The Honor Magic 2 smartphone is all set to be announced on October 31. The upcoming offering by Honor will be an all-screen smartphone which will come with a slider camera, similar to Xiaomi Mi Mix 3’s and Oppo Find X‘s.
Honor Magic 2 mobile has been in a news a lot for the last few weeks and the company itself has been posting about the smartphone that it will be launching in a few days’ time. And now, Honor has new official images of the smartphone on its Weibo account.
These images are not renders of Honor Magic 2, but instead show the smartphone inside the box, its slider selfie cameras, its triple rear camera setup, and the colour variants.
As seen in the pictures, the smartphone comes in Blue and Pink/Purple gradient colour variants. In the photos, both the colour variants look rather pleasing. The smartphones’ back panels have two colours. Towards the top, one is Blue while the other is Pink. The colour slowly change towards the bottom of the back panel — so Blue makes a few shades darker and Pink becomes Purple. Speaking of the box, it is dressed in Black and has text written on it in either Gold or Rose Gold.
The back panel looks minimalistic in the photos and like Huawei P20 Pro, houses three cameras that come with an LED flash and have AI Camera written below them. It has been reported that among the three cameras, one is a 16MP regular sensor, one is a 24MP monochrome sensor and the last one is a 16MP telephoto lens.
The smartphone’s back panel also has the Honor branding which can be read properly only on holding the Honor Magic 2 mobile in landscape mode.
While the back panel did remind us of Huawei P20 Pro, the front does not. The images of the front panel of Honor Magic 2 show an all-screen display. We were so glad to see that the upcoming smartphone defies the current trend in the smartphone industry and comes without a notch — much like the front panels of Oppo Find X and Vivo Nex (review). With so many smartphones sporting a notch on their displays, it is really refreshing to see one that doesn’t.
The 16MP selfie camera of the smartphone is housed in a slider that also comes with two lenses for 3D facial recognition.
We did not spot a fingerprint sensor anywhere, so even if the phone will have one, it will be an in-display fingerprint scanner. Or maybe the company decided to completely rule it out and only wants to offer users 3D facial unlock. We are hoping for the second possibility as most in-display fingerprint scanners cannot match up to the ones that are physically present on the smartphones. On the other hand, a 3D facial unlock does makes thing easier.
From other reports that have surfaced online earlier, the Honor Magic 2 will feature a 6.4-inch Full HD+ touchscreen display and is powered by Kirin 980 chipset paired with 8GB RAM and 128GB of onboard storage. The smartphone will reportedly house a 3,400mAh battery and will come with support for Huawei’s 40W fast charging. Honor Magic 2 is said to run Android 9.0 Pie skinned with EMUI 9.
The 2018 edition of Xiaomi’s ‘Diwali With Mi’ has started today and will go on till October 25. And if you are a Xiaomi fan, there is no better time to buy various gadgets and electronics from the company at discounted prices. The sale is being held on Xiaomi’s official website and offers a number of limited period discounts, cashbacks, and coupons on smart TVs, smartphones and other accessories. Here, we have compiled a list of all the offers you can claim at Diwali With Mi sale:
In This Article
The Re 1 flash sale
Xiaomi is organizing a Re 1 flash sale for each day of its ‘Diwali With Mi’ sale. The sale will be held at 4pm every day and the company will be selling two products every day at Re 1 each. Today’s offers include Mi Home Security Camera 360° and the POCO F1 smartphone‘s 6GB+128GB variant in Steel Blue colour option.
Xiaomi Poco F1
Xiaomi’s Poco F1 is a much talked about smartphone that has been appreciated by many. It is powered by Qulacomm Snapdragon 845 Soc and all its storage variants are priced under Rs 30,000, giving a tough competition to OnePlus 6. It is worth noticing that the base variant of Xiaomi Poco F1 was launched at Rs 20,999 in India. Mi.com shows that it was earlier available at Rs 21,999 and during the sale, its price has been ‘slashed’ to Rs 20,999. If you are still willing to buy, you should know that during the sale, only the Rosso Red model is available.
Xiaomi Mi A2
The Xiaomi Mi A2 mobile was launched in India this year in August. At the time of the launch, the smartphone’s 4GB RAM/64GB inbuilt storage costed Rs 16,999 and during the sale, it will be available for Rs 14,999.
Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 Pro
Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 Pro is an Android budget smartphone by the company that saw a lot of success with the masses. Before the launch of Xiaomi Redmi Note 6 Pro, its predecessor’s price has been reduced by Rs 2,000 during the festive sale, so the base variant is available at Rs 12,999 and the 6GB RAM model can be bought at Rs 14,999.
Xiaomi Redmi Y2
If you are more into selfies, you should pick the Xiaomi Redmi Y2 over Redmi Note 5 Pro. The company has slashed its price by Rs 2,000 for the duration of the sale and it can be picked up at Rs 10,999 instead of Rs 12,999. It is worth noticing that the offer is only valid on its 4GB RAM/64GB onboard storage variant.
Mi LED TV 4A 43-inch
If you have been planning to buy a new television for yourself, you can consider Mi LED TV 4A 43-inch. The company has slashed its price by Rs 1,000 and it is available on Mi.com for Rs 21,999 during the sale.
Discount on accessories
Coming to Xiaomi’s accessories, Xiaomi is selling its Mi Bluetooth Headset Basic Black, Mi Earphones Basic, Mi Earphones, Mi Bluetooth Audio Receiver (White) and the Mi Bluetooth Speaker Basic 2 at discounted prices. The accessories will be available at Rs 799, Rs 349, Rs 599, Rs 899 and Rs 1,599 respectively. The Mi Router 3C can be bought for Rs 899, the Mi Composition Scale is available at a price of Rs 1,799, the Mi Selfie Stick can be picked up at Rs 599 and the Mi Selfie Tripod at Rs 999. The price of Mi Band – HRX Edition has also be reduced and it can be picked up at Rs 999 during the sale.
Discount on power banks
If your smartphone’s battery goes down too quickly, a power bank is something you should always carry. Discount on Xiaomi’s 20,000mAh Mi Power Bank 2i and 10,000mAh Mi Power Bank 2i is available during the sale. While the former is available at a discount of Rs 100 and will be sold for Rs 1,399, the latter will be available for Rs 699. The Red edition of the 10000mAh Mi Power Bank 2i is available for Rs 899.
Cracker Ninja Game
The company has introduced the Cracker Ninja game this year, which has already started on October 20 and will go on till October 25. On playing the interactive game, users can win products like Xiaomi Poco F1, Xiaomi Redmi Y2, Mi Power Banks, and various discount coupons.
Additional discounts
Besides the discount offers we mentioned above, customers can avail a further discount of Rs 750 on minimum transaction value of Rs 7,500 on paying for their purchase via their SBI credit card. On buying the Xiaomi Poco F1 or Redmi Note 5 Pro, buyers can get a cashback of Rs 500 in their Paytm wallet. Rs 500 of Amazon Pay cashback can be availed on buying the 32-inch and 43-inch Mi TV 4A variants. However, this cashback is only available via the Android and iOS apps. Besides this, customers can also get a Mobikwik cashback of 20% (up to Rs 2,000) and get Ixigo coupons of Rs 3,500 on buying a smartphone during the sale.
HMD Global’s flagship device of the year, Nokia 8 Sirocco was priced at €750 at the time of its launch. But it has been months since the smartphone has been launched and it has also received a price cut. But that is hardly anything unusual.
