Xiaomi Mi A2 has received a price cut of Rs 2,000 in India. While its earlier price was Rs 13,999, after the price cut, the smartphone is available for Rs 11,999. The news of the discount on Xiaomi Mi A2 smartphone was announced by the company’s Global Vice President, Manu Kumar Jain. This is the second time that the cost of the device has been reduced by the company.
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Xiaomi Mi A2 price
After the price cut of Rs 2,000, Xiaomi Mi A2 will be selling for Rs 11,999 for the 4GB RAM/64GB storage variant. However, the 6GB RAM/128GB storage model of Xiaomi Mi A2 hasn’t been changed and it is selling for Rs 15,999.
The new price of the smartphone is available on Amazon.in, Mi.com, Mi Home, Mi Store and Mi preferred partners.
In January 2019, Xiaomi Mi A2 had received price cuts for both its variants – the 4GB RAM/64GB storage model and the 6GB RAM/128GB storage version. But this time, the company has only reduced the price of the 4GB RAM variant of Xiaomi Mi A2.
Xiaomi Mi A2 was launched in India in August 2018 and at that time it came with a price tag f Rs 16,999 for the 4GB RAM /64GB storage variant and Rs 19,999 for the 6GB RAM/128GB storage variant.
Xiaomi Mi A2 specifications
Xiaomi Mi A2 is powered by an octa-core Snapdragon 660 SoC coupled with 4GB or 6GB of RAM. The smartphone sports a 5.99-inch Full HD+ (1080 x 2160 pixels) display with an aspect ratio of 18:9. When launched, it ran Android 8.1 Oreo but in November it received Android 9.0 Pie update.
Xiaomi Mi A2 sports a dual-rear camera setup with a 12MP Sony IMX486 primary sensor with an f/1.75 aperture along with a 20MP Sony IMX376 secondary sensor with 4-in-1 Super Pixel tech with f/1.75 aperture. At the front Xiaomi Mi A2 holds a 20MP sensor with LED flash. For storage, it comes with 64GB and 128GB of internal storage variants, both of which come with support for a microSD card.
For connectivity, Xiaomi Mi A2 comes with 4G VoLTE, Wi-Fi 802.11ac, Bluetooth v5.0, GPS/ A-GPS, and a USB Type-C (v2.0) port. The device also comes with a fingerprint sensor at the back and packs a 3,000mAh battery with Quick Charge 4+ support. Some of its other sensors include an accelerometer, ambient light sensor, digital compass, gyroscope, and proximity sensor.
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Taiwanese electronics maker Asus has unveiled its latest range of gaming laptops along with a desktop in India. The new laptops that have been launched include Asus ROG Zephyrus S GX531, ROG Zephyrus S GX701, and ROG Strix SCAR II and the desktop that has been unveiled is GL12CX. The new gaming laptops by the company are touted to come with NVIDIA GeForce RTX engines, which is known to enhance the graphics performance in the devices. Asus has also said that ROG Zephyrus S GX531, ROG Zephyrus S GX701, and ROG Strix SCAR II laptops come with advanced cooling.
Asus ROG Zephyrus S GX701GX is priced at Rs 3,49,990, and the ROG Zephyrus S GX531 costs Rs 2,39,990. Coming to ROG Strix SCAR II, it is available in three variants – GL504GW-ES007T, GL504GV-ES019T and GL504GV-ES034T – that are priced at Rs 2,09,990, Rs 1,64,990 and Rs 1,64,990 respectively. Asus ROG Strix SCAR and Hero will be available starting today.
Speaking of Asus GL12 CX, it is available in three variants – GL12CX-IN002T, GL12CS-IN009T and G21CN-IN006T – that are priced at Rs 3,29,990, Rs 2,19,990 and Rs 2,13,990 respectively.
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Asus ROG Zephyrus S GX531 specifications
Asus ROG Zephyrus S GX531 laptop sports a 15.6-inch display and packs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 Max. It is powered by the latest Intel Core i7-8750H CPU and its display comes with a 144Hz refresh rate and 3ms response time. The device also comes with a patented AAS cooling system, 12V anti-dust cooling fans, 5 heat pipes and 4 heat sinks.
Asus ROG Zephyrus S GX701GX specifications
Asus ROG Zephyrus S GX701GX laptop has a 17-inch display and is powered by 8th Gen Intel Core i7 processors coupled with NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 GPU. It is touted to come with a 15-inch ultra slim chassis and the company claims that it has a great gaming experience with 144Hz 3ms response time display. The laptop comes with Pantone Validated colours with factory calibration and ProArt TruColor Technology. It also comes with a GPU Switch that easily transitions between better gaming and longer battery life. The device is said to come with a patented AAS cooling system, per-key RGB Lighting and Aura Sync.
Asus ROG Strix SCAR II specifications
Coming to Asus ROG Zephyrus S GX701GX, it comes with a 15.6-inch display and comes with NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 graphics coupled with 8GB of VRAM. The company claims that the NVIDIA GeForce RTX “expands to horizons in true to life graphics with advanced Ray-Tracing Technology”. Powered by the latest 8th Generation Intel Core i7-8750H six-core CPU, that is supposed to provide 23% better performance than the predecessor. The gaming laptop comes with HyperCool Pro that keeps it cool when the device is being used extensively for gaming. Asus ROG Strix SCAR II comes with the best Wi-Fi connectivity and comes with the HyperStrike Pro Keyboard, prominent WASD keys and 1.8mm key travel distance. The Armoury Crate with Aura Sync has the ability to connect all supported RGB peripherals for a unified lighting effect.
Asus ROG Strix GL12 CX specifications
Asus ROG Strix GL12CX comes with Intel Coffee Lake processors up to i9-9900K which are overclocked to provide an enhanced gaming performance. It comes with up to RTX 2080 which is capable of delivering smooth performance for immersive 4K HDR gaming. Asus ROG Strix GL12CX has a hot-swap 2.5-inch SSD tray along with a customized Cooler Master MasterLiquid Pro 120 closed-loop liquid cooler.
Commenting on the launch, Arnold Su, ROG & PC Head of ASUS India said, “ROG is more than just a gaming brand; it’s a commitment to enhancing your gaming and enthusiast experience through innovative engineering and thoughtful design. Staying true to our promise today we launch the new ROG line up powered by the new NVIDIA GeForce RTX lineup, including the GeForce RTX 2080 on the GL12CX desktop, and the GeForce RTX 2060, RTX 2070 powering the ROG GL504 laptop pairing real-time ray tracing and artificial intelligence with cutting edge gaming and VR performance. Each one offers innovative cooling to ensure that the products deliver unprecedented sustained gaming performance. We are confident with the new RTX line up the ROG segment has become an even more exciting segment to look forward.”
Google has rolled out augmented reality (AR) effect tools to YouTube which can be now added to Stories on the platform. So, going forward, you will be able to add animated masks, glasses, hats and more such stickers and filters to your pictures before adding them to YouTube Stories. According to Google, ‘proper anchoring of virtual content to the real world is a difficult challenge’. The difficulty, according to the technology giant, lies in the precise tracking of dynamic surface geometries across the face, smiles, frowns and smirks.
Speaking about the update, Artsiom Ablavatski and Ivan Grishchenko, Research Engineers, Google Artificial Intelligence (AI) wrote in a blog post, “To make all this possible, we employ machine learning (ML) to infer approximate 3D surface geometry to enable visual effects and ML Pipeline for Selfie AR.”
Google also stated that it is working on improving the accuracy and robustness of the new AR support by refining the processes. It should be noted that Facebook and Instagram already come with AR filter support for their Stories, so it makes YouTube the last to receive the support for AR filters.
Google’s blog post further states, “That way we can grow our dataset to increasingly challenging cases, such as grimaces, oblique angle and occlusions. Dataset augmentation techniques also expanded the available ground truth data, developing model resilience to artefacts like camera imperfections or extreme lighting conditions.”
Google is not only bringing the AR only to YouTube, as it is also adding an AR-backed feature to Google Maps, which will allow the user to see the real world through the camera. Last month, Google stated that it is testing the use of AR with Google Maps. The Maps using Google StreetView would use the cameras to see and add AR signs like, arrows, pointers and street names to the live image. In short, Google Maps will make it easier for the user to find their ways by identifying the right street and place and also by guiding the user in the right direction. The AR for Google Maps is still in its beta phase but it will roll out for the users in the coming months. While the AR filter on YouTube stories will be live in the coming days.
“We are excited to share this new technology with creators, users and developers alike. In the future we plan to broaden this technology to more Google products,” Ablavatski and Grishchenko noted.
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We will get the first look at Android Q at Google I/O 2019 that is scheduled to begin on May 7 and go on till May 9. However, we have been reading reports and rumours about the upcoming android version for a few months now. A number of features of Android Q have been spoken about. While some are claimed to be much-awaited ones like System-wide Dark Mode, others are said to enhance security.
