Samsung Galaxy Watch with Tizen-based OS launched
South Korean technology giant Samsung unveiled its new smartwatch at an event in New York on Thursday, where they also showcased Samsung Galaxy Note 9 smartphone. Dubbed Galaxy Watch, the smartwatch comes with 3G/LTE connectivity and can be charged wirelessly. It will be available in two models — a 46mm silver variant and a 42mm rose gold and black variants. With Galaxy Watch, Samsung has finally let go of its Gear branding.
Price and availability
According to the company, the Galaxy Watch will be available in the United States starting August 24th and in its home country — South Korea — starting August 31st. The smartwatch will reach additional markets only by September 14. While 42mm variant is priced at $329.99 (roughly Rs 23,000), the 46mm version bears a price tag of $349.99 (roughly Rs 24,000). However, the pricing of the LTE version has not been disclosed yet.
Specifications
The Galaxy Watch features either a 1.3-inch or 1.2-inch Super AMOLED touch display protected by Corning Gorilla Glass DX+. While the 1.3-inch version comes with 472mAh battery, the 1.2-inch variant houses a 270mAh battery.
Running on Tizen OS 4.0, Galaxy Watch is powered by 1.15 GHz Exynos 9110 dual core processor and offers 5 ATM water resistance and IP68 dust resistance. It comes with a heart rate monitor, ambient light sensor, accelerometer, gyroscope, and barometer. While the LTE version of the watch comes with 1.15GB RAM and 4GB of storage, the Bluetooth version includes 768MB RAM and 4GB of storage.
According to Samsung, the improved battery life of Galaxy Watch can provide ‘several days’ of usage on just a single charge. The smartwatch also includes some health and wellness oriented features. The heart rate monitor on the device not only records your heartbeat, when it detects that your heart is racing, it will also notify you to relax. Besides this, it tracks fitness and records sleep patterns. It will also determine the quality of your sleep.
Samsung also said that the smartwatch now supports 21 indoor activities and lets users track 39 workouts. It can also track calories and send personalised alerts based on nutrition.
The new smartwatch by Samsung is touted to come with a wide range of straps and watch faces — including straps by Braloba. Also, it is for the first time that a wearable by Samsung comes with an Always On Display.
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Samsung Galaxy Note 9 with all-new S Pen, 4,000mAh battery launched: Price, specifications & more
Samsung fans, your wait for the technology giant’s flagship of the year is over. The South Korean technology company has finally taken wraps off its Samsung Galaxy Note 9 smartphone. This year, it comes with a bigger battery and a stylus that can do so much more than earlier. Samsung Galaxy Note 9 is also the first smartphone by the company to come with 512GB of in-built storage. That’s not all. It also supports microSD cards of the same capacity. Other high-end specifications of the smartphone include the most powerful processor in the world – Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 and an 8GB of RAM. Furthermore, the smartphone will be available in four colour variants — Midnight Black, Metallic Copper, Ocean Blue and Lavender Purple.
Price and availability
Samsung Galaxy Note 9 comes in two variants – 6GB RAM clubbed with 128GB internal storage and 8GB RAM coupled with 512GB of inbuilt storage. While the 6GB RAM variant is priced at $999, the 8GB RAM version bears a price tag of $1,250. It will be available in the United States starting August 24.
However, there is no word on the price or the availability of the smartphone in India as of now. So you’ll have to stay tuned till we update you on the same.
Specifications
Samsung Galaxy Note 9 sports a 6.4-inch Super AMOLED Infinity display with Quad HD+ resolution and an aspect ratio of 18.5:9. As we have mentioned earlier, it is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 processor clubbed with either 6GB or 8GB RAM. There are two storage variants of the device – 128GB and 512GB. For more storage, users can add microSD cards of up to 512GB.
Samsung Galaxy Note 9 mobile houses a 4,000mAh battery and comes with an all new S Pen that supports Bluetooth Low Energy module. Besides performing all the functions that it did earlier, the S Pen that comes with Galaxy Note 9 can be used as a remote control for presentations and to manage apps like YouTube. That’s not all. Users can also use it to click selfies and switching between the primary and secondary cameras.