And now, according to a report in GSMArena, the company may have plans of discontinuing the smartphone. The report says that if you hit the ‘Buy Now’ button next to Nokia 8 Sirocco on Nokia’s website, it just redirects you to the Homepage. And since the company is set to launch the Nokia 9 smartphone, it can be a possibility that it is considering to discontinue the previous flagship.
However, the case is not the same in India. Nokia 8 Sirocco just received a price cut of Rs 13,000 and is now available at Rs 36,990. It was launched in India in April this year and was initially priced at Rs 49,990. If you go to Nokia’s India website and hit the ‘Buy Now’ button, it wouldn’t redirect you to the homepage, but it will tell you that the smartphone is “currently not available”.
So everything does point towards the possibility of Nokia 8 Sirocco being discontinued. But then, it’s hardly anything to be disappointed about, as we already have the company’s next flagship, Nokia 9 to look forward to.
To recall, Nokia 8 Sirocco sports a 5.5-inch QHD pOLED display that comes with the protection of Corning Gorilla Glass 5. The smartphone has 6GB RAM and is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processor.
Nokia 8 Sirocco mobile is scheduled to receive the Android 9.0 Pie update next month. Currently, the Nokia device runs on Android 8.1 Oreo. In fact, if you own the smartphone, you would be happy to know that even if it is being discontinued, it will continue to receive Android updates and security patches for two and three years from the date of its launch respectively. The reason behind timely and prompt updates on Nokia 8 Sirocco is the fact that it comes under Google’s Android One program – much like all other Nokia smartphones by HMD Global we have seen recently.
Oppo is back in news, but this time, it’s not for a very good reason. The Chinese smartphone maker has been caught in “artificially” producing benchmark scores that are “high and misleading.” UL Benchmarks, the company behind benchmark app 3DMark has delisted Oppo Find X and Oppo F7 saying that the company has unfairly boosted benchmark results.
According to UL Benchmarks, both the handsets tweak the results on the public 3DMark app by up to 41%. Their scores were lower in the private 3DMark app, which is not available to customers and manufacturers.
An image shared by UL Benchmarks shows that while Oppo Find X‘s score on 3DMark’s public app is 4576, it comes down to 3344 on the private app. Similarly, Oppo F7’s score is 1079 on the public 3DMark app, the private app shows its score as 767.
Oppo has also admitted in a statement that its smartphones have the ability to adjust their performance when a benchmark app is running on them. The company was quoted saying, “When we detect that the user is running applications like games or 3D Benchmarks that require high performance, we allow the SoC to run at full speed for the smoothest experience.”
However, UL Benchmarks had another opinion on it. The company, which analysed the performance of Oppo Find X mobile and F7 on request of Tech2, said, “”The difference in scores tells us that the devices are simply recognizing the 3DMark app by name rather than adapting to the type of work in the test. This kind of detection and optimization is forbidden by our rules for manufacturers.”
After finding out that the smartphones’ scores are unfairly boosted, UL Benchmarks delisted Oppo Find X and F7 from its platform. It is worth noticing that prior to being delisted, Oppo Find X ranked on No. 4 in the list of Best Smartphones for 3DMark Sling Shot Extreme performance test.
Last month, Huawei’s devices including Nova 3 Honor Play and its flagships P20, P20 Pro were also delisted after the smartphone maker was caught in a similar scandal and was found boosting benchmark results.
The launch of OnePlus 6T is right around the corner. The world seems to be super excited as to what the Chinese major will bring to the table, next. We already know couple of things that are in the new smartphone by OnePlus, which have been doing the rounds. These include a water drop design, Qualcomm 845 chipset, 8 GB RAM and 256 GB storage. Twin rear cameras will also be part of the package. To which Pete Lau, the CEO of OnePlus, has teased a photo shot using OnePlus 6T during the night.
If this is the real deal, then consumers who want to purchase the new smartphone are in for a treat. The photograph seems to be a shot during the evening and one can clearly see the moon in the background. Not bad for a night shot. Our money is on the use of Tripod with the shot. The detailing of the buildings in low light conditions is excellent. The watermark on the photo does suggest that there are indeed two cameras on the OnePlus 6T. One should have the normal lens and the secondary one will be a wide angle camera. Hopefully, we would get to see the same nice Bokeh effect from the two lenses on this mobile.
The launch event is slated to be held on 29th of October. Before, it was going to be held on 30th October, but since Apple also announced its event on the same day, OnePlus preponed the launch of OnePlus 6T. The event will be held simultaneously in New York and New Delhi, where Carl Pei (Co-founder of OnePlus) will be present (as told by sources close to Gadget Bridge). Stay tuned as we will be bringing you more updates before and from the event in a week’s time.
Telecom major Airtel has introduced a slew of new prepaid recharge offers for its users in Mumbai. The company has announced recharge plans worth Rs 35, Rs 65, Rs 95, Rs 145 and Rs 245 exclusively for its Mumbai circle.
All these plans come with talktime and data benefits and their validity periods vary. And as of now, there is no word on the possibility of these tariff plans being extended to other telecom circles.
The Rs 35 prepaid plan offered by Airtel clubs a talktime of Rs 26.5 with 100MB of 3G/4G data and the Rs 65 plan comes with a talktime of Rs 55 and offers 200MB of data. The validity of both these plans is 28 days.
The Rs 95, Rs 145 and Rs 245 plans come with full talktime benefits, but they vary in terms of the data they offer and their validity. Speaking of Rs 95 plan, it offers 500MB of data and has a validity of 28 days. The Rs 145 plan has 1GB of data and stays valid till 42 days from the day of recharge. And lastly, the Rs 245 plan by Airtel offers full talktime paired with 2GB data and has a validity of 84 days.
Recently, the company had also introduced new prepaid combo recharges which come with daily data benefits of 1.4GB. Users can avail the said amount of data and unlimited calling without FUP limit with these recharges. The plans included in the newly introduced prepaid combo recharges are Rs 199, Rs 219, Rs 399, Rs 448 and Rs 509 and it is worth noticing that their validity periods vary.
While the Rs 199 and Rs 219 offers last for 28 days, the Rs 399 plan lasts for 70 days. The Rs 448 and Rs 509 plans have a validity of 82 and 90 days respectively.
In another news today, Airtel has announced that its customers can get their queries answered via Google Assistant. So for information like bill summary, current plan, data usage, account balance and recharge options, Airtel customers would only have to ask Google Assistant rather than dialing a number like they earlier did.
Do you remember Sundar Pichai speaking to Google Assistant over the phone at this year’s Google I/0? That did leave you thoroughly impressed, didn’t it? And now, you can interact with Google Assistant in a similar manner too, provided you are an Airtel customer.
The telecom major has today announced that when its users will be able to get their queries answered via Google Assistant going forward. However, as of now, the feature is only available in English. But soon, it will be rolled out in other regional languages as well. The company has also said that it will be tracking the questions that customers ask and enable responses to them via Google Assistant.
The initiative is a part of the telecom giant’s Project Next, which is Airtel’s digital innovation program aimed at improving customer experience across all its services. The company has also said that it has plans to launch “several exciting digital innovations to step change the simplicity and interactivity of its customer experience.”
While Airtel Prepaid customers can ask the Google Assistant about best offers, their data and account balance and recharge options, Postpaid customers can ask queries like their current outstanding, bill summary, pay bill, their current plan and data usage, why their bill is so high and other available Airtel Postpaid plans.