Once the timeline for Android Pie Developer Preview is out, it will last for a few months before being taken over by Android Q Beta program, which will most likely happen at the Google I/O 2019. We should mention here that with Android P Beta Program, search giant Google started running early previews of the next version of its operating system on smartphones that are not a part of its Nexus or Pixel range.
Seven new smartphones received the Android P Beta as a result of the collaboration between Google with these OEMs. The seven new devices that got the update were Essential PH-1, Nokia 7 Plus, OnePlus 6, Oppo R15 Pro, Sony Xperia XZ2, Vivo X21 and the Xiaomi Mi Mix 2S. However, we should add that not all of these were available in India.
Coming back to Android Q, Google is planning to collaborate with even more OEMs this time. So, more number of smartphones will be a part of the roster that will be getting the Android Q Beta. This information has been revealed by Android Developer Illiyan Malchev in the Android Developers Backstage podcast. According to reports that have spoken about the podcast, Malchev was asked, “I noticed that when we announced the Android Pie preview at last year’s I/O, there were several devices that were announced at that time, which I thought was new to have that many different devices coming out. I assumed that was in part due to Treble, making it easier for those devices to be….”
And to this, he replied saying, “Yeah, in fact it was fully due to Treble. We had, I believe, eight OEMs including Pixels, so seven OEMs other than Pixel. And I think it was for the first time we had all of these companies line up to do developer previews and betas for Android Pie well ahead of the AOSP publication date. For reference, we tend to release the new version of Android some time in August. So at Google I/O [2018], when we did the first beta, we had all these companies lined up and that was really that amazing. The number is bigger for the upcoming Android release, which I am very happy about. I cannot share the exact numbers yet. But the trend is positive and strong, and I am very happy about this.”
However, we should point out that the exact number of OEMs that will be a part of the Android Q Beta Program has not been revealed yet. Neither do we know which mobile phones would be getting it. However, we are excited to see what the search giant has planned for its next Android version.
Last month saw the launch of Samsung Galaxy A50, Galaxy A30 and Galaxy A10 in India. At the launch event, the South Korean technology giant promised that it will release a Galaxy A-series smartphone every month till June 2019. Keeping its promise, Samsung is working on the next smartphone in the Galaxy A-series – Galaxy A40. And now, a report suggests that Samsung Galaxy A40 has already received the US FCC certification, so it will most likely be the smartphone to be released next in the Galaxy A-series line-up.
Recently, Samsung Galaxy A40 was spotted on the company’s official UK website. The smartphone was also spotted on Geekbench listings in the past, and with the FCC certificate granted to it, Samsung Galaxy A40 might launch sooner than expected. The Galaxy A40 from Samsung holds the model number ‘SMA405FN’ on the official FCC database.
According to the listing, Samsung Galaxy A40 will sport a 5.7-inch display and come with support for dual-band WI-FI 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac along with Bluetooth 5.0 LE. The processor, camera, RAM and other hardware details of the smartphone is not revealed by the listing which was first spotted by MySmartPrice.
Earlier, Samsung’s UK website created a dedicated product page for Samsung Galaxy A40 which further confirms the news. The support page of the upcoming Galaxy A40 smartphone also went live on Samsung’s official Germany website recently. According to a recent news online, Samsung Galaxy A40 will be priced at EUR 249 (approximately Rs 20,000) and it will be launched in India along with other European countries.
Other than the display and connectivity, no other specifications have been confirmed by the company. But it is rumoured that Samsung Galaxy A40 will be powered by the company’s Exynos 7885 SoC and will be coupled with 4GB of RAM. Along with that, the smartphone is rumoured to have a ToF 3D sensor along with an in-display fingerprint scanner.
The upcoming Galaxy A40 will fall between the Galaxy A30 and the Galaxy A50. Currently, Samsung Galaxy A50 is the top end variant in the A-series smartphone and it comes with a 6.4-inch Full HD+ Super AMOLED display. Samsung Galaxy A50 is powered by an Exynos 9610 SoC and comes in 4GB and 6GB RAM variants. It rocks a triple-rear camera setup comprising of 25MP, 8MP and 5MP sensors while the front of the Galaxy A50 holds a 25MP selfie camera. The device houses a 4,000mAh battery and a USB Type-C port. Samsung Galaxy A50 price starts at Rs 19,990.
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There is no argument about the fact that Facebook-owned WhatsApp is the most popular instant messaging app in the world. While WhatsApp was initially launched as an instant messenger, the app has now been stuffed with a number of useful features. Users can make voice and video calls, send and receive money, and do so much more via WhatsApp now.
Everyone knows that WhatsApp can be downloaded via Google’s Play Store and Apple‘s App Store, and one can have absolutely no trouble in locating the official version of the app on either of the two platforms. In spite of this, some users have installed the modded versions of the app that have been developed by third-parties.
The primary reason why people download these apps are that they have some useful features that are not a part of the official app. GB WhatsApp and WhatsApp Plus are good examples of such apps.
We should mention that although these apps have ‘WhatsApp’ in their names, they are not actually made by the company. A number of users download such apps to get access to additional features. What most people don’t know is that these apps pose security risks are they make their personal details, chats and contacts more vulnerable to being hacked.
However, WhatsApp will be banning such users from its platform. The banned users will get the message, “Your phone number is banned from using WhatsApp. Contact support for help.”
If you receive this message, you will have to uninstall the third-party app you are using and then download the official WhatsApp Messenger. However, currently, there is no word on whether doing this will restore the chat history of users.
We should also mention that there are apps available that have to be downloaded in addition to WhatsApp to get some features. For instance, there are several apps on the Google Play Store that enable users to save other people’s WhatsApp Status images. However, the app itself doesn’t allow this. We recommend you to avoid these apps too.
On an unrelated note, WhatsApp has been trying a number of new features on its app. The app will soon be getting a Dark Mode and an Advanced Search feature. With Advanced Search, users will be able to look for various media that have been sent on chat. As of now, one only has the ability to search for text messages.
Huawei has started rolling out new updates for its flagship smartphone – Mate 20 Pro. In the new update, Huawei Mate 20 Pro is receiving the ViLTE support for a conversational video service. ViLTE stand for Video over LTE, and currently this service is being rolled out for Huawei Mate 20 Pro users. However, the company has promised that it will soon be available for all Huawei smartphones.
The new service enables users to make video calls without using a third-party video calling app like Skype. Along with the new feature, the update also brings the latest Android security patch for Huawei Mate 20 Pro.
The update is available in India, and besides the ViLTE and February Security Patch, it comes with system stability improvements along with an Indian theme. The update has a build number 9.0.0.199 and is 158MB in size. It is being rolled as an OTA (over-the-air) update and will start reaching Huawei Mate 20 Pro users in a few days.
ViLTE is the main feature that Huawei is bringing with the new update. The ViLTE is an extension of the VoLTE (Voice over LTE) which brings enhanced voice call quality. Similarly, the ViLTE enhances the quality of video chats via a high-quality video channel. It is based on the IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) core network. But besides providing video calls without a third-party app, ViLTE also adds another layer of security assurance by bringing SIM-based authentication similar to VoLTE.
Currently, the update will be live for the Huawei Mate 20 Pro followed by other smartphones of the company. In February, Huawei India revealed on their Twitter account that the Huawei Nova 3 will be getting the ViLTE support in March 2019. They also said that the update will roll out in batches for Huawei P20 Lite in mid-April. Currently, the ViLTE update will be received by the Huawei Mate 20 Pro followed by Nova 3 and Mate P20 Lite. Huawei hasn’t revealed the dates about when will the other smartphones of the company will receive the updates but it had promised that they will receive the ViLTE support update.
In the last few years, Slack has garnered a lot of popularity as a workplace collaboration app. A number of organisations prefer to keep their work-related chats restricted to Slack and avoid using other apps like WhatsApp or Google Hangouts for most professional conversations.
In order to maintain its popularity with users, Slack has today started testing the Dark Mode on the beta version of its iOS and Android apps. As of now, the mode will be tested with a select number of users and once the company ensures that it is bug-free, it will get rolled out to the masses.
The update on Android and iOS was first spotted by 9to5Mac and 9to5Google. Although the Dark Mode is currently being tested, there is a way in which you can activate it yourself. So, in case you want to be one among the people who get to try it first, you don’t have to wait for it.
To get the Dark Mode without waiting, you would have to be a part of Slack’s beta testing program. To join the workplace collaboration app’s beta program, you can head to the app’s Settings and scroll down to the ‘Jon Beta’ section. Here, you would be asked to give your name and e-mail address. You will then be approved to be a part of Slack’s beta program. However, you will have to press the toggle that enabled the mode in Settings.
According to 9to5Google, if you use Slack for Android, you will be asked to restart the app and if you use Slack for iOS, the version will be changed automatically.
We should mention that once you join the beta program of any app, you get far more updates than you do on the normal version. This is because before any company rolls out a stable update on its app, the changes are first tested with the beta users. We should also add here that not all beta updates are bug-free.