The S Pen gets charged automatically when you place it inside the smartphone. The company claims that with just 40 seconds of charging, the S Pen can be used for 30 minutes.
The smartphone now also comes with Dex – which enables the users to get a desktop-like experience from their phone. They can do this just by plugging in their smartphone to a desktop via a Type-C to HDMI adapter.
For imaging duties, Samsung Galaxy Note 9 comes with dual rear camera setup at the back. The Galaxy Note 9 comes with a 12MP wide angle autofocus sensor and a 12MP telephoto autofocus sensor. Both the sensors of the smartphone come with optical image stabilization. For selfies and video calls, the smartphone houses an 8MP autofocus sensor in the front.
The Android 8.1 Oreo based smartphone comes with dual-band Wi-Fi, Bluetooth v5.0, USB Type-C, a 3.5mm headphone jack, WiFi, Ant+, NFC, MST, and Gigabit LTE as connectivity options. It also features AKG Harman speakers.
Samsung Galaxy Note 9 is also IP68-rated waterproof and supports wireless charging and comes with iris, face and fingerprint sensors.
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The smartphone now also comes with Dex – which enables the users to get a desktop-like experience from their phone. They can do this just by plugging in their smartphone to a desktop via a Type-C to HDMI adapter.
For imaging duties, Samsung Galaxy Note 9 comes with dual rear camera setup at the back. The Galaxy Note 9 comes with a 12MP wide angle autofocus sensor and a 12MP telephoto autofocus sensor. Both the sensors of the smartphone come with optical image stabilization. For selfies and video calls, the smartphone houses an 8MP autofocus sensor in the front.
The Android 8.1 Oreo based smartphone comes with dual-band Wi-Fi, Bluetooth v5.0, USB Type-C, a 3.5mm headphone jack, WiFi, Ant+, NFC, MST, and Gigabit LTE as connectivity options. It also features AKG Harman speakers.
Samsung Galaxy Note 9 is also IP68-rated waterproof and supports wireless charging and comes with iris, face and fingerprint sensors.
For the latest gadget and tech news, and gadget reviews, follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube Ultimate Ears Wonderboom Freestyle speakers launched in India at Rs 6,995
Ultimate Ears or UE is a brand by Logitech which has been producing some really good speakers in the recent past. Today the Indian leg of the company has gone ahead and launched Ultimate Ears Wonderboom Freestyle Bluetooth speakers in the country. They were globally showcased few months ago and today they have been launched in five different colour combinations in India. The speaker styles have been given innovative names like Concrete, Avacado, Patches Raspery and Unicorn.
The Ultimate Ears Wonderboom Freestyle speakers are waterproof with IPX7 rating and drop proof. The company claims to have tested them from a drop height of 1.5 meters. That is roughly 5 feet and nothing has happened to them. The device features rubber and cloth exteriors. The power and Bluetooth buttons can be found on the top of the device. The logo on top also doubles up as a play and pause button. The same can be used to skip songs as well.
Sumanta Datta, Managing Director and Cluster Head, South West Asia and Indonesia, Logitech, said, “The new collection by Ultimate Ears is all about expressing yourself. You curate your playlist and personal style – why not have a speaker that reflects that style too? WONDERBOOM Freestyle Collection gives you big sound and the freedom to express your style in a trendy, tough and worry proof speaker. The new collection strengthens the Ultimate Ears portfolio for the Indian market with industry leading speakers across entry, mid and premium range.”
The volume buttons in the form of plus and minus are located on the front of the device and users can use the supplied charging cable with any USB charger to charge Ultimate Ears Wonderboom Freestyle speakers. The wireless range of the speaker is 100 feet and two such speakers can be paired together as well. The speakers weigh 425 grams and come with 2-year limited hardware warranty. The Ultimate Ears Wonderboom Freestyle speakers are priced at Rs 6,995 and will be available in Croma and other leading retail chains starting august 2018.
