OnePlus 7 Pro review: The game just got upgraded to a whole new level

Sulabh Puri
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OnePlus 7 Pro review: The game just got upgraded to a whole new level

We still remember how OnePlus started off with an invite-only way of buying a smartphone that had the works. It started with the OnePlus One and it was very intriguing for us to know more about this company. That wants to sell a good smartphone only to limited people who hold a golden invite to purchase it. Well, the strategy worked and more than 7 versions down the years, the company has built itself a brand name that is as premium as Apple and Microsoft. OnePlus 7 Pro is their latest innovation which has stunned critics and fans everywhere.

This smartphone not only is attractive to look at but has top-of-the-line technical specifications which puts most in the category or even above its pay scale to shame. We spent over half a month with the device to understand its superpowers. This is our review of the OnePlus 7 Pro, fully tinkered with and scrutinised.

Design and Display

Let us start with the aesthetics of the OnePlus 7 Pro. This is the first time OnePlus has gone with an all screen flagship. You read that right, there are almost no bezels or as the Sacred Games character ‘Bunty’ says, no kala patta (sidebands) on this smartphone. The chin is also mostly gone and what users get is a 6.67-inch edge to edge phablet with QHD+ OLED display that has 516 PPI and 1 lakh:1 contrast ratio. So, what that essentially does is that users will find vibrant colours on deeper blacks.

The screen is protected by 3D Corning Gorilla glass, and just when you thought that was enough, OnePlus 7 Pro hits you in the face with a 90Hz screen refresh rate. Which is better than some of the best-selling gaming monitors in the country. To elaborate further, this screen refreshes 90 times per second. Some of its competition does half of that.

OnePlus calls it Fluid viewing experience and we loved every bit of it. HDR10+ tech is also part of the package which works seamlessly. We played a lot of games like Asphalt 9 and Alto’s Odyssey on it and the screen just kept throwing great sharp graphics back at us. We must say a very immersive experience indeed. Watching videos too is a pleasant experience, especially if you are watching FHD+ content. The daylight legibility of the touchscreen is nice, however, when in auto mode the screen does go very dark at times. Which makes it hard to read and one has to come back to manual screen mode.

The text on the screen is crisp and one can see no lag when apps pop open or when you swipe around on the home screens or app drawer. Which made us wonder has OnePlus put all its eggs in one “display” basket? The answer is No, they have not. They have done some incredible things all around and thanks to their listening habit (to the community), the OnePlus 7 Pro is a great collaboration between the fans and the company.

Since it is an all display smartphone you find an elevating selfie camera on the front with the large ear speaker grille being pushed upwards towards the edge of the panel. The Curved display merges into the metal sideband, which has the power button with a dedicated ringer slider key on the right and the volume rocker keys on the left. At the bottom, OnePlus 7 Pro has the 2 Nano SIM card tray, the USB type C charging port and the speaker grille.

The craftsmanship can be seen on the front as well as the back of the OnePlus 7 Pro. The chrome plated metal sideband also holds another 3D corning gorilla glass, this time at the back, firmly in place. The form factor does remind you of what Samsung has been doing with its Galaxy S and Note series since the past few years, nevertheless is refreshing to see with no notch or punch holes on the OnePlus 7 Pro.

The back is dressed in Nebula blue colour, which gives a gradient like effect. One can find dark ink blue at the top to a lighter shade of blue towards the bottom. The smartphone is available in a couple of other colours too and we did find the Almond white version to be quite attractive as well. At the back, you will also find a triple rear camera bump (vertically stacked), with an LED flash and OnePlus branding under it.

The phablet does take time getting used to since it is larger than others in the category and does take an extra bit of space in the trouser pocket. However, once you are comfortable with this giant, you will find a gentler side to it.

Performance and Cameras

When it comes to performance, we have to start with the dragon. OnePlus 7 Pro is the first smartphone to sport the Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 chipset. This is the top-of-the-line CPU from the company and is supposed to be 30% faster than the SD 845. Not that we needed the extra boost over the 845, but hey what the heck anything that will enable us to the get the kill faster in PUBG is always welcomed. The clock speed of the new CPU can go up to 2.84GHz. Also, graphics are powered by a 640 Adreno GPU. Together they do make up for a killer combination, but hey that is just half of the story.

With it the OnePlus 7 Pro has a whopping 12GB RAM. Side note, there are 6GB and 8GB versions available too at a lesser price. On the 12GB variant, users get 256GB of storage, which is not expandable since there is no microSD card slot available on the device. UFS 3.0 is supported on this smartphone, which basically means you can transfer files and photos from and to the mobile from any computing device very-very quickly.

Also, what OnePlus has done is put in a liquid cooling system on the chipset that keeps the CPU and GPU cool at all times. We tested this feature out further and found it to be great on most occasions. However, when playing in hot climates like New Delhi the top part of the rear does get a bit warm. Which is not the case when you are playing indoors or in an air-conditioned car.

As for the battery, that has got a boost too, now you get a 4,000 mAh battery on the OnePlus 7 Pro, which is a bump of 300 mAh over OnePlus 6T. This is united with Warp Charging, which we saw in the OnePlus 6T McLaren edition as well. What it essentially does is gives you 48% of charge in just 20 minutes. That is almost 12-16 hours of battery life (under nominal use) in just 20 minutes. When fully charged we were able to keep it alive for 32 hours straight. This involved a lot of phone calls, WhatsApp exchanges and hour or two of Asphalt 9 sessions and GPS navigation. All of it with WiFi and 4G enabled.

A fast in display fingerprint reader does a comeback in this smartphone too and a new vibration mode has been added as well. Talking about which the indisplay fingerprint reader is much faster than its predecessor. It is the fastest that we have seen so far in any smartphone.

Over that, screen gestures and navigation swipes comeback to the OnePlus 7 Pro as well. These work really well and as an avid user of the OnePlus 6T, we felt right at home. For the unknown, one can get rid of the bottom navigation buttons and instead use gestures like swiping up from the bottom right or left to go back. Swiping up from the bottom middle to exit an app and swiping up in the same manner and holding will pop out the recently used apps. Again, once you get used to this, there is no going back as it gives you a better edge to edge screen experience.

Moving to the Audio part, this smartphone comes with Dolby Atmos surround sound experience since the speaker at the bottom and the ear speaker grille act as stereo speakers. Giving the user better resonance. Like the screen, the sound is very immersive too. Together they make up for a killer combo at the price point.

The operating system on the OnePlus 7 Pro is Android 9 Pie with the latest Oxygen OS 9.5 that has all the goodies like a separate app drawer. The Experience of the Oxygen OS is very close to stock Android and you get almost no bloatware on the device except for few Amazon and Google native apps. With 12GB RAM, the first impact is of a splendid user experience. The smartphone responds to each tap and swipe with extreme accuracy. The apps open unrealistically quick and one can hardly find any gaps on the OS.

A Zen mode has been added to the mix that locks the mobile for 20 minutes. This is a quick way of digital detox. You will not be able to operate the smartphone for those many minutes. Except you can pick incoming calls and make emergency calls. For connectivity, Bluetooth 5.0, Wifi 802.11, APTX, NFC, GPS and LTE come from the get-go.

We ran the usual barrage of tests on the OnePlus 7 Pro. On GeekBench it scored 3,433 on the Single Core CPU test, 10,733 on multi-core CPU test and 7,455 points on compute test. On Antutu it scored 3,55,473 points that puts it way above the rest in the premium smartphone pack.

Now to talk about another great aspect and first time inside any OnePlus device is the triple rear camera array. This has a 48MP primary camera with Sony IMX586 sensor with 7P lens quality. This is accompanied by an 8MP telephoto lens having an aperture size of 2.4 and an ultra-wide-angle lens with a 16MP sensor and an aperture size of 2.2. Optical image stabilisation is available on the rear cameras and the brilliant nightscape mode, as well as the ability to record 4K videos at 60FPS, are part of the package. For the smart shooter, the Pro mode is also available.

