riddle Time and many more options to choose from.
“Today, over 40 devices with Alexa Built-in are available to Indian customers, from multiple brands like Sony, LG, Bose, iBall, Panasonic and boat.” Said Dilip.
Apart from that the e-commerce company Amazon has also announced two days “Alexa VOXCON” first-ever conference in India. The conference will be held in New Delhi from September 18 to September 19. The conference will be headed by Amazon leaders and its main focus is to provide an opportunity for businesses, technical builders and Amazon to come together, share and learn on voice tech.
During the two days conference, the participants will also get a chance to be part of the Alexa Voice Awards ceremony where a panel of industry experts will recognize the people and brands for their exceptional work with Alexa.
Lenovo owned company Motorola launched Moto G7 earlier this year. Motorola G7 is said to be ‘a premium phone with affordable pricing’. It is popular for offering a good camera, fast charging, improved CPU and a big display. A few months have passed and now the next generations of Moto G series images have landed on the internet. After the pictures of the moto G8 appeared on the internet, the specifications of Moto G8 Play have surfaced on the web. The upcoming phone might come with an HD+ screen and a 4,000mAh battery along with this it could be powered by MediaTek SoC.
According to a report by XDA Developers the company is expected to add 4 smartphones in the Moto G series– Moto G8, Moto G8 Plus, Moto G8 Power and Moto G8 Play. The online portal also claims to possess the specifications of the base variant of the Moto G8 Play.
The report says that the speculated phone will arrive with a model number XT2015-2, XT2016-1 or XT2016-2 depending on the market. Moto G8 Play will reportedly feature an HD+ (720×1,520 pixels) 19:9 screen and it measures 157.6mm x 75.4mm.it’s the smartphone supports LTE bands (2/4/5/7/6), too.
The report further reveals that that device will be powered by a MediaTek SoC. Yes, the device could come with either the MediaTek Helio P60 or the MediaTek Helio P70 CPU. The rumored phone will debut with either 3GB or 4GB of RAM, 32GB or 64GB of internal storage and will be housing a 4,000mAh battery, which is larger than Moto G7 Play. As per a schematic, it will have a rear fingerprint sensor. Over that, it will be supported by NFC and dual-SIM slots depending on the market it sells in.
Moto G8 Play is also expected to arrive in two colour options – Iron and Cosmo, and it might be launched in Brazil, Latin America, Asia Pacific and Europe first. Information about India is still unclear, but going by the past trends, the smartphone will come to India at the time or soon after the launch.
After launching a new series of laptops in India, Lenovo is all set to launch new versions of smartphones in the country. The company has also started sending invites to the media for the same. According to the press invites the company will be launching not one, not two, in fact, three smartphones in the country. Lenovo will be unveiling Z6 Pro, K10 Note and A6 Note on September 5 here.
As we all know that the company has already launched the Lenovo Z6 Pro a few months ago in China now the company has decided to launch two fresh mobile phones in the Indian market. A few months back in May the company launched Lenovo K9 Note in India and now it will be introducing its successor Lenovo K10 Note. However, no official specifications have been revealed by the company with regards to Lenovo K10 Note and Lenovo A6 Note smartphones. But Lenovo A6 Note has now appeared on the Android Enterprise listing revealing its specifications ahead of its official launch.
Lenovo A6 Note specifications
As per the speculative listing, the Lenovo A6 Note is expected to come with a 6.1-inch display screen. The device will run on the Android 9 Pie OS. The company is expected to launch the phone in two storage options 16 GB and 32 GB internal storage. However, the listing does not reveal the processor of the smartphone, but it mentioned that it will be offering 2GB of RAM. Here we would like to mention that all the specifications are speculative so we can wait till the smartphone gets launched.
Lenovo Z6 Pro Tech specs
To recall, Lenovo Z6 Pro runs Android 9.0 Pie skinned with ZUI 11 supported by Game Turbo mode, U-Touch and U-Health among others. The smartphone features a 6.39-inch AMOLED display that comes with the support for DC dimming and HDR 10 and has an in-display fingerprint scanner that also has the ability to detect moist and wet fingers. The handset is powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 855 processor clubbed with Adreno 640 GPU. It comes in 6GB/8GB/12GB RAM options. Apart from that, the Z6 Pro also has support for Face Unlock.
Coming on the imaging capabilities, the Lenovo Z6 Pro sports an AI-powered quad-camera setup paired with dual-LED flash. The camera setup includes a 48MP main sensor with an f/1.8 lens, a 16MP wide-angle sensor, an 8MP telephoto sensor and a 2MP sensor. The smartphone comes with a ToF (Time of Flight) and a PDAF sensor as well. The cameras are supported by optical image stabilisation and modes like Super Night Scene, Super Macro, Super Wide Angle, Super Body, and Dual Scene. On the front, there is a 32MP selfie camera on this smartphone.
Lenovo Z6 Pro houses a 4,000mAh battery supported by 27W fast charging. Reverse charging is also available on this handset. The connectivity options include 4G VoLTE, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.0, dual-frequency GPS and a USB Type-C port.
We have been hearing that Apple has been using a “grading” program to hear Siri voice recordings globally. After several reports criticised the company, it has suspended the project. The company also promised to make the system more transparent where the users can opt-out of the grading programs. Those who are unaware, the Cupertino based tech giant had hired employees that were found to be hearing private conversations via Siri. In a new development, the company has fired 300 contractors in Cork, Ireland who were involved in listening to more than 1,000 Siri conversations.
The grading process has raised deep concerns over the user’s privacy as their personal data, as well as details, are being used in the wrong ways. As we mentioned earlier after this the company decided to suspend the grading project. According to a report by Engadget, many contractors throughout Europe may have been let go and are upset that Apple fired so many people with just one week’s notice. Even those who were concerned with the program’s ethical implications expressed their frustration.
For the past month the staff had been on paid leave. In another report by The Guardian said, “The staff had been on paid leave since 2 August, the day Apple announced its decision to suspend the program, referred to as “grading”, as it conducted a thorough review”.
Apart from that the tech giant has also made a few changes in its privacy policy as well as apologised for the Siri grading program. In a press release it said:
As a result of our review, we realise we haven’t been fully living up to our high ideals, and for that we apologise. As we previously announced, we halted the Siri grading program. We plan to resume later this fall when software updates are released to our users — but only after making the following changes:
First, by default, we will no longer retain audio recordings of Siri interactions. We will continue to use computer-generated transcripts to help Siri improve.
Second, users will be able to opt in to help Siri improve by learning from the audio samples of their requests. We hope that many people will choose to help Siri get better, knowing that Apple respects their data and has strong privacy controls in place. Those who choose to participate will be able to opt out at any time.
Third, when customers opt in, only Apple employees will be allowed to listen to audio samples of the Siri interactions. Our team will work to delete any recording which is determined to be an inadvertent trigger of Siri.
