PUBG Mobile is most definitely one among the most popular games of 2018. There are scores of people across the globe who are hooked to the game. And earlier this year, the game announced the India Series 2019 which aimed towards the growth of India’s PUBG Mobile esports ecosystem. And now, the Grand Finals of the PUBG Mobile India Series 2019, that is sponsored by Chinese smartphone brand Oppo is all set to take place on March 10 at GMC Balayogi Indoor Stadium, Hyderabad.
We should mention that the event is happening with the support of the Telangana Government and it has been organised after PUBG Mobile Campus Championship was successful in October last year. We should also add that PUBG Mobile Campus Championship was actually PUBG Mobile’s first endeavour to build an esports platform for college students. And this time PUBG Mobile wants to take it to the next level PUBG Mobile India Series had over 400,000 games across in-game and online qualifiers and featured some of the top PUBG Mobile clans such as RIP, PAiN, SouL, 8bit and Oxy.
The tournament was open to all residents of India who had a PUBG Mobile account above level 20. More than 2,000 teams were selected for the Playoffs at the PUBG Mobile India Series 2019 and among these, 20 best teams will fight it out at the Grand Finals. We should also add that the team which ranks first can walk away with Rs 30,00,000, and the ones that secure the second and the third spot will get Rs 10,00,000 and Rs 5,00,000 respectively.
Commenting on the tournament, Aneesh Aravind, General Manager, Tencent Games, India said, “With India Series 2019, we set out with the objective of making esports accessible to all segments of the PUBG MOBILE fan base by keeping it open-to-all. After launching India Series in January, we received a massive 575,000 registrations who played 400,000 games across 4 rounds, out of which the top 80 have made it to the finals. The sheer dedication, skill and temperament of these players are commendable as they make the transition from being gamers to esports athletes. As such, we expect an extremely high level of competition on March 10th, which PUBG MOBILE fans must be following with excitement!”
If you want to catch the action live, free limited passes to attend the Grand Finals can be availed at PUBG Mobile’s India website later in the week. Viewers at home can follow the action on PUBG MOBILE’s official YouTube channel and Facebook page. Live broadcast will begin at 1PM on March 10.
Huawei Nova 4e handset was teased by the company just a few days back when the smartphone maker confirmed about the selfie camera details of the device. And now, the Chinese smartphone maker has announced that Huawei Nova 4e will launch in China on March 14. The smartphone is most likely a new variant of the previously launched Huawei Nova 4 smartphone that sports a punch-hole selfie camera.
However, we should point out that Huawei Nova 4e is going to be different because the teaser shows the handset to come with a traditional waterdrop-style notch on its front panel. The smartphone is speculated to be the ‘stripped-down’ version of the Nova 4 handset and it should be available at a more affordable price.
The company took to Weibo to make the announcement that Huawei Nova 4e will be launched in China on March 14. However, the poster that has the launch date does not come with any other information about the device. Thanks to the teaser that surfaced online a few days back, we already know that the smartphone will come with a waterdrop-shaped notch that will house a 32MP front-facing snapper.
But then, there isn’t much else that we know about the upcoming handset. However, before the device is unveiled, we do expect to see some more information about its surface online.
Once the device is launched in China, it is speculated that it will soon launch in other parts of the world too. The global variant of the Huawei Nova 4e smartphone was recently spotted on TENAA and the listing showed it to sport a 6.15-inch full-HD+ display and be powered by HiSilicon Kirin 710 SoC. It was also reported that the smartphone will come with a triple rear camera setup that will comprise of 20-megapixel, 16-megapixel and 2-megapixel sensors and will house a 3,240mAh battery.
The listing also revealed that the handset will come with a rear-mounted fingerprint scanner. The vanilla variant of Huawei Nova 4 smartphone was launched in December last year and it comes with a hole on its display to house a 25MP selfie camera. It also has a 48MP primary camera with Sony IMX586 sensor and features a gradient colour design.
Around the world, Apple products are viewed as luxury items and a symbol of status. Since its inception, Apple has been making products which look and feel ‘different’ than the ones that are normally sold. And Apple is known by many as the company whose smartphones and gadgets are class-apart. However, in recent years, sales of iPhones and other Apple products have been falling at a slow but gradual rate. But that is not the only problem Apple is facing, as there is an entire list of things the company has been dealing with. And recently, it looks like Apple has been fighting battles on more than one fronts.
Apple had many services and products under its name and App Store is one of them. Apple charges app developers a certain amount of money to put their app on its platform. But that’s not all. Apple also charges the companies a certain fee when a user purchases or subscribes to their app. Last year, Netflix subscription cost $11 (approximately Rs 770) to iOS users and Apple pocketed up to $3.30 (approximately Rs 231) out of this money. It’s not news as Apple has been doing it with other companies as well and that might be the reason many companies accuse Apple of unfair marketing.
According to Associated Press, in the later months of 2018, Netflix rebelled against the Cupertino-based technology firm about its fee system. Usually Apple takes about 15% to 30% of the fee paid to the company per customer. However, this year Apple might hike the app cost to up to 50%. And it might be the reason that other companies might also follow Netflix’s lead and rebelling against Apple.
Recently, Apple had been making headlines for working on a number of paid subscription services which includes a Netflix style subscription service for TV shows, a news subscription service, a revamped Apple Music, a video game streaming subscription service etc. However, reports also suggest that many major companies have been rejecting the partnership that Apple is offering for its subscription services. Companies like Netflix, Hulu, New York Times, Washington Post, Spotify have been revolting against Apple because of its high charges and unfair deal in the partnership.
But, Apple’s troubles don’t stop here as we saw a serious decline in the iPhone sales after the release of its 2018 iPhone lineup. In fact, iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max particularly didn’t do in most markets. And that had finally resulted in the falling shares (more than 25%) of the Cupertino based technology firm. According to FactSet, Apple’s shares will drop even further in 2019 by about 15% which could mean serious trouble for the company.
About the app charges, the company had defended that they were ‘reasonable compensation for reviewing the apps ensuring its store remains a safe and secure place for e-commerce.’
Apple’s App Store generates about a third of the company’s services revenue and with the app manufacturers and developers rebelling against the company they too might pull their legs back. And if the major companies remove their apps from Apple’s App store then we can see further decline in the Apple’s shares and profits.
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Photo-messaging app Snapchat has launched a beta test version with eight new languages. Out of eight languages, five are Indian and the rest are other Asian languages, according to media reports. The Indian languages that have been added include Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati, Punjabi, and Urdu while the other three Asian languages are Malay, Vietnamese and Filipino.
This move shows that the company is focusing its attention towards the Asian market and more importantly, the Indian market. The new beta version comes with only one goal from Snapchat in mind, to reach and attract more users for its platform.
Snapchat enjoyed popularity in India before the company’s CEO, Evan Spiegal said in 2017 that ‘poor countries’ like India and Spain didn’t interest him for business expansion so he didn’t plan to focus on such countries. For this comment of his, Spiegal faced massive outburst and criticism from Indian citizens.
And with the release of the new beta version of Snapchat which has the Indian market as its main focus, it is evident that the company seems to have changed its mind-set towards the market. After the CEO’s comment about India being a ‘poor country’, many Indian users of the app boycotted it and uninstalled the app from their smartphones.
Quoting Snapchat about the beta version, it said, “This is our first Beta containing eight new languages! If you’re fluent in any languages listed below, try changing your device language to check them out.”
The company has also asked the beta testers of the app to post screenshots and report any issues and bugs they find to make it ‘awesome’. But there is no official release date of the stable update of the new languages support. Also, the platforms on which this beta version will be tested is still unknown, it can be either Android or iOS or both.
This move by Snapchat comes in later than other social platforms. We should mention that Facebook and Google have already launched their apps and services to support multiple Indian languages. The support of Indian languages gained them the credibility of the Indian app users and in turn the users of the said services grew exponentially. Not just Facebook and Google but other services like Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn as well have focused more on the Indian user base these past years.
In October 2018, Snapchat hired the former head of news partnerships and government from Twitter India, Raheel Khursheed as its first executive to head operations in the country.
We should add here that in 2017, a report by the search giant, Google suggested that by 2021, India would have around 536 million internet users accessing and using content on the internet in their regional languages.
