When we talk about exploding batteries, the first name which comes to mind is the Samsung Galaxy Note 7. Although it was not the start of the exploding batteries and smartphones catching fire momentarily, it sure was a big case which highlighted the smartphone safety regulations. And no matter what the people and the users think of, overheating and exploding batteries is a much more serious issue than earlier.
After Samsung, Apple has just recalled the 2015 MacBook Pro with Retina Display models stating that its batteries may pose a “fire safety risk”. In other words, the batteries of the 2015 MacBook Pro with Retina Display might catch fire.
According to Apple, a limited number of the 2015 MacBook Pro models might be affected which were sold between September 2015 and February 2017. In the mentioned span of two years, there might be quite a lot MacBook Pros with Retina display sold. But the company also said that the affected units were the third-generation of MacBook Pro between 2015 and 2018. The distinguishing features of the third generation of MacBook Pro with Retina display is that they come with full-size ports and a taller keyboard.
Apple has asked the users of the third generation of 2015 MacBook Pro with Retina Display to get their serial numbers checked on the Apple’s support website. The users who are holding the affected MacBook Pros will get their batteries replaced for free. But it should be noted that those laptops would have to be sent to the Apple repair centres and it might take around one to two weeks to get it fixed. The Cupertino-based company has also said that replacing the batteries won’t extend the warranties of the machines.
Furthermore, Apple also clarified that the recall doesn’t affect any other MacBook models so the users who possess other MacBook models shouldn’t worry about their machine exploding. Till now the company hasn’t said what was actually causing the problem in the 2015 model of MacBook Pro with Retina Display. It might be a bug, a virus or aging of the batteries that might be causing the problem. No official report has been given out by Apple till now.
It should be noted that this is not the first time Apple has had battery-related problems with its machines. Earlier in April 2018, the company had to recall the 2016 version of 13-inch MacBook Pros due to battery-related issues as well.
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The South-Korean tech giant, LG is scheduled to launch its new W-series smartphones in India in the coming days. The e-commerce platform, Amazon has also put out a landing page for LG’s upcoming mid-range smartphone. With the launch of LG W-series smartphones, it will be the return of the company to the mid-range smartphone market. It has been absent from the mid-range smartphone market for a long time. But before the official launch of the smartphone, the details and specifications of the LG W10, the next smartphone in the LG W-series has been leaked online on the Android Enterprise website.
LG W10 has been listed as part of Google’s enterprise directory, which recommends the Android smartphone for work. So, its truthfulness can be taken into consideration. Till now, the launch date or the pricing of the smartphone hasn’t been revealed by the company. However, the picture posted by Android Enterprise on its website looks more like the LG G7 Fit than the LG W10. The specifications listed on the website states that the smartphone will come with a 6.2-inch touch screen along with Android 9 Pie.
Now, talking about the leaked specifications of the LG W10, we see that the upcoming smartphone from LG will reportedly sport a 6.2-inch display and it will be running the latest Android OS. The mobile phone will reportedly come with 3GB of RAM along with 32GB of internal storage as its base version. There is a possibility that the LG W10 could be launched in more than one variant. The listing also reveals that the smartphone will come with a fingerprint scanner, but it doesn’t support NFC and zero-touch. The LG W10 is not rugged certified either.
As per the teasers of the upcoming smartphone, it can be assumed that this mobile will sport a waterdrop-style notch. But the image published alongside the specifications of the LG W10 is of LG G7 Fit with a full notch display that brings a bit of skepticism.
As said, LG is expected to launch its first and new W-series smartphones in India in the coming days. The company also partnered with Amazon India which further hints that it will be exclusively sold on this large e-commerce website. And since the leaks of the LG W10 come right after the tease made by the company it can be assumed that the upcoming smartphone in the W-series is the LG W10.
The teasers of the upcoming LG smartphone further hints that it will come with a triple-rear camera setup and it will have the Night Mode camera feature. This indicates low-light photography mode. Other camera modes that the upcoming smartphone will originate with are Portrait, Bokeh and Wide-Angle photography modes. The teaser on Amazon also hints that the smartphone will also come with a gradient back panel and it will fetch multiple colour options. Black, Blue and Teal, to be exact. But the most notable hint the teaser has revealed is that the smartphone comes with a tag, which reads “pocket-worthy price tag”. Thisfurther reveals that the smartphone will be a mid-range offering from the South-Korean tech giant.
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Valve had announced a new game called Underlords, a popular Auto Chess mod of Dota 2 less than a month ago. The company officially revealed more details about the game earlier this month and now, around two weeks later, the new game Dota Underlords beta is available to download and play. Dota Underlords is similar to Auto Chess, it is a turn-based strategic battle game where the players try to take over the city of White Spire. The game is currently available for PC, Android and iOS as well and it can be downloaded from Steam, Google Play Store and Apple App Store.
Dota Underlords is a cross-platform game similar to other battleroyale games like PUBG or Fortnite and it can be played using any platform be it a PC, Android or iOS smartphone. And even before its release, Dota Underlords was in talks and had gathered quite a reputation as it is based on Auto Chess (like said), which is already quite popular amongst gamers. And after its beta launch, the game had gathered a number of players and it is topping the game ranks as well.
Since last week, Dota Underlords was being stress tested with Dota 2 players who are Battle Pass owners. Now, the game has been made free to download and play, in other words, since it is a beta version of the Dota Underlords it is a free-for-all game. However, the game is still in the early access stage and it will remain in it for a few months. Until it launches with more Underlord characters, ranked play as well as seasonal changes.
Furthermore, Valve, the game developer of popular games like Counter Strike, Half-Life is the developer of Dota Underlords. Currently as mentioned, it is available on PC, Android and iOS only but the company had announced that it would bring the game for Mac and Linux OS as well at a later stage. Earlier, the company was running the “friends and family” beta version of the game and now, the new beta version is available for all.
It should be noted that Dota Underlords is the second separate standalone title of Dota 2 portfolio as in 2018 the company had released its first standalone game called Artifact. However, Artifact didn’t do well in the markets and it was dropped sharply on Twitch.
Welcome to White Spire.
Our Open Beta is now available for free to everyone.
Dota Underlords allows up to 7 players to battle against each other similar to other deathmatches. However, Dota Underlords is a turn-based tactical strategy game. When the game was announced, Valve had said that victory in Dota Underlords will be determined not by Twitch reflexes but by superior tactics.
Google is not only known for its web and internet services, but also for its hardware. Google Pixel Slate was the first tablet the tech giant made. At that time, tablets were a welcome change when the smartphones had small to regular screen sizes. But now, when smartphones of 6-inch screen size or more (also known as phablets) have become the norm, tablets seem to have lost their charm. And even earlier, Google Pixel Slate was not well received by the customers.
Other than tablets, Google has also tried its hand at making laptops and for them it has come up with its own OS – the Chrome OS. When launched, the Chromebooks received positive response by the audience and they got good reviews as well, unlike the Pixel Slate. Now, Google has reportedly decided to quit making tablets and focus more on making laptops for its Chrome OS.
The news no doubt comes as a surprise. According to a report from Computerworld, Google was earlier working on two smaller tablets, however the company decided to give up on them. These details were further confirmed by a Google spokesperson. According to Google, a tablet is a device with no keyboard or with a detachable keyboard. It does not include laptops with rotating or swivelling touchscreen display.