Apple is not the only one that has employed human supervision for its automatic voice assistant other brands like Google, Amazon, Facebook and Microsoft were also identified for listening to recordings from its digital assistant. But now Apple has suspended both non-optional recording and the subsequent grading policies. The company has also promised not to record or use the user’s data unless they opt-in. This is a great move by the company, which could bring the user trust back.
Fitbit introduced new smartwatches along with the Aria Air scale and paid premium service for the Fitbit app. Fitbit Versa 2 comes with improved features along with new modes like Sleep Score and smart wake. The new smartwatch also comes with various health-related features. The second product launched by the company is Fitbit Aria Air that is a low-cost Bluetooth scale, which tracks weight and syncs with the Fitbit app to calculate BMI. Apart from that the company also launched Fitbit Premium a paid subscription service in the Fitbit app for guidance and coaching.
Fitbit Vera 2 features, pricing and availability
Fitbit Vera 2 smartwatch is the redesigned variant of the Fitbit Versa. Versa 2 is also powered by a faster processor for better performance and seamless navigation. It comes with a larger AMOLED display, too. An anodized aluminum finish in a natural color palette black, petal, stone, midnight blue and olive along with a simplified one-button design can be seen on this smartwatch.
Fitbit Vera 2comes with a swimproof feature making it durable and water-resistant up to 50 meters. It has innovative sleep features like Sleep Score, smart wake, sleep mode and Estimated Oxygen Variation Graph besides this it also comes with health-related and other smart features. The new smartwatch also has an inbuilt microphone that is supported by Alexa voice assistant service. The device is integrated with the Spotify app that allows the user to control their music and podcasts with it. The watch now has brighter clock faces and crisper display with an optional always-on mode and it lasts more than five days on a single charge.
The special edition Versa 2 features a premium jacquard woven band in navy and pink with a copper rose aluminum case or smoke with a mist grey case. Accompanied by this it comes with a contemporary color-matched classic silicone band in navy and olive colours. The high-end device comes with a free three-month trial of the Fitbit Premium membership, too.
Fitbit Versa 2 will be available from September 15 across Reliance Digital, Croma, Helios and other major retailers offline and online on Amazon and Flipkart at Rs 20,999. Whereas, the Versa 2 Special Edition will be available for purchase at Rs 22,999. The two exclusive editions –emerald and plum, both with a copper rose case will be available later on the company’s official website.
Fitbit Aria Air
Fitbit Aria Air is a low-cost Bluetooth scale that tracks weight, BMI data and trends integrated with user’s holistic health data in the Fitbit app. The weighing scale can be synced to the Fitbit’s wearable devices. As per the company service, Aria Air gives you access to added data, information and motivation to more effectively reach your health and wellness goals. By connecting it to the smartwatch along with the Fitbit app allows the user to track their activity, exercise, sleep, heart rate, nutrition, weight data and trends over time.
Together with the Fitbit app, Aria Air supports the features like:
Option to create a plan: Set a healthy weight goal in the Fitbit app, log your food, and view weight trends alongside calories in and out to stick to a plan based on personal goals.
Compatible with Fitbit Premium: Integrate with Fitbit’s new paid membership, featuring personalized insights and guided programs, including a two-week program to help you understand the importance of keeping an appropriate calorie range for your weight goal.
Connect to partner apps: Sync weight data with popular brand apps so you can see all your exercise, food logging and weight data in one place on the Fitbit app.
Social support and inspiration: Access the Community section of the Fitbit app to connect with friends, family and fellow Fitbit users for healthy eating and weight management tips, support groups and motivation.
Fitbit Aria Air will be available from late September and has been put on pre-order on Fitbit.com and select retailers like Reliance Digital, Croma and online on Amazon and Flipkart. The weighing scale will come at a price tag of Rs 6,999.
Sony is known to build some great music equipment including headphones and Bluetooth speakers. The latest from their camp is the Sony SRS-XB32 Bluetooth speaker, which come with an extra bit of bass punch. We tuned in to it for a good 15 days and tried to find all the chinks in its armour. This is our review of the Sony SRS-XB32 Bluetooth speaker that comes from Sony’s Extra Bass lineup.
In This Article
Design
First thing out of the box, we found it to be on the heavier side of things. The small size is deceiving. But then, we dug deep into why is it so? It is because this BT speaker has an extra-large battery inside and the whole shell is made to last an impact. So yes, the weight of just under a KG is justified. Will talk more about that in a moment, let’s first talk about its looks and design.
The Sony SRS-XB32 Bluetooth speaker is built to perfection. Available in 3 colours – Red, Black and Blue, we reviewed the last one. The front has a set of 48MM audio drivers behind a mesh type grille, which gives it the edge. But what takes the cake are the set of LED light strips that run around the front façade and sides of this speaker. It looks exceptional and one would love to turn these on in parties. The light strip can be controlled with the help of the Music Centre and Fiestable apps. A lot of colour options can be chosen from and our favourite is white, as it just pops out.
There are two more LED lights hidden behind the grille, which came to us as a good surprise. They are well hidden and only light up when you play a track. They flash with the beats, so does the LED light strips. You can control the light strip and can completely turn it off by pressing the light button, located at the back, for 3 seconds. Talking about which, there is back as well as front button panel on the Sony SRS-XB32 Bluetooth speaker. Let’s talk about the front one first. This is located on the top of the speaker and consists of the live mode, play/pause, volume up, volume down and power buttons.
The rear panel has the regular USB, MicroUSB charging ports as well as an auxiliary-in jack. This is accompanied by a couple of buttons such as battery (that doubles up as the light key), which lets you know the exact amount of battery left in the device (when short pressed). A reset pinhole button can also be found here. A bit of advice, keep this panel tightly shut since the Sony SRS-XB32 Bluetooth speaker is IP67 rated. Which means it is water and dustproof. If you let the rear panel loose then water might seep in if submerged in water.
With this the BT speaker is also shockproof, we dropped it from up to 3 feet and nothing happened to it. Not even a scratch. This is mostly because the entire shell is built of hard rubberised material. We have seen water resistant machinery coming from Sony before, but shockproof is something new.
Performance
Coming to the Sony SRS-XB32 Bluetooth speaker’s capabilities, its audio and features, we found it to be quite attractive. Setting up this speaker was child’s play and with NFC enabled on the device it just takes a tap to connect the speaker to any NFC compatible smartphone or tablet. In case you do not have that on your device, you can just pair it as easily using Bluetooth. In about 2 minutes we were up and running. Sony’s Music Center app comes handy when you want to operate the device wirelessly. The app also shows a popular list of music apps in one place, which of course are already installed on your smartphone. These include Spotify and Google Play Music.