However, in order to interact with Google Assistant for their queries, Airtel users must link their Airtel account with Google.
Here’s how Airtel customers can use the Google Assistant:
If you are an Android user, long press the Home Button to launch Assistant. If you own an iPhone, download Google Assistant app on your phone and launch it.
Say “Talk to Airtel”, “Ask Airtel” or “Get Airtel”. On saying this, Airtel Assistant will open within Google Assistant.
Link your Airtel account with your Google account. You’ll be asked if you wish to link the two accounts. Press ‘Yes’ when you are prompted with the question.
On clicking ‘Yes,’ you will have to enter your mobile number and accept the terms of service.
You will receive an OTP that has to be used to finish linking your account.
Speaking about the collaboration, Sarang Kanade, Director – Customer Experience & Retail, Bharti Airtel said: “As part of our digital transformation journey, this is another yet innovation to empower our customers. With smartphones fast becoming the norm for every Indian, this will make digital self-care much more interactive and step up the customer experience. We will continue to bring more of such exciting solutions for ‘Digital India’.”
Let’s face it: We are all addicted to our smartphones. Our phones stay within our arm’s reach all the time and most of us cannot imagine a life without them. However, this kind of proximity, we are also exposing ourselves to serious health hazards in the long run. Most of these health problems can be connected to the radiation that is emitted by smartphones.
It is worth noticing that different global organizations have termed different SAR values as safe for humans. And different countries allow different values. For instance, Der Blaue Engel, a German certification for products and services on the basis of environmental friendliness, only certifies smartphones that have lesser than 0.60 watts per kilogram of absorption rate. But European Union follows guidelines laid down by International Electrotechnical Commission, and allows smartphones with up to 2 watts per kilogram of SAR level.
However, in the US, the FCC only approves of SAR level at or below 1.6 watts per kilogram. While India follows the US model, it doesn’t solely rely on the SAR values that are provided by the smartphone manufacturers. Other than taking the SAR values given by the smartphone manufacturers into consideration, tests are conducted on handsets by Telecommunication Engineering Center SAR Laboratory. Also, it is necessary for all smartphones getting launched in India to come with a handsfree mode.
It is difficult to say one the SAR level allowed by one body is correct while terming the other as incorrect. The fact remains that high SAR levels can have serious repercussions to human health. So here, we decided to list down all the smartphones that are currently available in India with over 1 watt per kilogram of SAR value. The Mi A1 smartphone by Xiaomi, the Chinese technology company that has been ruling the Indian smartphone, has the maximum SAR value out of them. Other popular smartphones with high SAR value are Apple iPhone 8, OnePlus 6 and Asus Zenfone 5Z. Read the rest of our list to know all the names:
HMD Global’s Nokia offerings this year have made us quite happy. We have used a number of their devices that have been launched this year and we were pleased with their performance. The company seems to have given special focus to the cameras and battery life of the smartphones it has launched so far this year. And Nokia 3.1 Plus seems to be carrying the legacy forward.
Nokia 3.1 Plus, launched this month in India, the smartphone is successor to Nokia 3.1 that was showcased first in July. Nokia 3.1 Plus sports bigger display and battery than Nokia 3.1, and it comes with a better processor and has a fingerprint sensor on the back, too. The new offering by Nokia bears a price tag of Rs 11,499.
We spent a few days with the smartphone to know how worthy it really is. Is it as good as it sounds on paper? Or does it fail to impress with its performance? Read the rest of our review to find out:
Nokia 3.1 Plus Design and Display
The first thing that we want to say about Nokia 3.1 Plus is that we simply loved how solid it feels to hold the smartphone in your hand. The body of the smartphone is mostly made of aluminium with only plastic top and bottom edges. All the edges of the smartphone are rounded, which makes it comfortable to hold with one hand. But, what’s most refreshing about the design of Nokia 3.1 Plus is the matte finish that it has on its body panel. Over that, it has a soft-texture on top of it, which not only makes it more attractive, but also makes it less prone to fingerprint smudges.
The smartphone is available in Blue, White and Baltic colour options and the one we got for review was dressed in Baltic. The back panel of the smartphone is where the dual rear cameras, LED flash and the fingerprint sensor lie. The dual rear camera setup and the fingerprint scanner have thin sliver trims around them and the Nokia and Android One branding lie below them. While the top and the bottom edges house the headphone jack, microUSB port and speaker grilles, the volume rocker and power buttons are present on the right edge and the SIM card microSD card slots are sandwiched on the left.
When you flip over the device, you’ll see its 6-inch screen that comes without a notch and rather thick bezels on the top as well as on the bottom. The earpiece, the selfie camera and the Nokia branding lie on the top. The screen’s corners are also rounded and according to the company it sports toughened glass. However, HMD Global did not name any brand.
To conclude, we will say that we really liked the look and feel of Nokia 3.1 Plus mobile and found its design to be nice. The matte finish that it has on its back panel truly sets it apart and makes it look very different from other smartphones in the same range. To put in a single word, we would say that Nokia 3.1 Plus’ design is truly refreshing.
Nokia 3.1 Plus features a 6-inch HD+ IPS display that comes with an aspect ratio of 18:9. Although we liked the fact that Nokia 3.1 Plus does not sport a notch on its large display, we would have preferred if it had thinner bezels. Especially on the top and the bottom of the screen. On the upside, it showcases vibrant and accurate colours that remain consistent at different viewing angles. The images that get projected are sharp and clear and watching video content on it was certainly a good experience. The display of the smartphone comes with adaptive brightness, so basically the brightness level of the screen gets optimized according to how well-lit the area is. The only aspect of the display that isn’t up to the mark is its sunlight readability. We sometimes had to strain our eyes really hard to see what’s there on the screen, when using outdoors. Besides that, we have no other complaints from Nokia 3.1 Plus’s display.
Nokia 3.1 Plus Performance and Camera
Nokia 3.1 Plus is powered by MediaTek HelioP22 processor clubbed with 3GB RAM and comes with 32GB onboard storage. The smartphone can also hold a microSD card of up to 400GB. It runs Android Oreo out of the box and is part of Google’s Android One program. So what is the Google Android One program? The Android One program promises timely Android updates for two years since the day of launch and security patches for three years.
On the camera front, Nokia 3.1 Plus mobile comes with a dual rear camera setup with 13MP and 5MP sensors. For selfies and video calls, there is an 8MP front facing snapper with LED flash. Nokia 3.1 Plus houses a 3500mAh non removable battery and the sensors on the smartphone include Ambient light sensor, proximity sensor, accelerometer, Ecompass, gyroscope and a fingerprint sensor, which is placed on its back panel.
Something we really appreciate about Nokia 3.1 Plus smartphone is the fact that it harldy comes any bloatware. The only apps apart from the standard ones that are present in Android smartphones were Files Go and an FM radio app.
If you like the stock Android experience, the smartphone is definitely something you should try as the UI was very responsive and quick. In spite of the fact that Nokia 3.1 Plus uses a low-end processor, we faced no lag while using this mobile. We used multiple apps at the same time and launching them or switching between them was not an issue. Having said that, some heavy games did take longer time than usual to start.
We also opened multiple tabs of Chrome and put the smartphone to multitasking. For instance, we regularly listened to songs or watched videos on the smartphone while we were using Google Maps for navigation. For everyday usage, you would not find any problems with the smartphone. If you are someone who likes to tweak or customise on your smartphone, you may want to look at some other options by the company or use third party alternatives.