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Let’s face it: Gmail has become an extremely important service for all of us. In fact, we really don’t know what we’ll do without it because we are too used to its features that make life so simple for us. Here, we have made a list of 10 little-known features of Google‘s email service:
In This Article
Recall emails in Gmail
Yes, there is a way of recalling emails in Gmail and it can prove to be extremely useful at times. You clearly don’t want to send an email meant for your office best friend to your client, right? But you should know that once you send an email, it can be recalled via a box that appears on the bottom right. You can even increase the time limit of that box to stay up to 30 seconds so that you have an option of recalling an email during this time. You can read further here on how this can be done.
Send emails in Confidential mode
This feature lets you send self-destructing emails to your friends. You can write an email and then click on the ‘lock’ icon on the bottom bar to set a timer on it. While the timer is not visible, it gets turned on the moment the receiver opens the email. After the time pre-set by you, they would not be able to access the email.
Add an extra layer of security to your emails with an SMS passcode
If you wish to keep an important email more secure, you can add an SMS passcode on it. Press on the same lock-shaped icon on the bottom bar and select the option of ‘SMS passcode’. This will add an extra layer of security to the email you are sending.
Mute email chains that you don’t care about
Suppose somebody tagged you in a mail that already has a number of people tagged in it. While there are times when you care about what is being spoken about in the mail, there are times when it has got nothing to do with you. If you find yourself in the latter situation, you can mute the email by selecting it and then tapping on the three-dot icon and clicking on ‘Mute’.
Canned responses
This is a good way to cut down the time you spend on the email service every day. If you’re tired of typing out the same reply every time someone emails you with a question that you are asked often, you can compose your reply once and save the message text so that it is easier for you to resend it again and again.
Got the Wrong Bob?
Do you know two people named Bob? And wait, is one of them your CEO and the other is a goofy friend from college? We can imagine that you don’t want to send an email to a wrong Bob. You can rule out this possibility by enabling the ‘Got the wrong Bob?‘ feature in Google Labs.
Use Gmail in offline mode
Okay, so you cannot send emails in offline mode, but at least you can access the service and compose and save emails. The moment your smartphone gets internet connectivity; your email will be sent.
Gmail security checklist
We know that some of you may consider privacy to be a little overrated, but then we also know that for some of you, it’s very important. Here, you can access all the security guidelines on Gmail’s list that includes 18 items in five categories. We recommend you to go through the list to make sure your account is secure.
Add tasks to remember
The new Gmail design has a sidebar that has Tasks, Keep and Calendar. Here, you can select the option of ‘Tasks’ to make a list of things to do during the day. Considering we all access Gmail a number of times during the day, it should prove to keep your day more organised.
Add important dates to your Calendar
Instead of accessing your Google Calendar separately to add important events, you can directly add them there by accessing it on the sidebar of the email service.
Chinese smartphone manufacturer Vivo has announced that it will be launching its upcoming X27 smartphone with a pop-up selfie camera on March 19. However, we should add that Vivo X27 smartphone will be launched in China on the said date, but there is no official release date of the device for the Indian market. The upcoming Vivo X27 handset is said to be similar to Vivo V15 Pro in the looks and specifications department.
The company posted about the release date of the Vivo X27 on the Chinese social networking website, Weibo. The launch will take place on March 19 and the company is already taking pre-registrations from its customers and fans on its official China website.
Vivo X27 will come with a vertically stacked triple-rear camera setup and a pop-up selfie camera at the front. The smartphone will also come with an all-display front panel with no notches and is expected to sport an in-display fingerprint scanner. Vivo has also released photos of the smartphone which confirm some of these details about the X27. The main rear camera will be a 48MP sensor with night view for low-light photography.
Earlier, the device was spotted on TENAA listings and it is said that Vivo X27 will house a 3,920mAh battery with fast charging support. The main rear camera might be coupled with a 13MP sensor along with a 5MP sensor. According to the listings, the Vivo X27 will be running Android 9.0 Pie and will have 8GB of RAM along with 256GB of storage.
We should add here that with these specifications and design elements, the upcoming Vivo X27 looks like another variant of the previously launched Vivo V15 Pro. Looking back, the Vivo V15 Pro comes with a 6.39-inch FHD+ Super AMOLED display and is powered by Snapdragon 675 SoC. The smartphone comes with triple rear camera setup comprising of a 48MP main sensor, an 8MP super wide sensor and a 5MP sensor. For selfies and video calls, the smartphone houses a pop-up camera of 32MP sensor on its top edge. Unlike the Vivo X27, the Vivo V15 Pro comes with 6GB RAM coupled with 128GB storage and has a 3,700mAh battery. In India the Vivo V15 Pro is priced at Rs 28,990.
Chinese smartphone maker Huawei is suing the United States because of the policies that have imposed a ban on the use of the company’s equipment by the government. This comes as the latest move in the ongoing battle between the company and the US. According to the lawsuit, the policies that have been passed by Congress last year have unconstitutionally singled out the Chinese smartphone maker for punishment.
When the legislation was passed by Congress, it blocked Chinese-made telecommunications equipment from being used in federal networks. This basically meant that government contractors could not use equipment from Huawei. We should add that Huawei and ZTE, along with some other Chinese companies were specifically named.
According to Huawei, the measure that was imposed breached a legal standard against making a “bill of attainder,” as the policy that was made was directed at a small group. Furthermore, the government is also accused of infringing the company’s due process rights.
The lawsuit was announced by the company’s executives at a press conference in Shenzen. According to Huawei’s Guo Ping, after failing to pacify the concerns of US lawmakers, “we are left with no choice but to challenge the law in court.”
Huawei also called the ban on the company completely unnecessary and added that because of this, the United States would be left behind in the buildout of next-generation 5G connectivity.
However, we must add here that US officials have repeatedly considered Huawei to be a potential security threat. They also said that the company may a tool that is being used by the Chinese government to spy on users in other countries. However, Huawei has maintained that this is not the case and said that the US has not been able to provide evidence for its statement or concerns yet.
The measures that were taken by the government are clearly the strongest actions that have been taken against Huawei in the United States. We should also mention that as Huawei remains embroiled in the battle regarding policy measures, the US is looking for the extradition of the company’s financial officer from Canada.
Popular smart wearables maker Fitbit has unveiled four new products in India today namely – Fitbit Versa Lite Edition, Fitbit Inspire HR, Fitbit Inspire and Fitbit Ace 2. These products come at varying prices and all of them offers engaging software and can be connected with the Fitbit app. Also, the company has planned to launch its redesigned Fitbit app which will help the user personalize their dashboard, understand their data and discover new content more easily than before. The app will also allow them to connect with others on Fitbit’s social community.
All four of the launched products come with somewhat similar features and yet they differ from each other. The Fitbit Versa Lite Edition is a smartwatch which comes with an activity tracker, 24/7 heart rate monitor and sleep stage tracker. It also has more than 15 goal-based exercise mode and comes with connected GPS and smartphone notifications. The company has promised a battery life of more than 4 days. It has a single button on its lightweight body and it costs Rs 15,999.
Fitbit Inspire HR costs Rs 8,999 and packs an all-day automatic activity tracker. It also has a tracker to monitor sleep stages and exercise that comes along with more than 15 exercise modes. Other features of Fitbit Inspire HR include relax guided breathing and connected GPS. The Inspire HR has another version which is aimed for people who are new to the smart wearables and want a low-cost device. The device is named Fitbit Inspire and it costs Rs 6,999. It too packs some of the features of its costly counterpart, however, some features like connected GPS are missing. Both the devices are swim proof and come with a touchscreen display that has support for smartphone notifications. They offer up to 5 days of battery backup.
The third product, Fitbit Ace 2 is aimed at kids of more than 6 years to build a healthy habit at an early age. It encourages them to spend more active time with their friends and family. It too comes with a swim proof build and has a bumper to protect the screen during children-related activities. Aimed at kids, they come in bold and funky colours with patterned design options. It has an animated clock along with motivating challenges to keep the children moving. It also gives an option to add colourful avatars and photos to personalize their profiles within the Fitbit app. Fitbit Ace 2 is priced at Rs 6,999.