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Vivo Nex video review: A smartphone worth every penny
Vivo has led the innovation this time. All eyes are now on Apple to know what will they produce in the coming months. This is our review of the notch-less display driven Vivo Nex Smartphone launched at under Rs 45K in India.
You can read the full review of vivo nex here.
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Microsoft Surface Laptop and Surface book 2 with Windows 10 launched in India
Finally, the Microsoft surface line-up has been refreshed in India. On Tuesday, at an event in New Delhi the company unveiled Microsoft Surface Book 2 and its Surface laptop. These were showcased to the world last year and now have finally come to India. Both the machines come in quite a few options and will feature Intel’s 7th gen iCore processors.
Microsoft Surface laptop technical specifications
The Microsoft Surface laptop features a full HD 13.5-inch PixelSense touchscreen combined with their Alcantara fabric keyboard. There are quite a few combination of specs available for this one starting from the Intel Core i5 with 128GB SSD and 8GB RAM to the Intel Core i7 with 1TB SSD and 16 GB RAM. In total there are 5 such combinations available, depending upon the kind of usage you have.
All models come with on board Intel graphics unit and support Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/ac and Bluetooth v4.0. The Microsoft Surface laptop also comes with USB 3.0 port as well a mini display port. Windows 10 is the OS on this machine.
Microsoft Surface Book 2 tech specs
With the surface laptop, the company also launched Microsoft Surface Book 2. This is the flagship machine by the company and is claimed to have top-of-the-line performance. Available in two screen sizes of 13-inches as well as 15-inches, this notebook can display resolution of up to 3,240×2,160 pixels. Microsoft Surface Book 2 is available in seven configurations types starting from the Intel i5 CPU to Intel i7 CPU with multiple RAM and storage combo. NVIDIA has supplied the graphics in this machine on most counts. The lowest end one features intel graphics, rest have dedicated graphic cards for better graphical grip. As for the OS this notebook runs Windows 10.
Both machines will be available through all the major online as well as offline stores in India.
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| Configurations of Microsoft Surface Laptop | Price | ||
| Intel Core i5, 128GB SSD, 8GB RAM, Intel HD Graphics 620 | 86,999 | ||
| Intel Core i5, 256GB SSD, 8GB RAM, Intel HD Graphics 620 | 114,999 | ||
| Intel Core i7, 256GB SSD, 8GB RAM, Intel Iris Plus Graphics 640 | 144,999 | ||
| Intel Core i7, 512GB SSD, 16GB RAM, Intel Iris Plus Graphics 640 | 196,999 | ||
| Intel Core i7, 1TB SSD, 16GB RAM, Intel Iris Plus Graphics 640 | 233,999 |
| Configurations of Surface Book 2 | MRP* (in INR) | ||
| 13.5” Intel Core i5, 256GB SSD, 8GB RAM, Intel HD Graphics 620 | 137,999 | ||
| 13.5” Intel Core i7, 256GB SSD, 8GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 | 185,999 | ||
| 13.5” Intel Core i7, 512GB SSD, 16GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 | 222,999 | ||
| 13.5” Intel Core i7, 1TB SSD, 16GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 | 257,999 | ||
| 15” Intel Core i7, 256GB SSD, 16GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 | 222,499 | ||
| 15” Intel Core i7, 512GB SSD, 16GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 | 258,999 | ||
| 15” Intel Core i7, 1TB SSD, 16GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 | 295,999 |
Google Maps updated to display the Earth as a globe
Most of us rely on Google Maps whenever we are going to a place we have never visited before. It’s the most widely used app for directions. And now, the technology giant has added an interesting new update to its popular Maps app.
If you now zoom all the way out on Google Maps, the Earth will be displayed as a globe and not as a flat surface. With this update, Google Maps will be able to depict places more accurately.