We ran a few benchmark tests on Nokia 3.1 Plus. While it scored 77,985 in Antutu Benchmark test, we couldn’t run Geekbench on our unit in spite of trying a number of times. Strange!
As far as gaming goes, playing games like Temple Run 2 was a cakewalk. However, when we tried to play Asphalt 9: Legends, the experience was anything but smooth. It took ages to start the game and even when we did manage to begin, the game kept on pausing and took us longer than usual to restart a new game.
One of the best aspects of the smartphone is its battery life. The 3,500mAh battery lasted us more than a day with usage that involved gaming, streaming videos, listening to music and navigation through Google Maps. If you keep the usage slightly low, you can even use the device for up to two days. The smartphone also has a battery saver mode that automatically starts working once the battery levels in the smartphone are less than 15%.
We did not experience any trouble with the call quality of the smartphone and could easily make calls in areas like basements and elevators.
Coming to the cameras of the smartphone, they left us with mixed feelings. Nokia 3.1 Plus comes with a dual rear camera setup with 13MP and 5MP sensors and it has an 8MP selfie camera.
The rear cameras of the smartphone come with a Live Bokeh feature that lets the user adjust the depth in Bokeh mode even after the photo has been clicked. You can even record time-lapse and slow-motion videos using the Nokia 3.1 Plus.
While the images taken in well-lit areas mostly turned out to be good, the same cannot be said about those taken in dimly lit areas. We liked the colour reproduction and details that we saw in the ones we clicked during the day. However, details did suffer a bit when we tried to click pictures in landscape mode.
The Bokeh effect mostly worked well during the day. But on the other side in dimly-lit shots, images mostly turned out to be grainy and lacked clarity. The selfie camera could also have been better. The selfies were just not up to the mark. We have seen other smartphones in the same price range do a lot better than Nokia 3.1 Plus as far as the cameras go.
Verdict
Nokia 3.1 Plus definitely has the looks. We are happy with the design and the display. And the battery life is certainly among the best aspects of the smartphone. However, the cameras were not up to the mark and the phone is definitely not for you if you are into heavy gaming. If long battery life is what you are looking for, Nokia 3.1 Plus is a very good buy for you. Another big plus is that the smartphone may be one among the first budget phones in the country to get an update to Android 9.0 Pie, since it is part of the Google’s Android One program.
Pros:
Sturdy built and design, Vibrant display, Long lasting battery
Huawei CEO Richard Yu has confirmed at Mate 20 and Mate 20 Pro launch that it will be releasing a 5G foldable smartphone next year. In an interview with Digital Trends, CEO Yu was quoted saying, “We are working on foldable phones. Foldable 5G phones.”
Rumours about Samsung working on a foldable smartphone have also been in news for months now. And at the launch of Samsung Galaxy A9 (2018), CEO DJ Koh confirmed in an interview with CNet that the foldable smartphone by the company will be able to work as a tablet that can be folded into a smartphone. Samsung has said that with its foldable smartphone, the company intends to bring together multitasking and portability.
And since July, it has also been in news that Huawei has been working to beat Samsung and will be launching its foldable smartphone as early as 2019.
However, it is the first time that it has been said that Huawei’s foldable smartphone will run on a 5G network.
But Huawei’s plan of coming up with a separate 5G phone have surfaced online earlier. The Chinese smartphone maker is also developing its own processor, Balong 5G01. It has been reported that Balong 5G01 will have support for the new 3GPP standard for 5G networks.
In order to make its devices 5G compatible, the company has invested $600 million. So making a foldable tablet with 5G will make sense.
Although there is no official word on it yet, we can expect Huawei’s foldable device’s screen to be made on the same lines as Mate 20 X smartphone’s. The recently launched Huawei Mate 20 X mobile sports a 7.2-inch FHD+ OLED display that has an aspect ratio of 18.7:9.
Speaking of Samsung, which has been working on a foldable OLED screen for years now, is holding a developer conference next month and is expected to give a preview of the upcoming foldable Android smartphone.
The South Korean technology giant has already launched a flexible AMOLED display, which it calls as Youm, in the year 2012. Recently, Samsung also got its OLED display – which is being called as unbreakable – certified for its durability.
Smartphone makers are on a spree to use as much of screen as they possibly can. While some have narrowed down smartphones’ notches, others have introduced pop-up selfie and slider cameras. Amid all this, there is one company which is ready to take this to a different level.
We are talking about Samsung and the innovation that it plans to bring to its upcoming smartphones.
According to a report in GSMArena, Samsung held a press conference on October 18 in Shenzen, which it called the ‘2018 OLED Forum’. At the forum, the South Korean technology giant announced that it is working on a new type of technology called UPS. With UPS, the company plans to bring the front facing cameras of the smartphone under its display, much like indisplay fingerprint scanners.
This should completely eliminate the need of a notch on the smartphones’ screens and even pop-up selfie and slider cameras would become unnecessary. It would be the next step in making the future of smartphones bezel-less.
However, don’t get your hopes too high. We are not going to see this technology on Samsung Galaxy S10 or any other smartphone by the company that will be launched next year. Till now, Samsung has only made a few prototypes with this technology and it is believed that the company will not be using it on any commercial smartphone till 2020.
Recently, Samsung launched the first smartphone to come with four rear cameras, Galaxy A9 (2018) at an event in Kuala Lumpur. Other key highlights of the smartphone include an Infinity display, 6GB or 8GB of RAM, 128GB of internal storage and microSD card capacity of 512GB. Samsung Galaxy A9 (2018) supports Bixby, Samsung Pay and Face Unlock technology.
At the same event, Samsung also spoke about its upcoming foldable smartphone that has been creating headlines for months now. In an interview to CNET, Samsung’s mobile division CEO DJ Koh revealed that the foldable device by the company will be able to work as a tablet that can be folded into a smartphone. With its foldable smartphone, Samsung intends to bring together multitasking and portability.
Apple CEO Tim Cook has called on Bloomberg to retract its story that claims that Chinese spies compromised the Cupertino-based technology giant‘s server by using malicious microchips. Cook was quoted saying this in an interview with Buzzfeed and it is the first time that he has gone on the record to refute the allegations.
According to Buzzfeed, Tim Cook said, “This did not happen. There’s no truth to this”, when he was asked about the report in Bloomberg.
He also revealed the fact that he was involved in Apple’s response to the said story right from the beginning. Cook also said, “(Apple was) very clear with them (Bloomberg) that this did not happen, and answered all their questions.”
Bloomberg Businessweek had earlier published a story which alleged that malicious chips were built into servers of companies like Apple and Amazon that had been made in China. It further went on to say that Chinese spies were able to infiltrate these companies’ critical tech infrastructure using these microchips.
According to the report in Bloomberg, these manipulations had enabled the Chinese government to have a backdoor access into the computer networks that run on the these Supermicro servers.
Right after the report had published, Apple had refuted all the claims by releasing a detailed statement on the matter. Apple’s statement clearly mentioned, “On this we can be very clear: Apple has never found malicious chips, ‘hardware manipulations’ or vulnerabilities purposely planted in any server.”
George Stathakopoulos, Apple’s Vice President of information security had written to Congress directly and denied all the allegations Bloomberg’s report made.
It is worth noticing that Apple has not been the only one to call out the report. The story that was published in Bloomberg has also been criticised by US intel chiefs and experts on cybersecurity. Furthermore, no malicious chips have been found and nobody has been able to find any evidence that supports Bloomberg’s claims.