Fitbit Ace
Fitbit Versa Lite Edition, Inspire HR and Inspire will be available in the Fitbit stores and online in India along with the USA, Asia-Pacific, Europe, Middle East and Africa from March 2019. However, we will have to wait for Q2 2019 to buy the Fitbit Ace 2.
Fitbit Versa Lite
James Park, Co-founder and CEO of Fitbit said “With our newest products, we’re delivering high-quality, easy-to-use wearables that are more affordable, so getting healthy can be accessible to people of all ages and activity levels – even those who have never tried a wearable. Bringing more users to the wearables category and growing our community of active users is a critical part of our strategy. We will continue to build on the Fitbit platform to provide a more personalized and valuable experience for our users through a paid premium service expected to launch later this year.”
Fitbit Inspire HR
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To celebrate International Women’s Day, Asus is teaming up with Flipkart for the online shopping website’s Women’s Day Sale that has started today and will go on till March 8. During this sale, most of Asus’s Zenfone smartphones will be on discount and will be subject to multiple offers.
No Cost EMI will also be available when purchasing the smartphones during the sale using leading bank credit and debit cards. Also, Flipkart’s Complete Mobile Protection Plan is also being offered at a discounted rate on the purchase of the Asus’s smartphones during the sale. Here’s a list of Asus smartphones that are available on a discount during the sale:
Asus Zenfone 5Z is getting Rs 3,000 off on all its variants. The 6GB RAM + 64GB storage variant is selling for Rs 21,999 instead of its original price of Rs 24,999. Similarly, the 6GB RAM + 128GB storage variant is selling for a discounted price of Rs 24,999 and the 8GB RAM + 256GB storage variant is selling at a reduced cost of Rs 28,999 during the sale. The original prices of the devices are Rs 27,999 and Rs 31,999 respectively.
Asus Zenfone Lite L1 is getting Rs 1,000 off its original price of Rs 5,999. So, now it is available for Rs 4,999. Similarly, Asus Zenfone Max M1 is getting Rs 500 off of its original price of Rs 7,499. During the sale, Asus Zenfone Max M1 is available for Rs 6,999.
Asus Zenfone Max Pro M1 has got Rs 500 off on all its variants in the sale. The 3GB RAM + 32GB storage variant of Zenfone Max Pro M1 is selling for Rs 7,999 instead of its original price of Rs 8,499. Similarly, the 4GB RAM + 64GB storage variant is selling for Rs 9,999 while the 6GB RAM + 64GB storage is available for Rs 11,999. The original prices of the devices are Rs 10,499 and Rs 12,499 respectively.
Make this Women's Day even more special by gifting a Zenfone to the incredible woman in your life. @Flipkart brings you exciting offers on the Zenfone Max Pro M1, Zenfone 5Z and Zenfone Lite, during the Women's Day Special Sale. Buy Now! https://t.co/4UPCEZe9KApic.twitter.com/0ZOmqCYTnz
The 3GB RAM + 32GB storage variant of Asus Zenfone Max Pro M2 is available for Rs 9,999 while the 4GB RAM + 64GB storage is selling for Rs 11,999. The top variant of Zenfone Max Pro M2 with 6GB RAM and 64GB storage is selling for Rs 13,999.
And the Asus Zenfone Max M2’s 3GB RAM + 32GB storage variant can be picked up for Rs 8,499 and the 4GB RAM + 64GB storage variant is available for Rs 10,499 during the Flipkart Women’s Day Sale.
So which smartphone do you intend to buy during the sale? Let us know in the comments below!
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Technology giant Google is known for making apps and services which could ease the daily lives of people. Similarly, smartphone companies have flooded the Indian markets with affordable handsets with great features. And smartphones are now being used in urban cities and rural towns alike. Considering this, Google has decided to launch a new app that a number of people in rural India would find useful– Google Bolo.
Google Bolo is a new Android app which the company unveiled on Wednesday. As the name suggests, Google Bolo is a speech-based reading tutor app which is aimed mainly at rural Indian children. Google hopes that with this step, it will be able to help rural children with their education by making it easier to learn languages. As of now, the app is available for Android and it can be downloaded from Google Play Store. The best thing about the app is that it also works offline. Google Bolo uses Google’s speech recognition and text-to-speech technology.
Speaking about the app, Google said in a statement, “We believe technology has the power to help transform teaching and learning, and have been actively directing our products, programs, and philanthropy to ensure that all students are able to benefit from it.”
The app is built for native Hindi-speakers and it encourages the children to improve their Hindi and English reading and speaking skills by asking them to read aloud. The app comes with 16 engaging stories, which according to Google, are aimed at helping children in improving their comprehension skills. It is designed in a way that children can use it without any help and can read by themselves. Also, since it is aimed at rural Indian children, all the reading materials on the app are free of cost and it is also working with other companies to bring more reading materials to the app. The app is less than 50MB in size.
In a blog post, Google wrote “With the help of ASER Centre, we have been piloting Bolo across 200 villages in Uttar Pradesh, India, over the past few months. Early results are very encouraging, and we found that 64 percent of children showed an improvement in reading proficiency in just 3 months.”
Achievements = unlocked. On #Bolo, kids can also play word games and earn in-app rewards and badges, making their learning experience more engaging and fun.
Also, to make it more engaging, Google has added in-app rewards and badges along with word games. The app is able to work with more than one child, so it can work in a family with more children and offer a personalized experience to all of them by tracking their progress separately.
The app also comes with an animated digital assistant called Diya. The assistant explains the English texts and words to the children and it also reads the texts aloud for them to repeat and see how it is pronounced. When children read the words correctly, Diya also compliments them. The digital assistant is able to read Hindi as well as English.
But Google has also mentioned that the app is still in its beta phase and the company is planning to work with Kaivalya, Saajha, Room to Read and Pratham to refine the app further. The company is also planning to add more features and languages to the app in the future. Currently, there is no word on if and when Google Bolo will make its way to iOS.
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Let’s face it: Life without a service as useful as Gmail would be really hard. While it started as Google’s email service that was competing with the likes of Hotmail, it has left all its rivals behind. The primary reason for this is that Google is regularly updating its app with useful features that would make life easier for its users.
And now, the technology giant has added another important feature to Gmail for Android. Starting today, Smart Compose will be available to all Android smartphone users who use Gmail. With Smart Compose, Gmail can automatically generate phrases that are used by you frequently. The feature was first spotted by Android Police and it is being sent to all Android smartphones via a service side update.
We should mention that this is not a new feature that Google has rolled out. The feature was first made available last year on the desktop version of Gmail. Then, it worked its way to G Suite app accounts. When Google launched its Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL smartphones in October last year and included the Smart Compose feature. ‘
And as we mentioned earlier, today Android users have got the same feature too. So, if you log in to Gmail today, a message would pop-up to introduce the feature as soon as you start typing the message. Furthermore, what’s even better is that you don’t have to manually update the app to get the new feature.
We personally found the feature to be very useful as it learns our frequently used sentences over time and then prompts them when we are writing an email. We think that it is a big time-saver.
However, since it is a part of a service side update, the feature will be auto-enabled. And we can’t expect everyone to like it as much as we do. So, if you are one of those people who think that the Smart Compose feature is annoying, you can turn it off by going to Gmail app’s Settings.
Just a few days back, Gmail got a revamped Material Design that was first rolled out to all Android users and then to those who own iOS devices. It completely changed the way Gmail looks and also removed the iconic red strip at the top of the app, among other changes.
Meizu, a Chinese electronic company, made headlines last month when it announced the world’s first ‘holeless’ smartphone – Meizu Zero. Its highlight was its unique design, it had no physical buttons, no ports and no SIM-tray slot, which was unseen in the smartphones till now.
However, now Meizu’s CEO Jack Wong has said that the company’s Zero smartphone was just a ‘marketing gimmick’ and the Chinese electronics maker has no intentions of mass producing the handset in future.
Wong responded to a query on Meizu’s official forum saying, “This crowdfunding project was just the marketing team messing about. The holeless phone is just a development project from the R&D department, we never intended to mass-produce this project.”
The CEO’s response about the smartphone was quite clear that it would not be mass-produced anytime soon and it still is a ‘development project’ that used as a marketing stunt.