The technology giant announced the update via Google Maps Twitter feed. The tweet said that with the Google Maps’ new 3D globe mode, “Greenland’s projection is no longer the size of Africa.” However, it is notable that the update is only available on desktop as of now. On mobile, you’ll have to still keep up with the flat surface. Till now, Google Maps used Mercator projection – which displayed the Earth like a flat surface. Although it is a highly popular style that makes it simple to print, what it projects is a highly distorted image of the Earth. For instance, with Mercator projection, the size of Greenland and Africa appear to be the same. Whereas in reality, Africa is 14 times larger than Greenland. Wondering why Mercator maps are being used in spite of displaying a distorted image of the Earth? A Google employee answered this for us in 2009 saying it helps them in preserving the angles of the roads. In an answer to a query on Google Maps & Earth Help forum, Joel H wrote, “The first launch of Maps actually did not use Mercator, and streets in high latitude places like Stockholm did not meet at right angles on the map the way they do in reality. While this distorts a ‘zoomed-out view’ of the map, it allows close-ups (street level) to appear more like reality. The majority of our users are looking down at the street level for businesses, directions, etc… so we’re sticking with this projection for now.” For the latest gadget and tech news, and gadget reviews, follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTubeWith 3D Globe Mode on Google Maps desktop, Greenland's projection is no longer the size of Africa.
— Google Maps (@googlemaps) August 2, 2018
Just zoom all the way out at https://t.co/mIZTya01K3 😎🌍 pic.twitter.com/CIkkS7It8d
LG G7+ThinQ smartphone with Snapdragon 845 processor launched in India: Price, specifications & more
It looks like OnePlus 6 has one more competitor in India. Till now, the device was competing with Vivo Nex and Asus Zenfone 5Z. And the latest device to give it competition is LG G7+ThinQ.
The smartphone was announced globally in May and is the successor to LG G6+ that was launched last year. It has a dedicated button for Google Assistant and also comes with AI powered dual rear cameras. Here, we list down the specifications, pricing and availability details of the newly launched smartphone.
Specifications
The Android 8.0 Oreo based LG G7+ThinQ features a 6.1-inch QHD+ FullView Super vivid display that supports an aspect ratio of 19.5:9. The display also supports brightness of up to 1,000 nits and has 100% DCI-P3 colour gamut. Powered by Qualcomm’s latest processor – Snapdragon 845 – the smartphone comes with 6GB RAM. LG G7+ThinQ also has 128GB of internal storage and can hold a microSD card of up to 2TB.
For imaging duties, the smartphone sports an AI powered dual rear camera setup with 16MP primary sensor that has an f/1.9 aperture lens and a 107 degrees’ field of view coupled with a 16MP secondary sensor that has an f/1.7 aperture, 71-degree lens. The rear cameras supports Bokeh effect and Live Photo mode. For selfies and video calls, there is an 8MP front facing snapper. The AI camera features 19 shooting modes along with three preset effects.
The smartphone houses a 3000mAh battery and comes with 7.1-channel DTS:3D Surround Sound support clubbed with a Boombox speaker and Hi-Fi Quad DAC for enhanced sound. The connectivity options of LG G7+ThinQ include 4G VoLTE, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth v5.0, GPS, NFC, USB Type-C, FM radio, and a 3.5mm headphone jack.
As we mentioned earlier, the mobile also comes with a dedicated button that triggers Google Assistant and Google Lens. Its special features also include Super Far Field Voice Recognition that enables the phone to recognize voice commands from up to five meters.
Price
LG G7+ThinQ is priced at Rs 39,990 – which pits it directly against the likes of OnePlus 6 and Asus Zenfone 5Z. It will be available exclusively on Flipkart starting August 10.
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Epson L6190 review: Inexpensive printing around the office
In the age of laser printer Epson is banking hard on its ink tank printer technology. The Epson L6190 is duplex type office ink tank printer, which we got to our test table. Since, the Gadget Bridge team has used and tested quite a few ink tank printers by Epson in the past, we already had high expectations from this one too. So what is this new printing machine all about? Read the rest of our review to know all about it.