Apple CEO Tim Cook also said about Bloomberg in his interview to Buzzfeed, “Each time they brought this up to us, the story changed and each time we investigated we found nothing.”
After Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 Pro saw a lot of success in Indian smartphone market’s budget segment, the company is all set to launch its predecessor in the country. And if you are a Xiaomi fan, we have some good news as the Xiaomi Redmi Note 6 Pro will be launching a few months earlier than what we were expecting.
A press invite of Xiaomi Redmi Note 6 Pro‘s launch event has surfaced online and it shows the image of three smartphones and says, “2 is better than 1. Coming Soon. Flagship Camera killer. New Delhi, 1_ November.”
Going by what’s written on the invite, we know that the smartphone will be launched in India before November 20. Also, that the upcoming smartphone from Xiaomi will be launched in three colour options, however, as of now, we don’t know which colour variants these will be.
The first line on the media invite says “2 is better than 1”, which indicates that Xiaomi Redmi Note 6 Pro will feature a dual camera setup. With the line on the invite, “Flagship Camera killer”, we know that the company is touting the device as a photography centric smartphone.
Xiaomi Redmi Note 6 Pro specifications
Xiaomi Redmi Note 6 Pro sports a 6.18-inch FHD+ IPS LCD display that comes with a notch on the top. The smartphone will be powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 636 processor and will come in 4GB and 6GB RAM variants. The smartphone will have 64GB of internal storage and will come with a microSD card slot.
However, the main highlight of the smartphone will be its quad camera setup. Xiaomi Redmi Note 6 Pro will feature 12MP and 5MP dual rear cameras at the back and 20MP and 2MP dual selfie cameras.
The camera app of Xiaomi Redmi Note 6 Pro will come with Portrait, HDR and Panorama modes and will have 1080p video recording.
The smartphone will house a 4,000mAh battery with support for Qualcomm Quick Charge 2.0. Although it will initially be launched in India with Android 8.1 Oreo skinned with MIUI 10, the smartphone is said to get an Android 9.0 Pie update soon.
Xiaomi Redmi Note 6 Pro expected price in India
The 4GB RAM version of Xiaomi Redmi Note 6 Pro mobile is expected to be priced at Rs 14,999 in India and the 6GB RAM model is likely to bear a price tag of Rs 16,999.
Vertu, the smartphone maker that is known to produce luxury handmade phones, is back with its Aster P series. The company has announced Aster P Baroque and Aster P Gothic smartphones at an event in Beijing, according to GSMArena.
Last year, the company had to shut down its manufacturing business in the United Kingdom because it faced a debt of £128 million. At the same point in time, Murat Hakan Uzan, the owner of Vertu, was planning to revive the brand.
Much like other series from the luxury smartphone maker, the Aster range clubs an extravagant design with specifications that are not that flashy. That doesn’t affect the smartphone’s massive price tag — something that Vertu has always been famous for.
Vertu Aster P mobile feature a titanium alloy frame and a sapphire glass display. The back panel of the smartphone has real leather on it and both the models are being advertised as being “Made in the U.K.” It is worth noticing that Vertu Aster P has two panels on the back that open in a wing like motion. While one opens to reveal the SIM card slots, the other one is the signature of of the person who hand-crafted the device.
Coming to the specifications of the smartphone, both the variants are powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 660 processor, house a 3,200mAh battery, come with 6GB RAM and have 128GB of storage onboard. The smartphone sports a 4.97-inch 1080p display and for imaging duties, it comes with a 12MP primary camera and a 20MP front facing snapper. It runs the Android 8.1 Oreo and comes with V Talk encryption technology to keep calls and messages safe. The smartphone also comes with an exclusive security app that locks the phone if it lands in the hands of the wrong person. Vertu Aster P also comes with a traditional concierge button that connects users to a personalised service that can help them with travel plans, book a dinner table for them and do a lot more.
The Vertu Aster P Baroque is available in Black, Gentleman Blue, Caramel Brown, and Twilight Orange colou options and are available exclusively in China on JD.com at CNY29,800. On the other hand, Vertu Aster P Gothic is available in Black Jade and White Moon colour variants and is priced at CNY35,800. If you wish to buy the Dazzling Gold colour variant, you have to pay more as it bears a price tag of CNY98,000.
HMD Global has slashed the prices of select Nokia smartphones in India. While the entry level smartphones have received a price cut between Rs 1,000 and Rs 1,500, Nokia 8 Sirocco, the company’s flagship smartphone of the year is available at a discount of Rs 13,000. Here, we have listed down the details of the discount offers available on the Nokia smartphones.
The 3GB RAM/32GB storage model of the Nokia 3.1 smartphone, which till now was available at Rs 11,999, has received a price cut of Rs 1,000 and can now be picked up at Rs 10,999. The 3GB RAM/32GB storage variant of the smartphone was launched in August this year along with the launch of Nokia 2.1 and Nokia 5.1.
To recall, the Nokia 3.1 features a 5.2-inch HD+ display that has an aspect ratio of 18:9 and is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass. It is powered by an Octa-core MediaTek MT6750 processor and runs Android 8.0 Oreo. The smartphone comes under Google’s Android One program, which guarantees timely Android updates for two years and security patches for three years.
Speaking of Nokia 5.1, its 3GB RAM/32GB storage variant is available at a reduced price of Rs 12,999, after receiving a discount of Rs 1,500. The smartphone sports 5.5-inch full-HD+ IPS LCD display and comes with an 18:9 aspect ratio and protection from Corning Gorilla Glass 3. It is powered by an octa-core MediaTek MT6755S processor and like Nokia 3.1, comes under Android One program.
Another smartphone by the company that has seen a discount is Nokia 6.1. While the 3GB RAM version of the smartphone has received a price cut of Rs 1,500, the 4GB RAM variant is available at a discount of Rs 1,000. The 3GB RAM model is now available at Rs 13,499 and the 4GB RAM variant can be picked up at Rs 16,499.
It is worth noticing that this is not the first time that Nokia 6.1 has received a price cut as both the smartphone variants are available at Rs 1,500 lesser than their respective launch prices since August.
To recall, Nokia 6.1 features a 5.8-inch full-HD+ display with a 2.5D Gorilla Glass 3 and is powered by an octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon processor. It runs Android 8.1 Oreo and receives timely Android and security updates because of Google’s Android One program.
Coming to the company’s flagship device of the year, Nokia 8 Sirocco, it has got a massive price cut of Rs 13,000 and is now available at Rs 36,990. Launched in April at Rs 49,990, Nokia 8 Sirocco (review) is also a part of Android One and runs Android 8.1 Oreo. An Android 9.0 Pie update for the smartphone is scheduled for next month. The smartphone has a 5.5-inch QHD pOLED display which is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 5. It comes with 6GB RAM and is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processor.
OnePlus has decided to reschedule the launch of its flagship smartphone, OnePlus 6T. While earlier, OnePlus 6T was being unveiled on October 30 at an event in New York, now it will be launched a day earlier on October 29.
According to OnePlus, the date has been shifted because of Apple. The company said that sticking to the original date could have meant getting OnePlus 6T’s launch “overshadowed by Apple”. Apple will also be holding an event in New York on October 30 for which it sent out media invites earlier this week.