Dark Mode has gained a lot of popularity with users in the last few months and a number of apps have either rolled it out already or are currently testing it with select. The apps that already have the Dark Mode include Twitter, YouTube, Android Messages, Pocket and more. The feature would soon roll out on WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger. Not only does Dark Mode strain the eyes less, Google has confessed that it also consumes less battery on Android smartphones.
Lenovo-owned Motorola has been reported to be working on a revamped version of its iconic Razr smartphone. The foldable smartphone by Motorola will be launched later this year. As of now, we have only seen some concept renders of the upcoming Moto Razr and some speculations surrounding have surfaced online.
And now, a report about the Motorola‘s Foldable Razr smartphone suggests that users will be able to scroll content on the secondary screen of the device when the handset is unfolded. In addition to this, Motorola’s revamped Moto Razr will allow some of the apps to run properly on the secondary display.
The report, which first surfaced online on XDA Developers, said that Motorola’s upcoming Moto Razr will not have the kind of Android experience that can be found on other foldable devices like Samsung Galaxy Fold and Huawei Mate X. The report further added that the secondary display of the smartphone will only showcase the content from a few pre-installed apps on the device.
However, Motorola will be restricting the functionality of the secondary display for apps like Moto Display, Moto Actions and Moto Camera. The report also suggests that the secondary display of the smartphone will also act as a trackpad, so users will be able to scroll through web pages on Chrome, and browse through ‘Recents’ using it. The display will also show six quick settings that will reportedly appear in the form of tiles. But as of now, it has not been made clear if users will be able to scroll down and look at more quick settings on the secondary display.
When the camera app of the smartphone will be accessed, users will be able to tap on the main display of Moto Razr in order to click photos and they can use the swipe up gesture to zoom in.
The Google Assistant animation will also be visible to users on the secondary display of the new Moto Razr smartphone when the digital assistant will be activated. However, they will have to enable this feature themselves. So if you end up buying the device, you can choose to have this option if only you think it is useful.
But then, if you choose to not have the Google Assistant animation enabled, you will have to enter the password on flipping open the smartphone.
The company may also add a feature that will enable users to set different wallpapers for the main display and the secondary display. Furthermore, Motorola is also testing features that would show users notifications, a clock and a tool to control media from the secondary display.
Microsoft, the company behind the some of the most impressive inventions and devices like Hololens, Windows etc says in the coming days Artificial Intelligence (AI) will become the next big thing. Like all the big tech companies including Google and Facebook, Microsoft too is working on making an AI to leap further into the future. But according to the company, working and developing an AI without the inclusion of women in them is most likely to make the AI biased.
According to the World Economic Report 2018, only 22% of AI professionals globally are female. And almost 32% believe that gender bias is still major problem in the recruitment process of the AI industry.
To make the AI non-biased and logical the data sets used to train the Artificial Intelligence need to be assembled by a diverse group of data engineers comprising of both males and females. Else, the AI would result in biased results.
Like most of the industries around the world, the tech industry as well is dominated by males. So, to balance the gender gap in the tech sector, Microsoft along with other technology companies are promoting study of computer science and Information Technology by females in colleges and universities. The report further adds that there are a huge number of people who think that the tech industry is a ‘male’ only or a male dominant industry.
According to the World Economic Forum 2018, India places at 108th globally in the gender gap index. Also, at 27%, it has one of the lowest participation rates of women in the labour market.
The Microsoft executive says, “We believe that attracting, developing and helping women in STEM fields is vital to ensuring a well-rounded, inclusive society without which we risk having hundreds of thousands of jobs left unfilled and decades of innovation absent of female perspectives.”
Its not just the IT and tech world that has a larger male percent than the female percent working in it, corporate sectors, banking and other major business platforms have male domination. Corporate and academic AI teams also have made systems biased against women.
In 2018 Amazon’s ML experts removed a ‘sexist’ AI recruiting tool after they discovered that the recruiting engine ‘did not like women’.
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After TikTok, another popular application has run into trouble in India. PUBG or PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds is the popular battle royale game, which is extremely popular among the Indian youth and teenagers. Seeing its popularity, many people, parents and politicians demanded a ban on the mobile game saying that the game is too addictive. They wanted the game to be banned because teenagers and children were spending more time on the game than studying. And following the incident, Rajkot Police has called a ban on PUBG due to its highly addictive nature.
Many government officials have often times said that the game is a ‘demon’ and is a source of addiction and is rotting the youngster’s minds. According to Rajkot Police officials, PUBG is harmful for children and in that regards the Police issued a notification on Monday according to which the ban will be implemented from March 9 to April 30. The issue was ordered by Rajkot Police Commissioner Manoj Agrawal. After its implementation, if anyone is reported playing PUBG during the ban then they would face prosecution under the Central Government Act under Section 188.
The ban comes after a month of PUBG’s one-year release anniversary. It was last month when the much-awaited zombie-mode was brought to the game where it had partnered with Resident Evil 2 remake. After that, the game went viral even more. PUBG keeps its players engaged with the PUBG world/country championships which keeps the players hooked to the game.
Furthermore, in the last six months, the game has faced massive criticism from Indian people even though it has millions of players from India. Even the Narendra Modi, PM of India had commented about the game in one of his speeches. Earlier, there were many incidents about the game where it led to people going crazy, violent and even going as far as killing someone.
But even though many states and ministers had called for its ban, Rajkot became the first Indian city to put an official ban on PUBG. Similarly, on January 23, the Gujarat government had asked the Central government to put a complete ban of the app.
Ready your Club! $2,000,000 USD awaits you and your squad! After the success of the 2018 Star Challenge, we’re excited to announce the PUBG MOBILE Club Open 2019. Sign up before March 18! #PMCO2019#PUBGMOBILE. Registration link: https://t.co/9AVPy8lh9upic.twitter.com/4xiFY22DHi
Earlier, because of the rising concern of parents for their children addiction on PUBG, the South Korean game company had promised that it will make the game more friendly and take care of the situation. But this time, PUBG responded in a statement by saying that the company will take measures to make the game more responsible. It also said that it is ‘working with parents, educators, and government bodies to improve the game.’
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Chinese media app, TikTok launched a new safety feature for its platform, which allows the users to filter self-defined words in Hindi and English from the comment section. The feature is named ‘Filter Comments’ and as its name suggests, it will automatically remove up to 30 user-defined words from the comments section of the post. TikTok also said that the users can also change the listed words when they want to what they want.
Following the Safer Internet Day (SID), on February 4, TikTok India brought the safety feature as a part of #SafeHumSafeInternet and #BetterMeBetterInternet campaigns. These campaigns were launched with TikTok’s partnership with the Cyber Peace Foundation to mark the Safer Internet Day (SID).
Earlier, the users were able to decide who can comment and react on their videos or send them any messages. The app also had given users the option to see and choose who can download their content from the app. The users will get full control over their profile and who will be able to view it. All these setting came in the app’s existing privacy and safety setting. Seeing its huge Indian user base, TikTok said that it was ‘committed to maintaining a safe and positive in-app environment for its users in India’.
Recently, the app faced massive backlash and criticism from the political party Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s (RSS) economic wing Swadeshi Jagran Manch (SJM) demanding a ban on TikTok. Following suit, many people too demanded bans on China related apps and games like the ever-popular PUBG and TikTok to name a few. The plea of the ban heightened after the Jammu and Kashmir’s Pulwama attack where 40 CRPF soldiers were killed in a deadly suicide bomb attack.
Tapping into the TikTok app and when searching for the #RSS tag, the results were around 64.5 million while #Ayodhya tag showed around 14.1 million views. Many such other searches had millions of results which shows just how popular the app is among Indian teenagers and youngsters.
To sum it all, TikTok has more than 54 million monthly Indian users with the numbers increasing constantly. It was launched back in 2016 with another name ‘Douyin’ by ByteDance, at first it was launched in China and in 2017 it was pushed out for the international markets.
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In the first sale of the much-awaited Redmi Note 7 on Wednesday, it went out-of-stock in an instant. Xiaomi has announced that the second sale of the Redmi Note 7 in India will be on March 13. According to Xiaomi, it sold more than 2,00,000 units of the Redmi Note 7 in the first flash sale. The sale took place on Flipkart, Mi.com and Mi Home stores all across the country. In India, the phone was launched last month along with other devices including the Mi TV 4A 32 and Redmi Note 7 Pro.
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Redmi Note 7 specifications
The Redmi Note 7 sports a 6.3-inch Full HD+ (1,080 x 2,340 pixels) resolution display with an aspect ratio of 19.5:9. It is powered by an octa-core Snapdragon 660 SoC coupled with 3GB or 4GB of RAM. The Note 7 runs Android 9.0 Pie skinned with MIUI 10 on top. It features a dual rear camera setup at the back with 12MP primary sensor with f/2.2 aperture along with a 2MP secondary sensor. On the front there is a 13MP selfie camera with AI Portrait Mode, AI Beautify, face recognition, HDR support and AI scene detection. Over that, there is also a fingerprint scanner at the back of the device.