Alright, let’s begin with the form factor. The Epson L6190 looks like any other multi-function printer available today. The front has the 2.4-inch colour touch display in the middle, which gives its user the ability to manage most functions of the device including direct scan and print options without the need of a PC. On its side are the home and power buttons. Under the touch display panel is the paper holding tray that can hold up to 250 sheets in the input tray and 30 sheets in the output tray (A4 size).
Above the touch panel is the A4 size scanner and the automatic document scanner. The four ink tanks (CMYK) can be accessed by opening the middle part of the multi-function device. You can also see the inside machinery and how the printer works in real time. The ink bottles are supplied with the printer and one can easily fill the tanks thanks to its spill proof design. At the back you will find the power port, USB port, 1 Ethernet port and a phone line in port. This is there because you can receive fax on the Epson L6190 as well. The machine is all-black and we did find it simple yet modern.
Now coming to the fun part – the print and performance. The Epson L6190 is great to have around the office or home as the per print cost for black and white prints is just 12 paise and 20 paise for colour. This is cheaper than most laser printers in the market, which consume a lot of power. Talking about which, the Epson L6190 consumes only 12 wats while operating. The setup process is simple and one can connect to the printer over Wi-Fi, Ethernet or direct USB. USB cable, power cord and the setup CD come in the box.
We were able to get a speed of 27 pages per minute for BW draft. We tested the colour prints as well as high definition graphics in edge to edge mode as well. The print times are not as super as the ones we got it while in draft mode, but are pretty decent. The edge to edge A4 sheet got printed in just a little over a minute, which is not bad at all when compared to other printers in the category.
The print quality in both the modes, colour as well as black and white is very good. We got sharp text and graphics, however the colour vividness could have been better on the plain paper. On photo quality paper it was much better. The scan function also works nicely and we did not face any problems here. The scans were crisp with good detail, especially the coloured ones. The Epson L6190 is priced at Rs 24,099 and with the option of low cost ink refills available by Epson, this printer will not burn a hole in your pocket every time you run out of ink. Also, it comes with a 1-year warranty or 50,000 prints, whichever comes first.
Pros:
Low cost printing
Does not consumer lot of power
Sharp scans
Cons:
Colour vividness
Home users might find the price expensive
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Above the touch panel is the A4 size scanner and the automatic document scanner. The four ink tanks (CMYK) can be accessed by opening the middle part of the multi-function device. You can also see the inside machinery and how the printer works in real time. The ink bottles are supplied with the printer and one can easily fill the tanks thanks to its spill proof design. At the back you will find the power port, USB port, 1 Ethernet port and a phone line in port. This is there because you can receive fax on the Epson L6190 as well. The machine is all-black and we did find it simple yet modern.
Now coming to the fun part – the print and performance. The Epson L6190 is great to have around the office or home as the per print cost for black and white prints is just 12 paise and 20 paise for colour. This is cheaper than most laser printers in the market, which consume a lot of power. Talking about which, the Epson L6190 consumes only 12 wats while operating. The setup process is simple and one can connect to the printer over Wi-Fi, Ethernet or direct USB. USB cable, power cord and the setup CD come in the box.
We were able to get a speed of 27 pages per minute for BW draft. We tested the colour prints as well as high definition graphics in edge to edge mode as well. The print times are not as super as the ones we got it while in draft mode, but are pretty decent. The edge to edge A4 sheet got printed in just a little over a minute, which is not bad at all when compared to other printers in the category.
The print quality in both the modes, colour as well as black and white is very good. We got sharp text and graphics, however the colour vividness could have been better on the plain paper. On photo quality paper it was much better. The scan function also works nicely and we did not face any problems here. The scans were crisp with good detail, especially the coloured ones. The Epson L6190 is priced at Rs 24,099 and with the option of low cost ink refills available by Epson, this printer will not burn a hole in your pocket every time you run out of ink. Also, it comes with a 1-year warranty or 50,000 prints, whichever comes first.