The elevating front camera on the OnePlus 7 pro has an elevating 16MP Sony IMX 471 sensor with an aperture size of 2.0. The company has tested the slide function of the front camera for 300,000 times. That should last you for a very long time without faltering. Also, the sliding camera detects fall. If the camera is out and the phone accidentally slips from your hand, the camera will automatically detect the fall and go back in.

We tested both the cameras in daylight, indoors and at night. The results in daylight as well as indoors (in well-lit conditions) were great and better than the OnePlus 6T. However, the initial tests of the nightscape mode were not very good. We found the OnePlus 6T to be better here.

But after the recent May end update, the nightscape mode has become much better. Same can be said about the selfie camera. We do not use third party apps for camera tests, so the native OnePlus app for both the cameras was tested to its full potential and we were quite happy with the results. The only exception for the selfie app is low light to dark areas where you can see a bit of grain seeping into the images. Other than that, they are right up there with the rest of the competition.

Verdict

The OnePlus 7 Pro price starts at Rs 48,999 for the 6GB version, Rs 52,999 for the 8GB version and Rs 57,999 for the 12 GB version (the one we reviewed). Yes, these are the costliest flagships from the company but every bit of the price is justified. The latest machinery comes inside a well-packaged skin that not only looks good but is premium to hold. Yes, there are few software chinks in the armour. But as we have seen in the past OnePlus quickly learns and updates its OS so that these go away.  With the OnePlus 7 Pro, we have fallen in love with OnePlus all over again. If you have a budget of over 45K, go for it in a blink of an eye.

Pros:

Latest machinery

Excellent Display and looks

Warp charging

Cons:

Cameras getting better, not the best

Gets a bit warm when playing games for long

Rear panel is a fingerprint magnet

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Realme 3 Pro goes on open sale in India: Get all the details here

Aman Singh
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Realme 3 Pro goes on open sale in India: Get all the details here

Chinese smartphone brand Realme had earlier launched its flagship named Realme 3 Pro in April 2019. Till now, the device was selling on flash sales on e-commerce platforms, but now, the Realme 3 Pro will be up for open sale on Flipkart, Realme.com and other offline stores. Some highlights of the Realme 3 Pro include a Snapdragon CPU, a 4,045mAh battery and a dual-rear camera setup. The open sale of the Realme 3 Pro was announced by the CEO of Realme India, Madhav Sheth.

Realme 3 Pro price and availability

The Realme 3 Pro holds a price tag of Rs 13,999 for the 4GB RAM/ 64GB storage while its 6GB RAM/ 64GB storage is priced at Rs 15,999. The top-end variant of the device sells for Rs 16,999 and it has 6GB RAM/ 128GB storage. The Realme 3 Pro comes in three colour options – Carbon Grey, Nitro Blue and Lightning Purple.

The Realme 3 Pro will be available on Flipkart, realme.com and other offline stores. According to the company, the Realme 3 Pro will be available on 8,000 offline stores across the country. The new device will also be made available on the Realme exclusive Kiosk at the Pacific Mall, Subhash Nagar, New Delhi.

Commenting on the sale, Madhav Sheth, Chief Executive Officer of Realme India said, “Considering the rapidly growing customer demand towards Realme 3 Pro, we are increasing the stocks and making our flagship device available at an open sale. We saw a phenomenal response from our customers for the flagship smartphone and had sold 1,70,000 lakh + units in 8 minutes of its first sale. The initiative is to fulfil our commitment to deliver best consumer experience to our customers.”

Realme 3 Pro specifications and features

The Realme 3 Pro sports a 6.3-inch Full-HD+ (1080 x 2340 pixels) IPS display with an aspect ratio of 19.5:9. The 2.5D display of the device comes with Corning Gorilla 5 protection on top. It is powered by an octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 710 SoC paired with Adreno 616 GPU. The new smartphone from Realme comes with either 4GB or 6GB of RAM paired with 64GB and 128GB of storage options. The smartphone has support for a microSD card of up to 256GB. The Realme 3 Pro runs Android 9 Pie skinned with ColorOS 6 and it packs a 4,045mAh battery with VOOC 3.0 fast charging support. The device comes with a rear-mounted fingerprint scanner along with Widevine L1 certification which allows the users to stream HD content from Amazon Prime Videos and Netflix.

For imaging duties, the Realme 3 Pro features a dual-rear camera setup with a 16MP main camera (IMX519 sensor) with an f/1.7 aperture and a 5MP secondary camera (GC5035 sensor) with an f/2.4 aperture. On the front, there is a 25MP selfie camera with an f/2.0 aperture. The Realme 3 Pro comes with camera features which includes 960fps super slow motion video recording, Ultra HD mode for capturing 64MP images along with an optimised Nightscape etc.

Other features of the Realme 3 Pro include 4G LTE, Wi-Fi 802.11ac (2.4GHz+5GHz), Bluetooth v5, a 3.5mm headphone jack, and a Micro-USB port.

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Samsung Notebook 7 with 13-inch and 15-inch displays announced: Key details

Avani Bagga
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Samsung Notebook 7 with 13-inch and 15-inch displays announced: Key details

South Korean technology giant Samsung has announced its new Notebook 7 laptops. Among one of the most noticeable things about the Samsung Notebook 7 laptops is their design, which looks inspired by Apple’s currently MacBook Pro laptops.

The new Samsung laptops will be available in 13-inch and 15-inch versions and they both run the Windows 10 operating system. The newly launched laptops come with diamond-cut edges, a wide trackpad and slim bezels surrounding their displays. Other than this, the font that the company has used on the keyboard, and the wallpaper are a lot like the ones we have seen on MacBook Pro laptops too.

In addition to this, there is a wide indentation that is present into the metal chassis that make it easier to hold the screen up. Among the two laptops, the 13-inch model resembles the Apple MacBook Pro more because of its keyboard arrangement and centre-aligned trackpad. If we speak about the 15-inch one, the laptop looks a little different with a numpad on its keyboard, because of which all the keys and its trackpad are placed left-of-centre.

However, unlike Apple’s MacBook Pro, Samsung’s NoteBook 7 comes with a number of useful ports including two USB 3.0 ports, a USB-C port, HDMI, and a microSD slot. But then, we should also point out that there is no support for Ethernet on both the variants.

Samsung Notebook 7 starts at a price of $999.99 and will be released in the United States on July 26. Interested customers will be able to pick the device from Amazon or Samsung’s official website.

Most of the specifications of the two variants of Samsung Notebook 7 are the same. The newly launched laptop is powered by an 8th Gen Intel Core processor and they come with 8GB of RAM. The displays of the laptops come with 1080p resolution and both the variants sport a fingerprint scanner.

However, the 15-inch variant of the laptop comes with Nvidia’s GeForce MX250 discrete graphics that are supposed to be better than Intel’s integrated graphics. It also has support for an additional SSD.

Another new laptop that the company has launched is a 15-inch Notebook 7 Force, which is a lot like Notebook 7. The new Samsung Notebook 7 Force is priced at $1,499 and it is powered Nvidia’s GeForce GTX 1650. The laptop comes with 16GB of RAM, an Ethernet port and two slots for storage expansion.  The company has touted the video editing and gaming capabilities of the laptop.

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iPhone 11 mock up reveals triple-rear camera setup with a different design

Aman Singh
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iPhone 11 mock up reveals triple-rear camera setup with a different design

Apple’s WWDC 2019 will kick-start today and the Cupertino-based technology firm will be speaking about the updates in its iOS 13 and various services today. Although the new iPhones 11 won’t be launching at today’s event and there are months for its launch event, but that hasn’t stopped the leaks and renders of the upcoming iPhone. According to various reports, just like last year, Apple will be launching three models of the new iPhone 11, which will be the successors to iPhone XR, iPhone XS and the iPhone XS Max. Now, a new mock-up has revealed the presence of a triple-rear camera setup on the back of the iPhone 11 and the iPhone 11 Max.

