Apple is giving back Rs 3,900 to its customers over iPhone’s battery fiasco
Well about time, Apple is giving a refund of USD 50 or Rs 3,900 to people who have had their batteries replaced from iPhone 6 or later models. If you are one of those who had done so between January 1, 2017 through January 28, 2018 from an authorized iPhone service center in India, then you might also be eligible for the refund.
Apple has said it will alert all its costumer who have done so during that period for its iPhone 6 or later variants. The alert is most likely to come in the form of an e-mail to your registered e-mail address which Apple has. If you have not got an E-mail as yet, then you might want to wait as they will be sending out alerts all through July 2018, too. In case you do not get an E-mail from the company for your refund you can directly contact the company as well. But, you would be required to show the legit papers from an authorized Apple service center, which replaced your iPhones battery.
Alos, the refund is only for those Apple iPhones that had gone out of warranty. The play by Apple comes after the issue of throttling speed came to light in the older gen of Apple iPhones, last year. The company had admitted to this in a statement that they were using software to do so. As a result, the smartphone did become slower than usual spelling doom for the owner. They had no choice but to upgrade to a faster and latest model, or move to a different smartphone all together. As an atonement, now Apple has offered some respite to the consumers who had to go and replace their iPhone 6 or latter’s battery because of this façade. A good move (if you as us) by Apple as it will keep brand loyalty alive.
Acer launches gaming desktops: Nitro 50, Orion 3000 and Orion 5000 series
Taiwanese electronics maker Acer launched a slew of devices at its next@acer global conference yesterday. Among these were its gaming desktops, Nitro 50, Orion 3000 and Orion 5000 series.
Acer introduced its Nitro 50 series of gaming desktops along with Nitro VG0 and RG0 gaming monitors at the event that was held in New York yesterday. Speaking of Acer’s Nitro 50 series, the desktops are powered by up to 8th-generation Intel Core i7 processors coupled with Nvidia’s GeForce GTX 1070 graphics cards. They come with up to 3TB HDD and 512GB SSD.
What’s exciting about them is the fact that they can simultaneously support 4 displays at once and offers 4K resolution visuals. They also support Qi-enabled charging and come with a dedicated handy wireless charging deck for it. They come with armour inspired housing and sport front facing LED lighting that emit red glow. Acer’s Nitro 50 Series also supports Realtek Dragon LAN which optimizes network speed.
The Acer Nitro 50 Series gaming desktops bear a starting price tag of $799 and will be available in US and China starting July. However, it will be available in EMEA in May itself.
Speaking of Acer Nitro VG0 Series, it comes with 27 inch, 23.8 inch and 21.5-inch display panels with three options in terms of resolution — 4K ultra-HD, WQHD, or Full-HD. On the other hand, Acer Nitro RG0 Series comes in 27-inch and 23.8-inch models and the company is touting it for its 0.27-inch thin profile.
Acer Nitro monitor’s frames come with AMD Radeon FreeSync which lets them sync with the graphics card’s frames. They also have the Integrated Visual Response Boost and Integrated 6-axis colour adjustment features. While the former decreases blur in fast moving images, the latter lets users make adjustments to colour, hue, and saturation levels.
Acer’s Nitro RG0 series’ displays come with 1920×1080 at 75Hz resolution and IPS panels that can provide view of up to 178 degrees horizontally and vertically. The monitors meet 72 percent of NTDC standard and can tilt from -5 to 20 degrees. They can deliver 250 cd/m2 brightness and come with a VESA mount which enables them to be hung in the wall.
Acer’s Nitro VG0 gaming monitors bear a price tag of $129.99 and will be available in US starting June. However, it will be available in EMEA and China starting May. Acer Nitro RG0 gaming monitors are priced at $169.99 and will be available in US starting July and EMEA starting May.