It was announced on October 8 by OnePlus that its next flagship device OnePlus 6T will be getting unveiled on October 30 at events in New York and New Delhi. The timings of both the events were kept in such a way that they would have been simultaneous. But after Apple sent out invites this week for its October 30 event where it is expected to launch new iPad and Mac models, OnePlus rescheduled the date of its event.
In a forum post, OnePlus CEO Pete Lau has said, “When we announced the launch of the OnePlus 6T on October 8, we were convinced our timing would allow us to maximise the amount of people we could reach with our message. That changed when Apple announced they would be hosting their own event on October 30.”
Since the date of the launch has been rescheduled, OnePlus 6T would now be launching on October 29 at 11am.
Currently, there is no official word about the India launch of the smartphones. However, it has been indicated by David Y, Community Manager on the same thread that it would remain unaffected, so we can expect it to start on October 30 at 8.30pm.
You can read the entire post announcing the change in date of OnePlus 6T’s launch here:
Friends,
A lot has changed in the past 24 hours. When we announced the launch of the OnePlus 6T on October 8, we were convinced our timing would allow us to maximize the amount of people we could reach with our message. That changed when Apple announced they would be hosting their own event on October 30. We know the entire industry and all media will be holding their breath. So, imagine how we felt when we learned the date of their latest event. One minute, we were preparing for our greatest and most exciting launch event yet. The next, we were posed with a difficult question: “What do we do now?”
In any pursuit, you can only play the cards you are dealt. We were dealt a pretty bad hand. Our challenge was to find a way to make the most of a bad situation. For months on end, hundreds of people have poured their hearts and souls into creating our best product to date. Our goal is to make sure it gets the time and attention it deserves.
We couldn’t make this decision on our own. For hours, we talked to our press contacts to gain insight into how Apple’s announcement could affect the launch of the OnePlus 6T. We received considered, honest and thoughtful feedback. They showed us that if we chose to stick to our original timeline, launching the OnePlus 6T on October 30, we would be overshadowed by Apple.
But, we know the most important voices are yours – our community. We talked to some of our most loyal users, knowing we could not make a decision of this magnitude without your input. Because we know you would be most affected by this change. Flight tickets have been booked, hotel rooms reserved, and plans made. Internally, we were incredibly divided on this decision. We debated for hours before we came to one of the most painful decisions we have ever made.
As ambitious and passionate as we all are, we have to acknowledge the reality of this situation. There are no winners here. Over the course of almost 5 years, we have been proud to witness the rise of one of the most passionate and powerful communities in all of tech. But, we have to remain realistic. We have only just begun our journey and cannot afford to let one of the most important products in our history be affected by another great product launch. So after deep reflection, we have decided to move the OnePlus 6T Launch Event in New York City to October 29.
We are moving the event a day early so we can all experience the latest technology, together. To those affected, we know sorry isn’t good enough. So, we will do everything in our power to make things right. Starting with those of you who own a ticket, but won’t be able to make the event. Everyone who owns a ticket will be able to apply for a full refund for their ticket.
If you’re still able to join our event, first of all: Thank you! We will cover any costs you might incur to change your plans. If you need to pay to move your flight, we’ve got your back. Same goes for those of you who booked a hotel or made other arrangements. Our team will be getting in touch with all ticket owners individually to help you out.
We hope that you will understand our decision. If you are willing to help spread the word and make this our biggest event yet, we would be incredibly very grateful if you could share the news with other OnePlus followers. As we continue to grow, we will continue to challenge this industry together. We can’t wait to unveil the OnePlus 6T. It’ll be a big week in New York. But, we’re ready to Unlock The Speed – hand-in-hand with you. Thank you for supporting us! See you October 29, at 11AM EDT.
Apple’s relatively more affordable offering, iPhone XR, is now available for pre-orders in India. If you are interested in buying the smartphone and have been waiting for it, you can pre-book your device at Apple offline retailers like Imagine, Unicorn, and iWorld.
And if you wish to buy it online, you can pre-book it via Amazon, Jio, Airtel’s online store, and IndiaiStore. Although it was supposed to be on Flipkart too, the website is yet to list it.
On IndiaiStore, the Apple iPhone XR has been listed for pre-orders and the website is offering users no cost EMI plans with Bajaj Finserv. Additionally, there is 5% cashback on EMI payments that are done via credit or debit cards from Axis Bank or Citibank credit cards. For non-EMI payments via Citibank or Axis bank credit card holders, there are 5x reward points.
If you buy the smartphone from Airtel Online Store, you can book the iPhone XR with a down payment of Rs 14,999. Customers will be delivered their devices by October 26 and the store is also offering them EMI options that come with a built-in postpaid plan at a lower tariff. According to Airtel, the postpaid plan comes with ‘large dollops of data, unlimited calling and bundled premium content.’
iPhone XR has also been listed for pre-orders on Jio’s website. The telecom major is offering a 5% cashback for those wo pay for the smartphone using their Axis or Citibank credit cards (including EMI transactions) and 5X reward points.
iPhone XR price and availability in India
iPhone XR’s 64GB storage variant in India costs Rs 76,900, whereas the 128GB and 256GB storage models bear a price tag of RS 81,900 and Rs 91,900 respectively. The smartphone will go on sale starting October 26 and will be available in six different colours including Black, Blue, Coral, PRODUCT (RED), White, and Yellow.
iPhone XR specifications
The Apple iPhone XR has a number of specifications common with iPhone XS including the A12 Bionic processor and the primary camera. However, there are certain differentiators that include its 6.1-inch LCD Liquid Retina screen instead of iPhone XS’ OLED one. Also, the smartphone does not have a 3D Touch, and does not sport dual rear cameras. It also comes without the stainless steel frame that we have seen in iPhone XS and iPhone XS max. The iPhone XR is available in the storage options we mentioned earlier and runs iOS 12.
If you are not too choosy on Tinder, and still can’t find your right match, there may be a number of reasons for it. Maybe you are not too active on the app, or you are too worried about your privacy and only want to connect with people you actually know, or maybe you aren’t too prompt when it comes to texting or maybe it’s just the area you live in.
Yes, you read that right. And we are actually just quoting the dating app when we say this. If the dating app’s analytics are right, then your neighbourhood plays a major role in you getting a right swipe on Tinder.
Some areas in every city show more number of right swipes than the others. If you have never used Tinder and are wondering what a ‘right swipe’ is, it is the dating app’s equivalent of a friend request getting accepted on Facebook.
This week, Tinder released a ‘Swipe Scoreboard’ for all major Indian cities. It is kind of a right-swipe meter and shows if you are living in a favourable locality to get other people on the app to accept you.
The data has been recorded in August and September this year and cover seven major cities including Mumbai, Delhi NCR, Chennai, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Pune and Hyderabad.
According to Tinder, the data has been recorded by dividing the number of right swipes received by the total number of overall swipes in each area.
Here’s a look at the localities in every city where you are likely to get more right swipes
In This Article
Delhi NCR
If you are based in Delhi, you are more likely to find your match on Tinder in Saket, Greater Kailash, Kamla Nagar, Cyber City, Punjabi Bagh, DLF Phase 4, Rajouri Garden, Rohini, Noida Sector 62 and Knowledge Park.
Mumbai
Do you stay in Mumbai? If you want to find love on Tinder, the locations that will favour you are Andheri West, Bandra West, Worli, Juhu, Versova, Powai and Malabar Hill.
Chennai
In Chennai, the areas that see the most number of right swipes on Tinder are Nungambakkam, Alwarpet, Guindy, Velachery, Perungudi, Purasawalkam, Thiruvanmiyur, and Royapuram.