The Blue LED light on the top panel stops flashing once your smartphone is connected to the speaker. And as soon as it did, we turned on Spotify to listen to some of our favourite tunes. Since the Sony SRS-XB32 Bluetooth speaker falls in the extra bass category, they do deliver a great bassy experience. The highs and lows are great. Mid becomes better when you turn on the live mode. One can easily toggle between modes using the top button panel.
In standard mode the LED indicator on top of the power button will be green (can access this by pressing play and volume down buttons together). To get into extra bass mode tap the live button, which will turn the power indicator to white. For live mode with extra bass, the LED lights on both the live and power buttons will turn white. Yes, this can be tricky to learn at first, but after a few times, you get the hang of it. In case you still do not get the gist of it, all this can be managed from the Music Centre app as well.
The live mode adds a real punch to the sound by enhancing the mids. Which also makes the voice clearer. It is great if you are hearing jazz tunes or opera on it. For regular Bollywood masala or western tunes, the extra bass mode is where we found comfort. Some neat functionalities have been added to the Sony SRS-XB32 Bluetooth speaker like party booster mode. When turned on via the app, this will enable you to tap the speaker on top, bottom, front, left or right. Each tap will produce different sounds of a drum or percussion. Gimmicky? Yes, but fun? Definitely yes!
Also, one can create a party chain of these speakers. If you have more than one of these then you can connect them with each other to create a party chain (up to 100 speakers at a time). Therefore, getting more great sound. Sony claims that the battery of this speaker lasts for 24 hours. Well, it does almost do that if you keep the extra bass mode off and do not turn on the LED lights. Then you get much more battery life, otherwise, you will end up getting half of it (12-13 hours), which still is not bad. Also, with the USB port, you can charge your other devices using Sony SRS-XB32 Bluetooth speaker. Coming to think of it, one would not be doing that often, but in case you are out with this portable speaker and need a quick battery top-up in your smartphone, you know you can rely on this BT speaker.
Verdict
The price of the Sony SRS-XB32 Bluetooth speaker is Rs 10,990 in India. Is that steep? Yes. But is it worth it? Totally. The sound is superb, the looks are great, LED lights can be controlled, the battery lasts long, what’s there not to like. But yes, if you ask us to compare it with the competition, we have to say a sub-10K price on this speaker would have been a sound-licious buy.
After seeing success with Amazon Echo Show and the second generation of Echo Show, the company recently launched a more affordable version of the smart display speaker: Amazon Echo Show 5. Priced at Rs 8,999, the device comes with a 5.5-inch screen and has support for Alexa, Amazon’s digital assistant. While this sounds like a great deal on paper, we spent a few days with the smart device to know what its pros and cons are. Read the rest of our review to find out more:
In This Article
Amazon Echo Show 5 design
In terms of the design, the Amazon Echo Show 5’s design is a lot like the 10-inch smart display speaker that we have seen from the company. However, the 5.5-inch screen of the device is similar to work on as that of a smartphone. But the similarity is limited to the size. Since the resolution of the display of Amazon Echo Show 5 is 960X480, some may feel that it doesn’t match up to the screen of their handset. The front of the smart display speaker is dominated by the display that is outlined by white-coloured edges on all four sides.
A selfie camera placed on the top of the screen can be covered using a shutter. We really appreciate this as people have often cited privacy concerns when it comes to keeping smart display speakers with cameras in their living rooms or bed rooms. The ability to keep the selfie camera closed certainly caters to that lot. The top edge of the device comes with physical volume buttons and a key to mute Alexa. It also has the physical slide to hide the selfie camera of the smart display speaker.
On the back, the device has a power port. We should mention that much like all other Amazon Echo speakers, the Echo Show 5 needs to be plugged in at all times in order to work. Amazon Echo Show 5 also has support for a micro USB port and a 3.5 mm headphone jack.
The device is White in colour and its speakers at the back are dressed in Silver. Another version of it is available in Black too. It’s light in weight and compact. For those who found the previous Amazon Echo devices too big for their bedside tables, the Echo Show 5 is the solution. However, if you are one amongst those who like to watch a lot of video content, the screen may not be big enough for you.
We overall liked the design of Amazon Echo Show 5. It is very much in-line with other devices in the Amazon Echo family and the smart display speaker doesn’t occupy too much space where it is kept.
Amazon Echo Show 5 performance and features
The key differentiating factor of the Amazon Echo Show 5 is its display size. Since the size of the screen has been reduced as compared to other devices in the range, you will see that the Echo Show 5 showcases lesser information than others. But before we talk further about the performance, we should tell you how to get started. You would have to download the Amazon Alexa app on your smartphone, which is available on Google Play Store as well as Apple’s App Store. Once you install the app, you would be able to connect your device to your handset and using the app; you can add new skills, create routines and integrate other devices from Amazon too.
Coming back to the performance, we should mention that the navigation is not as seamless as it is in other Amazon devices. For instance, since there are no physical home button, going back to Home Screen means always pulling down the Menu from the top of the screen to press on the shortcut. In addition to this, we should also mention that even Alexa does not have the ability to go to certain menus in Amazon Echo Show 5.
Having said that, Alexa does offer very prompt responses to queries it does have support for. Most of our commands got a good response from the digital assistant. A visual element also appears on screen each time Alexa answers a query and this is something we really liked.
There is a wide variety of things that you can ask Alexa to do. We at times asked Alexa how much time it will take for us to reach a certain spot in town, made it do calculations, asked it for daily updates and more. You can simply say, “Alexa, what all can you do?” The digital assistant will then show you a list of commands that you can use with it.
Routines is one of the prominent features of Amazon Echo Show 5. With this, you can connect the smart display speaker to other smart home devices in the house. However, we could not try this out ourselves.
We should also mention that it will be a big plus if you have subscribed to other services by Amazon like Amazon Prime. As of now, the ecosystem that the smart display speaker has is limited as compared to the one that is available on Google’s devices. So, a number of popular apps like YouTube are not available on Amazon Echo Show 5. This makes it important for any user of the device to have subscription for other Amazon services too.
Moving on, the device offers 1.65 x 4W of sound output. While the volume cannot go extremely loud, we should mention that it remains consistently clear. The users also have the option of adjusting the level of bass, mids and trebles via the Alexa app. It is decent overall.
Verdict
At Rs 8,999, the Amazon Echo Show 5 is certainly a good buy. Although, as we have mentioned earlier, it is not as seamless as other smart display speakers in the Amazon range, it is far more affordable than them too. The idea of having a compact smart speaker with a display and a digital assistant has its own advantages. While the screen quality and the functions that Alexa can perform on Amazon Echo Show 5 don’t match up to that of the bigger Echo Show, the latter is far more expensive. At the given price range, Amazon Echo Show 5 will not disappoint you.