Rick Osterloh, the SVP of Devices and Services at Google confirmed this news on Twitter. His tweet read, “Hey, it’s true…Google’s HARDWARE team will be solely focused on building laptops moving forward, but make no mistake, Android & Chrome OS teams are 100% committed for the long-run on working with our partners on tablets for all segments of the market (consumer, enterprise, edu).”
Currently, it is not known why Google decided to stop its work on tablets all of a sudden. But the two smaller laptops on which it was working on hadn’t gone in to development very far as they didn’t even had codenames. But now, Google’s focus will be more on its notebooks division. The Google spokesperson also confirmed that we might see a new Pixelbook before the end of 2019. And since the launch of Google’s upcoming smartphone – the Pixel 4 and the Pixel 4 XL is already scheduled for later this year we are hoping Google might unveil the new laptop at the same event.
Hey, it's true…Google's HARDWARE team will be solely focused on building laptops moving forward, but make no mistake, Android & Chrome OS teams are 100% committed for the long-run on working with our partners on tablets for all segments of the market (consumer, enterprise, edu)
Huawei announced that its smartphones and tablets will continue getting Android updates. On its official website, the company said “Anyone who has already bought or is about to buy a Huawei smartphone can continue to access the world of apps as they have always done. All the devices continue to be covered by our manufacturer’s warranty and will receive full-service support accordingly. Our most popular current devices including the P30 series will be able to access Android Q. In fact, we have already launched a beta developer program for Android Q which is running right now on our Mate 20 Pro device.”
Although Huawei is entangled in a legal battle with the US government over doubts around data security and surveillance that resulted in banning Huawei from doing business with US companies. Very recently Google also put on hold all the business-related bond with Huawei after the US government Ban. However, Google has temporarily lifted the ban until August. The users of Huawei smartphone can now breath a sigh of relief after hearing about the confirmation from the Chinese smartphone maker that all the current devices including Huawei P30 series will be getting Android Q update. The owners of Huawei smartphones can download apps like WhatsApp, Facebook, and Instagram from the Play Store.
Here is the list of Huawei’s smartphones that are confirmed to get Android Q update:
P30 Pro, P30, Mate 20, Mate 20 Pro, Porsche Design Mate 20 RS, PORSCHE DESIGN Mate 10, P30 Lite, P smart 2019, P smart+ 2019, P smart Z, Mate 20 X, Mate 20 X (5G,) P20 Pro, P20 Mate 10 and Pro Mate 20 Lite.
To recall, very recently the Chinese smartphone manufacturer launched P30 Pro. The company has also rolled out a new update for this smartphone that supports the device’s ultra-low latency Bluetooth. The latest update improves the sound quality that reduces the time the device takes to sync audio when connected headphones, too.
The P30 Pro camera was facing the problem of abnormal display of recorded videos on it, that has been improved as well. In the upgrade, the device also gets a new feature to employ more than one face to unlock the smartphone. Over that, the P30 Pro was facing the problem of fingerprint authentication before, that has also been fixed. The new update also improves the quality of the camera. Now the photo quality appears more natural and authentic.
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After the trade war and the ban put by the US government on the Chinese electronic maker, Huawei, has put it in a very tight situation. The company not only is not allowed to sell its products in the US, but it also can’t do business with any US company. That’s one of the reasons Huawei is facing a decline in its growth and selling rate as Google, Intel, Microsoft, ARM and other big industries have broken ties with the Chinese tech giant. However, in recent developments, Huawei has announced that its Huawei Watch GT smartwatch has sold more than 2 million units on a global scale since its launch back in October 2018. This makes it the most popular smartwatch from Huawei, globally.
The announcement was made by Huawei Consumer Business Group. According to a leading analyst firm, IDC report, the sale of Huawei Watch GT smartwatch has contributed to the year-on-year growth of 282.2% in the first quarter of 2019 over the same quarter of 2018. If we talk about the numbers, then we see that Huawei Watch GT smartwatch has shipped five million total units, which puts it amongst the top three global wearable vendors.
Huawei Watch GT has always been a popular smartwatch among the customers. When it was launched back in 2018, it won many awards. It is powered by company’s in-house Lite OS system and has a dual-chipset architecture. The Huawei Watch GT delivered ultra-long battery life and it can be used as an all-day wear or as a workout gear. The smartwatch also comes with a heart rate function, sleep notifier, has exercise modes and more. The company claimed that the Huawei Watch GT can give up to two weeks of battery life after a full charge.
To talk about the features of the Huawei Watch GT include Huawei Truseen 3.0 heart rate monitor which can monitor the heart rate of the user for an entire day in real time. It also provides detailed feedback of the user’s health. While the Huawei Trusleep 2.0 allows the users to identify up to six sleep problems and provides advice along with personalised services to the users so that their sleep quality can improve. And since it is a smartwatch, it also has more than 10 sport modes. The Huawei Watch GT is able to help the consumers track and monitor their exercise routine and training schedules as well.
Seeing its popularity, the company launched two new variants of the Huawei Watch GT – the 46mm Watch GT Active Edition and the 42mm Watch GT Elegant Edition. And looking at the growth of Watch GT in Q1 of 2019, the company wishes to sell more smartwatches in Q2 as well.
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Dark mode is the new and somewhat a much-asked feature for applications and services on the internet. We have already seen many of the new and old applications getting the dark mode over time. Some of the popular apps with dark mode are Twitter, Reddit, YouTube and more. Recently, Google has also started rolling out the awaited dark mode for its apps and platforms. And now, Gmail, the popular email app from Google has also gotten its interface darkened with the dark mode.
Gmail’s latest version Gmail v2019.06.09.253132566 is the newest version of the app and it comes with the new feature. But it is not the true black or AMOLED black, which properly darkens the surface by taking advantage of the OLED displays. Gmail uses dark grey backgrounds for the dark mode and it means that it won’t completely black out everything. However, the user will finally have an option other than to look at the vibrant and white background of Gmail app.
But it should also be noted that the new dark mode of Gmail works only in the application’s settings. And there is also no dark mode toggle button or option that can be used to switch on/off the dark mode anytime. Instead, the new dark mode of Gmail will turn on and off on its own whenever the app feels like. It can be because of the reason that the new feature is still a work-in-progress and this might not be a final finished product to begin with. Nonetheless, it is good news for the users who wanted a dark mode for Gmail as well.
The new version of Gmail with the dark mode is currently not officially available on the Google Play Store. The interested users who want to try out the new feature can download the Gmail’s new APK from the internet.
Earlier this month, Google had released dark mode for its Google Photos. Google Photos with version 4.17.0.249919200 comes with dark mode, but at the time it wasn’t available for all the users as it was being rolled out in phases. And similar to Gmail’s dark mode, Google Photos too comes with the same dark grey background that darkens the app’s interface and it dials down the colourful aspect of the app as well.
Photos too doesn’t use the OLED full black dark mode. Other than Photos, other Google applications such as Google Chrome, Drive, Keep and Auto have already received the dark mode.
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It is expected that Samsung is going to launch Galaxy Note 10 sometime in August this year. But it is already trending on the internet because of rumours and leaks that are surfacing. Now according to another leaked image that surfaces on the net the device might come without an earpiece. This confirms that the device will opt for Sound on Display feature.