Pros:
Low cost printing
Does not consumer lot of power
Sharp scans
Cons:
Colour vividness
Home users might find the price expensive
For the latest gadget and tech news, and gadget reviews, follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube Honor Play smartphone launched in India with a notch touch screen: Price, technical specifications and more
Honor play was announced in China in June 2018. Two variants of the smartphone were showcased at the event. One with 4GB RAM and the other with 6GB RAM. Today, at an event in New Delhi, both the variants of the smartphones have been launched in India. This is an Amazon exclusive deal to begin with, but speaking with Gadget Bridge Exclusively Honor did confirm it has plans to bring it to offline stores in sometime. The neat thing about the launch is that the Honor Play will start selling today itself at 4PM (IST) in India.
Honor Play technical specifications
The company has packaged the phone really well, in our opinion. Honor Play comes with a 6.3-inch FHD+ (2,340×1080 pixels) resolution touchscreen sporting 19.5:9 aspect ratio. The display also features a notch similar to the one found in other Honor smartphones. Underneath, the Honor Play features a top-of-the-line Huawei HiSilicon Kirin 970 chipset with an up to 2.36GHz Quad-core CPU. This comes in a combo of 4GB/6GB RAM with 64GB on board storage.
The memory is expandable by up to 256GB using a microSD card. Available in two colours, black and blue the Honor Play has a dual rear camera setup. This includes a 16-megapixel primary sensor with an aperture size of f/2.2 and a secondary camera sensor next to it (vertically placed) that has a 2-megapixel sensor and aperture size of f/2.4. Features like Phase detection autofocus and LED flash are also there. The front of the smartphone has a 16MP selfie camera with aperture size of f/2.0.
Android Oreo 8.1 with EMUI 8.2 is what this smartphone has right out of the box. Connectivity options includes 4G VoLTE, Wi-Fi 802.11 ac, USB type C charging, GPS, Bluetooth v4.2 and a 3.5mm audio port. The Honor Play comes with 3,750 mAh battery and is fast charge compatible. Weight-wise the Honor Play balances 176 grams and is 7.48mm thin. Sensors like accelerometer, ambient light, compass and gyroscope have been added to the device.
Honor Play price in India
As said before, there are two versions of the smartphone available in India as well. The Honor Play with 4GB RAM and 64GB memory can be picked up for Rs 19,999 and the one which has 6GB RAM and 64GB memory can be bought for Rs 23,999. It is Amazon exclusive and sales start today. Vodafone bundle offer is also active where users can avail 10GB of data per month for a year, along with free Amazon Prime subscription.
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Top 5 Netflix shows to binge watch (August 2018)
This one is for all those Netflix binge watchers out there, who have liked and shared our previous videos and to all the new comers we are sure you will give us a shout out too. If you still have not subscribed to our Youtube channel, then go ahead and press that subscribe button and jab that bell icon.
Here are top 5 Netflix shows you need to binge watch in August, 2018.
- Orange Is The New Black: Season 6 is here and all the episodes are out. Yes, ladies and gentleman. For those who don’t know about this series, it’s about a privileged woman from New York who is sent to prison. It is an epic-epic season so go ahead and stream it!
- Switched: The Japanese series is about a high schooler, Ayumi, whose life becomes a mess when her body is switched with her classmate Zenko. The series is about how Ayumi’s life turns upside down when her boyfriend and her dear ones move away.
- The Epic Tale Of Captain Underpants: So what is the show all about? Two Fourth Grade buddies turn their annoying headmaster to Captain Underpants, the superhero who saves the day.
- Samantha!: The Brazilian series is about how the child star in the 80s has now grown up and struggles to come back in the spotlight.
- Ghoul: If you are craving for some real scary and creepy this is the show for you. The story is about an army officer who goes to interrogate a terrorist at the detention centre. But what she finds out, is something more…