Xiaomi’s sub-brand Redmi is all set to launch its most awaited smartphone Redmi Note 8 and Redmi Note 8 Pro today. To launch the series of smartphones the company has organized a huge event in Beijing, China. Alongside Redmi Note 8 and Redmi Note 8 Pro, the company will also be introducing its first smart TV named Redmi TV also a redesigned variant of RedmiBook at today’s event. The launch event will begin at 11 am IST. Interested people can watch the event live on the Redmi’s website.
Redmi Note 8, Redmi Note 8 Pro price and specifications (expected)
In China today Xiomi’s sub-brand will launch Redmi Note 8 as well as Redmi Note 8 Pro. The company will be launching Note 8 Pro in two variants, 6GB RAM + 128GB of internal storage that is expected to cost CNY 1,799 (approximately Rs 18,000)and 8GB + 128GB storage variant may cost CNY 2,099 (approximately Rs 21,000).
On the other hand, Redmi Note 8 will be made available in a single 4GB + 64GB internal storage variant that might come will a price tag of CNY 1,199 (approximately Rs 12,000).
Both the smartphones will carry the same design and are also protected by Gorilla Glass 5 from the front as well as on the rear panel. A dot drop notch on the front display will also be seen. Apart from that, both the devices will be featuring a quad rear camera set up. The camera set up of the Redmi Note 8 will consist of a 48-megapixel primary sensor and the elder sibling will include a 64-megapixel main sensor. Apart from that, the quad-camera set up will include a Super Wide Angle lens, Depth of Field lens and Super Macro lens. Both younger and the elder sibling will boast a 4,500mAh battery. Redmi Note 8 will be supported by 10W charger whereas the Redmi Note 8 pro will come with an 18W charger. Redmi Note 8 will be powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 665 processor while the upper variant will be powered by MediaTek Helio G90T chipset.
Refreshed RedmiBook 14 and Redmi TV specs and price
Redmi will also launch its much-awaited Redmi TV and an upgraded version of RedmiBook 14 at the grand event. The Redmi TV will debut with a 70-inch screen. If we go by the rumours, the new entrant will come with super-thin bezel supporting 4K UHD panel. The Redmi smart TV will carry model No L70M5-RA. The company may also launch the smaller versions of the TV at the same event. However, there are no other details about the upcoming TV even the company has not disclosed if it will arrive in India or not.
Apart from that refreshed RedmiBook, 14 will also be launched alongside Redmi Note 8 series and Redmi TV. The company launched the RedmiBook 14 a few months ago along with Redmi K20 and Redmi K20 Pro. This will be the upgraded variant of the previous one that was powered by the 8th-gen Intel processor. The revamped variant of the RedmiBook 14 will be powered by the 9th gen Intel processor. For now, there are no more details of the new RedmiBook 14. Similar to the previous one the company might not bring RedmiBook 14 to India either.
German audio products brand Blaupunkt has launched wireless earphone BE-50 in India. Last month the company launched a set of two wired earphones EM10 and EM01 in the country. The company stated earphones come with a Bluetooth Neckband at competitive pricing.
The company entered the country with its Personal Audio range of products in February this year. The brand stated that the previously launched earphones EM10 and EM01 were much-admired by the audiophiles and their initial offerings Truly wireless pods (BTW01), Lightest BT Earphone (BE-01) took the market by storm, too.
Blaupunkt launched BE-50 in the Indian market at Rs 1499. The latest wireless headphones come with a Call Disconnect Feature. The wireless earphones are touted to offer the finest listening experience, advanced technology along with a unique Magnetic Lock. The earphones are powered by Qualcomm Processor that helps the user to control a number of calls and music features.
Blaupunkt headphones come with 150 mAh battery that on a single charge the earphones offer up to 12hrs of playtime and up to 2 weeks of standby time. The product weighs just 25 grams as High-Grade materials have been used to design the earphones that make them light in weight.
Additionally, the Blaupunkt BE-50 comes with different controls to answer, end, reject the call and switch songs without the need to take the phone out. It also comes with an in-built mic for a handsfree experience. BE-50 is IPX5 Water Resistant that protects it from dust and water splashes.
Over that, the new wireless earphones come with a noise isolation feature that can block out 90% of ambient sound and the device works with almost all the Bluetooth enabled devices.
Andrzej Cebrat, Managing Director, Blaupunkt says, “In a highly competitive market as ours, the product experience defines the future as compared to design In India. Blaupunkt has already achieved a benchmark as a leading player in the range of home audio products. With our century-old legacy of impeccable innovation and 20+ years of experience in India, we are certain that our audio products have raised the bar in the audio products market and we will continue to add high quality products that meet the consumer demands. I am confident; our latest wireless earphone BE-50 will be equally praised and accepted in the market”.
This year Vivo seems to be on a launching spree. The company is all set to launch another smartphone in the country. Vivo has officially confirmed that it will unveil Vivo Z1x smartphone on September 6. Even before it is launched, the company has revealed that the upcoming smartphone will be available on e-commerce website Flipkart. The new smartphone will debut with a triple rear camera setup along with an in-display fingerprint sensor and a waterdrop style notch. The phone will be a gaming-centric device that will be introduced in the country in the coming month.
Flipkart will be the online sales partner for the Vivo Z1x smartphone along with its own online store. The company stated that the latest smartphone will be targeting the game-loving consumers in the country that has been designed to perform better even while playing heavy duty games on their devices. As we all know that a few months ago the Chinese smartphone company also launched the Vivo Z1 Pro for customers who love playing games like PUBG. Z1 Pro comes with a massive 5,000mAh battery and Qualcomm Snapdragon 712 AIE chipset. So in that case, we can expect a more powerful processor for the Vivo Z1x mobile phone.
Apart from that, the company has also released a video teaser of the forthcoming phone on its official Twitter account giving us a short glimpse of the Vivo Z1x. According to the teaser, the handset will come with an in-display fingerprint sensor. The phone is displayed donning pearl blue and a purplish-blue colour on its back panel. On the rear, it displays a triple rear camera set up aligned vertically in a module along with an LED flashlight. In the end, the video says that the device will be unveiled on September 6 and will be available for purchase online on Flipkart as well as vivo.com.
As per another report Vivo, Z1x will arrive with a 48-megapixel camera supported by Samsung ISOCELL GM1 sensor. Apart from that on the Vivo’s website, the product page says that the phone will be powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon processor. Which one? We shall come to know in about a weeks’ time.
The Chinese smartphone company finally launched the most awaited Oppo Reno 2 series of smartphone in India. The latest smartphone by the company has been introduced for the first time in the country and the world. The key highlights of the smartphone include quad-camera setup, shark-fin rising camera, Snapdragon 730G processor and VOOC 3.0 fast charging and so on. The Reno 2 is the successor of the Oppo Reno 10 X Zoom that the company launched in the country a few months ago. Take a look at our comparison as we compare Oppo Reno 2 with Oppo Reno first-generation and know which one suits you the best:
In This Article
Display
Oppo Reno 2: 6.55-inch AMOLED Panoramic notch-less display with a 20:9 aspect ratio.