For storage, the Redmi Note 7 comes with 32GB and 64GB options with microSD card support up to 256GB. For connectivity, the device comes equipped with 4G VoLTE, Wi-Fi 802.11ac, Bluetooth 5.0, GPS/ A-GPS, Infrared (IR) blaster, USB Type-C port, and a 3.5mm headphone jack. The Redmi Note 7 also has a 4,000mAh battery and it supports Qualcomm Quick Charge 4, too.
If the customers want to get their hands on the Redmi Note 7 in the next sale, they would need to press the ‘Notify me’ button on Flipkart to get updates about the sale. They can also visit the website – Mi.com to get regular updates about the upcoming sale of the device and the offers it will be getting.
Redmi Note 7 price and offers
The starting price of Redmi Note 7 in India is Rs 9,999 for the 3GB RAM + 32GB storage variant. Its 4GB RAM + 64GB storage variant sells for Rs 11,999. Both the variants of the phone come in Onyx Black, Ruby Red, and Sapphire Blue colour options.
#RedmiNote7: we had produced 200K+ units till this week, all of which went out of stock in just a few mins yesterday! 👊
Additionally, Reliance Jio is offering the customers of Redmi Note 7 benefits of double data offer, which they can avail through a recharge of Rs 198 or more.
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At the recently concluded MWC 2019, Japanese electronics maker Sony launched its flagship smartphone Xperia 1 that comes with an ultra-tall, 21:9 CinemaWide display that has support for HDR. Sony Xperia 1 smartphone also sports a triple rear camera setup that is backed by an Eye AF technology and supports up to 10 fps burst shooting.
However, Sony did not share the pricing or the availability details of the smartphone at the time of its launch. But now, the smartphone has been listed by UK retailer Clove for pre-order, and this has also revealed the pricing of the smartphone.
According to the listing on CLove Technology, Sony Xperia 1 is priced at GBP 707.50, which is approximately Rs 64,800. But we should mention that this will be the cost of the smartphone without VAT charges. With VAT charges applied, the price of the device will go up to GBP 849, which is approximately Rs 77,800.
The listing, which was first spotted by XperiaBlog, also states that the device will start shipping by the end of May. Interested customers can pre-order the Sony Xperia 1 smartphone already. However, since the price has been revealed by a third-party retailer, we should take it with a grain of salt.
Sony Xperia 1 specifications
Sony Xperia 1 sports a 6.5-inch ‘CinemaWide’ OLED 4K display that is backed by the colour calibration that is used in the company’s professional master monitors. The screen resolution of Sony Xperia 1’s display is 3,840 x 1,644 pixels and it has support for HDR.
Powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 855 processor, Sony Xperia 1 comes with 6GB of RAM clubbed with 64GB and 128GB storage options. The smartphone can hold a microSD card of up to 512GB and runs Android 9.0 Pie.
Sony Xperia 1 houses a 3,300mAh battery that supports Sony-developed Battery Care and comes with IP68 certification for water and dust resistance. Like a number of other smartphones by the company, Sony Xperia 1 comes with a side-mounted fingerprint scanner. But we should add that it is not embedded in the power button.
Sony Xperia 1 also comes with a Game Enhancer mode that is claimed to set a balance between performance and battery life of the smartphone. It also has a triple rear camera setup with 12MP sensors and an 8MP selfie camera.
Leica, the German camera and lens manufacturer has come up with a new camera in their Q series – Leica Q2. The new camera features a 28mm Summilux ASPH prime lens with an aperture of f/1.7. Being a newer model in the Q-series it does come with its fair share of upgrades over its predecessors. Its new features include 4K video recording support along with a 47.3MP full-frame sensor.
Leica Q2 price, features and specifications
The Leica Q2 holds a price tag of $4,995 (approximately Rs 3,50,000) and is currently selling in the US. Leica has announced that the Q2 will come to the Indian markets around mid-April.
In the design department, the Leica Q2 does remind of its older predecessor, the Leica Q which was launched in June 2015. The Q2 comes with protective sealing on its body protecting it from dust and water spray, but it is not water-proof, only splash resistant. There are also new changes over its body, the Leica Q2 comes with a new thumb rest and a diamond pattern on its leather trim.
While in the specification department, the Leica Q2 sports a 47.3MP sensor capable of clicking high-quality pictures along with full-HD (1080p) video recording with frame rates of 120fps, 60fps, 30fps and 24fps. But the camera also does 4K video recording with 30 or 24 fps frame rates. There are microphones present on the body of the Leica Q2 which supports stereo audio recording.
The lens provided in the Leica Q2 is a 28mm Summilux f.1.7 ASPH and the image processor in it is from the Maestro II family. It has a 3.68MP OLED viewfinder and comes with a 3-inch TFT monitor with touch support. The Leica Q2 packs a battery of 1,860mAh and measures 130 x 80 x 91.9mm with a weight of 734 grams (with battery).
With its newly developed 47.3 MP full-frame sensor, fast Summilux 28 mm f/1.7 ASPH. prime lens, quick auto-focus, innovative OLED technology, and timelessly elegant design, the Leica Q2 elevates the tradition established by its predecessor, the Leica Q: https://t.co/RtVH6u3hDZpic.twitter.com/0wbcAPyMTt
For connectivity, the Leica Q2 comes with Wi-Fi and supports Bluetooth LE (Low Energy). The camera can also be used with the Leica Fotos mobile app, which allows the user to share their clicked pictures and videos on social media. The app even lets the user remotely control the shutter of the camera.
For photography, the Q2 is capable of capturing 10 photos per second, its autofocus is capable of locking the focus on a subject in 0.15 seconds. By default, the focal length of the Leica Q2 is set to 28mm, but it also can stimulate focal length such as 35mm, 50mm and 70mm. Leica has given the option to save the cropped images but its resolution is reduced to 47.3MP, 30MP, 14.7MP, or 6.6MP.
Any of us can spend hours watching videos on the internet and those hours often tend to run longer when we are watching these videos with friends. Facebook tapped on this tendency of users when it rolled out its Watch Party feature. But let’s face it, don’t we all use Instagram and not Facebook to enjoy photos and videos?
Seems like Facebook knows that too. And maybe that is the reason why the social media platform will soon be rolling out a feature similar to Watch Party on Instagram too. For those unaware, Facebook owns the photo-sharing app.
A feature called ‘Co-Watch’ could let you watch Instagram Stories, videos and IGTV content along with your friends, much like Watch Party. The feature was first spotted by reverse-engineering expert Jane Manchun Wong in Instagram Direct Messaging code. We should add here that Manchun was also the person who discovered that Facebook is testing its Dating feature before it got rolled out to a number of countries.
Coming back to Instagram, the code that has been discovered indicates that you would be able to co-watch content from suggested videos on the app or even from a playlist. However, as of now, it is not known whether features like picture-in-picture with friends would make their way to Instagram too.
It is also worth noticing that a similar feature is also being tested by Facebook on its Messenger app.
With all these moves put together, we think that Facebook is trying to create more private interactions on its platform. And needless to say, this will also help the platform boost its ad revenue.
And Watch Party has been a successful feature and Facebook has claimed that 12 million videos were viewed with Groups from July till November. Considering that Instagram’s engagement is far more than Facebook’s native platform as of now, it makes perfect sense for the company to get the feature to its photo-sharing app. And as far as Messenger is concerned, it would make the experience far more personalised, so it will be interesting to see the results.
Chinese consumer electronics brand Huawei launched its flagship Mate 20 series along with the Watch GT last year. And although the Mate 20 Pro smartphone has been available in India for a few days now, there was no word about other handsets from the range or the Huawei Watch GT smartwatch. The Chinese electronics brand has been teasing the launch of the Huawei Watch GT in India for a few days and now, the company has confirmed that the device will be launched on March 12.
Huawei has sent out media invites that state that Huawei Watch GT will be unveiled at an event in New Delhi on March 12 at 11 pm IST. As you can see in the picture, the invite on shows an image of a smartwatch with the Huawei logo and says #OneChargeTwoWeeks. A dedicate page for the smartwatch has reportedly been set up on Amazon India, which basically means that Huawei Watch GT will be available exclusively on the e-commerce website. However, we should mention that we couldn’t find this page when we tried looking for it.
We should mention that among the key features of the Huawei Watch GT are its claimed 14 days of battery life, water-resistance of up to 50 metres and real-time heart rate monitoring feature.
Huawei Watch GT specifications
To recall the specifications of Huawei Watch GT, the smartwatch runs the company’s Light OS platform and is powered by Cortex-M4 processor. The company has claimed that Huawei Watch GT’s battery will last 30 days with heart rate tracking and GPS turned off. Otherwise, the battery of the smartwatch will last two weeks which usage that includes heart rate monitoring. And if your usage is extremely heavy and you also use GPS, heart rate sensor and always on screen, the smartwatch’s battery is claimed to last till 22 hours.