A couple of images of a screen protector of https://www.gadgetbridge.com/tag/Samsung Galaxy Note 10/ have been leaked by a famous tipster on twitter yesterday. Those show that the device would skip the earpiece and will feature Sound on Display. According to universe “Note 10’s ‘chin’ is very narrow, the same level as the iPhone, no speaker grooves on the forehead, which means that the flagship Sound on Display (SoD) technology will replace the traditional speaker. The forehead will be narrower.” Based on photos of the screen protectors it is guessed that the device will also have a slim bezel.
Image Courtsey- Twitter/ Ice universe
This is not the first time when Samsung has skipped the earpiece and opted for Sound on Display. Very recently Samsung launched M40 smartphone that features sound on display. Not only Samsung smartphones like Huawaei P30 Pro and LG G8 ThinQ comes with a similar feature. To break down the sound on display for you, it is a feature in which the device’s display will use vibration technology beneath it to deliver sound to your ear.
Specifications of Samsung Galaxy Note 10
It is being rumoured that the Galaxy Note 10 will be launched in various colours including Black, White Silver, Red and Pink. The device will feature punch-hole Infinity O display. Apart from that, the handset will come with a selfie camera cut out in the centre top the smartphone. Rumours also suggest that Galaxy Note 10 might not have Bixyby Button.
It has been also said that the placement of the rear camera will be different this time that means instead of horizontally arranged the device will feature vertically aligned cameras that are similar to iPhone XS/XS Max and Huawei P30 pro. The mobile will come with the quad rear camera setup. It will also have an in-display fingerprint scanner.
According to the previous reports, Samsung Galaxy Note 10 will come in two different sizes. The larger screen variant will sport a 6.75-inch display, whereas the smaller screen variant will be 6.3-inches in size. It is expected to come with a 4,500mAh battery.
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Amazon has been selling its Fire TV and the inexpensive, affordable 4K TVs with Fire TV software built in them for quite some time. But now, Amazon has announced a new and the first TV model, which comes with Dolby Vision support. This TV is manufactured by Toshiba and it will be sold exclusively by Amazon and Best Buy.
In This Article
Amazon Fire TV television price and availability
The new TV with 55-inch display size costs $499 (approximately Rs 34,749) and its sale is currently live on Amazon.com. There is also the 50-inch TV with a price tag of $379.99 (approximately Rs 26,461) and the 43-inch model selling for a price of $329.99 (approximately Rs 22,979). But these models of TVs will be available for purchase from June 30 onwards in western countries only.
As mentioned above, the new TVs with Dolby Vision support will exclusively be available on Amazon and Best Buy. Currently, their availability in other markets is not known.
Sandeep Gupta, Amazon’s VP of Fire TV development said, “We worked closely with Best Buy and Dolby to build an amazing TV. In launching our products over the last year, we’ve wanted to make sure they follow our philosophy: simpler and smarter.”
Amazon Fire TV television specifications and features
Amazon’s new and inexpensive TV comes with Dolby Vision in an HDR format that offers a wider range of colours and more highlights than a regular TV. According to the company, the new HDR in the TVs is even superior to the HDR10 as it can adjust the picture quality of the content greatly (scene-by-scene) while HDR10 applies a single setting to the entire content. And as mentioned above, it comes in three different screen sizes with varying prices – 55-inch, 50-inch and 43-inch.
Amazon has also integrated its voice Assistant Alexa support with the Fire TV software so that the user can give voice commands using Alexa to their Fire TV. When the user uses Alexa’s voice commands, the Fire TV automatically will tune either to the user’s OTA antenna tuner or to an OTT service like the PlayStation Vue. Alexa will choose what platform the user uses on Fire TV to watch and will choose according to it. The Fire TV Edition television sets can even be controlled using Amazon Echo speakers.
According to Amazon, it had launched more than 20 models with the Fire TV smart television sets since June 2018. And currently, Fire TV has more than 34 million monthly active users. More in the Fire TV department, Amazon also offers Fire TV Stick, Fire TV Stick 4K with Dolby Vision support, and Fire TV Cube with Dolby Atmos audio support.
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Today is the 5th edition of International Yoga Day. Honourable Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra Modi inaugurated the proceedings of the 2019 edition of International Yoga Day. Are you one of those who wants to learn about real Yog and Sadhna (most call it Yoga in the modern world) in its purest form? Then you can download this app by Dhyan Foundation called Sanatan Kriya and Vedic Chants by Yogi Ashwini or head over to www.dhyanfoundation.com to learn more. The app is available on both, Android and iOS, app stores.
Dhyan Foundation charges nothing for it and one can learn through the website or via the apps that are available on Android mobile phones, iPhones and tablets. You can download the Android version of the Sanatan Kriya and Vedic Chants by Yogi Ashwini here and the Apple iOS version of the same app by clicking on this link here.
“A mantra is coded form of energy in the form of sound (dhwani)”, says Yogi Ashwini
The app is completely ad-free, hardly takes any space on your mobile or tablet and will take you through Vedic (ancient) chants and mantras recited in the purest form by Yogi Ashwini, as it was done thousands of years ago by rishi’s and muni’s of that time. Dhyan Foundation keeps updating the apps regularly so that you will be enriched with more such Vedic chants. Moreover, you can go to their YouTube channel which also has guided meditation. This is available in both Hindi and English.
Users will find the whole process of Yog called Sanatan Kriya that takes about 30-40 minutes to complete on this app as well, in Hindi and English. This is a kriya (procedure) that can be done on a regular basis and is very easy to follow. One can even download the audio on their mobile phones and other devices if they are worried about mobile internet usage. This kriya brings your body back into balance and health, just remember to keep your spine straight to reap maximum benefits.
Over that, the app and the website also have a special Vedic Chants section, where practitioners will find a lot of Vedic mantras and chants. The app enables users to learn and perform the chants, and mantras in the correct manner. You will find everything from the OM chant to the Ram Chant on the app as well as the website. Mantras include Shri Gayatri Mantra, Poorna Mantra and Shri Mahamrityunjai Mantra. There is full Hanuman Chalisa also available on this app.
On the YouTube channel, you will find a lot of asanas that will keep your body fit being taught directly by Yogi Ji himself. Also, you will find quotes and verses that will further enable you to maintain a healthy lifestyle.
We would like to specially mention about the Shanti Path audio in the app. This mantra does wonders if you are feeling hyper in any manner. We have tried it out ourselves and it always relaxes our mind and body.
Overall, the app, website and YouTube channel by Dhyan Foundation is a must download and go to place for everyone and anyone. There are plenty of other activities, which Dhyan Foundation does to propagate Yoga, to know more about it you can head over to www.dhyanfoundation.com. They also have free Yoga sessions every week too, in all major cities of India (like Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Kochi, Ludhiana Etc) and also abroad like Canada, Germany and UK.
Earlier this year, Oppo had released a teaser video about its in-display selfie camera technology (under the display front camera). Now, as the MWC Shanghai 2019 draws closer, the company has started sending out media invites to the Chinese media. The invites hint at the formal announcement of its new camera technology. MWC Shanghai 2019 is scheduled to start from June 26 onwards and it will go on till June 29. Oppo is gearing up to host an event at the conference and according to the media invite, it will be starting its event from 2 pm local time on June 26.
According to a report by SparrowNews, the Chinese smartphone giant has sent invites to major media representatives in the country. The media invite from Oppo states a number of details like regarding the launch like booth no, time and more. However, it doesn’t mention the exact launch product, service or feature of the company. It also doesn’t mention that it will be launching the under-display selfie camera technology at the MWC Shanghai 2019.