However, we should point out that even though it was labelled as a ‘development project’, Meizu had given out specifications of the smartphone. According to the company, the Meizu Zero smartphone would be powered by Snapdragon 845 SoC and will have a 12MP rear camera coupled with a 20MP telephoto lens with LED flash. The front camera would have a 20MP sensor with Face Unlock support. The company was asking for $1,299 (approximately Rs 92,400) for the smartphone on Indiegogo, which is a lot of money for a concept phone.
It is also worth adding that Meizu failed to reach its target of $1,00,000 (approximately Rs 70,04,550) on Indiegogo. If the company would have hit their fixed funding goal and announced that they weren’t planning on mass-producing the Meizu Zero smartphone, it would have looked bad on the electronics maker’s part. If this indeed happened, users could have filed a complaint against Meizu and it would have been bad for the company image and name. Even though it was a marketing stunt, Meizu failed to deliver on their promise and for this, they might lose faith of its customers and fans.
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Indian e-commerce giant Flipkart has today kick-started its Women’s Day sale with a number of deals and discounts on smartphones, tablets, laptops, and televisions. The sale will go on for two days and will feature discounts on smartphones from companies like Asus, Xiaomi, Samsung, and Apple.
Besides this, Flipkart has also tied up with HDFC Bank to offer no-cost EMI payment options and will also be offering an additional discount on purchases made via bank credit and debit cards. Here are all the offers that you should know about:
During the Women’s Day sale, you will find a number of discounts on Zenfone smartphones from Asus. For starters, you can buy the Asus Zenfone 5Z smartphone at a flat discount of Rs 3,000 and on the other hand, Zenfone Lite L1 will be available at Rs 1,000 lesser than its original cost. Asus Zenfone Max M1 and Zenfone Max Pro M1 will also be available at a discount of Rs 500 each during the sale.
Besides Asus, discounts can also be availed on Xiaomi smartphones on the shopping website. The 4GB RAM/64GB storage variant of Xiaomi Redmi Note 6 Pro can be bought for Rs 10,999, and two variants of POCO F1 (6GB RAM/64GB storage and 6GB RAM/128GB storage) can be bought for Rs 2,000 lesser if you exchange an old smartphone for them. The 8GB RAM/256GB storage model of the device will get an additional discount of Rs 3,000 if you exchange your old handset for it.
If you are an Apple fan, the Flipkart Women’s Day sale will make you happy as you can buy the iPhone XR, which is priced at Rs 76,900 for Rs 67,999 for the next two days. The Nokia 5.1 Plus is also available at a discounted price of Rs 8,999 during the sale.
And if you are someone who loves to click selfies, you can pick the Vivo V9 Pro smartphone as its 4GB RAM/64GB storage variant can be bought for Rs 13,990 instead of Rs 17,990 at the Flipkart channel.
Vivo V11 and Oppo F9 smartphones can also be bought at an additional discount of Rs 3,000 if you exchange your smartphone for either of the two. Apart from mobile phones, Flipkart is also offering a discount on cameras, laptops, audio gear, tablets, and smart home products during its Women’s Day sale.
Last week, Xiaomi launched its Redmi Note 7 Pro and Redmi Note 7 smartphones in India. However, the Chinese electronics maker surprised us when it launched the Mi TV 4A 32 and Mi Sports Bluetooth Basic earphones at the event too.
Although Redmi Note 7 Pro and Redmi Note 7 smartphones managed to grab the spotlight at the event, the Mi TV 4A 32 also packs a number of features that are worth talking about. Some of the key highlights of Mi TV 4A 32 includes Chromecast built-in and Google Play access from where the users can download apps to be used on the TV itself. Along with that, the Mi TV 4A 32 also comes with over 7,00,000 hours of content to watch and Google Voice Assistant command support via Bluetooth-powered Mi Remote.
In This Article
Mi TV 4A Pro 32 price in India
The price of Mi TV 4A 32 is Rs 12,999 and it will go on sale starting today from 12 pm (noon) onwards. The Mi TV will be available for purchase on Flipkart, Mi.com and Mi Home Stores across the country.
For a smooth online purchase, the customers would have to register and login to the website/online shopping platforms.
Mi TV 4A Pro 32 specifications and features
The Mi TV 4A 32 sports a 32-inch HD (1366 x 768 pixels) display with 60Hz refresh rate. The viewing angles of the TV is 178-degree and it packs 20W speakers (10 x 2). Being a smart TV, it runs on Android TV (Android 8.1 Oreo) skinned with PatchWall UI. The Mi TV 4A 32 is powered by a 64-bit quad-core Amlogic Cortex-A53 CPU along with a Mali-450 MP3 GPU with 7th generation imaging engine. The internal storage of the Mi TV 4A 32 is 8GB while its RAM is 1GB.
For connectivity options, the Mi TV comes with two USB 2.0 ports, 3 HDMI ports (one with ARC support), AV component, Ethernet, earphone out and Wi-Fi 802.11a/b/n. It measures 732 x 478 x 189mm in dimensions including the base and weighs at 4kgs. As mentioned before, the Mi TV 4A 32 comes with Google Voice Assistant commands which could be controlled by Bluetooth-powered Mi Remote. It also offers over 7,00,000 hours of watchable content and comes with built-in Chromecast and Google Play access.
Samsung hardly manages to stay out of the news these days. First, it made headlines for months because of speculations about its flagship Galaxy S10 smartphones. This was followed by the launch of Samsung Galaxy S10+, Galaxy S10, and Galaxy S10e smartphones. Although the devices were launched last month, there is still a lot of news that is surfacing online about them, highlighting their various features and results in benchmark tests.
And now, Samsung Galaxy S10+ has received a software update version G975FXXU1ASBA/ that brings with itself the February security patch. We should mention that it is an over-the-air (OTA) update, so users will be notified once they receive it. And like all other software updates from Samsung, the update will be rolled out in a phased manner.
Besides the February security patch, the software update also adds stability to the camera of the smartphone and enhances the performance of the in-display fingerprint scanner of the handset. However, the most important addition that the update gets is the ability to remap the Bixby button of the smartphone. The company had announced at the launch of its Samsung Galaxy S10 lineup that users would soon be getting this option.
This feature is not only limited to Samsung Galaxy S10 series. Even those who have older Samsung Galaxy flagship smartphones which come with a Bixby button will get the update. These include Samsung Galaxy S9, Galaxy S9+, Galaxy S8, Galaxy S8+, Galaxy Note 9 and Galaxy Note 8. However, in order to get this feature, your device must run Android Pie skinned with One UI.
Coming back to Samsung Galaxy S10+’s update, with the Bixby button remapping feature, you can now reprogram the dedicated key on your smartphone to launch apps other than Bixby. So, if you don’t like the digital assistant too much, you can use the key for launching Google Maps, Camera or a number of other apps. However, you must keep in mind that the button cannot be used to launch other digital assistants like Google Assistant or Cortana.
Besides this, the latest update gets some other improvements and bug fixes to the smartphone. The update is 492.25MB in size, so we recommend you to download it when your device is connected to the Wi-Fi. We should mention that the update had started rolling out in the United States last week.
If you have received the update and wish to remap your Bixby button, you can read our step-by-step guide on how to go about it here.
Xiaomi’s Black Shark smartphone has a very specific user base – gamers. The Chinese smartphone brand had released its Black Shark 1 back in 2018, and now the company expanding this lineup. Recently, Xiaomi released a teaser for its upcoming gaming smartphone – the Black Shark 2. The teaser gives a confirmation that the successor of Black Shark will have the new liquid cooling system called Liquid Cool 3.0.
The nine-second-long video teaser was posted on Chinese social media platform Weibo by the founder of Black Shark, Peter Wu. There was text in the video in Chinese which roughly translated to ‘Liquid Cool 3.0 design might cool the entire phone, not just the processor’. Release date of the smartphone was not mentioned in the video but we can expect its arrival in the coming months of 2019.
The Black Shark 2 might carry a name of Black Shark Skywalker, as a device of such name had appeared in the Geekbench online database. The device on the database featured Snapdragon 855 SoC coupled with 8GB of RAM. The listed device ran Android 9.0 Pie and showed a record of 3,494 in the single-core test while the multi-core score of the device was 11,149. Other than that, no information of the next iteration of Black Shark is known.
