Firefox Focus browser now has Enhanced Tracking Protection and Google Safe Search
Firefox focus browser has been updated and now has Enhanced Tracking Protection, which would allow it to provide improved protection for user’s data. In the earlier version of Firefox Focus, cookies were blocked by default. However, with this enhancement, you can choose amongst which cookies you want to allow to track your data. This can be done by creating an ‘allowlist’ which would separate the trackers you want to provide access to and to those whom you do not. There is a feature called ‘Disconnect Tracking Protection’ which identifies third parties that can possibly track your data. In a nutshell, this leads to a much better and advanced form of protection for users’ data.
There is a ‘Google Safe Search’ feature added to the browser too, which hunts down suspicious activities by checking each URL visited on the server. Once Firefox Focus identifies a fraudulent site, it will alert the users and a message would be displayed on the screen to make them aware about it.
To recall, the Firefox Focus was launched back in 2017 by Mozilla Firefox with the intention to protect users’ privacy. Mozilla who owns Firefox, has regularly upgraded this browser for better protection. The Enhanced Tracking Protection is the latest one the company has launched for desktops. Reports have suggested that it is soon expected to launch in Android phones as well. Users can download the current version of the browser from Android Play Store or the iOS app store. Also, iOS users can receive automated suggestions by typing anything in the search engine and can obtain results accordingly through this update.
Another advantage of this feature is that, by curbing trackers to access your browsing data, it leads to a faster internet speed and therefore a better browsing experience.
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Artificial Intelligence trends are reinventing the Consumer Electronics segment
After taking healthcare, education, and telecommunication sectors by storm, Artificial Intelligence (AI) is all decked up to revolutionize the consumer electronics industry within the next five years. As per IBEF’S industry analysis report, Indian consumer electronics market is expected to grow at 41 percent CAGR during 2017-20 to reach US$ 400 billion. Evidently, the combination of AI and IoT into the market products is further going to fuel the exponential growth. Though some of the product segments, including smartphones, alarm clocks, watches, etc, have evolved into smart ones, many are going through a rapid AI transformation phase.
The application of AI into the industry of consumer electronics opens up many growth avenues and opportunities. For attracting the ever-evolving customers, the manufacturers are adopting the latest ground-breaking technologies, which specifically appeal to the customers and cater to their needs and requirements.
AI adoption by industry
Household electronics and appliance manufacturers are leveraging Artificial Intelligence to offer smart products to the customers redefining their interaction and experience. As per the findings of Gartner, some of the largest companies will be switching to intelligent technologies and Big Data analytics for tailoring their services and products to enhance customer experience. Though the wave has just started, consumer goods integrated with AI capabilities aim to provide world-class customer experience without any need for human intervention. To connect, understand, engage with tech-savvy customers, the consumer goods companies are leaving no stone unturned to empower their products with digital and AI technologies. In fact, consumer goods companies are heavily investing in cutting-edge emerging technologies like AI, Deep Learning, and IoT to specifically target advertising and marketing as many shoppers have gone digital and use mobile devices during shopping.
Building Smart Homes
The completely automated home is a novice concept in the market today, but steadily we are moving towards the true realization of it. Many household appliance manufacturers integrate IoT and AI in the household products enabling the consumers to connect intuitively with their living spaces, equipped with many such AI-powered capabilities ensuring the convenience, comfort, and affordability for customers. They, no longer, will have to bear the confusion or worries whether they switched off all devices and appliances before leaving the house as the intelligent devices can automatically get switched off or can be monitored in real-time using smartphones.
From OTT to Smart TVs
The era of Smart TVs commenced with many brands launching their AI-powered smart TVs. As per the report of IHS technology, global unit-share of Smart TVs increased from 45% to 64% in the year 2017 and is expected to reach 70% by the end of the year 2018. With the next-gen intelligent Smart TVs, the users can connect their Smart TVs to the Internet without using any wire and may simply access the streaming services like Netflix and Amazon Prime. Such Over-the-top (OTT) content providers make use of AI and its predictive nature for suggesting movies, TV shows, and web series on the basis of the viewing habits of the customers. In the next few years, we can see Smart TVs enabling us to browse Facebook, stream live videos, and check emails just like we use our smartphones. Quite recently, Netflix has integrated AI-powered dynamic optimizer into its system, which compresses the online video uniformly according to the Internet connection speed. The future of Smart TVs holds such AI-powered dynamic optimizer integration, which will allow the TVs to deliver better quality pictures using less bandwidth.