Oppo Reno 1: 6.6-inch panoramic AMOLED display with 93.1% screen-to-body ratio, 6th generation Corning Gorilla Glass and TUV Rheinland certification.
Oppo Reno 2: quad-camera setup houses a 48-megapixel primary shooter, a 13-megapixel telephoto camera, an 8-megapixel wide-angle camera, and 2-megapixel portrait camera. Support 20x zoom
Oppo Reno 1: Triple-rear camera setup with a 48MP Sony IMX586 sensor, a 13MP periscope telephoto lens and an 8MP super wide-angle lens. Supports 10x zoom.
Selfie camera
Oppo Reno 2: 16-megapixel Shark Fin selfie camera.
Oppo Reno 1: 16MP pop-up selfie camera
RAM and storage
Oppo Reno 2: 8GB of RAM along with up to 256 of internal storage.
Oppo Reno 1: 6GB RAM/128GB storage and 8GB RAM/256GB storage
Battery
Oppo Reno 2: 4,000mAh battery along with support for VOOC 3.0 fast charging.
Oppo Reno 1: 4,065mAh battery with VOOC 3.0 support
Operating system
Oppo Reno 2: Android 9 Pie with ColorOS 6.1 on top
Both the smartphones come with a great display, excellent camera experience and a lasting battery. Oppo Reno 2 lacks in some aspects like display and battery. But in terms of imaging capabilities, it leaves behind Oppo Reno 10X. The pricing of the newly launched smartphone is also lower than the predecessor.
Oppo Reno 2 series officially launched in India today. The smartphone was globally launched in the country today. The flagship device comes with a quad-camera setup that offers 20x zoom camera capabilities. The key highlights are 6.55-inch AMOLED display, 4,000mAh battery. Alongside Reno 2 the company also launched two more devices Reno 2Z and Reno 2F as well. All the three handsets come with the 48-megapixel camera.
Oppo Reno 2 series price in India
As we mentioned earlier the company launched three smartphones in the country. Oppo Reno 2 will be available for purchase at Rs 36,990, while Reno 2Z will be sold at 29,990 however the company has not disclosed the pricing of the Reno 2F. the company will be offering the Reno 2Z in Sky White, Luminous Black, and Polar Light colours while the Reno 2F will be available in just Sky White and Lake Green colours.
Reno 2 series of the smartphone will be available on all the leading online store across the country.
Oppo Reno 2 specifications
Oppo Reno 2 comes with a 6.55-inch AMOLED Panoramic notch-less display with a 20:9 aspect ratio. The display screen is protected by Gorilla Glass 6 and the screen offers 93.1 percent screen to body ratio. It is powered by the Snapdragon 730G SoC octa-core processor paired with 8GB of RAM along that will offer up to 256 of internal storage. The handset runs on Android 9 Pie with ColorOS 6.1 on top It houses a 4,000mAh battery along with support for VOOC 3.0 fast charging.
The quad-camera setup of the Oppo Reno 2 will house a 48-megapixel primary shooter, a 13-megapixel telephoto camera, an 8-megapixel wide-angle camera, and 2-megapixel portrait camera. As mentioned, the phone will support 20x zoom. The set up comes equipped with Electronic Image stabilization as well as OIS. It also offers a 60fps frame rate along with the support for recording videos with a 116-degree wide-angle sensor. On the front, it comes with 16-megapixel Shark Fin selfie camera.
The Oppo Reno 2 is will come with a dedicated Neural Processing Unit (NPU) that will provide improved modes like Ultra Dark, Ultra Steady and Bokeh mode. For gaming purposes, the phone will be equipped with anti-cheat extensions along with enhanced Wi-Fi for connectivity along with 25 percent faster graphics compared to the predecessor. In addition to this, it will come with Game Boost 3.0, Game Assistant and HDR10 that will provide better and improved gaming performance.
Oppo Reno 2Z specifications
Oppo Reno 2Z that will come with a 6.53-inch full-HD+ (1,080 x 2,340 pixels) display with Gorilla Glass 5 protection and 19.5:9 aspect ratio. It is powered by the MediaTek Helio P90 SoC, coupled with 8GB of RAM along with 256GB of internal storage. It is expected to pack a 4,000mAh battery along with the support for VOOC 3.0 charging.
On the camera front, the Oppo Reno 2Z will come with a 48-megapixel IMX586 sensor, along with a 119-degree 8-megapixel sensor, and a pair of 2-megapixel sensors. The sensors will be offering 2x optical zoom, ultra-steady video mode for up to 60fps frame rate, EIS and Ultra Night Mode. According to the leaked live images, the phone will arrive with a centrally aligned pop-up camera.
Oppo Reno 2F specifications
Oppo Reno 2F will also be launched alongside Oppo Reno 2 that will be sporting a 6.53-inch full-HD+ (1,080 x 2,340 pixels) display with 19.5:9 aspect ratio and Gorilla Glass 5 protection. The phone will be powered by MediaTek Helio P70 SoC processor along with 8GB of RAM that will offer 128GB of internal storage.
On the camera front, the phone will be available with a 48-megapixel Samsung GM1 sensor, assisted by a wide-angle 8-megapixel sensor with 119-degree field of view and a pair of 2-megapixel sensors. It will be offering Ultra Night Mode 2.0 for low-light conditions along with 10x digital zoom excluding Electronic Image Stabilisation feature.
In order to take on Snapchat, Facebook is working on a new app called Threads that will allow the users to share their status, location, battery life and more with their closest friends. Threads will be a companion app to Instagram that will promote close sharing between users along with added text, photo as well as video with the use of Instagram’s original tools. According to a report by The Verge, the app is being put on internal testing by the social media giant.
A few months ago, the company quashed ‘Direct’, which was the standalone messaging app. The Direct messaging app was launched in 2017 in six countries Chile, Israel, Italy, Portugal, Turkey and Uruguay. The second app came with lots of filters similar to Snapchat. According to the portal, executives said that beta testers were frustrated about having to switch between Instagram and a second app whenever they wanted to send a message.
“A messaging app built around your close friends might be more popular. That’s what Snapchat already is today for a healthy portion of its users.”
A few of the reports suggests that the Snapchat users spend more time than average than Instagram users spend inside it.
“For Facebook and Instagram, which have long coveted Snapchat’s strong engagement among younger users, Threads could represent another effort to chip away at their rival’s appeal.”
Apart from that a couple of screenshots of the Thread app have also emerged on the web. It shows how the app has been built to promote constant, automatic sharing between users and the people on their “close friends” list on Instagram.