Kolkata
Kolkata based Tinder folks have six areas to choose from if they want to find their match on Tinder. The localities in Kolkata to get more right swipes are Ballygunge, New Alipore, Tollygunge, Park Street, East Kolkata Township and Burrabazar.
Bengaluru
If you are in Bengaluru, you need to be in Koramangala, Whitefield, HSR Layout, Jayanagar, Kalyan Nagar or JP Nagar to find a potential partner on Tinder.
Pune
Tinder users in Pune who are looking for more right swipes should head to Koregaon Park, Viman Nagar, Shivajinagar, Hadapsar, Deccan Gymkhana, Kothrud, and Baner.
Hyderabad
Compared to other areas of Hyderabad, Banjara Hills, Madhapur, HITEC City, Gachibowli, Secunderabad, Jubilee Hills and Khairatabad see more right swipes.
Samsung Galaxy Tab S4, the company’s this year’s flagship tablet, has been launched in India. Priced at Rs 57,900 the hot-off-the-press two-in-one Android tablet comes with Samsung Dex and the S Pen.
Samsung Galaxy Tab S4 features a 10.5-inch Super AMOLED display that comes with narrow bezels and has an aspect ratio of 16:10. It houses a 7,300mAh battery and comes with four speakers by AKG and Dolby Atmos immersive sound technology.
The company said that users can enjoy a PC-like interface on the tablet without a monitor or ‘Book Cover’ Keyboard in the standalone mode. Whereas in the dual mode, the tablet can be connected to a bigger monitor using an HDMI cable.
With the S-Pen, Samsung claims to give users an authentic handwriting experience, which is perfect for drawing, taking down notes, messaging, etc.
Samsung Galaxy Tab S4 will be available starting today on Samsung Online Shop and all leading offline stores in the country. The tablet will also be available on Amazon India’s website starting October 20. The launch offers of the Samsung Galaxy Tab S4 includes a cashback of Rs 5,000 on purchasing the tablet via HDFC credit cards.
Furthermore, Samsung Galaxy Tab S4 users who use Reliance Jio’s 4G connection will get an instant cashback of Rs 2,750, if they do a recharge of Rs 198 or Rs 299. These users will also get double data benefits for four recharges done thereafter.
Speaking on the occasion of the launch, Aditya Babbar, General Manager, Mobile Business, Samsung India, said, “We are happy to announce the launch of Galaxy Tab S4, Samsung’s flagship tablet that is designed for people who want to do more on the go – from home to office and everywhere in between. With Galaxy Tab S4, we are introducing a premium tablet that makes lives easier and helps consumers perform their absolute best wherever they go. Paired with Samsung Dex and S Pen, Galaxy Tab S4 is designed for those who need something portable like a tablet yet capable like a PC. With the launch of new Galaxy Tab S4, we want to offer our consumers the ultimate combination of great productivity and immersive entertainment for their super tasking need.”
Popular instant messaging app WhatsApp is always getting new features to make the user experience more friendly. A few days back, reports surfaced online claiming that WhatsApp will soon get stickers and update its Delete for Everyone feature.
And now according to WABetaInfo, the Twitter account that follows updates on WhatsApp’s Beta version, the app will be getting three more features soon.
There will soon be an option of linking accounts, and switching on Vacation or Silent mode in WhatsApp. Let’s take a look at how these features can change your experience in WhatsApp:
WhatsApp Vacation Mode
WhatApp allows its users to archive chats. However, whenever you receive a message from one of the archived chats, the conversation gets unarchived on its own. Step in Vacation Mode, that is set to change things. If you archive or a mute a chat, they wouldn’t get unarchived automatically. With Vacation Mode, you can remove a chat from your recent chats list without having to delete it permanently. Vacation Mode is currently being developed and will be rolled out to both Android and iOS versions of the app.
WhatsApp Linked Account feature
If you have ever wondered that there should be a feature that enables users to recover their Instagram account using WhatsApp, you’ll be happy to know that this feature will soon be coming to the popular instant messaging app. However, users will only be able to link their Facebook and Instagram accounts to WhatsApp. But once you do that, you’ll be able to recover them using your WhatsApp account.
WhatsApp Silent Mode
WhatsApp Silent mode is actually being rolled out to all users who have smartphones running Android 8.0 Oreo and above. When Android Oreo was unveiled by Google, the company had introduced notification badges that show the number of pending notifications on top right of the app icon. Although WhatsApp had support for app badges, it included the messages received by muted chats in the number that was displayed on app badge of its icon. This led to the annoyance to a number of users, because when they opened their app they realized that the messages they came for was sent by a muted chat. But with Silent Mode, this wouldn’t happen because WhatsApp would not display app badges for muted chats. What’s even better, this feature will be enabled by default, so you don’t have to change any settings.
The world must has mixed feelings for the new Apple iPhone XR. Some say the smartphone is a worthy upgrade if you are coming from an iPhone 5 or 6/6S, others who have used the iPhone X, do not find it appealing. Whatever the case maybe, you cannot ignore that Apple made device has created quite a wave in the tech world.
The iPhone XR will be available on pre-orders in India starting tomorrow (Friday), October 19. As said earlier, the iPhone XR will start its sales from October 26 in most of the markets and yes, this includes India as well. The price which was revealed at the time of the launch is still intact and this smartphone will hit the shelf with a price tag of Rs 76,900 for the 64GB variant. The iPhone XR will also be available in 2 more variations, 128GB and 256GB.
News is that one can start booking the iPhone XR via Indian E-commerce stores like Amazon and Flipkart, too. Offline retail store will also start taking bookings at the same time. The smartphone will be available in couple of colour options. These include (our favourite) Red, black, yellow, coral and yellow. As far as the technical specifications of the iPhone XR are concerned, it will feature a 6.1-inch super retina LCD display supporting 1,792×828 pixel resolution at 326ppi. Face ID is available to the customers on this mobile and it features a single 12MP camera at the back.
The iPhone XR is powered by Apple’s A12 Bionic chipset, which is also present in its siblings (iPhone XS and XS Max). But what makes it truly made for India is the addition of 2 SIM card slots. And yes, before we forget, the iPhone XR carries a 7MP front shooter for selfie lovers. Apple iOS 12 comes preloaded on this smartphone with all the latest features of the new OS.
To bring in the festive season, Mukesh Ambani owned Reliance Jio has introduced its yearly prepaid plan. The plan is priced at Rs 1,699 and gives customers 547.5GB of 4G data. Unlike other two yearly plans by Reliance Jio, the Rs 1,699 plan has a daily data limit. The other yearly plans by the company include Rs 4,999 and Rs 9,999 plans.
The Rs 1,699 plan comes with unlimited voice calls and 100 free SMS per day. However, there is no word on whether there is an expiry date for the plan or not, so we recommend that if you are interested, you should get it for yourself sooner rather than later. To add on more festive season discounts, Reliance Jio is offering up to 100% cashback on most of its recharge offers.
Speaking of the new plan launched by Jio, it offers benefits to the user for 365 days from the date of getting the recharge done. Users get 1.5GB if 4G data every day, meaning that the overall data benefit of the plan is 547.5GB. And as we mentioned earlier, people buying this offer will unlimited voicing calls and 100 SMS per day till the plan is active on their phones.
It is worth noticing that no other tariff plan in the country from any telecom company is cheaper than the one Reliance Jio just launched. The closest yearly plan in terms of the cost is from BSNL, and even that costs more than Rs 2,000.