Earlier this week, Black Shark announced that they would officially launch a product in India and set their headquarters in Bengaluru, India. The Indian HQ of Black Shark will be run by the Global Vice President of Black Shark, David Li. Since the company has announced of its arrival in India, the Indian market can see release of Black Shark smartphones, accessories and peripherical in the coming months. The current gaming smartphone selling in India like Asus ROG phone and Razer Phone 2 would also get tough competition from Black Shark official India product launch. For the Indian market, it is unclear if the company would be launching its existing products first, which are Black Shark and Black Shark Helo or start with the launch of Black Shark 2.
We should also mention that Black Shark Helo was launched in October 2018. It sports a 6.1-inch display with 10GB RAM and 256GB storage. The device is only available in China. While the Black Shark 1 was launched in April 2018 and went on sale in China and Europe. The Black Shark 1 is powered by Snapdragon 845 SoC coupled with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. The smartphone has a 5.99-inch display and 4,000mAh battery. The device came with a liquid cooling system for a heat-free gaming experience.
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Summers are right around the corner. So, the time is just right to invest in a smart fan. And today Ottomate International, which is an Indian consumer electronics brand founded in 2017, has launched its first range of smart fans in the country. We should mention that a key highlight of the newly launched Ottomate Smart Fan is that it can be operated with Ottomate Smart App. So, there is no need for users to use a typical wall switch.
The Ottomate Smart Fans, that are among the first range of Ottomate fans in India, are equipped with American chipmaker Qualcomm‘s latest Bluetooth Low Energy chipset with CSRmesh.
Speaking about the newly launched fans, the company’s CEO Vishal Sehgal, who co-founded Ottomate and Lava International said, “Technology is what technology does to everyday life. At Ottomate, we leverage cutting-edge technology to innovate and reinvent simple appliances like fans, lights etc, so that your life at home can be easier, better and more exciting. Our Ottomate Smart Fan range will be SMART, BEAUTIFUL and AFFORDABLE – making your home a more exciting and engaging place to live in.”
The smart fans by the company come with a single printed circuit board assembly that is equipped with Qualcomm’s CSR1020 chipset, which enables Bluetooth Low Energy. The newly launched fans also come with industry-grade digital sensors that tap temperature and humidity and along with this, they have an electric motor whose speed can be controlled using the Ottomate Smart App.
We should mention that Ottomate Smart App is available on Google Play Store as of now and it comes with modes like Auto, Breeze, and Turbo. Other than this, you would also be able to adjust the fan speed manually.
The smart fans would also be getting over-the-air firmware updates that would enable compatibility with virtual assistants like Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant.
The newly launched range of fans by Ottomate is priced starting at Rs 3,999. The offerings by the company also include Smart Ready, which is not a smart fan but can be ‘made smart’ by paying Rs 1,200. Another smart fan in the range is Smart Standard, that can be used along with Bluetooth Low Energy-enabled remote commander. The fans would go on sale on Amazon India and Ottomate’s own website starting March 20.
Foldable smartphones were the talk of Mobile World Congress 2019 and they are definitely the newest rage dominating the world of technology. They are the next step in the evolution of smartphones and they come with a hefty, pocket-burning price tag. However, we wouldn’t be wrong to say that they are nowhere near a finished product as their non-bendable counterparts.
The foldable phones still feel too far from perfect with lots of seen and unseen problems. One of such problems is the use of plastic (plastic polymer) instead of glass for making the screens. Glass is durable and is hard to scratch and is much better looking than the plastic polymer. And many would agree that the use of plastic in place of glass for screen just doesn’t seem to do the trick.
However, the debate is whether the use of plastic is necessary to create a foldable smartphone screen or not. But the reality is, the glass that is currently available for use in smartphones can’t be folded enough to put it into a suitable display. The glass can’t handle the repetitive open-close cycle of the foldable phones and they would most probably break.
To solve this problem, Corning, which is a well-known name in the smartphone market for making hard, scratch-proof glass that is more popularly known as Gorilla Glass, is working on a solution. The company has confirmed that it is working on an ultra-thin, bendable glass that will be able to bend to a 5mm radius without breaking. Corning’s John Bayne told Wired, “The back of the problem we’re trying to break, the technical challenge, is, can you keep those tight 3- to 5-millimeter bend radii and also increase the damage resistance of the glass. That’s the trajectory we’re on.”
The technology website further reported that the problem with creating bendable glass is that it shouldn’t compromise with the glass’s toughness. To build the bendable glass, Corning is reportedly using what it learnt from Willow Glass and Gorilla Glass.
Corning’s current foldable glass prototypes are nowhere near the final product as it falls short on either durability or flexibility.
“We have glasses we’ve sampled to customers, and they’re functional, but they’re not quite meeting all the requirements. People either want better performance against a drop event or a tighter bend radius. We can give them one or the other; the key is to give them both.” Bayne said.
But nonetheless, Corning is positive that by the time the foldable phones become popular and mainstream, it should be able to give the final result in its bendable displays.
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Last month saw the launch of Samsung Galaxy Fold smartphone at the company’s Unpacked event in San Francisco. At the event, the company said that Samsung Galaxy Fold, which is priced at $1980, will be going on pre-orders in April. However, till now, there was no word on if the device will be available in India or not.
But now, Samsung has finally broken silence on whether we can expect the Galaxy Fold smartphone to come to India or not. At the launch of Samsung Galaxy S10+, Galaxy S10 and Galaxy S10e smartphones in India, the company’s President and CEO of IT & Mobile Communications Division, DJ Koh spoke to select people from media and confirmed that the Galaxy Fold will be getting launched in India.
According to Gadgets360, Koh said, “Indian market is, I clearly said, most important market — not only investment and everything, my long-term commitment is towards the market. In this market, why will I not deliver my newest technology innovation? Yes, I will do.”
However, he did not share an exact timeline of the launch of the Galaxy Fold smartphone. But then we can expect it to come at the same time as other major markets.
Besides this, Koh also added that Samsung Galaxy S10 5G could also make its way to India once the market is ready with the required network. Koh was quoted saying, “We are working with the carriers here. Depends on their progress. Samsung is ready to support all 5G frequencies – not only sub-6GHz but millimetre wave as well.”
Samsung Galaxy Fold comes with very high-end specifications like 12GB RAM, 512GB of storage, has a total of six cameras, and two batteries that add up to 4,380mAh capacity.
Samsung has also released a statement implying how important the Indian market is to the company. Koh has said that Samsung will fulfil its promise of ‘Make in India’ and ‘Make for India’. He further also added that with the World’s Largest Mobile Factory in Noida, Samsung has set its eyes to ‘Make for the World’.
Speaking on the diverse consumer base in India, Koh added, “We know that a one-size-fits-all approach is no longer enough. Millennial and Gen Z consumers want choice.”
After making fans wait for months, HBO has finally released the full-length trailer of Game of Thrones Season 8, which will put an end to the fantasy saga that is watched by scores of people across the globe. The final season of Game of Thrones will begin on April 15, 2019, in India and will show us the final battle between the living and the dead, since the White Walkers have now managed to break the Wall and enter Westeros.
Also, we shouldn’t forget that the Night King now has an undead ice dragon, which is definitely not very good news for the living. Another question that everyone is waiting to get an answer for is that who will sit on the Iron Throne at the end of the series, that is if there will be a throne at all. However, we will have to wait to get these answers.
For now, we at least have the trailer which begins with Arya Stark (Maisie Williams) running away from an unseen danger at the Crypts of Winterfell. Then, she is shown talking about death calmly in a different scene where she holds up a dagger made up of dragon-glass.
We get shots of the Golden Company on a Greyjoy ship coming to Westeros. To recall, we should add here that in Season 7, Cersei Lannister (Lena Headey) had mentioned that Euron Greyjoy (Pilou Asbæk) had gone to get them from Essos. However, it is worth mentioning that we don’t get to see anyone from the Golden Company meet Cersei in the trailer. Could this mean that Euron Greyjoy is probably going to get them for himself and not for the Queen? Again, we will have to wait to find out.
Moving on, the trailer shows Tormund Giantsbane (Kristofer Hivju) and Beric Dondarrion (Richard Dormer), thus confirming that the two did not die when the Wall was brought down by undead Viserion and Night King. We also get a shot showing Bran Stark (Isaac Hempstead-Wright) and Samwell Tarly (John Bradley).