Author: Karan Bedi, COO, Blaupunkt Televisions India
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Author: Karan Bedi, COO, Blaupunkt Televisions India
For the latest gadget and tech news, and gadget reviews, follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. For newest tech & gadget videos subscribe to our YouTube Channel. OnePlus 6T starts receiving OxygenOS 9.0.10 update and receives its first open beta
OnePlus’ latest flagship, OnePlus 6T has started receiving the OxygenOS 9.0.10 update that has got several new improvements to the smartphone. The changes that the latest update has got include improvements in the Face Unlock feature of the smartphone, enhancements in Nightscape mode, Wi-Fi stability, along with some bug fixes.
The update also gets the December security patch to OnePlus 6T as is rolling out over-the-air (OTA). You can head to the Settings menu of your smartphone in order to manually check for the latest update. Like most updates by the company, the rollout of the OxygenOS 9.0.10 update is incremental in nature. It will first reach a few users and then be rolled out to everyone.
The company has also released the first beta update for OnePlus 6T (review) users, which brings with itself a number of new features including the support for migrating data from an iPhone, an optimised UI that filters spam calls, OnePlus Switch feature and a new call history page that shows incoming calls from unknown numbers. Another addition is an added ‘toast message’ when parallel apps are not available due to data corruption. This update will also have the December security patch with itself. The size of the update is reported to be 1.63GB, so we recommend you to only download it when your smartphone is connected to Wi-Fi and do backup the data on your device before you begin. Remember to follow all the instructions on the download page when installing the beta update.
In another report, DxOMark has released its results for OnePlus 6T and the camera on the latest flagship has secured better results than OnePlus 6. OnePlus 6T’s overall DxOMark rating is 98, which is two points ahead of its predecessor.
The website states that while OnePlus 6T mobile does not come with improved camera hardware, the company has made software enhancements to make the experience better. However, the website also said, “The only area for both photo and video in which the OnePlus 6T did not improve over the OnePlus 6 – and in fact, shows a regression that affected its overall scores – is for Noise, which seems to have been the price OnePlus decided to pay in the short term for improved detail capture.”
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Xiaomi Mi Pay app beta testing starts in India
The Mi Pay app which was launched by Xiaomi sometime back in China is soon going to be launched in India. The beta testing has already started. The Mi Pay app has similar features that one would find on Google Pay. When it was launched in China, it was only compatible with NFC based payments, but now in India it can make both UPI as well as VPA payments. The Mi Pay app launch became possible in India because it passed the policies of National Payments Corporation of India(NPCI).
This technology is going to interact with the phone’s existing contacts, SMS, Scanner, apps and App Vault in order to make payments. With this setup, payments can be transferred easily and the process is going to be fast. The company claims, “All user-generated data will be kept in a highly encrypted format within the India-based cloud infrastructure.” However, going by the company being Chinese how safe will your money be with it?
The way Mi Pay is differentiated from Google Pay is that, unlike Google Pay, Mi Pay works with credit cards, debit cards and Internet Banking. The Mi Pay app can be used to pay phone bills, water bills, electricity bills, DTH recharge et al.
One needs to be on the MIUI Global Beta ROM in order to participate in the beta testing in India. In its forum post the company said, “Mi Pay’s biggest advantage is its deep integration within MIUI, which makes transferring payments to contacts and vendors extremely easy”.
The company has also reportedly claimed that payments can be done by scanning QR codes which include Bharat QR codes. Furthermore, users can also check their balance via this application and there is an option of resetting the UPI PIN of one’s bank account. However, being a Chinese brand, one might not find it preferable to check their account balance through this or even connect their bank account to it.