By opting the automatic sharing option, the user’s close friends will be able to view the user’s location, driving speed and more. In the beginning, the app will not show the information about the user’s location in its place it shows “on the move”. It will also let the user update their status physically that will display the statuses in the main feed with messages.
“The core of Threads appears to be messaging, and it looks very similar to the existing messaging product inside Instagram. Messages from your friends appear in a central feed, with a green dot indicating which of your friends are currently active. If your friend has posted a story recently, you can view that from inside Threads as well. Threads also have a camera, which you can use to capture photos and videos and send them to your close friends.”
However, the photo-sharing app has not disclosed any information with regards to the launch date. Similar to the Direct app the company might also bring down the Thread app before releasing it to the general public.
Chinese smartphone company Vivo has officially revealed the Vivo Nex 3 5G phone by sharing an image on its Weibo page. The company has confirmed that the flagship device will be launched in China next month, which is September. Even before any other official announcements, a few reports surfaced on the web claiming that the phone will be powered by Snapdragon 855 Plus SoC along with the Snapdragon X50 5G modem.
Vivo product manager Li Xiang replied to a comment dropping a hint that the device will be launched on September 1. The device will first come to China. India availability is still unclear but could be by the end of September.
Apart from that GSMArena shared a video teaser of Vivo Nex 3 5G. At the end of the video, we can see a man flaunting the latest smartphone by Vivo. The phone flaunts a triple rear camera set up placed in a circular module and a NEX branding on the rear panel. While going through the video we also managed to notice a pop-up selfie camera along with a huge screen along with a 3.3mm headphone jack.
A few weeks ago, some sketches of Vivo Nex 3 5G were shared by the company’s manager on the internet that also revealed that the Vivo Nex will debut with a triple camera setup positioned in a circular module on the back panel of the phone. While the front panel will come with a 100% screen-to-body ratio along with waterfall-like edges. Vivo’s manager also shared a partial screenshot of the home screen that displays the 5G icons on the top left as well as the top right corner of the screen. Li Xiang also confirmed that the phone will have a waterfall screen and will hold the 3.5mm headphone jack.
At the moment (in all the leaks) this smartphone looks too good to be true. If Vivo produces this smartphone at a competitive price, then they have a sure winner at hand, which can go up against the likes of OnePlus 7 Pro. That at the moment is ruling the premium smartphone segment.
Chinese Smartphone Company is all geared up to launch its new Oppo Reno 2 series. This is the first time that the series of phones will be launched in India first. So, the consumer in the country will be the first one to get a glimpse of the new smartphone. Prior to its launch, the company has also revealed some of the specifications of the device. The Oppo Reno 2 seems to be sporting the same shark fin type pop-up selfie camera. Apart from that, the company is also expected to launch two new mobile phones Oppo Reno 2Z and Oppo Reno 2F.
Oppo Reno 2 how to watch live stream link, expected price
The launch event of Oppo Reno 2 is being held in India for the first time and it will begin at 3 pm IST. The launch event will also go live on the company official YouTube channel. During the launch event, the company is expected to reveal the price as well as the availability of the product. As per the previously shared teaser, the handset is expected to be launched in two colour options Ocean Heart and Misty Powder colour. However, we can expect more colour options to be revealed at the launch. Alongside Oppo Reno 2 the company might also introduce various variants of the smartphone that includes Oppo Reno 2Z and Oppo Reno 2F
We have attached the live streaming link below:
Oppo Reno 2 expected specifications
As we mentioned earlier also that the smartphone company has revealed few of the specification details of the Oppo Reno 2. It is confirmed that the phone will be featuring a 6.55-inch AMOLED Panoramic notch-less display with a 20:9 aspect ratio. The display screen is protected by Gorilla Glass 6 and the screen offers 93.1 per cent screen to body ratio. The new smartphone will be powered by Snapdragon 730G octa-core SoC coupled with 8GB RAM. It is expected that the phone will be offering up to 256GB of internal storage. It will be housing a 4,000mAh battery supported by VOOC Flash Charge 3.0. For connectivity, it has a USB Type-C port, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.
The Oppo Reno 2 is supposed to come with a dedicated Neural Processing Unit (NPU) that will provide improved modes like Ultra Dark and Bokeh mode. For gaming purposes, the phone will come integrated with anti-cheat extensions along with enhanced Wi-Fi for connectivity along with 25 per cent faster graphics compared to the forerunner. Additionally, it will come with Game Boost 3.0, Game Assistant and HDR10 that will provide better and improved gaming performance.
In terms of its design, the phone will arrive with a 3D curved glass back panel along with Corning Gorilla Glass 5 protection. The phone will sport an in-display fingerprint sensor 3.0 with the latest G3 optical sensor fingerprint unlock feature.
Besides this several leaks and rumours have surfaced on the web even before the official launch of the device. If we go by the leaks and rumours Oppo Reno 2 will be featuring a quad-camera set up that will consist of a 48-megapixel primary camera, along with a 13-megapixel, 8-megapixel and 2-megapixel sensors. The camera sensors on the phone will be offering 2x optical zoom, 20x hybrid zoom, OIS and Electronic Image. In addition to this, it is also expected to offer up to 60fps frame rate along with the support for recording videos with a 116-degree wide-angle sensor.
Oppo Reno 2Z expected specifications
As per the leaks and rumours, Oppo is also expected to launch Oppo Reno 2Z that will come with a 6.53-inch full-HD+ (1,080 x 2,340 pixels) display with Gorilla Glass 5 protection and 19.5:9 aspect ratio. It is rumoured to be powered by the MediaTek Helio P90 SoC, coupled with 8GB of RAM along with 256GB of internal storage. It is expected to pack a 4,000mAh battery along with the support for VOOC 3.0 charging.
In terms of cameras, the Oppos Reno 2Z will come with a 48-megapixel IMX586 sensor, along with a 119-degree 8-megapixel sensor, and a pair of 2-megapixel sensors. The sensors will be offering 2x optical zoom, ultra-steady video mode for up to 60fps frame rate, EIS and Ultra Night Mode. According to the leaked live images, the phone will arrive with a centrally aligned pop-up camera.
Oppo Reno 2F expected specifications
It is rumoured that the Oppo Reno 2F will also be launched alongside Oppo Reno 2 that will be sporting a 6.53-inch full-HD+ (1,080 x 2,340 pixels) display with 19.5:9 aspect ratio and Gorilla Glass 5 protection. The phone is supposed to be powered by MediaTek Helio P70 SoC processor along with 8GB of RAM that will offer 128GB of internal storage.
On the camera front, the phone is suggested to be made available with a 48-megapixel Samsung GM1 sensor, assisted by a wide-angle 8-megapixel sensor with 119-degree field of view and a pair of 2-megapixel sensors. It will be offering Ultra Night Mode 2.0 for low-light conditions along with 10x digital zoom excluding Electronic Image Stabilisation feature.