This is followed by Jon Snow (Kit Harrington) and Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke) with the Unsullied army arrive at Winterfell, where they are supposed to lead the Great War. The trailer then shows the two remaining dragons — Drogon and Rhaegal — fly over Sansa Stark (Sophie Turner). And we have to say, there is nothing like seeing someone see a dragon for the first time! Jon then talks about the White Walkers, telling his audience (whom we don’t get to see) what makes them more dangerous than any other enemy.
And last but definitely not the least, we get to see Jamie Lannister (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) reach Winterfell, where he says that he is there to keep his word and wants to pledge his cause to the living. The trailer ends showing the hooves of an undead horse.
That’s all that the trailer showed us! For more, we would all have to wait for April 15, 2019. You can watch the show on HotStar and Star World.
When compared to some of the other brands in the Indian market, Gigabyte might be newer. But they have gained tremendous ground in the last couple of years. If you would have asked us about the brand five years ago, we would be uncomfortable recommending it. But, down the line, they proved themselves time and again, and have become an absolute favourite. It is not just us, but many gamers swear by them. This time we got a graphic card by them called the Gigabyte NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 Gaming OC 6G, which we picked up with a critical eye.
However, the critic in us turned into a lover as we used it more and more. It became a worthy addition to our gaming arsenal. We used the latest mid-end graphic card (for a little while) by the company and this is our review of the gaming powerhouse.
In This Article
Design and Blueprint
Out of the box the Gigabyte NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 Gaming OC 6G is a massive graphic card, which demands a show window in the PC. Luckily, we had two. The first thing that catches the eye are the 3 large fans on the head of the graphic card. These are designed in a special manner so that the air hits the GPU unit properly without any sort of turbulence. So how did Gigabyte achieve this?
It is actually simple science. The first and third fan rotate counter clockwise and the middle one spins clockwise. What this does is that it enables the GPU to get the right amount of airflow to keep it cool. The fans also have 3D strips on it to enhance the air flow further. The next thing on the card, adding to the show, is an RGB LED light driven Gigabyte branding. This can be customised using the software supplied with the graphic card. The LED supports over 16million colours so you can choose the one you like.
The rear of the graphic card has 3 display as well as 1 HDMI ports. So, the latest 4K gaming monitors are supported. To power the device, the company has installed an 8 PIN power connector on the side. Also, the copper heat sync touches the GPU, to keep it extra cool. Overall, the graphic card looks chunky yet modern, which will definitely get you the eyeballs at your next BYOC party.
Performance
Now on to the fun part. The Gigabyte NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 Gaming OC 6G graphic card is mayhem over and over. From the get-go, it was spewing out vibrant colours and extreme sharpness. We immediately put it to the test to check out its gaming performance in our RIG, which contains a super quick Kingston SSD so that there is no lag when playing a game.
With 6GB GDDR6 RAM and up to 1.83Ghz clock speed on board, we had high expectations from this card. And it did not disappoint at all. We ran the 3D mark Time Spy QHD test on it and it just burnt the benchmark to a fine ash. It scored 7,973 marks on it, which is better than its closest AMD competitor and we do not even want to bring the previous gen into the picture. To keep simple, NVIDIA GTX1060 is not even in the shadow of this graphic card.
When it came to pure gaming performance, we loved every bit of it. Most games ran extremely well at ultra-high settings. Let us start with some of our favourite and widely played games like CS:Go and DOTA 2. We were easily able to extract 100-120 FPS in them. The graphics were crisp and detailed, but since these are older games, they seemed just a notch above on this graphic card. However, the real test came when we played games like PUBG and Fortnite.
The Gigabyte NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 Gaming OC 6G didn’t flinch here and gave us straight 100FPS even at the highest settings, the max frame rate drop we got here was 89. Which is not bad for a graphic card that only demands a 500W power supply. However, we do recommend to put in at least a 650W power supply so that you do not over-stress the system in any manner. We saw an immense bump in graphics over a regular NVIDIA 1060. The details are better, the characters look well-rounded and with the improved FPS, you are bound to get that chicken dinner.
Verdict and Final Words
All was running really well, till we saw a price tag of Rs 34,990 of the Gigabyte NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 Gaming OC 6G. Which is quite a bit to ask for a graphic card. This many would not be able to get in a mid-range gaming PC. However, when compared to the kind of performance this graphic card gives, this is somewhat of a decent price to pay. If you are planning to build a rig of around Rs 80,000 to 1 lakh or upgrading your super-rig, buy this card without a doubt. It will be a prized possession.
Pros:
Great to look at
Extreme performance
Three fan array
Cons:
The price
Social media giant Facebook has been finding itself in one controversy after the other since last year. And now, the social networking platform is in a new data-related controversy again. According to a new report, a number of major Android apps like search service Yelp and language learning app Duolingo send personal data to Facebook without informing their users about it. This is being done for ad-tracking.
However, it is shocking that Facebook continues to engage in this kind of behaviour in spite of facing so much backlash about collecting user data without their consent and more lately, for bribing teenagers in the US and India in exchange for their data.
The report, which came from the London-based watchdog group, Privacy International (PI), added that Yelp and Duolingo are not the only two apps that are engaging in this behaviour.
There are two other Muslim praying apps, a Bible app as well as a popular job-search app called Indeed that are leaking data to Facebook for the purpose of ad-targeting. Furthermore, the social networking platform manages to collect your data even if you are not logged in or don’t have a Facebook account.
The social networking giant uses this data for ad tracking and also for improving its features like friend suggestions. Having access to your contacts, call history, SMS data and location only means that it can give you some meaningful suggestions.
The report has also added that a number of iOS app makers also share sensitive health, fitness and financial data with Facebook. Such practices of the social media giant have time and again outraged users and privacy advocates. A number of users who value privacy have agreed to the fact that Facebook is collecting too much data about their personal lives and online and offline behaviours when it actually does not even need all of it to function effectively.
However, Facebook does not take responsibility for all this. The social media giant just says that the apps are responsible for sending it data and it is their job to ensure that it has been collected in a way that abides laws.
Since the beginning of 2019, new games are being launched from a number of companies for all platforms – PC, Xbox One and PS4. Although 2018 saw the release of some highly-anticipated games like Red Dead Redemption 2, Marvel’s Spider man and God of War, the current year is not far behind. Its been only two months since 2019 began, but we have already seen some of the best games being launched and this will continue all year long. Here’s a list of some PlayStation 4 games that have garnered a lot of popularity in very less time:
In This Article
Metro Exodus
The next instalment in the Metro series is the Metro Exodus. The game was released in February for the PlayStation 4. If you have played any Metro game before you would know that the entire series is based on a novel named Metro 2033 by Dmitry Glukhovsky. The newest Metro instalment brings all the fast-paced, heart-thumping, mutant-killing glory of the previous Metro games with the addition of current graphics. The game is an open-world, story-driven, first person shooter survival developed by 4A games. The game is a combination of first-person combat, stealth and survival horror and exploration genre. It follows the events of Metro 2033 and Metro: Last Light and is a continuation in the Metro universe.
Apex Legends
Made by the parent companies of TitanFall and TitanFall 2, Electronic Arts (EA) and Respawn Entertainment recently unveiled the the newest game that dominates the battleroyale genre – Apex Legends. The game has already made headlines by adding 25 million players in just one week after its launch. The game is set in the Titanfall universe but is not related to the storyline of the game. Unlike other battleroyale games, in Apex Legends, the players get to choose from a roaster of playable characters, each with different set of skills like teleportation, making copies of self, track opponents etc. Apex Legends is a fast-paced first-person battleroyale which is gaining a lot of popularity with time and the best part is that it is free to download and play.
Kingdom Hearts 3
What happens when you throw all the popular Disney and anime/cartoon characters together in a Role-Playing Game (RPG) situation? You get Kingdom Hearts. Kingdom Hearts has been a long running series but the newest addition, Kingdom Hearts 3 was launched on January this year for PS4 by Square Enix. In the latest instalment of the game, Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck will be teaming up with Terra and Sora to fight and defeat monsters and save the world (again). But wait, you will also find Pikachu and Bay Max in the game along with many known characters from the cartoon and anime universe. The game brings nostalgia to a whole new level with its old and new character roaster to choose from.