The invite reads, “Even more surface” and this undoubtedly hints at the under-display camera on the device. The invite also has an outline of a smartphone with a circular ring on the display and this is where the under-display selfie camera of the handset may be placed. Earlier, the Vice President of Oppo, Brian Shen shared a short video which showcased a notchless display smartphone without any hint of a front camera. However, now it seems like the selfie camera was present, but it was only hiding under the display of the device. As of now, there is no word on whether under-display camera technology is ready for mainstream use or it is just a prototype feature.
Other than Oppo, Honor and Xiaomi too have confirmed that they too were working on similar under-display selfie camera technology to use in their future smartphones. Xiaomi’s Senior VP Wang Xiang also stated how the new camera technology will work. According to Xiaomi, it is working on a custom-made display that will feature a small transparent area which will be made up of special low-reflective glass that will have high transmittance. In other words, the front camera will still be there but it will be hidden from the user’s eyes. However, when the front camera of the smartphone is activated, the display over the camera will become transparent and this will allow light to enter the lens and click the picture. When the camera will be turned off, the transparent display would once again work as a normal display.
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Mobile data has become really affordable in India and because of this, scores of people today have access to the internet. However, there are times when the mobile data on our smartphone gets over before reaching its limit. While some people may need a better plan, for others, it may be the apps that they are using. There are several popular apps that silently consume your mobile data. Here, we have listed down 10 such Android apps that may be consuming the most data on your smartphone:
In This Article
Facebook
Facebook has to be the biggest culprit here. The app asks for way too many permissions before being downloaded and hence, is almost always active in the background. Facebook has access to location, which in turn eats data and also has an annoying auto-playing feature for videos enabled by default. In fact, Twitter is no different as far as auto-playing videos go. We are sure it also sends you various notifications through the day whether you are active on it or not. So, we wouldn’t be wrong to say that Facebook is one of the most data-consuming apps that are available today.
WhatsApp
WhatsApp keeps us connected with our contacts at all times. It has literally made everyone ‘one message away’. However, in order to achieve this, it really consumes a lot of data on your smartphone. Besides, people send each other all kinds of media files on WhatsApp and the option of Media auto-download is enabled by default. So, if you don’t go and turn it off, WhatsApp will eat a lot of your data. Additionally, if you end up making voice or video calls on the app while you are not connected to Wi-Fi, you’ll naturally end up losing a lot of your mobile data.
Netflix
Streaming apps can be addictive. Especially when they have a vast library of content like Netflix. If you can’t stop binge-watching shows on Netflix even when you are not connected to Wi-Fi, you should be ready with a recharge plan that offers a lot of data. Hardly anything can consume data like streaming videos on the likes of Netflix and Amazon Prime.
YouTube
One can spend hours watching videos on YouTube, thanks to the content library and the apt recommendations that the platform offers. It’s a never-ending cycle once it begins. You watch one video, and YouTube gives you several different recommendations that may interest you. And let’s face it, usually, they are in-line with the user’s interest. So next time someone sends you a link to a YouTube video, just wait to watch it till you are connected to Wi-Fi. If you begin watching on mobile data only, be ready to spend loads of it on videos, as really hard to stop at one.
Instagram
Instagram is currently one of the most popular social media apps. Over the year, it has gone from a basic photo-sharing app to a platform that has pictures, videos, and even Direct Messages. In addition to this, Instagram preloads apps and Stories so that they are available whenever you open it. This has made it another very data consuming app, especially considering the time that people usually spend on it.
Uber
This may sound strange, but any app that constantly accesses your location is basically eating up your mobile data too. Uber is one among the most popular apps in this segment, but others like Ola are no different too. There may be little that you can do about Uber as it doesn’t work without GPS and it’s too useful to uninstall.
Snapchat
Like Instagram, Snapchat also preloads all Snaps and Stories so that they are available as soon as you open the app. Even the content by publishers is preloaded on the app. This obviously means that Snapchat silently eats your data all the time.
Music apps like JioSaavn and Spotify
Streaming apps consume a lot of mobile data. No matter which music streaming app you have installed in your smartphone, if you listen to songs when you are not connected to Wi-Fi, you will be spending a lot of data on them. It’s recommended to download the music on apps like Spotify for offline usage first and then listen to it without Wi-Fi.
Games like PUBG Mobile
This one is rather obvious. If you are spending hours on your smartphone playing games like PUBG Mobile and Asphalt 9: Legends, you will end up spending a lot of mobile data on it. This is because such games are very graphic hungry. Other games like Pokemon Go also consume a lot of data, primarily because they have access to your location at all times.
Airtel Payments Bank has today announced the launch of its Atal Pension Yojana that can be availed by all its savings account customers. According to the company, Airtel Payments Bank is the first ever in the country to offer the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) administered scheme.
We should mention that Atal Pension Yojana is an initiative by the Government of India that is aimed at providing pension benefits and social security for people who work in the unorganized sector. The scheme can be availed by any account holder who falls in the age bracket between 18 years and 40 years.
It offers a minimum guaranteed monthly pension between Rs 1,000 and Rs 5,000, that depends on the contribution made by the user. Another thing worth mentioning is that the contribution can be as low as Rs 42 per month. In addition to this, the spouse of the user will also get a monthly pension after the death of the subscriber. Furthermore, the nominee will get an amount of up to Rs 8.5 lakh in case the subscriber and the spouse both die.
Those who hold an account in Airtel Payments Bank can opt for the Atal Pension Yojana at 50,000 banking points across the country. Soon, the scheme will be available at 1,00,000 banking points.
Commenting on the strategic initiative, Mr Anubrata Biswas, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Airtel Payments Bank, said, “We are committed to building a financially inclusive India, and are happy to partner with PFRDA to add Atal Pension Yojana to the suite of financial inclusion products offered through our banking platform. With our unique and vast distribution, we can extend the benefits of this scheme to the unorganized workforce in a simple, easy and transparent manner, enabling financial security for all.”
PFRDA in a statement said: “Established with the primary objective of financial inclusion, the payment banks are poised to make a significant contribution to deeply proliferate financial services among the population who are underserved by the banking network. Their outreach, technology platform and the potential target segment perfectly aligns with the ideal customer profiling of an Atal Pension Yojna subscriber. We are delighted to engage with Airtel Payments Bank and are confident that this partnership will help increase enrolments for Atal Pension Yojna across India.”
The company has also added that Airtel Payments Bank has been recognised by the PFRDA with the “APY Leadership Capital Award” in the “Small Finance Bank & Payments Bank Category”.
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If you own a OnePlus 7 or a OnePlus 7 Pro, we have some good news for you. The Android Q Developer Preview 2 is now available for the two smartphones. The Chinese smartphone brand has shared the download links for both the devices and it is worth noticing that this is the first time that users will be able to flash the update to their handsets. However, if you have the Developer Preview 1, you would not need to wipe any data from your smartphone to install the update.
We should mention that the update is primarily meant for developers as well as early adopters and may have some bugs. Some of the known issues of the update include problems in the reading mode and the display mode. If you are a OnePlus 7 or OnePlus 7 Pro user, make sure that you do not confuse Android Q Developer Preview 2 with Android Q Beta 2 update.
It is also worth adding that all the Pixel smartphones recently received their Android Q Beta 4 update and with that, they got their final APIs. As of now, there is no changelog available for the OnePlus 7 and OnePlus 7 Pro, so we cannot really say if Android Q Developer Preview 2 update includes the APIs or not. However, one thing that OnePlus has published is a guide on how to install the update and how to go back to the stable release in case you are unhappy with it.