This time around, the relatively affordable of the lot will be named as iPhone XR 2, according to the report. The mock-up reveals that the new iPhone 11 and the iPhone 11 Max will have a square-shaped camera arrangement with three cameras at the back paired with an LED flash. But the camera placement and setup of the affordable iPhone XR will be different to the ones used in its costlier counterparts. Other than the camera placement, the design and build of these devices has also been revealed.

The new mock-up of the iPhone 11 and the iPhone 11 Max was revealed by the tipster named Ben Geskin and it is similar to the previous renders of the iPhone 11. As mentioned above, the iPhone 11 and the iPhone 11 Max will follow the smartphone trend of 2019, which is packing triple-rear cameras on the back of the flagship devices. Other than the camera placement, the design of the upcoming iPhone 11-series will be a lot different than the previous year iPhone devices. The mock-up device reveals an iPhone of golden colour and the Apple logo sits besides the squared-camera module which is silver in colour.

https://twitter.com/BenGeskin/status/1135068588937793536

Talking about the iPhone XR 2, it will hold a dual-rear camera setup and will come in bright and vibrant colour options which earlier reports suggested. But the iPhone 11 and the iPhone 11 Max will come in the same basic – Black, White and Gold colour options. Although the company hasn’t revealed the specific launch date of the new iPhone 11-series, but judging by its previous launches we could see the device launched around September or October of 2019.

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Microsoft’s Windows 10 Home users won’t be able to defer updates anymore

Aman Singh
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Microsoft’s Windows 10 Home users won’t be able to defer updates anymore

Microsoft’s Windows 10 has released its new update which was earlier promised by the company. This is the update that the users were waiting for as a few aspects of the previous Windows 10 were not something which let out positive results. Prior to this, Microsoft had promised the users of the Windows 10 that it will allow the ‘control, quality and transparency’ for both its minor and major upgrades. And it has done that with the new update of Windows 10 1903. But the thing is, some of the Windows 10 Home users (around 800M active user) have found out that they can’t automatically defer any updates of the OS.

According to CNet, the Windows 10 slowly learns with the new update, so, with this this update, users can’t automatically defer any updates. In other words, they aren’t getting the promised controls that Microsoft touted earlier. All they get is the option to manually pause the updates for around 35 days. The Windows 10 Home users would then have to repeat this process every week to delay the updates of the OS.

Earlier the Windows 10 Home users had the option to cancel or not let their previous version of Windows update to the latest version which in some cases came with problems and bugs. But this time, Microsoft is applying the ‘end-of-service dates’ to all the Windows 10 versions. So, when the company will start pushing out new updates for Windows 10, they will be installed automatically without needing the permission of the user. Even if the user had deferred the permission to install the new updates, they still would be downloaded and installed. So, this time, the users don’t have a say in this.

The users can find out if their version of Windows 10 is still in service or not. For that, they need to go to Settings, then to System and then to About. They can then be able to locate the version number on the official Windows 10 Release information website.

Other than the Windows 10 Home users, the Windows 10 Pro, Education and Enterprise users have the option to defer the updates automatically for both the types of updates. So, the Windows 10 Home users are on the short end here. Earlier, there were updates for the Windows 10 which came with several problems like decreasing the gaming performance or deleting the user’s personal data to name a few.

The other version of Windows 10 is getting the option to defer the updates for 36 months, but the Windows 10 Home users won’t be getting the same option.

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Apple clears out iTunes’ Facebook and Instagram pages

Avani Bagga
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Apple clears out iTunes’ Facebook and Instagram pages

Ahead of Apple’s WWDC 2019 event that is scheduled for today, a number of reports have surfaced online that claim that the Cupertino-based technology giant may have plans of closing down iTunes. Till now, Apple has not broken its silence on the matter, so iTunes being broken down into various services is just a speculation. While Apple may be still tight-lipped about it, it has given a big hint that the reports may be true. According to a report, Apple has cleared out the Instagram and Facebook pages of iTunes. So all the posts pictures and videos that were till now present on the page has now been removed.

With this, the days of iTunes are really looking numbered. The report of the Instagram and Facebook pages of iTunes being cleared out first appeared in MacRumors and it was discovered by some Redditors. According to the report, Apple seems to have migrated the iTunes accounts to Apple TV counterparts on Facebook and Instagram. However, the Twitter account of the service is still intact and no one knows its fate till now.

Reports about Apple’s plans on closing down iTunes and/or disintegrating it have been around for a while now. Some off them suggest that Apple will be breaking down the service into various other services like Music, Podcasts, and TV. Some leaked screenshots also surfaced online last week that showed a glimpse of what was supposed to be Apple Music and Apple TV apps. A report in Bloomberg has also indicated that the Cupertino-based technology giant will be closing down iTunes in favour of various different apps.

However, we will have to wait for a few more hours to find out what exactly Apple has up its sleeve. Apple’s WWDC is scheduled for today at 10 am PT. The event will take place at the McEnery Convention Center in San Jose, California. Every year at its developer conference, the company talks in detail about the newest software that will come to its devices later during the year. WWDC 2019 event will be very important for Apple as it has been focussing on its software and services business now more than ever.

Other than talk about services, Apple will also be giving us a first look at its iOS 13 software, so we would know what new features will be coming to iPhones and iPads. Announcements around macOS, WatchOS and tvOS are also expected at the event.

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Google outage takes down YouTube and Gmail, gets restored after hours

Gadget Bridge Bureau
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Google outage takes down YouTube and Gmail, gets restored after hours

A number of web services including YouTube, Snapchat, Gmail, Nest and Discord suffered major outages today. Users from various parts of the world have claimed that they could not access any of these services for a few hours today. The root cause of this is said to be an issue with Google’s cloud service that powers apps other than the technology giant’s own services. The issue in Google’s cloud service started at around 3 pm ET and it took the company more than four hours to resolve them completely.

Mostly, users in the East Coast of the United States were affected by the outage. however, some people across Europe also pointed out that they were not able to access YouTube and Gmail. Google’s G Suite Status dashboard also showed problems with a number of Google web services at one point. Other than this, Down Detector listed that YouTube suffered an outage in a number of countries across the globe.

As we mentioned earlier, YouTube and Gmail were not the only ones that suffered. Discord, Snapchat and Vimeo users were also affected and it is worth mentioning that all of these use Google Cloud on the backend. It has been reported that Spotify also experienced problems because of the outage in Google’s cloud service. This also stopped some of the stores from processing credit card payments for hours.

The technology giant has blamed “high levels of network congestion in the eastern USA” for the issues that have been caused in its cloud service. Speaking to technology website The Verge, the company said, “We will conduct a post mortem and make appropriate improvements to our systems to prevent this from happening again. We sincerely apologize to those that were impacted by today’s issues.”

We should mention that this isn’t the first time this year that such an outage has taken place. Earlier this year, YouTube was down for more than an hour and a half before the company restored the service.

Other than this, a big outage was also faced by Facebook and most of its services including Instagram, WhatsApp and even Oculus this year. All the apps and websites of the company were down for several hours across the globe before the social media giant managed to restore them.

Facebook addressed the outage by saying, “Earlier today, some people may have experienced trouble connecting to the family of apps. The issue has since been resolved; we’re sorry for any inconvenience.”