Resident Evil 2
A 2019 remake of the original Resident Evil 2, the latest instalment brings the graphics and mechanics of current generation consoles along with the old story and setting of Resident Evil 2. The game was launched for PS4 in January this year. In the newest Resident Evil, instead of killing zombies you will be running from them as the game delivers with a wide range of situations which could kill you in hundreds of ways. The only thought you will have while playing the Resident Evil 2 is survival. The players will take control of Leon and Claire, and both of them will have their own path to follow. This basically means that they will be playing two different campaigns, with different setting and outcomes. But both scenarios will deliver the same level of horror and thrill.
Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown
The latest instalment in the Ace Combat adds high-flying, ‘trigger’-ed aerial dog-fights with photorealistic world and engaging missions, good gameplay and an engaging story. The gameplay revolves around a story which has much human drama, politics, aerial combat and war. Ace Combat 7 also features multiplayer and it also has a battleroyale mode where you can play and hunt other players and be hunted as well. An aerial combat battleroyale may seem crazy to sum, but it is definitely fun.
Far Cry New Dawn
In Ubisoft’s next instalment Far Cry New Dawn, you will be left in Hope County where everything will be trying to kill you and end your life (again). This time, the game is set in post-apocalyptic world with pink (flowers) and graffiti. The whole world looks as if it is on fire (of colours) and it is as vibrant as it is deadly. The game mechanics is the same as its predecessor with a new story and new characters. The fans of Far Cry series will feel at home knowing that Ubisoft has made it into an open-world map with lots to explore and people/animals to befriend. The game will have players roaming around the map for missions tasked on to them as the other games in this instalment. But in the end, the players need to scavenge the world and keep fighting to survive or die.
Anthem
Bioware’s Anthem was an anticipated title from last year and it finally released last month. The game received mixed reviews from the critics and fans alike. Anthem is like Ironman mixed with DragonAge as players need to pilot mechanized exo-suits called Javelins and complete the missions. Players can add up to four characters into their party and go on missions together. There are four exo-suit classes to choose from, and each suit comes with its own powers and abilities – Interceptor, Ranger, Storm and Colossus. The game is not what was showcased earlier in the trailer or during the demo gameplay and is far from perfect, but it is still a good play.
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Microsoft has been planning to add another console to its Xbox line-up. And the upcoming disc-less gaming console named the Xbox One S All-Digital Edition might be the next console from the technology giant. According to a leak online on thurrott, the new console will be available for pre-orders from April 2019 and will be available to purchase from May 2019. Microsoft is also planning to launch the ‘disc-less’ Xbox One S to global markets at around the same time.
A disc-less Xbox is Microsoft’s new approach in the gaming console arena. Earlier, Microsoft launched the Xbox Game Pass which is a Netflix-style subscription service for videogames along with Project xCloud video game streaming service. The new launches suggest that Microsoft is planning to go ‘all-digital’ with its gaming consoles and services.
As the name suggests, the Xbox One S All-Digital Edition will offer games without the use of discs, players can choose the games they want to play from the wide variety of games available on Microsoft’s online game center. With the Xbox game pass, the players can pay for the games they want to play. They can even purchase the games from the online catalog and store in the console’s memory or on cloud. While the xCloud streaming service will let them stream and view other streamers of the game online.
The current Xbox One S is priced at Rs 21,400 while the upcoming Xbox One S All-Digital Edition will most likely be priced lower than the Xbox One S. Earlier, a report claimed that the new console will be priced at $200 (approximately Rs 14,200).
In India, console gaming is still not as popular as PC gaming, so the ‘disc-less’ version of Xbox One might not be a hit in the Indian gaming community for many reasons. First, many popular new and old titles are currently not available in India such as Below, Fortnite, Dead Rising 4 etc. Furthermore, there is no information on their launch date yet. Secondly, even today many people do not have high speed internet access so an ‘All Digital’ edition of Xbox One which will purely rely on high-speed internet for gameplay and downloads might not be a hit. Third, gaming and streaming games is still a growing platform in India so, it will take a while before it becomes mainstream.
All in all, the Xbox One S All-Digital Edition will be the newest and probably the first fully digital gaming console.
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After months of speculations, HMD Global finally launched its Nokia 9 PureView smartphone at Mobile World Congress 2019 late last month. And now, the company has already rolled out the first software update for the Nokia 9 PureView handset. The update brings with itself the March Android Security Patch and is available over-the-air. So, users would get notified about the update when it comes to their device.
However, we should add that as of now, the new software update is only available for Nokia 9 PureView smartphones in the United States, where it has already gone on sale. The news of the software update came from HMD Global‘s chief product officer Juho Sarvikas, who took to Twitter to make the announcement. It is also worth noticing that the update is 282MB in size, so we recommend you to download it when your smartphone is connected to the Wi-Fi.
Besides the March Android Security patch, the software update for Nokia 9 PureView also gets improvements in stability and enhancements in the user interface to the handset. We should mention that earlier, Sarvikas had also said that the device will soon be getting some improvements related to image tuning soon. The company started rolling the latest update out on March 4.
Since all software updates from HMD Global are released in a phased manner, this one is no exception. However, if you don’t wish to wait to get the update, you can manually search for it by heading to Settings of your device, then clicking on About Phone and then selecting System Updates.
However, we should add that as of now, there is no word on the pricing or availability of the company’s new flagship Nokia 9 PureView smartphone in India. To speak about the specifications, the device is the first ever to sport a penta-camera setup on its back panel that comprises of three 12MP monochrome sensors and two 12-megapixel RGB sensors. For selfies and video calls, there is a 20MP front-facing snapper on the handset.
Other key specifications of the Nokia 9 PureView smartphone include Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 processor, Android 9.0 Pie operating system, and a 5.99-inch Quad-HD+ (1440×2960 pixels) pOLED display with 18.5:9 aspect ratio.
Yes, there is a way of recalling emails in Gmail and it can prove to be extremely useful at times. You clearly don’t want to send an email meant for your office best friend to your client, right? But you should know that once you send an email, it can be recalled via a box that appears on the bottom right. You can even increase the time limit of that box to stay up to 30 seconds so that you have an option of recalling an email during this time. You can read further here on how this can be done.
This feature lets you send self-destructing emails to your friends. You can write an email and then click on the ‘lock’ icon on the bottom bar to set a timer on it. While the timer is not visible, it gets turned on the moment the receiver opens the email. After the time pre-set by you, they would not be able to access the email.
If you wish to keep an important email more secure, you can add an SMS passcode on it. Press on the same lock-shaped icon on the bottom bar and select the option of ‘SMS passcode’. This will add an extra layer of security to the email you are sending.
Suppose somebody tagged you in a mail that already has a number of people tagged in it. While there are times when you care about what is being spoken about in the mail, there are times when it has got nothing to do with you. If you find yourself in the latter situation, you can mute the email by selecting it and then tapping on the three-dot icon and clicking on ‘Mute’.
Do you know two people named Bob? And wait, is one of them your CEO and the other is a goofy friend from college? We can imagine that you don’t want to send an email to a wrong Bob. You can rule out this possibility by enabling the ‘Got the wrong Bob?‘ feature in Google Labs.
Okay, so you cannot send emails in offline mode, but at least you can access the service and compose and save emails. The moment your smartphone gets internet connectivity; your email will be sent.
We know that some of you may consider privacy to be a little overrated, but then we also know that for some of you, it’s very important. Here, you can access all the security guidelines on Gmail’s list that includes 18 items in five categories. We recommend you to go through the list to make sure your account is secure.
The new Gmail design has a sidebar that has Tasks, Keep and Calendar. Here, you can select the option of ‘Tasks’ to make a list of things to do during the day. Considering we all access Gmail a number of times during the day, it should prove to keep your day more organised.
Instead of accessing your Google Calendar separately to add important events, you can directly add them there by accessing it on the sidebar of the email service.
Yes, there is a way of recalling emails in Gmail and it can prove to be extremely useful at times. You clearly don’t want to send an email meant for your office best friend to your client, right? But you should know that once you send an email, it can be recalled via a box that appears on the bottom right. You can even increase the time limit of that box to stay up to 30 seconds so that you have an option of recalling an email during this time. You can read further here on how this can be done.