Speaking of Acer’s Predator Orion 5000 series, the gaming desktops feature up to 8th Gen Intel Core i7+ 8700K processors. The processors are further coupled with the latest Intel Z370 SoC, up to 2-way Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Ti GPUs and up to 32GB of memory. They come with IceTunnel 2.0 airflow management design and a front mesh panel with dust filters. They also have additional features for gaming like cradles for audio headsets, and a carry-handle for to make them portable.
Acer’s Predator Orion 5000 gaming desktops are priced at $1,499 and will be available in US starting July. They will however, be available in EMEA and China in June.
Devices from Acer Predator Orion 3000 Series are powered by up to 8th-generation Intel Core i7+ processors coupled with GeForce GTX 1080 graphics cards from Nvidia. While a lot of specifications are similar to Orion 5000, Orion 3000 series support VR and 4K gameplay.
The Predator Orion 3000 gaming desktops cost $999 and will be available in US starting October. In EMEA and Chine, it will be available starting July.
Last, but not the least, the company has also launched gaming accessories including Predator Cestus 510 gaming mouse, Predator Gaming Chair, Predator Hard Case, Predator Aethos 500 mechanical keyboard, and a Predator Mousepad.
Xiaomi to launch a selfie focussed smartphone in India on June 7
Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi has sent invites to the media for an event that is scheduled for June 7. The company is set to announce a smartphone at the upcoming event, after teasing it on Twitter a few days back.
The official invite has a picture of a camera lens made on it and it says that Xiaomi is hosting an event in New Delhi on June 7 to announce a new product.
Considering its post on Twitter just a few days back, Xiaomi may be set to launch its Redmi S2 smartphone in India, but after rebranding it as Redmi Y2 – successor to last year’s Redmi Y1 smartphone.
Besides, the invitation may not carry any details about the phone, but it does have some hints that helped us join the dots. Right in the middle of the invite is a sketch with half a human face on one side and half a camera sensor on the other. On putting two and two together, it is easy to make out that this means a camera with AI powered features is on its way. Xiaomi Redmi S2 was launched in China earlier this month and is being touted by the company as “best Redmi selfie phone”. In China, the smartphone was launched in two storage variants – 3GB RAM/32GB on-board storage and 4GB RAM/64GB storage. Furthermore, the phone was also available in different colour variants including Champagne Gold, Platinum Silver, and Rose Gold. Xiaomi Redmi S2 runs Android-based MIUI 9 and is powered by a Snapdragon 625 processor. It features a 5.99-inch HD+ display and sports a dual rear camera setup with 12MP and 5MP sensors. There is also a 16MP selfie camera that supports AI Portrait Mode, AI Smart Beauty, Front HDR, and Face Unlock. The phone can also hold microSD cards of up to 256GB.There are two kinds of people.
— Redmi India – #Redmi9 is here! (@RedmiIndia) May 18, 2018
1. Let's take a picture
2. Let's take a selfie
Which one are you? #FindYourSelfie pic.twitter.com/PNhLiDKhJx
Acer launches Predator Helios 500 and Predator Helios 300 Special Edition gaming laptops
On its next@acer global press conference on Wednesday, Acer unveiled a range of gaming devices including gaming laptops, desktops and accessories. Among these, Acer also launched its Predator Helios 500 and Predator Helios 300 Special Edition gaming notebooks. According to Acer, both of these support VR-ready performance, have faster connectivity and come with advanced thermal technology.
Speaking of the Acer Predator Helios 500, it is powered by 8th-generation Intel Core i9+ processors and offers up to 64GB of RAM. The notebook comes with GeForce GTX 1070 graphics and Intel Optane memory. It also has NVMePCIe SSDs and Killer DoubleShot Pro. According to Acer, these specifications along with features like graphic-intensive AAA titles and live streaming make it a gaming powerhouse.