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Apple WWDC 2019: Key announcements to expect

Gadget Bridge Bureau
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Apple WWDC 2019: Key announcements to expect

Apple’s WWDC 2019 event is scheduled to begin tomorrow. During the WWDC, Apple has always given us key details about its services and software. Given that Apple has already had a service-driven event this year, it will be interesting to see what announcements it has up its sleeve for its upcoming event. Here’s a look at the key announcements that are expected at the WWDC 2019:

iOS 13 for iPhone

iphone xs 2

Apple is expected to unveil the iOS 13 at the WWDC 2019. It gives us a glimpse of its new operating system every year at the WWDC event and this year should be no different. Some screenshots of the iOS 13 have already been leaked by 9to5Mac and according to them, the Dark Mode is finally coming to Apple’s operating system. In fact, that will be the key highlight of the new iOS version. The Dark Mode ensures that users’ eyes are not strained too much and at the same time, it also saves battery on smartphones. Besides this, the company is also expected to update its other apps like Mail, Messages, Health and Reminders. Apple’s Find my Friends and Find my iPhone apps are also expected to be combined into a single app called ‘Find My’.

Updates to the iPad

iOS 13 for iPad

For the iPad, Apple will be updating the Files app and introducing a better way to multitask for the device. However, there is very little that is known about it so we will have to wait to find out more about it.

MacOS 10.15

MacBook Pro

Last year, Apple teased that it will make an easier way to get iOS apps on the Mac. The project of the Cupertino based technology giant has been named at ‘Marzipan’. With this, developers will be able to port the apps that they have developed for the iPad and use it in Mac. In addition to this, Apple will also be adding more apps and some Siri shortcuts to Mac. We should also be getting Screen Time and Family Sharing on the Mac as well.

An end to iTunes

iTunes

After 18 long years, Apple is finally going to break up the iTunes app. iTunes is basically the perfect example of a program that grew to the point that it was used to do too many things. But now, it has been reported that Apple will be breaking the app up into a new Music, Podcasts, TV and Books app. Well, we would say that this doesn’t come as a surprise as Apple has already made a separate app for Music and it has made multiple partnerships for a revamped TV app.

New updates for Apple Watch

apple watch series 3

Even now, Apple Watch is dependent on the iPhone for a number of tasks. However, Apple is expected to give the wearable more independence this year as it is launching an App Store of its own. The WatchOS will also get some updates on health as there are rumours that suggest an updated Health app for the Apple Watch. A Voice Memo app should be added to the Watch later too. We are also sure that the company will be adding more Watchfaces.

A Mac Pro?

apple logo 5

According to a report, this year’s WWDC will also see the launch of a hardware product from Apple. While nothing iPhone related is expected, Apple may have plans of launching a new Apple display.

Updates to tvOS 13

apple tv+

Given that Apple has had an event this year which focussed primarily on its new TV service, we are not expecting too many changes on this front. However, the company may give us some key updates about it that it did not during the previous event.

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How to Share Your Location and Trip Details on Google Maps 2019

Aman Singh
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How to Share Your Location and Trip Details on Google Maps 2019

How to Share Your Location ??? Here you go…

Google Maps is one of the best apps to so to when you are looking for a way in a new place, trying to find a location or trying to find an alternative route to your destination. But it can also be used to find other people or let other people find you.

Google Maps comes with a feature which can help you share your real-time location to any one of your contacts so that they know exactly where you are and know about your whereabouts.

Share your location on mobile devices also for an easy finding.

Here are the steps by which you can share your real-time location to anyone.

How to use Google Maps to help someone find you?

  1. Open Google Maps on your iOS or Android device.
  2. Tap on the Blue dot which will show you your current location.
  3. Then you can tap on the ‘Share Location’ which appears under the location details.
  4. You can then choose how long you want your location to be shared. You can set the time by increasing or decreasing the hours or minutes. You can even set the time to indefinitely which later can be disabled manually.
  5. If you are an Android user, you need to select the person from your list of contacts with whom you want to share your location. Or you can share your location using WhatsApp, Gmail or Messages.
  6. If you are an iPhone user, you need to tap on the ‘Select People’ to choose the person from your list of contacts. Then you can send them your location through Messages or by any other means of communication.
  7. But if you want to share your location through the app itself, you would need to select a contact and then share your location with them.
  8. Once done, it would send a notification on the phone of the person with whom you had shared your location.

How to Share your Trip’s Progress?

You can even send your location to a person so that they can see your estimated time of arrival at the destination.

  1. Open the Google Maps app and start your navigation. You can set the starting location and the destination location.
  2. Then ‘Start’ to begin the navigation.
  3. After that, you need to tap on the arrow key on the bottom of the screen ‘^’.
  4. Then you need to tap on the ‘Share trip Progress’ from the list of menus.
  5. Select the person with whom you want to share the trip progress.
  6. After that, your shared trip details will be shared with the person.

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How to update the Android version on your smartphone

Avani Bagga
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How to update the Android version on your smartphone

Software updates are very critical in keeping Android smartphones up to date. Since last year, a number of smartphone makers have improved in terms of rolling out Android updates and security patches to their handsets. But then, there are those who are still very laid-back about it. While there is no control over when a smartphone maker rolls out an update to its devices, what we can do is make sure we update our handset timely once we receive the update. Keeping our smartphone updated to the latest Android version makes sure that its performance remains intact.

If our smartphone is not updated to the latest version, it may become very slow to work with and it may even wrongly interpret and perform various functions. Here, we have listed down how you can check whether your smartphone has an Android update or a security patch and how to update it.

Firstly, let’s begin with checking whether or not your smartphone even has an update. The need for checking for an update arises because there are times when smartphone makers roll out updates in phases. They may differ region to region and even handset to handset. In most cases, your smartphone will get a notification as soon as it gets an update. You can head to Settings > System Update > Check now/ Check for updates in case others around you receive the update and you don’t. If there is an Android update available for your handset, it will appear on the screen,

Now, let’s look at the steps of installing an Android update on your smartphone. But please note that these are only applicable for Samsung, OnePlus, Nokia, and Google devices. Here are the steps that you should follow:

  1. Open Settings app of your smartphone.
  2. In the search bar, type ‘Update’. In the results, ‘System Update’ or its equivalent will pop-up.
  3. Tap on System Update and then click on ‘Check for updates’. The option of ‘Check now’ may have also been used instead of ‘Check for updates’.
  4. Once the update appears, click on ‘Download and Install’.

This will update the Android version on your smartphone. Your smartphone will restart during this process. Even if it restarts more than once, don’t fret about it.

However, we should mention that if you cannot see an update after Step 3, it may mean that your smartphone manufacturer has not rolled it out to your device yet, so maybe you can try again after a few weeks.

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Spotify to let users enjoy music together with its ‘Social Listening’ feature

Gadget Bridge Bureau
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Spotify to let users enjoy music together with its ‘Social Listening’ feature

Sweden-based music streaming website Spotify has started testing a new feature called ‘Social Listening’. As the name suggests, the feature enables multiple users to add songs and make playlists in real time. However, as of now, the feature is only being tested by the employees of the company and there is no word on whether it will roll out to the app’s over 100 million users across the globe.

Renowned reverse engineer Jane Manchun Wong tweeted this week, “Spotify is working on ‘Social Listening’, letting friends to control music together with their own devices. Scan Spotify Code or open link for it to begin.”

Along with his tweet, Wong also shared song screenshots of the Android version of the app that shows the screen set-up ready to let users scan each other codes. The option of sharing a link to create a shared queue can also be seen.

In a statement to technology website TechCrunch, Spotify said, “We’re always testing new products and experiences, but have no further news to share at this time.”

We should also mention that earlier this month, the Sweden based company revealed that it is working on its first ever hardware – a voice-controlled music and podcast player called ‘Car Things’. As the name suggests, the upcoming player is aimed at cars. The test of ‘Car Things’ will be limited to the United States and the company will invite a select few Spotify Premium users for it. The company has also stated that it does not have any plans to launch the device for consumers in the near future.

It has also been revealed that the device can be plugged into the vehicle’s 12-volt outlet for power and it can now be connected to a person’s car as well as Bluetooth at the same time. The test is meant to include a small group of people and hence, some premium users would receive the device for free.