Lenovo added two new additions in it’s Legion’s line of gaming laptops in India. The company launched Legion Y740 and Legion Y540 in India. Both the laptops are the upgraded variants of Legion Y730 and Legion Y530 that the company launched last year. These gaming-centric laptops feature the latest 9th Gen Intel Core CPUs and Nvidia GeForce RTX series GPUs as options.
There is not much change in the design, but the company has redesigned the internals of both Legion Y740 and Legion Y540. The company did state that they have upgraded both the laptops from the ground up along with sleek exterior as well as improved gaming performance after taking feedback from the gamers.
Lenovo Legion Y740, Legion Y540 price and availability
The premium Lenovo Legion Y740 has been launched at a starting price of Rs 1,29,990 apart from that the base variant Lenovo Legion Y540 comes at Rs 69,990 in India. Both the gaming laptops will be available for purchase on the company’s website Lenovo.com and across all the e-commerce retailers available in the country. Besides launching a new range of laptops the company also added gaming accessories that include desktop gaming PCs, gaming keyboards, mice and headsets.
The company launched T730 and T530 desktops, M500 RGB gaming mouse, K500 RGB mechanical keyboard and lastly H300 stereo gaming headsets. However, the company has not announced the price and availability of all the mentioned products except the laptops.
Lenovo Legion Y740 and Legion Y540 specifications
Now moving on to the specifications Lenovo Legion Y740 and Legion Y540 come with a 15.6-inch bezel-less display that offers full HD resolution along with a 144Hz refresh rate. Legion Y740 is built with up to a six-core 9th Gen Intel Core i7-9750H CPU and Nvidia GeForce RTX 2070GPU with Max-Q optimization. While the Legion Y540 employs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 GPU. Both the laptops offer up to 32GB RAM and 1TB SSD.
Legion Y740 puts on grey anodised aluminum chassis along with customisable RGB lighting under the keyboard as well as the thermal venting. It comes with options of Dolby Vision-enabled displays along with Dolby Atmos Speaker System and Dolby Sound Radar. The latest laptops also offer options for Dolby Vision HDR 400 500-nit display along with wired and wireless connectivity options. These include Type-C port, audio jack, and HDMI port. The setup is companioned with a 57Wh battery.
On the other hand, the new Legion Y540 is available in Raven black colour option and comes with Harmon speakers that offer Dolby Atmos. The laptop also comes with a white backlit keyboard along with a similar connectivity option available in the Legion Y740. Rest of the specification are also identical to the premium variant.
Apart from that, Windows 10 Home is the default OS that offers the option to be upgraded to Windows 10 Pro. The battery onboard claims to offer six hours of battery life on a single charge on both the versions.
Recently the Chinese smartphone manufacturer Realme shared the exclusive image of its upcoming 64-megapixel smartphone Realme XT on Weibo. The company has shared a couple of images with details of the smartphone again on the same website.
At a press event held in New Delhi Realme India’s CEO, Madhav Sheth revealed that the company is planning to launch the Realme XT in India before Diwali that means in October. Additionally, the company also revealed at a press meet in China that Realme XT will only be released in India and not in its home market first.
Various website also shared few images of the press meet held in China only along with the specifications of the Realme XT on the Chinese website Weibo. According to the shared images, the forthcoming smartphone by Realme will be powered by octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 712 SoC along with up to 8GB of RAM.
Image Courtesy: Weibo
Realme XT will offer 128GB of internal storage. The reveal also suggested that the phone will be launched in three storage options 4GB with 64GB of storage, 6GB with 64GB of internal storage and lastly 8GB along with 128GB of onboard storage options. Apart from that, the new mobile phone is expected to feature 6.4-inch of Super AMOLED screen along with a waterdrop-style notch on the front panel. To give it life, the handset will be supported by a 4,000mAh battery along with 20W VOOC 3.0 fast charging. The phone will run on ColorOS 6, based over Android 9 Pie.
Besides this, the phone will arrive with a quad-camera setup with a 64-megapixel primary shooter having f/1.8 aperture, which we already know. The quad-camera set up will also include 8-megapixel wide-angle-camera with f/2.25 aperture, a 2-megapixel macro camera, and a 2-megapixel portrait camera. Both the tertiary, as well as the fourth camera sensor will have an f/2.4 aperture. While on the front it is supposed to sport a 16-megapixel selfie camera.
Through its official post, we got to know that Realme XT will debut in Silver Wing White colour variant and another one will be the pearl blue colour variant. However, none of the websites revealed the launch date nor the pricing of the phone but Realme XT will be put on sale in the coming month.
The South Korean company, Samsung, today launched a new smartphone in India. The Samsung Galaxy A10s joins the Galaxy A-series line of smartphones. The company launched the latest addition in the Q1 2019. The key highlights of the smartphone include a 6.2-inch Infinity-V Display along with a dual rear camera set up. The handset will be powered by a 4,000mAh battery and a fingerprint scanner.
Samsung India, Director, Mobile Business, Aditya Babbar said“As a global technology leader, we are committed to providing meaningful innovations to our consumers. Galaxy A10s has been developed for Indian millennials who are looking for a great display, superior camera, long-lasting battery and fingerprint scanner. Galaxy A10s is a complete package of great looks and top performance.”
In This Article
Samsung Galaxy A10s price and availability in India
Samsung Galaxy A10s has been launched in the country in two variants 2GB RAM with 32GB inbuilt storage and 3GB RAM with 32GB inbuilt storage. The variations of 2GB RAM with 32GB inbuilt storage is priced at Rs 9,499 while the 3GB RAM with 32GB inbuilt storage option will be sold at Rs 10,499. The device will be available in three colour options Black, Blue and Green colour.
The smartphone will be put on sale on August 28 through the entire e-commerce website in the country as well as the offline retail stores. The smartphone can also be purchased via Samsung India E-Shop and Samsung Opera House.
Samsung Galaxy A10s specifications
Samsung Galaxy A10s features a 6.2-inch HD+ (720×1,520 pixels) Infinity-V Display. The phone will be powered by the Octa-core processor. It comes in 2GB and 3GB of RAM variants that offer 32GB of inbuilt storage that can be further expanded up to 512GB via microSD card.
Coming on the camera capabilities, Samsung Galaxy A10s comes with a dual rear camera set up that includes a 13-megapixel main sensor with an f/1.8 aperture lens and a 2-megapixel depth sensor. While on the front it sports an 8-megapixel sensor with an f/2.0 aperture lens.
Samsung Galaxy A10s comes with all the necessary connectivity options that also include 4G VoLTE along with a fingerprint sensor on the rear panel. The handset measures 156.9×75.8×7.8mm and it weighs 168 grams. This smartphone is one of the cheapest options that come from brand Samsung in the A-series lineup in India.