The Acer Predator Helios 500 sports a 17.3-inch screen and has the choice of either full HD IPS or 4K Ultra-HD display. Nvidia G-Sync technology powers both the inbuilt display and external monitors come with. The notebooks come with a dual Thunderbolt 3 and HDMI 2.0 ports that can support three external monitors. The notebook also has a backlit RGB keyboard that supports four lighting zones. The laptop comes with Acer’s Dual AeroBlade 3D fans, which is claimed to enhance cooling and can be controlled via PredatorSense app.
Acer Predator Helios 500 gaming laptops bear a starting price tag of $1,999 and will be available in US and China starting June. They will be made available a little sooner in EMEA, starting May itself.
Coming to the special edition of Acer’s Predator Helios 300, it comes with a White and Gold colour scheme and features a 15.6-inch full-HD IPS display with an updated refresh rate of 144Hz. Powered by up to 8th-generation Intel Core i7+ processor and Nvidia GTX 1060 GPU, the notebook comes with up to 16GB of RAM, that can be upgraded to 32GB. It can further support up to 512GB SSD and up to 2TB hard disk drive. The special edition of Acer’s Predator Helios 300 also comes with Dual AeroBlade 3D cooling system, Intel Optane memory, Gigabit Ethernet and Gigabit Wi-Fi.
Besides these, Acer also teased the Predator X line-up of products that we will get to see in the future. All that we know about them is that the products will be powered by Intel’s Xeon processors for gaming.
Acer launches Chromebook Spin 15, Chromebook Spin 13 and Swift 5 laptops
Taiwanese electronics company Acer has today launched its new range of gaming laptops, notebooks, Chromebooks at an event in New York. Among the products that were launched were Acer’s Chromebook Spin 15, Chromebook Spin 13 and Swift 5 laptops.
The Acer Chromebook Spin 15 is claimed to be the first convertible Chromebook that features a 15.6-inch Full HD (1,920 x 1,080) IPS touch display. The display of Acer’s Chromebook is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass and has support for 10-finger touch.
The Chromebook Spin 15 comes in three processor options. These include quad-core Intel Pentium N4200 processor, Intel Celeron N3450 processor and dual-core Intel Celeron N3350 processor. It comes in two storage options – 4GB RAM/32GB onboard eMMC storage and 8GB RAM/64GB inbuilt eMMC storage. It is claimed to have a battery life that can last up to 13 hours. The laptop runs Google’s Chrome OS platform and has support for Android Google Play Store. The Chromebook Spin 15 comes with two USB 3.1 Type-C generation 1 ports, two USB 3.0 ports and a microSD card reader as connectivity options. The price of Acer Chromebook Spin 15 starts at $449 and it will be available in the US starting July.
Besides launching the Acer Chromebook Spin 15, the company also refreshed its Chromebook 15 model. The new version of the Chromebook 15 comes with the same 15.6-inch display and claims to offer up to 14 hours of battery life. It comes in three processor options including quad-core Intel Pentium N4200 processor, dual-core Intel Celeron N3350 processor and quad-core Intel Celeron N3450 processor. The Chromebook supports high-definition audio and will be available with up to 8MB dual-channel LPDDR4 memory. It also offers 64GB of inbuilt eMMC storage. The price of the new version of Chromebook starts at $349 and will be made available in US starting July. Both Chromebook Spin 15 and Chromebook 15 will be available in EMEA starting June.
Acer also launched its Chromebook Spin 13 and Chromebook 13, which is aimed at those who use laptops for business. Both Acer Chromebook Spin 13 and Chromebook 13 feature a 13.5-inch Full-HD+ display with an aspect ratio of 3:2. Both the Chromebooks come with an all-aluminium body and have USB 3.1 Type-C ports, USB 3.0 port, microSD card reader, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.2 as connectivity options.
The Chromebook Spin 13 is a convertible and comes with 360-degree hinges and a Wacom stylus. It is powered by an 8th gen Intel Core i5-8250U processor or Core i3-8130U processor. Coming to RAM and storage, the Chromebook Spin 13 offers 16GB LPDDR3 RAM and up to 128GB of onboard eMMC storage. It is claimed to have a battery life of up to 10 hours.