In an unrelated piece of news, Spotify has released a list of the most discovered artists by ‘Gen Z’ in India. According to Spotify, the 18 to 24 years old listeners in India are discovering music which is not just limited to the Western and pop, but they are also expanding their taste in music by listening to K-pop and EDMs. Spotify also states that 18 to 24 years old listeners are the largest Spotify listeners on a global scale with more than 34% of overall listeners.

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PUBG Mobile: Teenager dies after playing the game for 6 continuous hours

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PUBG Mobile: Teenager dies after playing the game for 6 continuous hours

A 16-year-old boy had a cardiac arrest while playing PUBG Mobile for 6 hours at a stretch in Madhya Pradesh and died because of it, according to his father. The deceased has been identified as Furkan Qureshi, who was a student in Class 12. The incident happened on May 28 when the boy, along with his family had visited Neemuch to attend a wedding. Otherwise, the family is settled in Nasirabad in Rajasthan, revealed the deceased’s father Haroon Rasheed Qureshi.

According to the Police, they have not launched a probe on death yet as they have not been informed about it by the family of the deceased. Speaking to PTI, Qureshi said that before the boy became unresponsive while playing PUBG Mobile on his smartphone, he shouted: “blast it, blast it.”

He further said, “He was a very active lad. My son was so engrossed in PUBG game that he played it from Sunday evening to early hours of Monday. He slept for a few hours and after getting up had his breakfast and then played the game for six hours at a stretch.”

Qureshi also said, “Furkan shouted ‘blast it, blast it’ after his character in the game lost a battle.” The family immediately took the boy to the hospital after he became unresponsive while playing PUBG Mobile. However, he could not be saved there.

Speaking about the matter, cardiologist Ashok Jain said, “I examined him at my nursing home. He was unresponsive. His heartbeat had stopped. I tried my best but he was brought dead.”

According to another cardiologist, Vipul Garg, said that nowadays, children get so involved in playing games on the smartphones their emotions run very high due to the thrill and excitement. With all of this, they become vulnerable to heart failure. He also added that children should be kept away from mobile games like these.

Kotwali police station inspector Ajay Sarwan has said that they have not been informed that the boy’s death happened because of a mobile game and hence, they are not probing it.

We should mention that PUBG Mobile has repeatedly been facing flak for being too addictive and violent. Scores of users around the world are addicted to the game and spend hours every single day while playing the game. The game has also been banned in Gujarat on the ground that it leads to violent behaviour among the youth.

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World Cup 2019: Hit the Hat-Trick Offer on Philips TV and audio announced

Gadget Bridge Bureau
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World Cup 2019: Hit the Hat-Trick Offer on Philips TV and audio announced

TPV Technology has announced a Hit the Hat-Trick offer with deals on its various products, with an aim of enhancing the World Cup experience for its consumers. The company is kick-starting 5 weeks of the offer today and it will continue for the next five weeks. During this time, deals will be available on all popular models in the Philips Home Audio and Television range of products.

In addition to this, the offer can be availed via online as well as offline channels. TPV has also said that in order to make the offer more inclusive, it has ensured a participation opportunity for its customers across purchase slabs starting from Rs 5,000 and going up to Rs 75,000 and above.

Customers who fall in the purchase range of Rs 5,000- Rs 10,000 can get benefits in kind worth Rs 5,000. Those who have made a purchase within the range of Rs 10,001-Rs 25,000 are entitled to benefits worth Rs 10,000 and customers who have made purchases worth Rs 25,001- Rs 75,000 will be getting benefits of Rs 15,000. And finally, customers who spend above Rs 75,000 can get benefits worth Rs 20,000.

The company has also said that one lucky winner every week will get a chance to win the new 65-inch Philips Ambilight television worth Rs 1,38,999. We should mention that the company says that this is available in its three-sided Ambilight avatar.

TPV Technology will also feature lucky winners on Philips TV social media handles as part of the Philips Ambilight television campaign. The company had recently launched its flagship 65-inch Philips Ambilight television in India.

Speaking about the offers, Mr Arun Menon, Country Business Head, Philips Branded Television and Audio, TPV Technology India Pvt Ltd said, “The world cup is like a festival for India. We understand the passion of our consumers and their support for our team is commendable. I believe that this offer will give them a chance to enjoy the most prestigious tournament through a more immersive viewing experience. With the best in class technology, the Philips Ambilight Television takes visual experience and emotions #beyondthescreen. TPV wishes team India and all the viewers the best for the upcoming championship.”

You can avail the offer till July 7, 2019, and can be availed on online channels like Amazon India and Flipkart. If you prefer to shop offline, you can head to retail stores like Croma, Vijay Sales and Reliance Digital.

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How to find and use frames on Facebook Stories

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How to find and use frames on Facebook Stories

Stories were initially started on Snapchat, which let users share images and videos with their friends for 24 hours. After multiple unsuccessful attempts of buying Snapchat and its building its own versions of the app, Facebook just took inspiration from the feature and introduced it on Instagram. Since Instagram is a photo-sharing platform, Stories became an instant hit there. Following this, the social media giant rolled out the feature to WhatsApp, Messenger and Facebook. If anyone is under the misconception that Facebook Stories are not as popular as the ones on other platforms, we should tell you that the social media giant recently announced that it has more than 500 million people use the feature on its platform every day.

Yes, it’s a big number and it clearly indicates that scores of people across the globe are using Facebook Stories. However, if you have not started using it till now, it’s never too late. They work a lot as Instagram Stories do. But apart of ‘Filters’, Facebook Stories come with ‘Frames’.

If you are new to Facebook Stories, we should tell you about Frames as they would help you make your Story different and more interesting. As the name suggests, Frames are basically different kind of outlines and drawings that can be added to the photo or video you are uploading on your Story to make it look more attractive. Various companies have also made their own Frames and put them on Facebook. For instance, LG made some frames for Facebook Stories to celebrate its 22 years in India. There are frames available for Salman Khan’s movie Bharat and also the famous ‘Pyar ek dhoka hai’ frame from AIB.

Here’s how you can find and use frames on Facebook Stories:

  1. Open your Facebook app.
  2. You will see rectangular shaped icons on the top of the page. These are your friends’ Facebook Stories. There will also be one with your profile picture on it. Click on it to make your own Story.
  3. You will see the option of adding a picture or a video, text, taking a selfie for the Story, making a Boomerang or creating a Poll.
  4. Select the option of your choice and upload the media that you wish to share.
  5. After this, you can swipe right on the Story you are creating to change filters.
  6. To add a frame, choose the option of ‘Effects’ on the bottom left.
  7. A number of frames will open up in front of you. You can try on a number of them and keep the one you like on your Story.
  8. Once this is done, just click ‘Share to Story’ button on the bottom right.

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Microsoft says 1 million computers are still exposed to Windows security exploit

Avani Bagga
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Microsoft says 1 million computers are still exposed to Windows security exploit

Earlier this month, software giant Microsoft revealed a major Windows security vulnerability, because of which a ‘wormable’ attack could become widespread by going from one vulnerable computer to the other. This can be a lot like the flaw that led to the spread of WannaCry malware that made thousands of machines stop working. While the company has released patches for Windows systems including the older ones like Windows XP machines, some reports suggest that there are around 1 million systems that are connected to the internet and can be attacked.

According to Simon Pope, director of incident response at Microsoft’s Security Response Center, “Microsoft is confident that an exploit exists for this vulnerability. It’s been only two weeks since the fix was released and there has been no sign of a worm yet. This does not mean that we’re out of the woods.”

He also noted that even that WannaCry attacks started only two months after the release of patches for EternalBlue exploit. So, in spite of the fact that there were 60 days to patch these systems, a number of machines were infected. We should mention that EternalBlue exploit was leaked publicly, and this allowed hackers to create malware freely. The new BlueKeep flaw has not been disclosed publicly, however, that does not imply that there would be no malware.