This feature lets you send self-destructing emails to your friends. You can write an email and then click on the ‘lock’ icon on the bottom bar to set a timer on it. While the timer is not visible, it gets turned on the moment the receiver opens the email. After the time pre-set by you, they would not be able to access the email.
If you wish to keep an important email more secure, you can add an SMS passcode on it. Press on the same lock-shaped icon on the bottom bar and select the option of ‘SMS passcode’. This will add an extra layer of security to the email you are sending.
Suppose somebody tagged you in a mail that already has a number of people tagged in it. While there are times when you care about what is being spoken about in the mail, there are times when it has got nothing to do with you. If you find yourself in the latter situation, you can mute the email by selecting it and then tapping on the three-dot icon and clicking on ‘Mute’.
This is a good way to cut down the time you spend on the email service every day. If you’re tired of typing out the same reply every time someone emails you with a question that you are asked often, you can compose your reply once and save the message text so that it is easier for you to resend it again and again.
Do you know two people named Bob? And wait, is one of them your CEO and the other is a goofy friend from college? We can imagine that you don’t want to send an email to a wrong Bob. You can rule out this possibility by enabling the ‘Got the wrong Bob?‘ feature in Google Labs.
Okay, so you cannot send emails in offline mode, but at least you can access the service and compose and save emails. The moment your smartphone gets internet connectivity; your email will be sent.
We know that some of you may consider privacy to be a little overrated, but then we also know that for some of you, it’s very important. Here, you can access all the security guidelines on Gmail’s list that includes 18 items in five categories. We recommend you to go through the list to make sure your account is secure.
The new Gmail design has a sidebar that has Tasks, Keep and Calendar. Here, you can select the option of ‘Tasks’ to make a list of things to do during the day. Considering we all access Gmail a number of times during the day, it should prove to keep your day more organised.
Instead of accessing your Google Calendar separately to add important events, you can directly add them there by accessing it on the sidebar of the email service.
It is actually simple science. The first and third fan rotate counter clockwise and the middle one spins clockwise. What this does is that it enables the GPU to get the right amount of airflow to keep it cool. The fans also have 3D strips on it to enhance the air flow further. The next thing on the card, adding to the show, is an RGB LED light driven Gigabyte branding. This can be customised using the software supplied with the graphic card. The LED supports over 16million colours so you can choose the one you like.
It is actually simple science. The first and third fan rotate counter clockwise and the middle one spins clockwise. What this does is that it enables the GPU to get the right amount of airflow to keep it cool. The fans also have 3D strips on it to enhance the air flow further. The next thing on the card, adding to the show, is an RGB LED light driven Gigabyte branding. This can be customised using the software supplied with the graphic card. The LED supports over 16million colours so you can choose the one you like.
The rear of the graphic card has 3 display as well as 1 HDMI ports. So, the latest 4K gaming monitors are supported. To power the device, the company has installed an 8 PIN power connector on the side. Also, the copper heat sync touches the GPU, to keep it extra cool. Overall, the graphic card looks chunky yet modern, which will definitely get you the eyeballs at your next BYOC party.
When it came to pure gaming performance, we loved every bit of it. Most games ran extremely well at ultra-high settings. Let us start with some of our favourite and widely played games like CS:Go and DOTA 2. We were easily able to extract 100-120 FPS in them. The graphics were crisp and detailed, but since these are older games, they seemed just a notch above on this graphic card. However, the real test came when we played games like PUBG and Fortnite.
The Gigabyte NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 Gaming OC 6G didn’t flinch here and gave us straight 100FPS even at the highest settings, the max frame rate drop we got here was 89. Which is not bad for a graphic card that only demands a 500W power supply. However, we do recommend to put in at least a 650W power supply so that you do not over-stress the system in any manner. We saw an immense bump in graphics over a regular NVIDIA 1060. The details are better, the characters look well-rounded and with the improved FPS, you are bound to get that chicken dinner.
The next instalment in the Metro series is the Metro Exodus. The game was released in February for the PlayStation 4. If you have played any Metro game before you would know that the entire series is based on a novel named Metro 2033 by Dmitry Glukhovsky. The newest Metro instalment brings all the fast-paced, heart-thumping, mutant-killing glory of the previous Metro games with the addition of current graphics. The game is an open-world, story-driven, first person shooter survival developed by 4A games. The game is a combination of first-person combat, stealth and survival horror and exploration genre. It follows the events of Metro 2033 and Metro: Last Light and is a continuation in the Metro universe.
Made by the parent companies of TitanFall and TitanFall 2, Electronic Arts (EA) and Respawn Entertainment recently unveiled the the newest game that dominates the battleroyale genre – Apex Legends. The game has already made headlines by adding 25 million players in just one week after its launch. The game is set in the Titanfall universe but is not related to the storyline of the game. Unlike other battleroyale games, in Apex Legends, the players get to choose from a roaster of playable characters, each with different set of skills like teleportation, making copies of self, track opponents etc. Apex Legends is a fast-paced first-person battleroyale which is gaining a lot of popularity with time and the best part is that it is free to download and play.
What happens when you throw all the popular Disney and anime/cartoon characters together in a Role-Playing Game (RPG) situation? You get Kingdom Hearts. Kingdom Hearts has been a long running series but the newest addition, Kingdom Hearts 3 was launched on January this year for PS4 by Square Enix. In the latest instalment of the game, Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck will be teaming up with Terra and Sora to fight and defeat monsters and save the world (again). But wait, you will also find Pikachu and Bay Max in the game along with many known characters from the cartoon and anime universe. The game brings nostalgia to a whole new level with its old and new character roaster to choose from.
A 2019 remake of the original Resident Evil 2, the latest instalment brings the graphics and mechanics of current generation consoles along with the old story and setting of Resident Evil 2. The game was launched for PS4 in January this year. In the newest Resident Evil, instead of killing zombies you will be running from them as the game delivers with a wide range of situations which could kill you in hundreds of ways. The only thought you will have while playing the Resident Evil 2 is survival. The players will take control of Leon and Claire, and both of them will have their own path to follow. This basically means that they will be playing two different campaigns, with different setting and outcomes. But both scenarios will deliver the same level of horror and thrill.
The latest instalment in the Ace Combat adds high-flying, ‘trigger’-ed aerial dog-fights with photorealistic world and engaging missions, good gameplay and an engaging story. The gameplay revolves around a story which has much human drama, politics, aerial combat and war. Ace Combat 7 also features multiplayer and it also has a battleroyale mode where you can play and hunt other players and be hunted as well. An aerial combat battleroyale may seem crazy to sum, but it is definitely fun.
In Ubisoft’s next instalment Far Cry New Dawn, you will be left in Hope County where everything will be trying to kill you and end your life (again). This time, the game is set in post-apocalyptic world with pink (flowers) and graffiti. The whole world looks as if it is on fire (of colours) and it is as vibrant as it is deadly. The game mechanics is the same as its predecessor with a new story and new characters. The fans of Far Cry series will feel at home knowing that Ubisoft has made it into an open-world map with lots to explore and people/animals to befriend. The game will have players roaming around the map for missions tasked on to them as the other games in this instalment. But in the end, the players need to scavenge the world and keep fighting to survive or die.
Bioware’s Anthem was an anticipated title from last year and it finally released last month. The game received mixed reviews from the critics and fans alike. Anthem is like Ironman mixed with DragonAge as players need to pilot mechanized exo-suits called Javelins and complete the missions. Players can add up to four characters into their party and go on missions together. There are four exo-suit classes to choose from, and each suit comes with its own powers and abilities – Interceptor, Ranger, Storm and Colossus. The game is not what was showcased earlier in the trailer or during the demo gameplay and is far from perfect, but it is still a good play.
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The latest instalment in the Ace Combat adds high-flying, ‘trigger’-ed aerial dog-fights with photorealistic world and engaging missions, good gameplay and an engaging story. The gameplay revolves around a story which has much human drama, politics, aerial combat and war. Ace Combat 7 also features multiplayer and it also has a battleroyale mode where you can play and hunt other players and be hunted as well. An aerial combat battleroyale may seem crazy to sum, but it is definitely fun.