Earlier this month Realme organized a press event in New Delhi where it revealed its most anticipated 64-megapixel camera smartphone. The Chinese smartphone company has said that the new smartphone will be featuring a quad-camera set up in its new Realme range of smartphones. Now the company’s chief marketing officer has officially shared the exclusive image of the Realme XT that the company recently confirmed to come with a 64MP camera. The shared photo displays the back panel of the upcoming smartphone that has a white gradient finish on its back panel. Additionally, it also shows the quad rear camera set up along with the 64-megapixel main sensor. Besides this, it is being speculated that the company might launch the phone in China on September 4.
Realme’s chief marketing officer Xu Qi Chase officially shared and image of Realme XT on its Weibo account confirming that the phone will arrive in ‘silver wing white’ colour variant along with the 64-megapixel main camera. It is also expected that the forthcoming phone will be powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon processor. Apart from that, the pictures revealed the rear panel of the device that has a pearl white finish. All four cameras are placed vertically. The top camera sensor is surrounded by a golden ring that is the main 64-megapixel sensor that equipped with Samsung’s latest ISOCELL Bright GW1 sensor and is coupled with an ultra-wide-angle camera, macro lens, and a depth sensor. ISOCELL Bright GW1 sensor offers 64MP photos with a resolution of 9,248 x 6,936 pixels. That comes with the support for HDR of up to 100-decibels.
The back panel does not have a fingerprint sensor that also confirms that the handset will have an in-display fingerprint sensor. It is also expected to come with an OLED panel.
While on the other hand Realme shared a couple of teasers on its official Weibo account dropping a hint that the phone might be unveiled at an event on September 4.
Apple has started rolling out a new iOS update. The iOS 12.4.1 update fixes the vulnerability that Apple left unpatched in its previous iOS 12.4 update. The bug permitted the hacker to implement code on any of its devices like the iPhone or the iPad that left it vulnerable to hacking risks.
The iOS 12.4.1 update has been brought for the Apple’s various devices starting from iPhone 5s and above, iPad Air and later versions as well as the iPod Touch 6th generation. The company is soon bringing the iOS 13 sometime in September so this may be the last iOS 12 update.
The premium smartphone company accidentally left many of its up to date devices susceptible to hacking risk by releasing the earlier iOS 12.4 update that has fixes over the last update. Apple’s security advisory says “a malicious application may be able to execute arbitrary code with system privileges”.
Apple devices never allow any unsupported apps on its iOS platform. On its devices, like the iPhone and iPad, have system privileges or root privileges that allow the user to run apps or code while interacting directly with the basic code of the iOS operating system. This is known as Jailbreaking that allows people to run unsupported apps making its devices insecure that also leads to data privacy and data security risks. It also increases the risk of malware, spyware and data violation. As a result, many of the iPhone users also tweeted that they were doing well running the “jailbreak”, which the company is against.
Using malware or spyware loaded app on the Jailbroken iPhone may result in allowing the attackers the access to apps, the right to use/see your messages, contacts, files stored in the phone, allowing it to track your location, keylogging as well as even snoop in on your calls.
If you have not updated your phones or other devices you can download and install the iOS 12.4.1 update by going to Settings > General > Software Update.
Recently Apple head of security Ivan Krstic at the Black Hat Security conference announced that Apple is offering a $1 million reward that is approximately Rs 7.05 crore to cybersecurity researchers to help the company in order to make its devices safer so as to protect them against hacks. This programme will include iOS, macOS along with other Apple OS’s. Apart from that, the company is also giving out customised iPhones to select researchers to detect security flaws.
Last month India techie Laxman Muthiyah won $30,000 (approximately Rs. 21.6 lakhs) from the Facebook for spotting a vulnerability in Instagram and now again he has won $10,000 (approximately Rs. 7.2 lakhs) from the social media giant. This time he spotted an account takeover vulnerability on the Instagram that allows anyone to hack Instagram accounts without consent permission. However, both Instagram and Facebook team have fixed the issue and in return awarded the Chennai-based security researcher $10,000 as a part of their bounty program.
Security researcher Laxman Muthiyah shared this news through his blog post that says “Facebook and Instagram security team fixed the issue and rewarded me $10,000 as a part of their bounty program.”
According to him, the device ID is the unique identifier used by the Instagram server to authenticate password reset codes. When a user requests a passcode using his / her mobile device, a device ID is sent along with the request. The same device ID is used again to verify the passcode.
He further explained that device ID is a random string that is generated by the Instagram app. The same ID can be used to request multiple passcodes of different users. When the 6 digits passcodes are requested of several users this increases the possibility of hacking the accounts.
“For example, if you request a passcode of 100 thousand users using the same device ID, you can have a 10 percent success rate since 100k codes are issued to the same device ID. If we request passcodes for 1 million users, we would be able to hack all the one million accounts easily by incrementing the passcode one by one.”
So in order to hack the account, the hacker needs to request codes of 1 million users. Moreover, the expiry of the passcodes is 10 minutes so the entire attack should happen within 10 minutes.
He further informed that the account takeover vulnerability has been fixed by the Facebook security team and no one can hack the Instagram accounts using this vulnerability.
After this Facebook thanked Muthiyah and awarded him $10,000. In its letter Facebook said “You identified insufficient protections on a recovery endpoint, allowing an attacker to generate numerous valid nuances to then attempt recovery. Thank you again for this report”
In order to lure its subscribers, these days BSNL is coming up with new offers, content offerings, free subscriptions, and other services. The government-run telecom company has now introduced two new prepaid plans for its subscribers. The new prepaid plan of Rs 96 and Rs 236 offers 10GB of 4G daily data. Both the prepaid plans come with a validity of 28 days and 84 days respectively.
The new prepaid plans are priced at Rs 96 and Rs 236, and offer only data benefits and are limited to those places where the company is providing 4G services. Both the introduced plans offer the benefits of 10GB data per day. So in total Rs 96 plan is offering 280GB of data whereas Rs 236 offers 840GB of overall data. As we mentioned earlier also the state-led telecom company BSNL has introduced both the plans for cities where its 4G service is available. Currently, the company provides 4G networks in some of the cities in Maharashtra such as Akola, Bhandara, Beed, Jalna, Osmanabad and other nearby regions.
As mentioned the prepaid plans are only data benefits plans they do not offer any calling benefits however both are valid for a limited time period.
To recall BSNL recently launched prepaid voucher Abhinandan-151 that offers 1.5GB of data per day. Earlier when the prepaid voucher was introduced it offered 1GB of daily data to its subscribers. In addition to this, the plan also offers unlimited local, STD and roaming calls even to Mumbai and Delhi circles, together with 1GB daily data. This plan will come with 100 SMS per day. The free offer validity in the plan was available for 24 days and the plan validity was for 180 days.
On the other hand Reliance Jio’s Rs 149 prepaid plan provides 1.5GB daily data validity for up to 28 days.