According to Pope, “It is possible that we won’t see this vulnerability incorporated into malware. But that’s not the way to bet.”

The new major Windows security exploit comes with a critical remote code execution vulnerability in Remote Desktop Services that exists in Windows XP, Windows 7 other server versions. The server versions include the likes of Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2008 R2, and Windows Server 2008. These make up a majority of overall Windows machines in use and this is particularly true for those in corporate environments.

The software giant is, therefore, strongly advising system admins to update machines as soon as they can.

Recently, Microsoft had also recently rolled out the Windows 10 May 2019 update to everyone.  The Windows 10 May 2019 comes with a number of new features such as giving users enhanced control over the installation of updates, a dedicated sandbox that can be used for testing apps and more.

Microsoft has announced that the update will be rolled out in a phased manner. You can check for the Windows 10 May 2019 update on your PC by heading to Settings > Update & Security > Windows Update > Check for updates.

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Flipkart Flipstart Days sale: 5 laptop deals you cannot resist

Avani Bagga
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Flipkart Flipstart Days sale: 5 laptop deals you cannot resist

Flipkart is back with its Flipstart Days sale. It has started today and will go on till June 3. During the Flipkart Flipstart Days sale, a number of deals and offers on laptops, smart TVs and other gadgets can be availed. Besides discounts, you can also get exchange offers and no-cost EMI options during the next three days on Flipkart. The company has also tied up with Axis Bank to offer a 10% instant discount to the bank’s credit and debit card users. Here’s a look at the five best laptop deals that you can get during the Flipkart Flipstart Days Sale:

Acer Aspire 5 (Price: 59,999, Sale price: Rs 39,990)

Acer Aspire 5 laptop has a 15.6-inch display and it is powered by the 7th-generation Intel Core i5 processor clubbed with 8GB of RAM. The laptop comes with a 1TB hard drive and runs Windows 10 Home out-of-the-box. The offering from Acer comes with Nvidia GeForce MX130 graphics card and has 2GB of video RAM. You can even get an additional discount of up to Rs 16,000 on exchanging your old laptop, provided it is in working condition.

HP Pavilion x360 (Price: Rs 47,509, Sale price: Rs 42,990)

HP Pavilion x360 id a 2-in-1 laptop and it is powered by the 8th generation Intel Core i3 processor clubbed with 4GB of RAM. The laptop comes with a 256GB of SSD storage and runs Windows 10 Home. HP Pavilion x360 laptop sports a 14-inch HD display and comes pre-loaded with Microsoft Office. You can also get an additional 10% discount if you pay for your purchase via Axis Bank credit or debit card.

Acer Aspire 3 (Price: Rs 42,720, Sale price: Rs 27,990)

Acer’s Aspire 3 (A315-41) laptop is powered by the AMD Ryzen 5 processor clubbed with 4GB of RAM. The laptop comes with 1TB of conventional hard drive and runs Windows 10 Home. The e-commerce website is also offering an exchange of up to Rs 16,000 and an extra Rs 8,500 on a few laptops.

HP 15q 15.6-inch laptop (Price: Rs 59,247, Sale price: Rs 51,990)

The HP 15q 15.6-inch laptop is powered by the 8th generation Intel Core i5 processor and comes with 8GB of RAM. It also has a conventional hard drive of 1TB. The laptop runs Windows 10 Home and sports a 15.6-inch full-HD LED display.

Asus ZenBook 13 (Price: Rs 78,990, Sale price: Rs 64,990)

Asus ZenBook 13 is powered by an 8th generation Intel Core i5 processor and comes with 256GB of SSD storage and Windows 10 Home. The laptop sports a 13.3-inch full-HD LED display and comes with an anti-glare coating. You can also get an additional discount of Rs 16,000 if you exchange your old laptop provided it is a workable condition.

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Apple leads the wearables market in terms of shipments in Q1 2019: IDC

Avani Bagga
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Apple leads the wearables market in terms of shipments in Q1 2019: IDC

In their initial few years, wearables were considered to be a luxury that not everyone wanted to pay for. But as they are getting more useful features, the world is getting warmer towards them. International Data Corporation (IDC) has just revealed the wearable shipments for Q1 2019, and the number is a whopping 49.6 million. This is 55.2% more than Q1 of 2018. In addition to this, the research firm also said in terms of shipment volume, market share and year-over-year growth, Apple has grabbed the top spot in Q1 2019 with 25.8% market share. The Cupertino based technology giant is followed by Xiaomi and Huawei with 13.3% and 10% market share respectively.

According to IDC’s ‘Worldwide Quarterly Wearable Device Tracker’, the wrist-worn wearables had a 63.2% share in the market, which is a clear majority, and on the other hand, the ear-worn ones saw 135.1% year-on-year growth, making them the fastest growing in the segment. Ear-worn wearables accounted for 34.6% of all the wearables that have been shipped in Q1 of 2019.

Addressing the new numbers, Jitesh Ubrani, Research Manager for IDC Mobile Device Trackers said in a statement, “The elimination of headphone jacks and the increased usage of smart assistants both inside and outside the home have been driving factors in the growth of ear-worn wearables.”

The Apple Watch has become immensely successful in terms of capturing unit share. But then, we must also point out that dollar share as the average selling price of Apple Watches has gone up from $426 in Q1 2018 to $455 in Q1 2019.

Urbani further said, “Looking ahead, this will become an increasingly important category as a major platform and device makers use ear-worn devices as an on-ramp to entice consumers into an ecosystem of wearable devices that complement the smartphone but also offer the ability to leave the phone behind when necessary.”

Chinese technology company Xiaomi grabbed the No. 2 spot because its Mi Band saw a lot of popularity this year and accounted for around 5 million shipments. Huawei also had a great quarter with a growth of 282.2%. The company’s success in the wearables market is tied directly to its success in the smartphone market, according to IDC. The research firm also said that the reason behind this is that the two products often are bundled together.

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Apple to restrict third-party tracking in children’s apps: Report

Avani Bagga
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Apple to restrict third-party tracking in children’s apps: Report

Cupertino based technology giant Apple has made some improvements when it comes to limiting ad tracking for its app, it is far from being foolproof. Although most people know what kind of ads to avoid, kids cannot be counted on for this. They are often more vulnerable to advertisements and are more likely to give away sensitive information easily. A report has surfaced on The Wall Street Journal that says that Apple is planning to announce new limitations for apps that are meant for kids at the upcoming WWDC 2019.

We should mention that ad-tracking is a process by which third-party companies gather information about users’ browsing habits and then further share it. This information is then used to specifically target the users’ interests. For example, if you have searched about the benefits of running, you may see ads about running shoes. According to the report, a children’s app — Curious World — was sending children’s name, age and books to Facebook. Although the company has claimed that it was just a glitch, trackers were found in 79 out of 80 apps.

There have been a number of reports about how much data gets passed on from iPhones to various third parties. This becomes even more crucial in Apple’s case because the company has always spoken about how much it values its customers’ privacy. Another report in The Washington Post spoke about apps on iPhone sending data to marketing companies including users’ phone numbers and location. The report further pointed it out that this happens at night when the smartphone is dormant.

It may be time for Apple to finally address these issues and come with solutions for them. We will find out at the WWDC 2019 if the company what exactly it plans to do about it if it is planning anything at all.

Besides this, the company is expected to give us a first look at its iOS 13 and talk more about its apps and services. We should mention that lately, Apple has started focussing a lot on its services and even launched its News and TV+ services. Keeping this in mind, the WWDC 2019 will be a very important event for the company and we are likely to see some interesting announcements.