But then, users would have to flash the smartphone in both the cases, so that their data remains secure.
Here’s what you need to do to install the update (as mentioned on OnePlus’ forum):
Download the latest ROM upgrade zip package from the specified server.
Copy the ROM upgrade package to the phone storage.
Go to Settings -> System -> System Updates -> Click top right icon -> Local upgrade -> Click on the corresponding installation package -> upgrade -> System upgrade completed to 100%.
After the upgrade is complete, click Restart.
The phone will boot into recovery mode to format user data; it will reboot again after formatting.
Update successful.
Steps to uninstall it (according to OnePlus):
Download the latest ROM upgrade zip package from the specified server.
Copy the Rollback package to the phone storage.
Go to Settings -> System -> System Updates -> Click top right icon -> Local upgrade -> Click on the corresponding installation package -> upgrade -> System upgrade completed to 100%.
After the upgrade is complete, click Restart.
The phone will boot into recovery mode to format user data; it will reboot again after formatting.
Chinese smartphone manufacturer Xiaomi will be unveiling Mi CC9 and Mi CC9e smartphones in its home country. They will both be selfie-focused smartphones based on Meitu’s hardware technology which was developed last year.
Xiaomi’s co-founder, Lei Jun spoke about the smartphones on the company’s official Weibo account saying, “Lei has a problem Find the most laughable people in the world and experience the millet _ _ self-timer In addition to the Mona Lisa, it is him: smirk boy @GavinThomas Use Xiaomi _ _ self-timer to shoot a world-famous smile Millet mobile phone brand new series, see you at 10 o’clock tomorrow morning! Forward guess the new product name, pump a new product.”
The co-founder also revealed that the series of smartphones will be launched at 10 AM in China.
It has been reported that Mi CC9 will be powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 730 processor and Mi CC9e will house the Snapdragon 730 SoC. Both the smartphones are expected to come with a 32MP front camera and a 48MP rear camera.
In fact, Xiaomi’s Mi CC9 will feature a motorized flip camera that will include a 48MP main sensor that will also include an ultra-wide-angle camera and telephoto camera.
In the Mi CC9e, a motorized flip camera has not been included. Instead of that, the handset will be sporting waterdrop-style notch with a 32MP selfie camera, and triple rear camera setup with a 48MP main shooter, an ultra-wide-angle camera, and a telephoto camera. The device will come with an in-display fingerprint sensor. The smartphones will house a 4,000mAh battery that will support 2W fast charging.
Very recently, Xiaomi Mi CC9 and Mi CC9e specifications were leaked on the internet and the same report also carried its colour options and its pricing.
The Mi CC9e is expected to be launched in a single variant with 6GB RAM and 64GB storage and this variant will be priced at CNY 1,599 (roughly Rs.16,000). The Mi CC9 will be launched in three storage variants – 6GB + 128GB that will be priced at CNY 2,499 (roughly Rs. 25,100), 8GB + 128GB that will cost CNY 2,799 (roughly Rs. 28,100), and 8GB + 256GB that will be available for CNY 3,099 (roughly Rs. 31,100).
Xiaomi’s Mi CC9 and Mi CC9e smartphones are reported to be launched in Pearl finish with Pink accent.
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Flipkart-owned payment platform PhonePe has announced on Thursday that it has crossed over 5 million offline merchants in India. To celebrate this landmark, the PhonePe is offering its customers a cashback of Rs 1,000. The company has stated that when the customer makes its payment using its QR code at an offline store, they will receive a cashback of Rs 1,000. In addition to this, the Bengaluru based company is also providing daily incentives to its merchants in line with the auspicious daily ritual of ‘Bohni’. The first transaction of the day done through the PhonePe QR code will make every retailer earn up to Rs 1,400 every month.
On this Yuvraj Shekhawat, Head of Offline Business Growth at PhonePe stated “The offline segment has seen phenomenal growth in the last year. We started this year with 1 million merchants and that number has already grown to 5 million in a span of just six months. We are excited to reach this milestone and are humbled by the trust shown in us by consumers as well as merchant partners. We will continue to expand our reach across the length and breadth of the country, building innovative solutions that make the process of digital payments simple, convenient and hassle-free.”
The Bengaluru headquartered company claims that the PhonePe app drives the highest number of merchant UPI transactions in India. More than 50 lakh merchant outlets nationally accept PhonePe. The app can also be used to send and receive money, recharge mobile numbers, DTH, data cards, make utility payments and buy gold. At present PhonePe is catering its service to over 150 cities in India. The company has also claimed that it allows its customers and merchants to make cashless, safe and convenient transactions directly from their bank accounts.
It has also enabled local kiranas to accept digital payment from its customers via UPI without zero processing fee. The PhonePe app also introduced a ‘Store’ tab that can be used to search for the company’s partnered merchants. The company also revealed that it is working on a new feature in its app that will let its partnered merchants showcase their offers to its users. Through its app, the users can place orders on Ola, Myntra, IRCTC, Goibibo, redBus, Oyo, and Treebo.
It works over the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) platform developed by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) and is powered by YES Bank.
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PUBG or PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds is currently one of the most played mobile games. Even though it has been banned in some regions, PUBG constantly updates its platform to stay in the market. PUBG Mobile is the mobile version of the popular battleroyale game and it can be played on any smartphone running Android or iOS operating system. Millions of players log in everyday to play the game and try to get their hands on the chicken dinner. But there are times when you wish for a bigger screen and better controls while playing the game.
Although there is a PC version of the game named PUBG PC and it is as popular as the Mobile version of the game, it comes at a price. PUBG PC costs anywhere around Rs 3,500 to Rs 4,000 in India. Players who don’t wish to pay for it stick to PUBG Mobile, which is available for free with in-app purchases. If you want to play PUBG on PC then you can do so by taking the help of an emulator.
Emulators are the software that allow the PC to behave like another system or console. That way, you can play the game meant for that console on your PC without needing the console itself. There are multiple emulators out there which you can use to play PUBG Mobile on PC, however, Tencent also its own emulator and we suggest you to use that. It is called Tencent Gaming Buddy. Tencent’s emulator can be used to play PUBG Mobile on PC using the computer’s keyboard and mouse to control the character.
Here’s how you can play PUBG Mobile on your PC using Tencent’s free emulator:
First you need to go to – https://tgb.qq.com/en/games/pubg.html and download the Tencent Gaming Buddy which is the official emulator of the company.
Once it is done, install the emulator to your PC or laptop. The installation process is pretty straight forward; and you just need to follow the steps that you are asked to.
Once the installation process is complete, open the emulator. After this, you will see PUBG Mobile listed there. Click on the PUBG Mobile icon.
After that, the Tencent Gaming Buddy will start downloading the required files necessary to run the game on your PC/ laptop.
After it is done, you need to click on PUBG Mobile and it will prompt you to login.
Log in with your PUBG Mobile credentials or your Facebook, Twitter or Tencent ID.
After that, you can run and play PUBG Mobile on your PC/ laptop.