Speaking of Acer Chromebook 13, it comes in three processor options — 8th gen Intel Core i3-8130U, Intel Pentium 4415U and Intel Celeron 3865U processor. It comes with 16GB LPDDR3 memory and 32GB/64GB of inbuilt eMMC storage. Acer has not as yet revealed the price and availability details of the two Chromebooks.
Another major product announced by Acer is its Swift 5 notebook. The notebook features a 15-inch display and is powered by latest Intel Core processors. Weighing even less than 1Kg, the laptop runs Windows 10. The notebook follows the current trend of thin bezels and comes with 87.6% screen-to-body ratio. The Swift 5 also comes with Acer Color Intelligence technology and Acer BluelightShield technology. While the former adjusts gamma and saturation in real-time, the latter adjusts the screen’s blue-light emission. Acer Swift 5 comes with Intel Wireless-AC 9560, USB 3.1 Type-C Gen 2 port, two USB 3.1 Type-A ports, an HDMI port, and an SD card reader. It offers 16GB of DDR4 memory and up to 1TB of SSD storage.
More details on specifications, pricing and availability will be shared by the company later.
Mobiistar CQ, XQ Dual selfie smartphones launched starting at Rs 4,999: Specs and other details revealed
After Japanese, Chinese, Korean and Taiwanese companies selling its smartphones in India, it is the turn of another Asian company to sell its smartphone here. Mobiistar, a Vietnamese manufacturer has today launched two smartphones in India. These are known as Mobiistar CQ and Mobiistar XQ Daul, both aimed at selfie lovers. The Mobiistar CQ is priced at Rs 4,999, while the Mobiistar XQ dual is priced at Rs 7,999.
Mobiistar CQ Specifications
This smartphone comes with a 5-inch HD (720P) display. The screen comes with 2.5D curved display that is seen less at this price point. Mobiistar CQ supports dual-SIM and has a 425 Qualcomm Snapdragon CPU running at its core. Over that, this mobile phone has 2 GB RAM and 32 GB on board storage, expandable up to 128 GB using a microSD card.
As far as the cameras are concerned Mobiistar CQ has an 8MP rear camera with flash and a better 13MP selfie taker. Other features include 4G, Bluetooth, GPS and 3.5mm headphone port. The phone is kept alive using a 3,000mAh battery.
Mobiistar XD Dual Specifications
Priced few thousands Rupees more than the CQ the Mobiistar XD Dual sports a 5.5-inch FHD touch screen with IPS display with 400 pixel per inch density. This too has a 2.5D curved glass on top of the display. Under the hood Mobiistar XD Dual has the slightly better 430 Qualcomm Snapdragon chipset with clock speed of 1.4 GHz.
Mobiistar XD Dual has 3 GB of RAM and 32 GB memory, which too is expandable by up to 128GB like its younger brother. A 13MP sensor with phase-detection powers the rear camera of this smartphone, while the front sports dual 13+8MP cameras, making it a selfie takers delight. Couple of good camera filters have also been thrown in the mix like beauty and HDR. Mobiistar XD Dual is also powered by a 3,000mAh battery.
Both the models will go on sale on 30th May with exclusive online partner Flipkart.
Honor 7A and Honor 7C launched in India: Price and specs revealed
Right after it launched its flagship Honor 10, Huawei’s sub-brand Honor has now launched two new budget smartphones in India. According to the company, the new smartphones by the company, Honor 7A and Honor 7C, focus on style quotient and imaging duties.
Specifications
Coming to the specifications, the Honor 7A smartphone features a 5.7-inch HD+ IPS LCD display which comes with an aspect ratio of 18:9. Powered by an octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 processor paired with 3GB RAM, the smartphone offers 32GB of internal storage and can hold microSD cards of up to 256GB. The smartphone has a dual SIM card slot and the microSD card slot is placed separately.