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Samsung to launch its Galaxy A80 in India soon: Report

Aman Singh
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Samsung to launch its Galaxy A80 in India soon: Report

Samsung had launched the top-end smartphones in its Galaxy A-series with Galaxy A70 and Galaxy A80. Samsung Galaxy A70 has already been launched and it has even gone on sale in India. But the Samsung Galaxy A80 has not been launched in the country so far. But according to a report, the smartphone will soon be launched in India. Samsung will be holding an exclusive preview of the Samsung Galaxy A80 in various cities in India next week. This hints the arrival of Samsung Galaxy A80 in India as soon as the first week of June. The report further states that the South Korean technology giant will be holding its launch events in different cities in India on June 8 and June 9.

According to a report by Sammobile, the company will be launching the Samsung Galaxy A80 in five different cities in India – Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Bengaluru. The events will take place simultaneously and will start from 6pm IST onwards. On June 8, 2019, the company will be unveiling the Samsung Galaxy A80 at Delhi, Mumbai and Hyderabad. While on June 9, 2019, the Samsung Galaxy A80 will be launching on Kolkata and Bengaluru. The report also mentions that the device’s launch will be open to all but the registrations might be needed on the Samsung Members application. Once the registrations have been done and once the launch date nears, the details of the venue for all the cities will be shared on the application itself.

The record further states that the preview events of the launch will be followed by the official launch of the new Samsung Galaxy A80 in India. Although no official pricing has been revealed yet by Samsung, the Galaxy A80 is expected to hold a price tag between Rs 40,000 and Rs 50,000.

As mentioned above, the Samsung Galaxy A80 was launched earlier in April in Thailand and it came with a good set of specifications. Some of its top-highlights were the notch-less full display camera, a powerful Exynos CPU and a good amount of RAM. But the thing which distinguishes it from other devices in the Galaxy A-series or other smartphones is its pop-up rotating camera setup which holds a triple-rear camera. The rear camera can rotate to function as a front camera as well. The company has set its price to EUR 649 (approximately Rs 50,500), so the India pricing of the smartphone should be something similar. More details about the device will be available once it launches in the Indian market.

The launch venue and the launch details about the upcoming Samsung Galaxy A80 haven’t been confirmed by Samsung yet. So it should be taken with a pinch of salt.

UPDATE: Samsung has denied any launch events being held in India on June 8 and 9. 

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Nokia 6.1 Plus, Nokia 5.1 Plus are available on a discount on Amazon India and Flipkart

Avani Bagga
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Nokia 6.1 Plus, Nokia 5.1 Plus are available on a discount on Amazon India and Flipkart

HMD Global’s budget smartphones Nokia 6.1 Plus and Nokia 5.1 Plus are now available at a discounted price on Amazon India and Flipkart. If you have been planning to buy a smartphone that is not heavy on your pocket, then these are the best possible deals that you can get right now. Nokia 6.1 Plus, which was earlier available at Rs 15,499 can now be picked up at Rs 12,969 from the two websites. Amazon India is also selling the 4GB RAM/64GB storage variant of the handset at the same price.

In addition to this, you can also get an off of up to Rs 8,000 on the smartphone, if you exchange an old handset for it. Coming to Nokia 5.1 Plus, it can be bought for Rs 8,199 instead of Rs 10,549. On this device, Flipkart is also offering an extra 5% discount to those who pay for their purchase using Axis Bank Buzz Credit cards, according to a report in Nokiapoweruser.

Coming to the specifications, Nokia 5.1 Plus has a 5.86-inch HD+ display with a notch, is powered by the MediaTek Helio P60 processor and houses a 3,060mAh battery. It has a dual rear camera setup with 13MP and 5MP sensors and for selfies and video calls, there is an 8MP selfie camera on it. It also has a USB Type-C port which is a surprise at this price point.

On the other hand, Nokia 6.1 Plus features a 5.8-inch Full HD+ display with a notch and is powered by Snapdragon 636 SoC. Like Nokia 5.1 Plus, the device has a 3,060mAh battery and it too has a dual rear camera setup which comprises of a 16MP paired with a 5MP sensor. On the front panel, there is a 16MP selfie camera.

In an unrelated piece of news, HMD Global is speculated to launch its Nokia 9 PureView smartphone in India on June 6. The smartphone is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 processor and comes with a penta-camera setup on its back panel.

The company is also said to have an event on the same date and same time in Italy. However, it will be launching a different set of smartphones there.

The smartphones that are expected to launch in Italy on June 6 are Nokia X71 and Nokia 2.2. We should mention that Nokia 2.2 reportedly received the certifications in India and several other markets earlier, so it could be the device the company is planning to unveil.

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Huawei Mate 20 Pro gets reinstated on Android Q Beta programme

Gadget Bridge Bureau
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Huawei Mate 20 Pro gets reinstated on Android Q Beta programme

Huawei Mate 20 Pro smartphone has been reinstated in Google’s Android Q beta programme. The company had removed the smartphone after a ban was imposed by the United States on the Chinese technology brand. However, after the authorities issued a 90-day reprieve period, Huawei Mate 20 Pro has been relisted. So for now, the smartphone is back on the list of the handset that will be receiving the Android Q beta update whenever it arrives. It is worth noticing that Huawei Mate 20 Pro Android Q beta programme is limited only to confirmed Google Play developers.

The technology giant has updated its Android Q beta device page and it now shows Huawei Mate 20 Pro as an eligible smartphone once more. The options of downloading the beta update, along with ‘report issue’ and ‘support’ options are also live now. We should mention that recently, Huawei Mate X and Huawei P30 Pro were also removed from Android.com website, and they have not yet been reinstated. For that matter, Google has not even relisted the Huawei smartphones on Android Enterprise Device list. The company had removed all of Huawei smartphones and even Nexus 6P from its Android Enterprise Devices list.

This obviously happened after the US government imposed a ban on all the companies in the country from doing any kind of business with Huawei. Google was followed by Qualcomm, Broadcom, ARM and Microsoft. The company was also removed from various groups like Wi-Fi Alliance, SD Association, and JEDEC. however, it has now been relisted on Wi-Fi Alliance and SD Association.

To recall, Huawei Mate 20 Pro runs Android 9.0 Pie skinned with EMUI 9.0 and sports a 6.39-inch QHD+ curved OLED display. Powered by the Huawei’s flagship HiSilicon Kirin 980 processor, the smartphone houses 6GB. The smartphone comes with 128GB storage and for more storage, users can install a nano-memory card of up to 256GB.

For imaging duties, Huawei Mate 20 Pro mobile sports a triple rear camera setup that comprises of a 40MP primary wide-angle sensor, a 20MP ultra wide angle sensor, and an 8MP 3X telephoto sensor. For selfies and video calls, there is a 24MP RGB selfie camera that supports 3D facial unlocking.

Huawei Mate 20 Pro houses a 4,200mAh battery that has support for 40W SuperCharge technology and wireless reverse charging. For connectivity, Huawei Mate 20 Pro has support for 4G LTE, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth v5.0, GPS/ A-GPS, GLONASS, and a USB Type-C port.

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How to live stream games on YouTube?

Aman Singh
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How to live stream games on YouTube?

With the rise of good and popular games – single player or multiplayer – game streaming has become one of the biggest entertainment mediums. There are a number of ways to stream games, but YouTube Gaming is one of the easier and well-known platforms for it. You can either upload your game streaming videos on the YouTube or do a live streaming. To stream a game without difficulties you need the following things – a good PC, high-speed broadband internet, an encoder program (OBS or XSplit Broadcaster), and most importantly a verified YouTube account.

You can download the encoder programs for Windows or MacOS or Linux from the internet. OBS and XSplit Broadcaster are free and are easy to use. To start streaming you would need to verify your YouTube account. Follow these steps to verify your YouTube account:

  1. If you have an account, sign in to YouTube. If you don’t have an account, you can simply make one by following the details on the Create an account page.
  2. After signing in, go to YouTube.com/verify.
  3. Here, you will be given the option to choose your country.
  4. Enter your phone number and then you can click on submit.
  5. After that, you will be asked to receive a voice message or text message for verification.
  6. Once the text or voice message arrives, it will carry a verification code. Enter the code in the required space and click on submit.