Huawei Watch GT sports a 1.39-inch AMOLED display comes with a dual crown and is made of 316L stainless steel coupled with ceramic bezels. The smartwatch was launched in two variants — Sport and Classic.
Both the variant of Huawei Watch GT come with 5ATM water resistance, which means you can easily take it with you when you go swimming.
Huawei Watch GT comes with an optical heart rate sensor that uses 6LEDs and comes with the company’s TruSeen 3.0 technology which is supposed to get better by learning over time.
The smartwatch has GPS functionality which can be used to track users’ daily activities while being connected to the Health Assistant app. The smartwatch also comes with a built-in altimeter has the ability to track users’ steps and sleep. The price of Huawei Watch GT starts at €199.
Microsoft’s newest device in its Surface Book series, the Surface Book 2 convertible might get a processor upgrade. The base variant of the Surface Book 2 will reportedly come with a 13-inch screen and might be powered by a new quad-core processor, which will replace the earlier dual-core 7th gen Intel processor. The dual-core processor is what powered the earlier version of the Surface Book 2, released back in 2017. But, Microsoft has not revealed anything officially and is yet to announce the upgraded version of the Surface Book 2 and its launch date as well.
The base variant of the Surface Book 2 was launched way back in 2017 with 7th gen Intel Core i5-7300U CPU with the highest clock speed up to 3.5GHz and smart cache of 3MB. The news about the upgraded version of Surface Book 2 comes after many sellers of the laptop had listed an upgraded and refreshed version of the laptop. As some sellers in the German and US markets have listed a new variant of the 13-inch Surface Book 2 with Intel i5-8300U with 6MB smart cache. The upcoming model will have peak clock speed of 3.60GHz and will have double the cores of its original variant.
The listing about the Microsoft Surface Book 2 was spotted by WinFuture. Besides the CPU upgrade, the rest of the specifications of the upcoming model of Surface Book 2 is the same. The Surface Book 2 sports a 13.5-inch PixelSense (3,000 x 2,000 pixels) resolution display with an aspect ratio of 3:2. It has another higher end variant with 8th gen Intel Core i7 CPU with 8GB or 16GB of RAM. The Surface Book 2 comes with 128GB base storage variant along with 256GB storage, 512GB storage and 1TB storage versions. So, aside from the processor upgrade in the base model the rest of the specifications should be same in the upcoming Microsoft Surface Book 2. And the coming model might be placed between the top variant and the base variant of the Surface Book 2.
The upcoming Surface Book 2 is currently listed as ‘Coming Soon’ in the US markets. Even though it hasn’t been announced or launched yet, but it is still available for pre-orders in the said markets. US’s MacConnection is offering a pre-order price of $1,499 (approximately Rs 1,05,000) while Germany’s Metacomp is offering the same for EUR 1,569.86 (approximately Rs 1,23,000).
Capcom’s Devil May Cry is a stylish action-adventure hack and slash third person shooter game which has five games under its belt. And now, Capcom is releasing the continuation in the DMC series with Devil May Cry 5 (Dmc was not DMC 5). It is releasing globally on March 8 and it continues after the events where the Devil May Cry 4 left off. Read about the things you should know about before getting your hands on with much awaited DMC 5.
In This Article
The Story
DMC 5 is a continuation of DMC 4 in the same universe and same timeline. But this time it is the actual successor of the Devil May Cry series, unlike the rebooted Dmc launched back in 2013. The story follows Dante, Nero and a new character V as they fight demons and try to reach the bottom of the events of Red Grave City. The events follow after the DMC 4’s Order of Sword incident. Each playable character has their own agendas for being in the game and are fighting for their own reasons. Without spoiling anything, the storyline in the game is gripping and does justice to the series by taking it forward.
Characters
There are some main characters along with some old characters in DMC 5. We see the return of Dante, Nero, Lady and Trish. The new characters include the mysterious one — V (not Virgil), Nico, demons and the main baddy of the game.
Combat System
The battle system in the DMC 5 is as fluid as it has ever been, it feels more fluid than DMC 3 and DMC 4. The transitions between demon to demon, switching between weapons, chaining one combo after the other, switching styles and just raising literal hell, all feels immensely fluid and smooth. The ranking system which has followed from the earliest DMC is still there and players can connect combos to climb up the ranks from C to S to SSS. Higher the stylish rank, better the end stage score.
Level up
Just like earlier DMC games, you will need to collect demon blood by killing them. Red demon blood could be used to purchase skills and gain weapon upgrades. So, don’t be afraid to get in that tight situation where you are facing 1 vs 20 demons, just switch to ‘devil trigger’ (if you have unlocked it) and go bonkers, but keep the devil trigger gauge in sight and play strategically.
The main playable characters
Dante — all who have played even one of the DMC games know who he is. The Son of Sparda and the Legendary Devil Hunter Dante returns with a lot of changes in his looks but his awesome personality remains the same. He returns this time with four melee weapons, four ranged weapons and the same four old styles to choose from. Dante’s classic arsenal returns with him – Rebellion, Ebony and Ivory and Coyote A. Some new weapons include Balrog, Devil Sword Sparda and new guns.
Nero – The young demon hunter makes his return in the next instalment of Devil May Cry series (we secretly wished for it since we played with him in the DMC 4). He has gained years and lost his hand (poor child), but he has also gained experience. Even though he still has got much to learn. He enters with his trusty Red Queen and Blue Rose and this time there is no Devil Bringer, but instead he gets a prosthetic arm from Nico named Devil Breaker.
V – The mysterious one. He carries a cane and a book that’s it. There is not much known about him. He fights with three familiars – a giant bird, a panther and a giant golem.
Platforms
The DMC 5 is coming to PC, PS4 and Xbox One. The PC version will be available through Steam.
Versions
The DMC 5 will come in three versions, the first will be a base version, the second will be a Deluxe Edition of DMC 5 which will come with few skins for the weapons (pasta breaker, mega buster for Nero’s devil breaker etc.) of the character and sound tracks, live action cutscenes and Dante’s bike – the Cavaliere R. Finally, the Collector’s edition of the game will come with all the things the Deluxe Edition offered plus a little extra. In this edition, the players would receive exclusive cloth print, pin and bumper stickers, Nico’s toolbox, art books and notes from Nico’s workbench and motor home replica. All the versions of the game can be purchased from the official Capcom website.
System Requirements (for PC)
(unofficial) OS: WINDOWS 7, 8.1, 10 (64-BIT Required)
Processor: Intel Core i5-4460, AMD FX-6300, or better
Memory: 8 GB RAM
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760 or AMD Radeon R7 260x with 2GB Video RAM, or better
DirectX: Version 11
Storage: 35 GB available space
RECOMMENDED requirements:
OS: WINDOWS 7, 8.1, 10 (64-BIT Required)
Processor: Intel Core i7-3770, AMD FX-9590, or better
Memory: 8 GB RAM
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 with 6GB VRAM, AMD Radeon RX 480 with 8GB VRAM, or better
DirectX: Version 11
Music/Soundtracks
The Devil May Cry series is known for its awesome selection of music, soundtracks, background scores, special effects (demon noises) and the heavy metal galore when the battle begins. And Devil May Cry 5 is no exception as it brings with its sweet heavy metal tracks and the emotional background score (like we saw on previous DMC series). Along with that, this time each playable character is getting their own battle music. Dante battle track is called Subhuman, Nero’s is Devil Trigger while V’s is Crimson Cloud.
Bloody Palace
The fan favourite bloody palace mode where players can choose one character and go crazy with hordes of demons after demons coming after the players doesn’t come with the game. But Capcom has promised to release it in April 2019, so it will be worth the wait. In that time, you can play the game and complete it in different difficulty level – try completing the game in the Hell and Hell mode or Heaven and Hell mode.
Bonus – Vergil
Dante’s infamous angry brother is making his return in DMC 5. At the end of the final trailer of DMC 5, people at Capcom teased us with a quick glance of Vergil. So yeah, he is making a comeback in the Devil May Cry 5 and we will definitely get to see the brother vs brother fight (Dante vs Vergil). It will be Devil May Cry 3 all over again. And maybe, just maybe, Capcom might have a surprise for the players at the end of the game. Fingers crossed. Stay tuned for more info on DMC 5 and other games.
Indian telecom enterprise Optiemus Infracom has today announced the launch of its first BlackBerry branded wireless charger in India. The newly launched charger is priced at Rs 2,499 and it will be available online on Amazon India’s website starting today. The charger will only be available in Black colour.
The charger is touted to be extremely compact and is primarily marketed for its wireless capabilities. The charger is compatible with USB Type-C input on Android, Apple and Qi-enabled smartphones that can be charged wirelessly.
Users can place their smartphones on top of the non-slip charging surface and experience fast wireless charging. According to the company, the charger will be able to charge the device up to 25% in 60 minutes.