The credit behind the company being able to understand the local market and prepare its services accordingly, goes to a fintech startup ZestMoney. Xiaomi funded in KrazyBee, which is a Bengaluru-based student credit platform and invested in this fintech, which apparently led to the localisation as far as India is concerned. This might lead the company to gain hugely in India and expand its business furthermore. Being one of the topmost brands in the mobile industry, it might attract customers even more in the near future to this app. We are sure once final, we will see this app to be part of every new Xiaomi smartphone.
Image courtesy: Head topics
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXXb9yXtyVI&t=4s
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After China, iPhones may be banned in Germany too
Just a few days back, Qualcomm won a patent dispute case against Apple in China and got a ban placed on iPhones. And things really seem to be in favour of the American chipmaker as it has won another patent case against the Cupertino based technology giant in Berlin too. A German court has passed a ruling in favour of Qualcomm that may lead to a ban on iPhone sales in Germany.
The regional court in Munich said in a statement, “The ruling effectively outlaws the offering and placing on the market of the finished product in Germany, including the sale. The iPhones 7 Plus, 7, 8, 8 Plus and X are affected.”
It is worth noticing that Apple can appeal to the court to reconsider its initial ruling. Considering this, the court added that the ban on the sales of affected iPhones – iPhone 7, iPhone 7 Plus, iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus and iPhone X – can only be imposed with immediate effect of Qualcomm pays a security deposit of 668.4 million euros ($765 million).
The court further added that it is asking for such a large sum so that it can be used to pay Apple as revenue losses if the company manages to get the ruling overturned by a higher court in the country.
This is the second major win for Qualcomm against Apple in a month. As we mentioned earlier, a Chinese court had ordered a prohibition on iPhone sales over a separate patent dispute on December 10.
Both the technology companies have been involved in a long-running battle over patents and royalties. Their cases are being played out in various courts and administrative bodies across the globe.
The case in Germany involves Qualcomm chips built into iPhones and both the technology giants are at loggerheads about how the chips actually work, according to the court.
Earlier this month, Apple avoided an iPhone ban in India by allowing TRAI’s DND app on its App Store. The government had told Apple that it would place a ban on iPhones in India if their app was not allowed for iOS users by January 2019. Just weeks before the deadline, Apple did the needful to avoid a ban in one of its most important markets.
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Gionee files for bankruptcy and enters liquidation: Report
Chinese smartphone brand Gionee, which reportedly owes CNY 20.2 billion (nearly $3 billion) to 648 creditors, has filed for bankruptcy and will be liquidated. According to the latest reports on this matter, a Shenzhen based court has accepted Gionee’s application for liquidation bankruptcy. With this, another Chinese smartphone company has gone bust.
Last month, a report in The South China Morning Post had stated that Gionee’s founder admitted that he may have used the smartphone maker’s assets for gambling at a casino in Saipan. An interview in Securities Times reported Gionee’s Chairman and Chief Executive Liu Lirong admitting that Gionee’s debts total to CNY 17 billion and out of this amount, the company owes CNY 10 billion to banks, CNY 5 billion to it suppliers and around CNY 2 billion to advertising agencies.
Liu was even questioned about how much money he lost while gambling and he replied to Security Times saying, “a bit more than CNY 1 billion.” However, reports suggest that he may have lost close to CNY 10 billion.
It is worth noticing that Gionee was right behind Apple at sixth position in terms of handset sales in China last year. The company began facing difficulties when its suppliers decided to put a pause on selling it components of devices after Gionee failed to make payments for many months.
Gionee was initially founded in 2002 and was among the mainstream brands in China and even saw success in India. The smartphone brand sold over 40 million handsets in 2016. The company forayed in the Indian market in 2012 and in earlier this year in February, it claimed to have a retail presence in more than 42,000 stores and said that it has 600 service centres in India. Gionee also said that it has a customer base of 1.25 crore in the country. After Gionee India’s CEO and Managing Director Arvind Vohra stepped down in 2017, the company’s Global Sales Director, David Chang started looking after its operations in India.
In Q1 2018, the smartphone maker shipped 1,50,000 units in India, which was down by 90% year-on-year according to research firm Counterpoint. The company also launched two smartphones in India in April this year and post that, there had been no word from the company on whether or not it had any further plans. After LeEco, Gionee is the second Chinese smartphone company to close operations in India after it faced a financial crisis.