After your account have been verified you would need a good computer, internet connection, a webcam (optional) and good gaming skills. If you do not know how to use an encoder, you can stream live using YouTube without an encoder. For that, you need to have Chrome Web Browser as YouTube has made it easier to stream using Chrome. However, you can only stream videos taken from a webcam and audio from a microphone. Here are the steps by which you can stream live on YouTube:

  1. Go to your main YouTube account and then go to the Creator Studio page.
  2. Click on the camera icon with the ‘+’ icon.
  3. After that, click Go Live.
  4. Once it is done, you will be asked to provide Chrome to access to your webcam and microphone. Then you need to click Allow.
  5. After that, you need to enter the title and description for your stream and then click on Next.
  6. Click Go Live and you will be live on the platform
  7. Once the streaming is done, click END STREAM to end the live stream.

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Flipkart is offering discounts on Vivo NEX, Vivo V11 Pro and others

Gadget Bridge Bureau
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Flipkart is offering discounts on Vivo NEX, Vivo V11 Pro and others

Flipkart and Vivo have partnered to offer discounts of up to Rs 10,200 on various smartphones from the company. The handsets that are on sale include Vivo NEX, Vivo V11 Pro and Vivo Y95 among others. If you are an interested buyer, you can get an extra 5% discount provided you pay for your purchase via Axis Bank Buzz Credit card. There is also an option opting for no-cost EMI plans and an exchange bonus Here’s a look at all the Vivo smartphones that are available at a discount on Flipkart:

Vivo NEX (Rs 39,990)

Vivo NEX is the company’s last year’s flagship smartphone that comes with a pop-up selfie camera. Currently, the handset can be bought at Rs 39,990 from Flipkart. We should mention that at the time of its launch, the smartphone was priced at Rs 44,990. Other specifications of the smartphone include a 4,000mAh battery, an 8MP selfie camera and Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 845 SoC.

Vivo V11 Pro (Rs 23,990)

Vivo V11 Pro was launched at Rs 25,990 in India, but on Flipkart, you can buy it for Rs 23,990. The key highlight of the smartphone is its in-display fingerprint sensor. Other specifications of the handset include Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 SoC, a dual rear camera setup with 12MP and 5MP sensors and a 25MP selfie camera.

Vivo V11 (Rs 19,990)

Vivo V11 smartphone was earlier priced at Rs 20,990 in India, it can now be picked up at Rs 19,990 from Flipkart. The smartphone has an in-display fingerprint scanner and it comes with a 25MP selfie camera. The smartphone is powered by MediaTek Helio P60 chipset and houses a 3,315mAh battery.

Vivo V9 Pro (Rs 14,990)

The 4GB RAM/64GB storage variant of Vivo V9 Pro is available for Rs 14,990 on Flipkart as of now. Prior to this, the smartphone was available for Rs 17,990. The key highlights of the smartphone are its Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 SoC, 16MP selfie camera, a dual rear camera setup with 13MP and 2Mp sensors and a 3,260mAh battery.

Vivo Y95 (Rs 13,990)

The Vivo Y95 smartphone is available on Flipkart at Rs 13,990 instead of Rs 16,990. The smartphone is powered by 12nm Snapdragon 439 processor and its key highlight is its 20MP AI selfie camera. The smartphone comes with a dual rear camera setup with 13MP and 2MP sensors and houses a 4,030mAh battery. The smartphone has support for a Face Unlock feature as well as a fingerprint sensor.

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WhatsApp’s new beta update for iOS has removed the option to save profile pictures

Aman Singh
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WhatsApp’s new beta update for iOS has removed the option to save profile pictures

Facebook-owned instant messaging platform, WhatsApp has rolled out a new beta update for the iOS devices. The WhatsApp v.2.19.60.26 beta update for iOS devices removes the option to save someone’s profile picture on the platform. The platform had already removed this feature of saving the profile picture on Android devices earlier this month. The feature comes few weeks late on iOS but it was already being rolled out through a stable update on WhatsApp Business for iOS.

This new change was first reported by WABetaInfo and according to the reports, WhatsApp didn’t reveal anything about the removal of this feature or why it removed the feature. The company also didn’t reveal when this feature will be rolling out as a stable version.

Although the new WhatsApp beta update for iOS has removed the ability to save the profile picture to the gallery but the users can still save the profile picture of a group they are part of. Furthermore, profile pictures can also be saved by taking a screenshot. Other than removing the option to save the profile picture, WhatsApp has also added new useful features. In the new beta version of WhatsApp you can see how many items has been sent to you by a person and the overall size of the things receive.

For Android, WhatsApp v2.19.143 beta was rolled out two weeks ago which had removed the option to save the profile photo to the gallery. The company had completely removed the option of sharing or saving the profile photo of a user which was present earlier. Now, WhatsApp v 2.19.60.26 beta version for iOS has brought this feature to the iPhones and the iPads. WhatsApp has also changed the audio coding format for the iOS users. Earlier, WhatsApp used Opus voice message format which it changed to M4A in the new beta update. But the audio format change is available only for the iOS beta version of WhatsApp and the Android beta version is yet to receive this feature.

To download the new beta version of WhatsApp for iOS the users would need to enrol themselves to the beta programme of WhatsApp. But if they are already a part of the beta programme then they can go to the Apple App Store and download the beta version of the application.

For the latest gadget and tech news, and gadget reviews, follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. For newest tech & gadget videos subscribe to our YouTube Channel. You can also stay up to date using the Gadget Bridge Android App.

Apple has increased the cellular download limit of iPhones and iPads from 150MB to 200MB

Aman Singh
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Apple has increased the cellular download limit of iPhones and iPads from 150MB to 200MB

Apple has increased the cellular download limit for its iPhones and iPads which earlier prevented the users from downloading large sized files from the Apple Store. This included all sorts of files like games, apps, video podcasts, iTunes Store films, etc. The download limit was increased by the Cupertino-based company earlier this week. While the cellular download limit for iPhones and iPads was previously set to 150MB, it has now been increased to 200MB.

With the increased cellular download limit of the iPhones and iPads, users can download more applications and games from the Apple Store over cellular network. But it is still limited to 200MB. This is similar to the data restriction in Android which can be set by the user himself so that the device doesn’t use more data than it is specified.

Apple’s cellular data limit prevents the users of iPhones and iPads from accidentally downloading a big file, game, movie or app from the Apple Store and use up all of their limited carrier data. As mentioned above, it is similar to the data restriction feature of Android. While Android smartphones let their users decide the data limit, Apple sets their own limits for the iOS devices users. Many users have complained about this feature that it doesn’t offer any opportunity to override the data limit and download the whole file.

A data limit is set by the company itself (200MB) and this means that not any iPhone of iPad users can download apps or games which are over 200MB using their cellular network, even if they are using an unlimited plan.

Once the user is downloading a large file and once the data limit is reached, he/she will be alerted about his/ her data use. They will be informed that they are about to download a large file and will be given an option of ‘Continue Download’ button which can be tapped to continue with their downloads.

Last time, it was in September 2017 when the cellular data limit of the iPhones and iPads was increased from 100MB to 150 MB. And now, two years later in 2019, the 150MB cellular data limit was increased to 200MB. It should be noted that, Apple tests the download limit against the compressed file sized applications. But the App Store shows the application file size before they are compressed. It means that the compressed version of the game will strip away some of the game/ file’s useless data. In other words, if a game is shown to be of 230MB on the App Store, the actual game after installation might drop down below 200MB.

For the latest gadget and tech news, and gadget reviews, follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. For newest tech & gadget videos subscribe to our YouTube Channel. You can also stay up to date using the Gadget Bridge Android App.

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