Asus launched its 6z globally last month and it launched the same smartphone in India with a name Asus 6Z yesterday. The smartphone comes with a flip camera setup which works a lot like the one on Samsung Galaxy A80. Now, a YouTuber named JerryRigEverything, who is known for taking apart smartphones to know what they are made of has taken apart the Asus 6z as well. In the video, he focused mostly on the motorised flip camera of the handset that comprises of two sensors. He conducted multiple tests to check the sturdiness, build quality and working of the Asus 6z and the result was that the smartphone’s camera is sturdy and strong and it isn’t as fragile as it seems.
Asus has touted that it has used ‘liquid metal’ to strengthen the build quality of the camera. Similar to the OnePlus 7 Pro, the Asus 6z also has fall detection. With this technology, it retracts the camera. Other than the camera test, the YouTuber also did the bend test that the device survived without suffering any scratches or damages on its front or back panel.
The YouTuber also manually stopped the camera from flipping completely, and tried to flip it manually. He even tried to take the camera out of its hinge but failed in doing so. We can see that the device survived all the tests and it was in working condition by the end of it. But there were some sparks that flew out when he tried to scratch it with his metal blade even though the camera itself is made from metal.
JerryRigEverything also did scratch test on the Asus 6z and it managed to scratch on the Moh Level 6 with deeper grooves at Moh Level 7. Other than the glass front and back, the sides and the buttons of the smartphone are all made up of metal and scratch easily. The camera module is also made of metal so it too scratched easily. The fingerprint scanner continued to work even after being scratched. Even the camera module cavity scratches easily as it too is made up of metal.
When put under a flame, the display pixels of the smartphone started showing reactions after 8 seconds. However, as soon as it was removed from under the flames it started recovering soon. At the end, no visible damage was seen on Asus 6z’s display. The overall conclusion JerryRigEverything came to was that the smartphone was made well and its camera also didn’t suffer failure after all the tests. The Asus 6Z passed the YouTuber’s test with flying colours.
Smartphones nowadays are coming with bigger and better batteries. So it was only a matter of time that a companies made a charger that could charge these batteries quickly. We have already seen a fast charger with a number of smartphones that can charge these batteries much faster. For instance, OnePlus has introduced a 30W charger and Huawei’s flagship devices come with a 40W fast charger. Chinese technology brand Oppo has introduced a massive 50W SuperVOOC Flash Charge charger for the Find X that was able to charge the smartphone much quicker than before. But now, Vivo has announced a new 120W Super FlashCharge charger, and it has surpassed all other companies by doing so.
According to Vivo, its new 120W Super FlashCharge charger is able to charge 50% of a 4,000mAh battery in just 5 minutes, that is extremely fast compare it to the next fastest charger available. Vivo’s Super FlashCharge charger is able to charge the 4,000mAh battery to 100% in just 13 minutes.
A normal charger takes around 3 hours to fully charge a 4,000mAh battery. On the other hand, a fast charger would more than 1 hour to charge the large 4,000mAh battery. This makes Vivo’s claims seem a little farfetched. However, if the Chinese technology company is right, then this could change the smartphone world for the better.
Vivo is also planning to make a demonstration of its 120W Super FlashCharge charger at the MWC Shanghai 2019 that is scheduled to start from the next week. The company is also planning to unveil its first 5G smartphone at the MWC Shanghai event. It would be interesting to what exactly the Vivo’s 120W Super FlashCharge charger is like and which 5G smartphone will it unveil.
The 120W Super FlashCharge charger seems like a great product for smartphones and it would shorten the charging time that smartphones take for good. However, we cannot rule out the possibility of it being a prototype. It may take some time before Vivo starts shipping this charger though. So, we would have to wait for it till we get to try it out. It should also be noted that the Ultra-fast chargers usually generate a lot of heat and this can be a bit troubling for the modern smartphone’s thermal constraints.
But if it gets launched anytime soon, it would no doubt compete against Xiaomi’s 100W charging standard that the company had teased recently.
This year, Google did something it had never done before and launched the Pixel 3a and 3a XL (watered down versions of the previous editions). The smartphone comes with the same camera as Pixel 3 on its back panel and since it is a Made by Google handset, it obviously has a number of software tweaks. Google Pixel 3a is priced at Rs 39,000 in India. At this price, is it really worth the buy? Read the rest of our review to find out:
In This Article
Google Pixel 3a Design and Display
Google Pixel 3a is the first Pixel smartphone by the technology giant in the mid-range smartphone segment. Google has made sure that the smartphone does look like it is from the Pixel family by keeping the design in line with other handsets within the range, particularly the Pixel 3. So much so, if you see the rear panels of the Pixel 3a and Pixel 3, it would be hard to tell them apart. But then, there are certain differences too. For instance, the Pixel 3a comes with a polycarbonate body instead of the glass one that we saw on the flagship device.
We should mention that some may feel that this does not justify the cost of the smartphone, as there are several devices like OnePlus 7 that are priced more affordable and come with glass and metal bodies. For us, it wasn’t too big a problem as there are a number of other aspects of the handset that make up for this.
Google Pixel 3a sports a 5.6-inch Full HD+ OLED display that has an aspect ratio of 18.5:9. The smartphone comes with broad bezels on top and bottom, sticking to the design that existed before notches became popular. While a few may like the traditional design of the handset, there will be those who would prefer to go in for a full-screen or an almost full-screen (edge to edge) experience instead.
One thing that we really liked about the mobile is its one-handed usage. We have used a smartphone after really long that was so easy to operate with one hand. We could reach all the keys and even the top of the display with no problem at all (with just one hand).
The Pixel 3a smartphone also comes with stereo speakers. While the earpiece of the device sits on the top bezel along with the selfie camera, another speaker is placed right next to the UBS Type C port at the bottom.
Another thing that a number of people would like is the fact that a 3.5mm headphone jack is included in the handset.
Flip over, and you will see a single camera sensor placed on the handset’s back panel along with an LED flash. There is also a fingerprint scanner and ‘Made by Google’ branding on it. The rear panel of the smartphone, like all other Pixel devices, comes with a dual tone design.
The right edge of the Pixel 3a smartphone has the power and volume rocker keys while the left has the SIM tray. The power button is Orange in colour and it really stands out from the rest of the body. But we liked it.
In a nutshell, we would say that even though there are smartphones in the same range that come with more premium design aspects, Google Pixel 3a still comes with a good look and feel.
Coming to the display of the Google Pixel 3a, it has an OLED screen that comes with a full HD+ resolution and an aspect ratio of 18:9. You will be able to choose from Adaptive colour mode, Natural colour mode and Boosted mode, based on what exactly you like. The screen of the Google Pixel 3a has support for Always On Display feature as well and shows all incoming notifications.
The display shows rich colours and deep blacks that remain consistent at any viewing angles. The sunlight readability of the device is also good. In our experience, we really enjoyed watching videos and playing games on the smartphone because the display experience was a really good one. While the experience isn’t a full-screen one, you also don’t have to deal with a portion of the content being blocked because of the notch.
Personally, we considered the display to be another very good aspect of the smartphone. You would not be disappointed if you can look beyond the fact that it comes with thick bezels on top and bottom.
Google Pixel 3a performance and cameras
First, let’s talk about the specifications of the smartphone. Powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 670 SoC, Pixel 3a comes with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of internal storage. On the photography front, Google Pixel 3a sports a 12.2MP Dual-Pixel rear camera that has a Sony IMX363 sensor and has support for OIS and EIS. The primary camera comes with an f/1.8 aperture, 76-degree field of view and 1.4-micron pixels. The Pixel 3a comes with Night Sight feature that enhances low-light photography, HDR+, Portrait Mode, Super Res Zoom and Top Shot.