The Blackberry wireless charger is perfect for those who travel very frequently and it comes with a compact design and is easy to carry and store. We should mention that the LED charge indicator on the wireless charger helps to know the charging status of the device. The BlackBerry wireless charger comes with USB Type C input with 5W output for compatible devices and makes sure your smartphone is charged in no time at all.
The charger has a 6-month manufacturer warranty against all manufacturing defects and it is compatible with most of the smartphones that support wireless charging and come with USB type C input slot. While the dimensions of the charger are 0.8 x 0.1 x 0.9 cm, it weighs 54.4 grams.
To recall, American chipmaker Qualcomm had announced that its Quick Charge fast charging technology will now also work with wireless power as well. The company also said that Quick Charge technology for wireless power will quicken the charging process on charging pads. But then, for this, the charging pads would also have to meet certain requirements and standards.
The American chipmaker has also added that charging pads will able to deliver speedy electricity with Qualcomm’s Quick Charge support, and that too in a ‘consistent and safety conscious’ way.
Qualcomm also explained about the technology on its blog saying, “Wireless charging pads powered by Quick Charge will work with the same Quick Charge 2.0, 3.0, 4 and 4+ adapters that millions of users already have at home, work, and elsewhere.”
BoAt, an Indian audio equipment manufacturer, which has much audio equipment’s under its name has launched a new Over the Ear Wireless Bluetooth headphone with MIC named Rockerz 480. These Bluetooth headphones are put in the segment where many other headphones sell with similar features, even some of its own headphones fall in the same category. The main USP of the headphones is that they promise a battery life of 10 hours on a single charge.
boAt Rockerz 480 price and specifications
The boAt Rockerz 480 Bluetooth headphone is priced at Rs 1,899. The product is available on Amazon.in and it comes with a 1-year warranty.
boAt Rockerz comes with Bluetooth, but it also has wired connectivity, which means it can be used with the wire and wirelessly. They come with a black matte finish on the earcups and headband is made out of aluminum finish for sturdiness. The headphones are powered by 40mm dynamic drivers that provide high definition immersive audio experience.
The ear speaker carries 10mW power and has signal to noise ratio of 70dB. The boat Rockerz 480 works between the 20Hz and 20KHz (20,000Hz) frequency response. Over that, the headphone works with iOS as well as Android OS and it also comes with a power, pairing and charging LED indicator. As far as the battery is concerned, these earphones have a 300mAh battery with a charging time of 2.5 hours.
It has a playback time of 10 hours along with standby time of 200 hours. As mentioned earlier, the headphones also come with inbuilt mic so users can take calls and is capable of giving talk time of up to 8 hours. It also supports Google Voice Assistant. Although aluminium is used in the Boat Rockerz 480, it just weighs 187 grams.
boAt Rockerz 480 headphone
Ankush Guglani, Business Head of boAt said “The boAt Rockerz 480 Over-ear headphone let you experience crystal-clear sound that defines the Rockerz series. For pure and mature sound on the move plug into the boAt Rockerz 480 and what you get is balanced sound signature with rich treble and bass, lots of details and neutral tones.”
There are volume rocker keys along with play/pause and previous song/next song controls on the Bluetooth headphones, so the user won’t have to reach for his smartphone to control his playlist. They have a range of 10 meters or 33 feet.
Huawei has launched another smartphone – Y7 (2019) in Europe. The newly launched smartphone is similar to the Huawei Y7 Pro (2019) that the company unveiled back in December 2018. However, the newly launched smartphone comes with slight changes and variations in the specification list over the Y7 Pro (2019). While the Pro version of Y7 (2019) comes with a 16MP camera, the newly launched Huawei Y7 (2019) comes with an 8MP primary sensor which confirms that it is a downgraded version of the Pro model of Y7 (2019). But the newly Huawei Y7 (2019) launched device also packs a fingerprint scanner at the back which the Y7 Pro (2019) lacked. Here are the complete specifications and price of the Huawei Y7 (2019) smartphone:
In This Article
Huawei Y7 (2019) price
The Huawei Y7 (2019) is available for EUR 220 (approximately Rs 17,200) and will be a mid-budget segment device. It comes in Aurora Blue, Coral Red and Midnight Black colour options. The company has launched Huawei Y7 (2019) in the European markets only and there isn’t a word if and when Huawei will bring the smartphone to other markets.
Huawei Y7 (2019) specifications and features
The Huawei Y7 (2019) sports a 6.26-inch Full HD+ (720 x 1520 pixels) display with an aspect ratio of 19:9 and a waterdrop notch. It is powered by Snapdragon 450 processor clubbed with Adreno 506 for GPU. The device comes with 3GB RAM and 32GB internal storage with support of microSD card up to 512GB. It runs on Android 8.0 Oreo skinned with EMUI 8.2.
The Huawei Y7 (2019) packs a dual rear camera setup comprising of 13MP sensor coupled with a 2MP sensor with f/1.8 aperture and an LED flash. At the front, there is an 8MP sensor. For security, it comes with a fingerprint scanner at the back and also has face unlock. Huawei Y7 (2019) packs a 4,000mAh battery, is 158.92 x 76.91 x 8.1mm in dimension and weighs 168 grams. For connectivity options, the Huawei Y7 (2019) comes with 4G VoLTE, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.2 and GPS. It comes with dual-SIM (Nano) card support along with microSD card slot.
The Y7 (2019) comes with a 3.5mm headphone jack placed at the top of the device, while the bottom of the device houses the micro USB ports and speaker grilles. The right of the device holds the volume rockers and the left holds the SIM tray slot.
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Although the gender gap in the technology industry is a well-known one, we have seen a number of women get to top positions at a number of tech firms. On International Women’s Day, we have made a list of the seven most powerful women in the technology industry. Take a look:
In This Article
Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook COO
When we talk about women leaders, it is absolutely not possible to skip Sheryl Sandberg. She is the first woman to be a part of the board of directors of Facebook and has previously held leadership positions at Google and United States Secretary for Treasury. She has also authored two books, among which one talks about feminism.
Meg Whitman, HP Enterprise CEO
Meg Whitman has played a number of roles in her career that spans over decades. She has worked at The Walt Disney Company, DreamWorks, Procter & Gamble and Hasbro. She served as the President and CEO of eBay till 2008 and then finally got named as the CEO of Hewlett Packard Enterprise.
Susan Wojcicki, YouTube CEO
Susan Wojcicki joined Google as a marketing manager in 1999 and is better known as the woman behind YouTube. As the Senior Vice President of Advertising and Commerce at Google, it was her call to acquire YouTube. She became the CEO of the video sharing platform in 2014.
Safra Catz, Oracle co-CEO
Safra Catz has been at Oracle since 1999 and became a part of the company’s board of directors in 2001. She was named as the president of the company in 2004 and then became the co-CEO in 2014.
Debjani Ghosh, President at NASSCOM
Debjani Ghosh is the President of The National Association of Software & Services Companies (NASSCOM). She took the post of the President in April 2018. Prior to this, she was the vice president of the sales and marketing group at Intel. Besides this, she was also the managing director for South Asia at Intel.
Vanitha Kumar, Vice President of Modem SW engineering, Qualcomm
At Qualcomm Technologies, Vanitha Kumar is the vice president of software engineering and heads the modem SW air interface technology teams at a number of locations across the world. In 2018, Qualcomm took the first steps towards 5G, and we should point out that she was responsible for the company’s 5G and Cellular IoT SW roadmap.
Jayshree Ullal, President and CEO of Arista Networks
Jayshree V Ullal is the president and CEO of Arista Networks, which is a cloud networking company that is responsible for deploying 10/40/100 Gigabit Ethernet networking in the data centre. Prior to Arista Networks, Ullal has also worked at Cisco Systems.
To look at it, laptops have not evolved much over the last decade or so when it comes to design. Yes, we do see improvements but nothing is ground-breaking when it comes to the exteriors. Companies try to do their bit by tweaking or making the exteriors more desirable. Two in ones or convertibles are also popular, but that is about it.
However, on the other side, the insides get a boost every year and that makes all the difference. HP has been an uncompromising partner of Intel since years, however now they have picked up AMD for the latest Envy x360 convertible laptops. Which made us wonder, will the HP Envy x360 laptop deliver the same kind of performance, which we have seen Intel chipsets do over so many years? Let’s find out in the rest of the review.
In This Article
Design and Display
HP has never been a bystander when it comes to the form factor of its laptops. They make sure, they give something extra to the user, even if it is a budget laptop. And with the HP Envy x360, the bar has been set quite high. Yes, it does remind us of the Spectre series in some ways, but there are quite a few differences between the two.
Let’s talk about its exteriors first. The HP Envy x360 has a metal body and the 13.3-inch touchscreen has the capability to flip all the way over since it is a convertible laptop. So, users can use it like a normal laptop or a tablet. Which means you will be touching the screen a lot, this means a lot of fingerprints? Well no, HP does bundle a neat stylus in the box which will not leave any smudges on the device.