Honor 7A smartphone runs Android 8.0 Oreo with the company’s own EMUI 8.1 baked on top. On the camera front, the smartphone comes with 13MP+2MP dual rear cameras with LED flash and an 8MP front snapper with soft LED light. While the dual rear cameras come with AI features, the selfie camera supports face-unlock. The smartphone houses a 3,000mAh battery and offers 4G, VoLTE, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and GPS as connectivity options.
Speaking of Honor 7C, it features a 5.99-inch HD+ IPS LCD display and is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 450 processor. The smartphone is available in two storage variants – 3GB RAM/32GB onboard storage and 4GB RAM/64GB internal storage. For more storage, users can add a microSD card.
The smartphone runs Android 8.0 Oreo skinned with a layer of EMUI 8.0. For imaging duties, there is a 13MP+2MP dual rear camera setup and an 8MP selfie camera on the smartphone’s front panel. Like Honor 7A, the smartphone also houses a 3,000mAh battery.
Price and availability
While Honor 7A is priced at Rs 8,999, the 3GB and 4GB RAM variants of Honor 7C are priced at Rs 9,999 and Rs 11,999 respectively. Honor 7A can be bought from Flipkart starting May 29 and Honor 7C will be available on Amazon India starting May 31. The smartphones will also be available on HiHonor online store. A Reliance Jio offer with the smartphones includes Rs 2,200 cashback with 50GB additional data on Honor 7A and 100GB free data on Honor 7C.
COMIO X1 Note launched in India: Price, specs and other details
COMIO has been doing the rounds in most parts of North India since quite some time. Going ahead they have expanded their operations in other sectors of India as well. As we had reported last week that COMIO will launch its new flagship this week and they have done so. With the launch of COMIO X1 Note, the company’s flagship smartphone, they are taking the fight to Xiaomi and other dominating players in the space.
COMIO X1 Note is placed at a hot-selling price point of the budget segment, at Rs 9,999. Sanjay Kalirona, CEO & Director, COMIO Smartphone said, “We are excited to announce the launch of COMIO X1 Note as it marks our expansion into a Pan-India brand. The response we have received from our consumers, retailers and distributors has been tremendous, encouraging us to deliver a product such as COMIO X1 Note, which is one of the best offerings from the brand in the sub-10,000 price segment.”
In terms of the specifications the COMIO X1 Note has a dual rear camera setup of 13MP + 5MP AF. The cameras are accompanied by a flash and also an 8 MP front facing camera. Picture effects like Bokeh, panorama, beauty are present on the device. COMIO X1 Note houses a 6-inch FHD+ touch screen with 2.5D curved glass on top. Users with two SIM cards need not worry as this smartphone does support dual-SIM operations and 4G-Volte is also there.
COMIO X1 Note is powered by a 1.45 GHz CPU and a 2,900 mAh battery. Over that, the smartphone has 3 GB of RAM and 32 GB internal memory, expandable up to 128 GB. Android O operating system runs out of the box and the phone supports 22 Indian languages. Other features include, Face unlock, fingerprint sensor and dual account app.
The COMIO X1 Note will be available in key retail stores all over India and across E-commerce stores such as Amazon, Flipkart and Snapdeal. A Reliance JIO offer is also part of the package, where JIO customers will get Rs 2,200 cashback (44×50 Rs vouchers) at the time of 1st successful recharge of Rs 198 or 299 monthly plan. Colour options include Royal Blue and Sunrise Gold.
WhatsApp group video calling has gone live for some users. Follow these steps to check if you are one of them
WhatsApp has killed the SMS industry, since everyone is using this simple free tool (mostly) on their Android and iOS devices to communicate. It is a revolutionary app that has left the mobile operators in a tizzy as the number of people using their SMS service is going down by the day. Well, one reason is: Why would one pay for a limited text message when you can send a huge message, files, images and more over an app that just uses data (which these days is limitless thanks to Reliance JIO) for almost nothing.