For selfies and video calls, there is an 8MP camera that has an 84-degree field of view, 1.12-micron pixels, and an f/2.0 aperture. The back panel of the smartphone houses a Pixel Imprint fingerprint sensor. The device houses a 3,000mah battery and for connectivity, it has 4G VoLTE, Wi-FI 802.11ac, Bluetooth v5.0, GPS, and thankfully, a 3.5mm headphone jack.
Coming to the software of the smartphone, it runs the latest version of Android 9.0 Pie. Google has promised to roll out Android and security updates for the next three years to the Pixel 3a. Made by Google smartphones are known for their software, and Pixel 3a does not disappoint. You can summon the Google Assistant just by squeezing the side edges of the handset. The smartphone comes with the Digital Wellbeing feature that can be useful in tracking the time that you spend on the device. Other than this, it also has Pixel 3-like gesture navigation available on it. There are actually scores of software features that make the device stand apart. We personally really liked them and would certainly call them to be one of the key highlights of the Google Pixel 3a.
Now, let’s talk about the performance of the Google Pixel 3a. We have to say that during our time with the smartphone, we encountered no trouble whatsoever. The performance of the Google Pixel 3a is very smooth and the handset can handle multi-tasking very well. We used the smartphone all day long and threw a number of tasks like navigation and gaming at it together. However, we did not find it stutter even once. This is impressive considering the fact that the device does not come with a high-end processor and is powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 670 SoC. If you compare it to other smartphones with similar SoCs, you realise it performs way better than them. But then, smartphones in the same range with higher processors offer smoother and faster performance. Having said that, you wouldn’t notice the difference until you deliberately compare Google Pixel 3a with a smartphone like OnePlus 7.
If you enjoy playing games on smartphones, you will definitely like the Google Pixel 3a. We played some very graphic-hungry games like Asphalt 9: Legends and PUBG Mobile, and they ran without any hiccups on the handset. While the smartphone does not heat up even if you play games for an hour at a stretch, you may notice that the battery does drop significantly.
Speaking of the battery, Pixel 3a smartphone houses a 3,000mAh cell. This may sound less on paper, but we should tell you that even when we used the smartphone for navigation, watching multiple videos and browsing social media for the entire day, we had at least half of it remaining till night. We sound this to be very impressive, since we weren’t expecting this much juice. The only time that the battery dropped quickly was when we used the handset for gaming.
Now, let’s talk about another the key highlight of the Google Pixel 3a, its cameras. The smartphone has the exact same rear camera as the Pixel 3 flagship handset, and we have to say, it lives up to the reputation. On the front, there is only one camera, instead of the dual camera setup of the Pixel 3. The device sports an 8MP selfie camera that has an 84-degree field of view, 1.12-micron pixels, and an f/2.0 aperture.
We should also mention that the camera software of the Pixel 3a and Pixel 3 are also identical. A number of features are also the same as Pixel 3 including the Night Sight, Super Res Zoom, Playground, Photobooth and Top Shot.
Coming to the images that we clicked, they really met our expectations. And we should mention that our expectations were really high considering the Pixel 3a has the same camera as Pixel 3. The shots taken in daylight were simply brilliant. The camera focussed almost instantly and the images that we took turned out to be so rich and full of details. Even the shots that we took after zooming in were excellent. One thing that we really liked was the fact that the subject and the background were distinguished very well in the image. The camera is intelligent enough to know what to focus on. HDR+ is on by default on the camera app of the handset. We should mention that the device does such a good job of managing the exposure, you would not even have to look for the settings unless you wish to take a shot with very specific requirements.
Coming to the images taken at night, they are very good too, thanks to the Night Sight mode on the Google Pixel 3a. However, we should point out that if you take pictures without Night Sight enabled, they may turn out to be slightly unclear. So, always keep it on to get the best quality images.
Taken with Night SightTaken without Night Sight
Moving to selfies, the 8MP sensor makes sure that the images have a good amount of details. You can also add the Bokeh mode to the selfies using the Portrait mode on Google Pixel 3a.
Last but not least, the call quality of the device was good too. We had no trouble making and receiving calls even from places like elevators and basements.
Verdict
Google Pixel 3a costs Rs 39,999 in India. At this price, it competes with the likes of OnePlus 7 and Asus Zenfone 6Z. If your priority is the camera, no other smartphone in the same range would make you happier. The software enhancements are another very big plus for the Google Pixel 3a and we also really liked its compact form factor.
The OLED screen will please those who value quality displays. However, there are certain key features that the device miss out on too. For instance, it does not provide a full-screen experience and lacks an in-display fingerprint scanner – both of which have become rather common with handsets in the said range. For us, it wasn’t a big deal to live without them. If you can ignore these, you are in for a great experience with the Google Pixel 3a and we would totally recommend it. But then, if you value speed and fancy features more, we would tell you to pick up some other device like OnePlus 7.
Pros
After Asus ZenFone 4 Max and ZenFone Selfie received the Android 9 beta updates, the company has started rolling the update out to its ZenFone 4. Till now, there is no word from the Taiwanese technology brand has about the update for Asus Zenfone 4. The device got its first update of Android Oreo in 2018.
The company released the smartphone in 2017 with Android Nougat. Since then, this is the second major update that it has got. While the company has not announced a detailed changelog for the smartphone, we expect to see the usual changes that Android 9.0 Pie gets.
To recall, Asus Zenfone 4 supports dual-SIM (Nano) cards and it comes with an aluminium unibody design clubbed with metallic edges. The device sports a 5.50-inch touchscreen display that has a resolution of 1080×1920 pixels.
On the camera front, the device sports 12MP Sony IMX362 ‘dual pixel’ image sensor that features 1.4-micron pixels and comes with PDAF OIS, EIS, and an RGB sensor. On the front, it sports an 8MP sensor secondary camera that has a 120-degree wide-angle lens.
The ZenFone 4 has a fingerprint sensor on the home button and it also comes with a dual speaker. Asus Zenfone 4 comes in two variants – one with 4GB RAM and the other with 6GB RAM. The 4GB variant is powered by Snapdragon 660 SoC and the 6GB RAM one is powered by Snapdragon 630 SoC processor. Both the variants have 64GB of inbuilt storage and can hold a microSD card of up to 2TB. Asus ZenFone 4 houses a 3,300mAh non-removable battery and includes 4G VoLTE, Bluetooth 5.0, Wi-Fi, NFC, USB Type-C, FM radio, and 3.5mm audio jack, GPS, Bluetooth v5.00, NFC, Headphones, FM radio, 3G and 4G for connectivity.
The Asus ZenFone 4 is available in Moonlight White, Mint Green, and Midnight Black colours options and can be bought at Rs 6,499.
Yesterday, Asus launched its 6Z smartphone in India that includes a 48MP primary sensor, a rotating camera module and houses a 5,000mAh battery.
Asus 6Z features a 6.4-inch full-HD+ IPS display that has a screen-to-body ratio of 92%. The device is powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 855 SoC, and it comes with Adreno 640 GPU clubbed with up to 8GB of RAM and 256GB of internal storage.
The starting price of the smartphone is Rs 31,999 and it competes directly with the likes of OnePlus 7 and Samsung Galaxy A70.