100% cashback available on all prepaid plans
The telecom major has come up with a Diwali offer under which it is giving users 100% cashback on all its prepaid plans. The prepaid plans that are eligible for the offer are Rs 149, Rs 198, Rs 299, Rs 349, Rs 398, Rs 399, Rs 448, Rs 449, Rs 498, Rs 509, Rs 799, Rs 999, Rs 1,699, Rs 1,999, Rs 4,999 and Rs 9,999. One can also just say that all prepaid plans that are priced Rs 100 are eligible for the 100% Diwali cashback.
Those who are recharging with the Rs 1,699 yearly plan will get three vouchers worth Rs 500 coupled with one voucher of Rs 200.
Users can redeem the 100% cashback on these recharge offers from any Reliance Digital store, but on a minimum purchase of Rs 5,000. Also, two vouchers cannot be used in one transaction. The vouchers will only remain valid till December 31, 2018.
Some items in Reliance Digital Stores cannot be bought using these voucher. These items include gift cards of Google, Google Play, Cleartrip, KFC, and Bookmyshow. Smartphones from Samsung and Xiaomi, hard disks from Seagate, Western Digital, Sony , tablets from Lenovo and Samsung are also among the items that cannot be purchased using these vouchers.
Reliance Jio has also announced that it user base has swollen to 250 million users in just 25 months of opening the services to the public.
Chinese electronics maker Xiaomi is all set to launch its new flagship smartphone, Xiaomi Mi Mix 3, in China on October 25. Leaks and rumours about the upcoming Xiaomi Mi Mix 3 have been dominating the internet and the company’s official spokesperson, Donovan Sung, keeps sharing information about the smartphone on his Twitter profile.
In his latest tweet which was posted a few hours back today, Sung has revealed why Xiaomi Mi Mix 3 will come with a slider camera. His tweet says that the company had applied for a patent for a popup selfie camera in 2015, and had then made some test devices. He went on to say that the company is choosing to go instead for a sliding form factor in order to give users a “better full screen display experience, especially for photography.”
Background on Mi MIX: As early as 2015, we applied for a patent for a popup camera, and made some test devices.
We ultimately chose the sliding form factor for #MiMIX3 to lay the groundwork for an even better full screen display experience, especially for photography.#Xiaomipic.twitter.com/P7PBrGrpTK
His tweet is coupled with images of a smartphone with an elevating selfie camera.
Earlier on October 16, Sung had confirmed about the presence of sliding form factor on the upcoming mobile. And yesterday, he had asked people to guess why they had chosen to keep a slider on Xiaomi Mi Mix 3.
His tweet today answers the question for his followers.
Interestingly, this isn’t the only news about Xiaomi Mi Mix 3’s camera that has surfaced online today. Two camera samples taken from the upcoming Xiaomi Mi Mix 3 have been shared by the company’s founder Lin Bin on his Weibo profile.
Both the samples have been taken with Portrait mode on, and the pictures show a very dark environment, this making it hard to judge the image quality.
A teaser video of Xiaomi Mi Mix 3 has also been shared online. The video is 15 seconds long and it the front panel of the Android smartphone can clearly be seen in it. It also flips the smartphone over and shows its back panel with a dual rear camera setup.
The upcoming Xiaomi Mi Mix 3 is the successor of company’s Mi Mix 2 device. It is the first ever smartphone to come with 5G capabilities and would come with a massive 10GB RAM.
Image courtesy: Donovan Sung’s Twitter profile, Lin Bin’s Weibo page
If you own a OnePlus 5, OnePlus 5T, OnePlus 3 or a OnePlus 3T smartphone, then we have some news for you that you may not like too much. You will have to wait for a little longer before your phone gets the Android 9.0 Pie update. The company had earlier said that these devices will be getting an Android 9.0 Pie update, but now it seems like it’s going to take more time than what users were expecting.
OnePlus CEO has confirmed this when he replied to a user on Weibo saying that Android Pie update for these devices is delayed, but will definitely come to the smartphones nevertheless.
This clearly points towards the fact that OnePlus would need more time before it dispatches the latest Android update to its older smartphones.
As of now, OnePlus 6 mobile is the only smartphone by the company that has got the Android 9.0 Pie update. The update has got with itself new features like gesture based navigation controls to the device. And OnePlus’ upcoming flagship smartphone, OnePlus 6T will also run Android 9.0 Pie out of the box.
To recall, OnePlus 3 and OnePlus 3T were launched by the company in 2016. While they were launched with Android 6.0 Marshmallow, they have already received two updates, one of Android Nougat and the other of Android Oreo. Denying reports that OnePlus 3 and OnePlus 3T will only receive updates till Android Oreo, the company had said that the smartphone will also receive the Android 9.0 Pie update.
Speaking of OnePlus 5 and OnePlus 5T, the two devices were launched last year with Android 7.1 Nougat. They currently run Android 8.1 Oreo after receiving an update for the same. The company has said that both the smartphones will receive two major software updates and security patches.
The company’s next flagship device, OnePlus 6T, is all set to launch on October 30. In India, it is already up for pre-orders on Amazon India’s website. Besides Android 9.0 Pie, the smartphone sports an in-display fingerprint sensor and it is replacing its 3.5mm headphone jack with a Type-C port. It would not be dust or water resistant and would not support wireless charging.
HMD Global recently unveiled its Nokia 7.1 smartphone at an event in London. Although the smartphone runs Android 8.1 Oreo, it announced at the event that the mobile phone will soon be getting an upgrade for Android 9.0 Pie.
And it seems like the company is keeping its promise. Just two weeks after Nokia 7.1 got launched, the smartphone has reportedly appeared on Geekbench with Android 9.0 Pie. The report further said that this means that that the company will be rolling out the latest Android version’s update to the smartphone next month, as it was initially scheduled.
To recall, Nokia 7.1 sports a 5.84-inch FHD+ IPS LCD display and comes with PureDisplay screen technology. The smartphone is powered by 1.8GHz Snapdragon 636 processor clubbed with 3GB/4GB RAM and 32GB/64GB of onboard storage. Nokia 7.1 comes with 12MP+5MP dual rear cameras that come with Zeiss-branded lenses. It also has an 8MP selfie camera on its front panel. The smartphone houses a 3,060mAh battery and is ARCore certified.
It is worth noticing that all Nokia smartphones that we have seen getting launched recently are a part of Android One program, and we consider this to be a big plus for any smartphone. Being a part of Android One program, the smartphone receives timely security patches for three years from the date of launch, And regular Android updates for two years.
The company also plans to roll the latest Android version update to Nokia 6.1, Nokia 6.1 Plus, Nokia 8 and Nokia 8 Sirocco. While Nokia 6 and Nokia 6.1 are scheduled to get an update this month, Nokia 8 and Nokia 8 Sirocco users will have to wait till next month.
HMD Global has also said that it plans to roll out the Android 9 Pie updates to Nokia smartphones other than the ones it mentioned.
The company recently also launched the Nokia 3.1 Plus smartphone in India. Although Nokia 3.1 Plus (first impressions) runs with Android 8.1 Oreo, it also falls under Google’s Android One program, much like other Nokia smartphones.
So although it has not been announced, it is very likely that we will see the smartphone getting the Android 9.0 Pie update too. And it this turns out to be true, then Nokia 3.1 Plus will be one among the first budget smartphones in the country to get the Android Pie update.