The keyboard is backlit and is quite comfortable to work with. We did spend a few days working on text documents on it and not once felt fatigued. The sound is powered by Bang and Olufsen. The array of speakers can be found right above the keyboard placed under a metal mesh. We somehow have always been in favour of top firing speakers, the sound does not get muffled if you are watching something and the laptop is kept on a soft surface.
Overall, the design of the laptop is great and one can easily see the craft put in it. The HP logo on the metal lid adds to the show. Also, the laptop has a fairly large trackpad for a notebook this size. As for the ports, the HP Envy x360 has quite a few of them. The right side brings a USB 3.0, USB Type-C ports along with the volume button. While on the left HP has placed a 3.5mm audio port, USB 3.1 port, a microSD card reader and the power button.
Though there is no fingerprint reader to unlock the device, HP has added an HD webcam with an IR camera on the top lid. This enables users to face unlock the device. We tried it and the face unlock feature works really well on the HP Envy x360. Nine out of ten times we were able to open the notebook, using it, under a second.
Performance
Like we said earlier, the HP Envy x360 is powered by an AMD Ryzen 5 CPU, so we had our qualms about its performance. Before we give you the lowdown of its achievement and how it fared on the test bench, let us quickly run you through the technical specifications of the HP Envy x360. Powered by AMD Ryzen 5 2500U CPU with clock speed of up to 3.6GHz and 6MB cache, this notebook also has 8GB DDR4 RAM and 256GB SSD.
The graphics are powered by AMD Vega 8 GPU. The 13.3-inch FHD IPS display is WLED backlit and supports full HD resolution (1,920×1,080). The machine also has Bluetooth V4.2 and Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac (2×2). Miracast is also supported and the HP Envy x360 comes with a 4 cell battery inside that gave us a decent 5.5 hours of battery life (under above nominal use).
Let’s talk about the benchmarks next, we ran 3D Mark Firestrike test on the laptop first to check out its graphical performance and to our amazement, it is right up there with the big boys. It scored 2,481 marks on it. On PC Mark it scored 2,788 mark, which compared to the 8th gen Intel Core i5 CPU’s is almost neck to neck.
Now, on to the real-time tests. We ran games like PUBG and GTA V on it at high settings and we did face a bit of lag there. So we didn’t move on to the ultra-high settings. However, games like DOTA 2 and CS:GO worked really well. Though not built for gaming, we did like the gaming experience especially because it has a wonderful set of speakers and a really vivid touch display.
Talking about which, we loved the movie watching and YouTube experience on this device. The HP Envy x360 does perfect justice to moving pictures. 4K videos also look good on it and rarely will you see a frame skip. The typing and work experience on this notebook was also not bad. The large keyboard and the multi-touch trackpad respond well and one can work on it for a very long time.
As for the operating system, the HP Envy x360 comes with Windows 10 64 bit edition and it works without a flaw. Everything is slick and with the touch display, the experience is very refined, no matter how you are using this convertible (laptop or tablet mode). The stylus is a good addition and is not too bad to hold and use. Though many times we just tapped the screen. However, designers will love its inclusion in the pack.
Verdict and Final Words
Looking at the price of Rs 77,990, one does wonder first would an Intel laptop be better. But after using it for a little while we came to the conclusion absolutely not. The performance is right up there, yes you do miss a dedicated graphics card, although this laptop is not built for gaming but for excellent professional use. It looks great, is comfortable to work with, the screen folds all the way around and you can use it as a tablet. Yes, there is a quite a bit of bloatware found on the HP Envy x360, which was a pain to get rid of. At this price, one would not want to see that. A stock Windows is what one wants to play with at first.
Pros:
Good screen and performance
Well-built
Excellent sound
Cons:
Price for an AMD device
Bloatware
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Chinese smartphone brand Oppo’s Vice President Brian Shen has revealed that the company’s next flagship smartphone will be powered by Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon 855 processor. Dubbed Oppo Find Z, the upcoming flagship device is the successor of last year’s Find X smartphone and is confirmed to come with a 10X hybrid optical zoom camera.
Shen took to Chinese social networking platform Weibo to confirm this news. We should also add here that at recently concluded Mobile World Congress 2019, Oppo showcased its 10x lossless zoom smartphone camera tech and also announced its 5G smartphone during the tech show. The Chinese smartphone maker also said that it will be using Snapdragon 855 SoC in its 5G smartphone. Now, it is being speculated that the company was talking about the 5G variant of Find Z itself.
Coming back to Shen’s post on Weibo, he has revealed that Oppo’s upcoming flagship smartphone will come with a 10x hybrid optical zoom and house a 4,065mAh battery. At MWC 2019, when the company launched its 10x lossless zoom smartphone camera technology, Oppo said that it will be integrated into a smartphone model that will be released by the company during Q2 2019.
To recall, the 10x lossless optical zoom technology that was showcased last month came with a triple rear camera setup that comprises of a 160mm focal length telephoto lens that comes with a periscope-style structure. The setup has a 48MP primary sensor and a 16mm focal length 120-degree ultra-wide-angle sensor. It would be safe to assume that sensors with the same configuration will be a part of the next Oppo flagship.
In another post on Weibo, Shen has also said that the appearance of the new flagship smartphone would not be like the one we have seen on existing models. However, he did not specify how it will be different.
The Chinese smartphone brand had launched the Oppo Find X smartphone last year that comes with a slider mechanism. But then, we can now look forward to seeing a new form factor of the smartphone’s successor.
We should point out that in the Weibo posts, there is no information on the launch date of the new flagship smartphone. However, it has earlier been teased that the next Oppo flagship would be unveiled in April this year.
DMC 5 is a continuation of DMC 4 in the same universe and same timeline. But this time it is the actual successor of the Devil May Cry series, unlike the rebooted Dmc launched back in 2013. The story follows Dante, Nero and a new character V as they fight demons and try to reach the bottom of the events of Red Grave City. The events follow after the DMC 4’s Order of Sword incident. Each playable character has their own agendas for being in the game and are fighting for their own reasons. Without spoiling anything, the storyline in the game is gripping and does justice to the series by taking it forward.
There are some main characters along with some old characters in DMC 5. We see the return of Dante, Nero, Lady and Trish. The new characters include the mysterious one — V (not Virgil), Nico, demons and the main baddy of the game.
The battle system in the DMC 5 is as fluid as it has ever been, it feels more fluid than DMC 3 and DMC 4. The transitions between demon to demon, switching between weapons, chaining one combo after the other, switching styles and just raising literal hell, all feels immensely fluid and smooth. The ranking system which has followed from the earliest DMC is still there and players can connect combos to climb up the ranks from C to S to SSS. Higher the stylish rank, better the end stage score.
Just like earlier DMC games, you will need to collect demon blood by killing them. Red demon blood could be used to purchase skills and gain weapon upgrades. So, don’t be afraid to get in that tight situation where you are facing 1 vs 20 demons, just switch to ‘devil trigger’ (if you have unlocked it) and go bonkers, but keep the devil trigger gauge in sight and play strategically.
Dante — all who have played even one of the DMC games know who he is. The Son of Sparda and the Legendary Devil Hunter Dante returns with a lot of changes in his looks but his awesome personality remains the same. He returns this time with four melee weapons, four ranged weapons and the same four old styles to choose from. Dante’s classic arsenal returns with him – Rebellion, Ebony and Ivory and Coyote A. Some new weapons include Balrog, Devil Sword Sparda and new guns.
Nero – The young demon hunter makes his return in the next instalment of Devil May Cry series (we secretly wished for it since we played with him in the DMC 4). He has gained years and lost his hand (poor child), but he has also gained experience. Even though he still has got much to learn. He enters with his trusty Red Queen and Blue Rose and this time there is no Devil Bringer, but instead he gets a prosthetic arm from Nico named Devil Breaker.
V – The mysterious one. He carries a cane and a book that’s it. There is not much known about him. He fights with three familiars – a giant bird, a panther and a giant golem.
The DMC 5 is coming to PC, PS4 and Xbox One. The PC version will be available through Steam.
The DMC 5 will come in three versions, the first will be a base version, the second will be a Deluxe Edition of DMC 5 which will come with few skins for the weapons (pasta breaker, mega buster for Nero’s devil breaker etc.) of the character and sound tracks, live action cutscenes and Dante’s bike – the Cavaliere R. Finally, the Collector’s edition of the game will come with all the things the Deluxe Edition offered plus a little extra. In this edition, the players would receive exclusive cloth print, pin and bumper stickers, Nico’s toolbox, art books and notes from Nico’s workbench and motor home replica. All the versions of the game can be purchased from the official Capcom website.