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India is one of the largest countries in terms of population. This also shows why it leads in terms of data usage. With the introduction of affordable data plans by a number of telecom operators, the monthly data consumption by the Indian youth has grown to 9.8GB as of the end of 2018. According to the recent report of Ericsson, this is the highest in the world. The report also mentioned that the monthly data usage per smartphone would grow at 11% to reach 18 GB by the year 2024.
The reports mentioned that the smartphone data traffic from India in a month was expected to increase at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 23% to 16 EB (exabytes) by 2024 from 4.6 EB in 2018. One of the major factors that fuel of this data traffic growth is the mobile video traffic. This shows that the Indian youth are spending a lot of time on streaming and sharing online videos via different platforms.
According to Nitin Bansal, the Head of Ericsson India and Head of Network Solutions, South East Asia, Oceania and India said, “The LTE will remain the most dominant access technology in the region up to 2024 even as 5G subscriptions are expected to grow during this period.”
The LTE (4G) network has evolved in India and it will keep on evolving and by the end of 2024, it is expected to represent about 82% of mobile subscriptions. In comparison, in 2018, the number was 38%, so there will be more than 50% increase in the time duration of 6 years. The LTE subscription in India is expected to grow at 17% CAGR from 450 million in 2018 to 1.16 billion in 2024.
Looking at the number of total mobile subscriptions in the world, there was around 7.9 billion of them in the first quarter of 2019. In the second quarter, another 44 million were added. But the number of mobile subscriptions in India declined by 14 million due to the minimum regular recharge amount introduction by large telecom operators.
The report further added that the number of smartphone subscriptions is estimated to reach around 7.2 billion in 2024. We should mention that at the end of 2018, there were 5.1 billion smartphone subscribers on a global level. In India, the smartphone subscriptions are estimated to reach 1.1 billion by 2024. The mobile subscriptions in 2018 in India was only 610 million and this is expected to grow to 1.25 billion by 2024.
Bansal said, “Based on the latest Consumer Lab study by Ericsson, we have found that Indian smartphone users are willing to pay more than 66 percent premium for 5G services. In fact, more than half of smartphone users in India expect their own provider to switch to 5G or will wait a maximum of six months before moving to another provider that does.”
Looking at the June 2019 edition of the Ericsson Mobility Report, 5G subscription should reach to around 1.9 billion subscriptions, while in November 2018, the forecast was 1.5 billion.
Every year, Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Rankings shows which colleges and universities in the world are the most sought after. In this year’s list, fourteen Indian engineering colleges are present and this shows how prestigious they are. If you aspire to work with the likes of Google, Apple and Microsoft, then you should be aiming to study in one of these engineering colleges. Check out the list here:
In This Article
IIT Bombay
IIT Bombay is the top Indian engineering college on the list. In the current year, it is placed on the 152nd rank. We should mention that this is 10 places up as compared to the Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Rankings of last year.
IIT Delhi
Image courtesy: Glassdoor
The next engineering college on the list is Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi. It ranks 182nd on the list, which is actually ten places down from the last year’s list. In 2019’s list, IIT Delhi stood at 172nd position.
Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bangalore
Not far behind is the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. In the current year, the engineering college stands at the 184th position on the QS World University Rankings. However, much like IIT Delhi, it has also slipped a few ranks. In 2019’s list, the college stood at the 170th position.
IIT Madras
Moving on, Indian Institute of Technology, Madras has bagged the 271st position on the QS World University Rankings 2020. Last year, the engineering college stood at the 264th position.
IIT Kharagpur
Image courtesy: Glassdoor
IIT Kharagpur is the next college on the list and it holds the 281st rank on the QS World University Rankings list for 2020. The college has come up a few places, as last year, it stood on 295th position.
IIT Kanpur
If you compare the current list to last year’s list, you will see that IIT Kanpur and IIT Kharagpur have actually switched places. IIT Kanpur was the fifth Indian engineering college on the list last year when it stood on the 283rd position. This year, it has bagged the 291st place.
IIT Roorkee
Moving on, IIT Roorkee is the next Indian engineering college on the list. It stands at 383rd position this year, which is slightly lower than the rank it had last year – 381.
University of Delhi
Image courtesy: college pravesh
The University of Delhi is also very renowned for its Engineering school. The college has moved up a lot of places in the QS World University Rankings list. This year, it stands at 474th position, whereas last year, it stood at 487th.
IIT Guwahati
Another IIT on the list, the Guwahati branch of the college stands on 491th position in the QS World University Rankings list. We should mention that last year, the college stood at 472nd position.
Others
OP Jindal Global University is a new entrant to the list QS World University Rankings list and it joins Banaras Hindu University, University of Calcutta, University of Mumbai and Savitribai Phule Pune University in the 801-1000 bracket.
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YouTube has reportedly been testing to hide the comments section on its Android app. Earlier the comments section was accessible by scrolling down the page, but now it has been hidden behind the comment button that has been placed just below the video.
Till now, we could see the comments on YouTube below the videos. While on desktop, they were right below the videos, on the Android mobile app, one had to scroll down past the recommended videos to see them. Now, according to a report by XDA Developers, the company is adding a dedicated comments button to access them. It will be placed along with Dislike and Share buttons below the video. On pressing it, the comments that users have made on the video will open up. There will also be a separate button to close the window.
Image Courtesy-XDA Developers
We should mention that the purpose of the comments section is where users can write opinions, give feedback, share some additional information and have intelligent discussion or debates. Comments usually prove to be an important technique by the creators to connect with the followers. But then, they are also at times used for online bullying and hate speech by people.
Sometimes, even if the videos uploaded by content creators are positive and not even remotely controversial, the comments below them can be hateful. Users also start bullying each other on the platform if they disagree on something. This may be the reason why YouTube decided to hide them. In the past, the company has faced a lot of criticism for this.
Everyday people on the internet face trolling and cyberbullying across various platforms. This can lead to mental stress and some extreme cases have also seen people dealing with depression or suicidal thoughts. This serious problem is not limited to YouTube, other social networking sites like Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram are also dealing with it. According to News18, till now WhatsApp bullying and fake news have led to 36 deaths in India so far and in some cases, even incited violence and abusive behavior.
In the past various social media platforms have been pressurized by governments and interest groups from across the globe to combat online bullying.
The Indian Government and the interest groups have also told social media platforms to make changes to curb this problem. Considering this, now YouTube has decided to hide the comment section that was earlier placed just below the video section. Sometimes, even the content on the platform shown to controversial and extremist in nature which ultimately incites violence.
This big move by YouTube hiding the comment section on the platform is primarily happening in India, as according to the report, other regions have not reported it yet. Till now, the button has only been seen on YouTube’s Android app and there is no word on if and when it will come to iOS and desktop.
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Check out the Motorola One Vision unboxing to know detailed tech specs, features and design aspect about the smartphone.
Motorola One Vision smartphone is now available in India in just one variation that comes with 4GB of RAM and 128GB of internal storage. The smartphone is priced at Rs 19,999. At this price, it competes with the Samsung Galaxy M40, Samsung Galaxy A50 and Realme 3 Pro.
The smartphone is exclusively available via Flipkart in Bronze Gradient and the Sapphire Gradient finishes.
Motorola One Vision technical specifications:
OS
Android 9.0 (Pie); Android One
Chipset
Exynos 9609
CPU
Octa-core 2.2 GHz
GPU
Mali-G72 MP3
Display Size
6.3-inches (82.5% screen-to-body ratio)
Display Resolution
1,080 x 2,520 pixels, 21:9 ratio (432 ppi density)