Now it seems like that WhatsApp is all set to kill the video calling industry too. Yes, it has the video calling ability since some time, but new features are being added to make the video calling experience more robust. The new feature that has just been rolled out is the group video calling feature. It is a scattered roll out for users, not all are getting it at the same time. If you are using an Android smartphone then look for the latest version update that should say 2.18.145, on Apple iOS it should mention 2.18.52. But, then also not all users will have this activated, like we said it is scattered update.
To check if you have this feature active on your smartphone, follow these steps:
- Open your WhatsApp on your Android or iOS device.
- Select a person you would want to video call
- Go to that person’s window and press the video call button.
- Once the call window opens there should be a new button called “Add Participant”
- If you find this button there, then group video calling feature is active on your device and you can add more people to the conversation.
Samsung Galaxy J6, J8, A6 and A6+ smartphones launched in India: Price, specs and more
Samsung Electronics today launched four smartphones in India under its Galaxy A and J series. All four smartphones – Samsung Galaxy J6, J8, A6 and A6+ — come with Samsung’s popular ‘Infinity display’, which we have already seen on its flagship Galaxy S9. Among the four, Samsung Galaxy A6+ is the most expensive and is priced at Rs 24,990. Samsung Galaxy A6 is available in two storage variants – 4GB RAM/32GB internal storage and 4GB RAM/64GB onboard storage.
While the 32GB variant is priced at Rs 21,990, you can buy the 64GB version by just paying Rs 1,000 extra, as it is priced at Rs 22,990. Speaking of Galaxy J6, it also comes in two storage variants – 3GB RAM/32GB inbuilt storage and 4GB RAM/64GB onboard storage. The base variant is priced at Rs 13,990, while the 4GB RAM version is priced Rs 16,490. All the three smartphones will be available starting May 22.
Those who wish to buy Samsung Galaxy A6+ or A6 can do so via Paytm Mall, Samsung India E-Store, Amazon India’ website and all retail stores. Samsung Galaxy J6 can be bought from Flipkart, Samsung’s E-shop website and retail outlets. As for Samsung Galaxy J8, it is priced at Rs 18,990 and will hit the stores in July 2018.
Samsung Galaxy A6 and A61+ specifications
Samsung Galaxy A6 and A6+ have their share of similarities and differences. While Samsung Galaxy A6+ is powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 450 processor, the A6 runs on Exynos 7870 processor. Samsung Galaxy A6+ is the bigger screen variant with 6-inch HD+ Super AMOLED Infinity display with an aspect ratio of 18:5:9. Speaking of the Galaxy A6, it features a 5.6-inch display. Samsung Galaxy A6+ comes with 16MP+5MP dual rear camera setup and a 24MP selfie camera. Galaxy A6, on the other hand, has a 16MP camera on its front as well as rear panel. While Samsung Galaxy A6 houses 3,000mAh battery, Galaxy A6+ is powered by a 3,500mAh battery. Both the smartphones can hold microSD cards of up to 256GB.
Samsung Galaxy J6 and J8 specifications
Samsung Galaxy J8 and J6 also come with their own set of similarities and differences. Samsung Galaxy J8 features a 6-inch HD+ Super AMOLED Infinity display with 18:5:9 aspect ratio and is powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 450 processor. Galaxy J6 on the other hand, has a 5.6-inch display with the same resolution and is powered by the Exynos 7870 processor. For imaging duties, J8 comes with 16MP+5MP dual rear cameras and a 16MP selfie camera while the J6 comes with 13MP rear camera along with 8MP front facing snapper. While the J8 has a 3,500mAh battery, J6 houses a 3,000mAh battery. Samsung Galaxy J8 offers 4GB RAM and 64GB onboard storage. Both smartphones can hold microSD cards of up to 256GB.