(unofficial) OS: WINDOWS 7, 8.1, 10 (64-BIT Required)
Processor: Intel Core i5-4460, AMD FX-6300, or better
Memory: 8 GB RAM
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760 or AMD Radeon R7 260x with 2GB Video RAM, or better
DirectX: Version 11
Storage: 35 GB available space
RECOMMENDED requirements:
OS: WINDOWS 7, 8.1, 10 (64-BIT Required)
Processor: Intel Core i7-3770, AMD FX-9590, or better
Memory: 8 GB RAM
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 with 6GB VRAM, AMD Radeon RX 480 with 8GB VRAM, or better
DirectX: Version 11
The Devil May Cry series is known for its awesome selection of music, soundtracks, background scores, special effects (demon noises) and the heavy metal galore when the battle begins. And Devil May Cry 5 is no exception as it brings with its sweet heavy metal tracks and the emotional background score (like we saw on previous DMC series). Along with that, this time each playable character is getting their own battle music. Dante battle track is called Subhuman, Nero’s is Devil Trigger while V’s is Crimson Cloud.
The fan favourite bloody palace mode where players can choose one character and go crazy with hordes of demons after demons coming after the players doesn’t come with the game. But Capcom has promised to release it in April 2019, so it will be worth the wait. In that time, you can play the game and complete it in different difficulty level – try completing the game in the Hell and Hell mode or Heaven and Hell mode.
Dante’s infamous angry brother is making his return in DMC 5. At the end of the final trailer of DMC 5, people at Capcom teased us with a quick glance of Vergil. So yeah, he is making a comeback in the Devil May Cry 5 and we will definitely get to see the brother vs brother fight (Dante vs Vergil). It will be Devil May Cry 3 all over again. And maybe, just maybe, Capcom might have a surprise for the players at the end of the game. Fingers crossed. Stay tuned for more info on DMC 5 and other games.
DMC 5 is a continuation of DMC 4 in the same universe and same timeline. But this time it is the actual successor of the Devil May Cry series, unlike the rebooted Dmc launched back in 2013. The story follows Dante, Nero and a new character V as they fight demons and try to reach the bottom of the events of Red Grave City. The events follow after the DMC 4’s Order of Sword incident. Each playable character has their own agendas for being in the game and are fighting for their own reasons. Without spoiling anything, the storyline in the game is gripping and does justice to the series by taking it forward.
There are some main characters along with some old characters in DMC 5. We see the return of Dante, Nero, Lady and Trish. The new characters include the mysterious one — V (not Virgil), Nico, demons and the main baddy of the game.
The battle system in the DMC 5 is as fluid as it has ever been, it feels more fluid than DMC 3 and DMC 4. The transitions between demon to demon, switching between weapons, chaining one combo after the other, switching styles and just raising literal hell, all feels immensely fluid and smooth. The ranking system which has followed from the earliest DMC is still there and players can connect combos to climb up the ranks from C to S to SSS. Higher the stylish rank, better the end stage score.
Just like earlier DMC games, you will need to collect demon blood by killing them. Red demon blood could be used to purchase skills and gain weapon upgrades. So, don’t be afraid to get in that tight situation where you are facing 1 vs 20 demons, just switch to ‘devil trigger’ (if you have unlocked it) and go bonkers, but keep the devil trigger gauge in sight and play strategically.
Dante — all who have played even one of the DMC games know who he is. The Son of Sparda and the Legendary Devil Hunter Dante returns with a lot of changes in his looks but his awesome personality remains the same. He returns this time with four melee weapons, four ranged weapons and the same four old styles to choose from. Dante’s classic arsenal returns with him – Rebellion, Ebony and Ivory and Coyote A. Some new weapons include Balrog, Devil Sword Sparda and new guns.
Nero – The young demon hunter makes his return in the next instalment of Devil May Cry series (we secretly wished for it since we played with him in the DMC 4). He has gained years and lost his hand (poor child), but he has also gained experience. Even though he still has got much to learn. He enters with his trusty Red Queen and Blue Rose and this time there is no Devil Bringer, but instead he gets a prosthetic arm from Nico named Devil Breaker.
V – The mysterious one. He carries a cane and a book that’s it. There is not much known about him. He fights with three familiars – a giant bird, a panther and a giant golem.
The DMC 5 is coming to PC, PS4 and Xbox One. The PC version will be available through Steam.
The DMC 5 will come in three versions, the first will be a base version, the second will be a Deluxe Edition of DMC 5 which will come with few skins for the weapons (pasta breaker, mega buster for Nero’s devil breaker etc.) of the character and sound tracks, live action cutscenes and Dante’s bike – the Cavaliere R. Finally, the Collector’s edition of the game will come with all the things the Deluxe Edition offered plus a little extra. In this edition, the players would receive exclusive cloth print, pin and bumper stickers, Nico’s toolbox, art books and notes from Nico’s workbench and motor home replica. All the versions of the game can be purchased from the official Capcom website.
(unofficial) OS: WINDOWS 7, 8.1, 10 (64-BIT Required)
Processor: Intel Core i5-4460, AMD FX-6300, or better
Memory: 8 GB RAM
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760 or AMD Radeon R7 260x with 2GB Video RAM, or better
DirectX: Version 11
Storage: 35 GB available space
RECOMMENDED requirements:
OS: WINDOWS 7, 8.1, 10 (64-BIT Required)
Processor: Intel Core i7-3770, AMD FX-9590, or better
Memory: 8 GB RAM
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 with 6GB VRAM, AMD Radeon RX 480 with 8GB VRAM, or better
DirectX: Version 11
The Devil May Cry series is known for its awesome selection of music, soundtracks, background scores, special effects (demon noises) and the heavy metal galore when the battle begins. And Devil May Cry 5 is no exception as it brings with its sweet heavy metal tracks and the emotional background score (like we saw on previous DMC series). Along with that, this time each playable character is getting their own battle music. Dante battle track is called Subhuman, Nero’s is Devil Trigger while V’s is Crimson Cloud.
The fan favourite bloody palace mode where players can choose one character and go crazy with hordes of demons after demons coming after the players doesn’t come with the game. But Capcom has promised to release it in April 2019, so it will be worth the wait. In that time, you can play the game and complete it in different difficulty level – try completing the game in the Hell and Hell mode or Heaven and Hell mode.
Dante’s infamous angry brother is making his return in DMC 5. At the end of the final trailer of DMC 5, people at Capcom teased us with a quick glance of Vergil. So yeah, he is making a comeback in the Devil May Cry 5 and we will definitely get to see the brother vs brother fight (Dante vs Vergil). It will be Devil May Cry 3 all over again. And maybe, just maybe, Capcom might have a surprise for the players at the end of the game. Fingers crossed. Stay tuned for more info on DMC 5 and other games.
When we talk about women leaders, it is absolutely not possible to skip Sheryl Sandberg. She is the first woman to be a part of the board of directors of Facebook and has previously held leadership positions at Google and United States Secretary for Treasury. She has also authored two books, among which one talks about feminism.
Susan Wojcicki joined Google as a marketing manager in 1999 and is better known as the woman behind YouTube. As the Senior Vice President of Advertising and Commerce at Google, it was her call to acquire YouTube. She became the CEO of the video sharing platform in 2014.
Safra Catz has been at Oracle since 1999 and became a part of the company’s board of directors in 2001. She was named as the president of the company in 2004 and then became the co-CEO in 2014.
At Qualcomm Technologies, Vanitha Kumar is the vice president of software engineering and heads the modem SW air interface technology teams at a number of locations across the world. In 2018, Qualcomm took the first steps towards 5G, and we should point out that she was responsible for the company’s 5G and Cellular IoT SW roadmap.
When we talk about women leaders, it is absolutely not possible to skip Sheryl Sandberg. She is the first woman to be a part of the board of directors of Facebook and has previously held leadership positions at Google and United States Secretary for Treasury. She has also authored two books, among which one talks about feminism.
Meg Whitman has played a number of roles in her career that spans over decades. She has worked at The Walt Disney Company, DreamWorks, Procter & Gamble and Hasbro. She served as the President and CEO of eBay till 2008 and then finally got named as the CEO of Hewlett Packard Enterprise.
Susan Wojcicki joined Google as a marketing manager in 1999 and is better known as the woman behind YouTube. As the Senior Vice President of Advertising and Commerce at Google, it was her call to acquire YouTube. She became the CEO of the video sharing platform in 2014.
Safra Catz has been at Oracle since 1999 and became a part of the company’s board of directors in 2001. She was named as the president of the company in 2004 and then became the co-CEO in 2014.
Debjani Ghosh is the President of The National Association of Software & Services Companies (NASSCOM). She took the post of the President in April 2018. Prior to this, she was the vice president of the sales and marketing group at Intel. Besides this, she was also the managing director for South Asia at Intel.
At Qualcomm Technologies, Vanitha Kumar is the vice president of software engineering and heads the modem SW air interface technology teams at a number of locations across the world. In 2018, Qualcomm took the first steps towards 5G, and we should point out that she was responsible for the company’s 5G and Cellular IoT SW roadmap.
Jayshree V Ullal is the president and CEO of Arista Networks, which is a cloud networking company that is responsible for deploying 10/40/100 Gigabit Ethernet networking in the data centre. Prior to Arista Networks, Ullal has also worked at Cisco Systems.