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Google Assistant will soon predict flight delays
Every wondered what a wonderful thing it would be when you are about to leave for the airport to catch a flight. Suddenly a voice tells you not to go or to go at a later time, because your flight has been delayed or cancelled. Sounds far-fetched? Well no, since this is going to be reality soon and Google is working hard to make it mainstream very-very quickly. The Alphabet owned company is enabling Google Assistant to predict flight delays and, in all probability, will work around the world with most flights that support the English language. Other language functionality is still not clear.
Yes, Google assistant is to be updated soon to notify you whether your flight is on time or not. In order for this technology to be realized, Google combined flight status data with Machine Learning(ML). From then on, if Google’s algorithms predict flight delays it will notify you. Until now, through Google Flight, it used to inform users about flight delays if it was 85 percent sure about it.
“We use historic flight status data combined with machine learning to make these predictions in advance of airlines confirming delays.” Said Google in a blog post. “You can ask things like, ‘Hey Google, is my flight on time?’ or ‘Hey Google, what’s the status of the American Airlines flight from Philadelphia to Denver?'” said Google.
Industry insiders do suggest that the feature is supposed trickle down to all Android smartphones and Google Home products. The technology should be voice enabled too, so one can ask Google Assistant on any of the Android/Google enabled devices if there is any delay in the flight timings. This would be a boon for frequent fliers who are always on the go. They just need to ask a simple question to the Google Assistant and within seconds they will know if they should wait or rush to the airport.
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TCL to build its largest manufacturing base outside China in Andhra Pradesh
Chinese consumer electronics maker TCL has announced its first integrated smart manufacturing industrial park in India. The company is setting up its ambitious project in Tirupati in Andhra Pradesh. It is worth noticing that this will be TCL’s largest manufacturing base outside its home-country China and it is being made to build by the company to localize its manufacturing capabilities as a part of its long-term strategy in the country. The manufacturing unit will be a part of ‘Make in India‘ initiative.
The Tirupati based industrial park will comprise of two major manufacturing facilities and one among them will be a panel module factory – the first of its kind outside China. This particular unit is owned by Shenzhen China Star Optoelectronics Technology Co Ltd, which is TCL’s panel subsidiary.
The factory will be manufacturing screens for televisions and smartphones and is said to have a capacity of producing eight million 22-inch to 55-inch large-sized television screens and 30 million 3.5-inch to 8-inch smartphone displays in a year. The production at this plant is set to begin in February 2020.
The other facility will be dedicated for manufacturing smart TVs and that will be owned by the company’s television arm – TCL Electronics. It has been said that this plant will be able to manufacture six million 32-inch to 65-inch TV sets in a year. The smart TV manufacturing facility will be beginning its operations in December 2019.
Speaking about the manufacturing plant TCL is setting up in India, Tomson Li, chairman and CEO of the company said, “India is a strategic market for TCL and our investment in India is a significant milestone in our globalization plans. The project will strengthen our supply chain integration capabilities in India and in turn, will benefit our local consumers, providing them with superior quality products at a greater value.”
The company’s sales in India have grown by 120% year-on-year and TCL’s products are available in 3,000 outlets via over 30 channel partners like Croma, Vijay Sales and Reliance Digital. Earlier this year in April, the company also launched its online-centric smart brand iFFALCON for which it partnered with Flipkart.
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Coolpad Mega 5, Coolpad Mega 5M, Coolpad Mega 5C smartphones launched in India: Price and specifications
Coolpad has launched its Mega 5, Mega 5M and Mega 5C smartphones in India today. All three smartphones have been launched in the budget segment of the smartphone market and in fact, the most expensive of the three is priced at Rs 6,999. All the three smartphones come with traditional displays and only Coolpad Mega 5 has a dual rear camera setup. Here are the entire pricing details and specifications of the three newly launched Coolpad smartphones:
In This Article
Coolpad Mega 5, Coolpad Mega 5M, Coolpad Mega 5C price and availability
Coolpad Mega 5 is priced at Rs 6,999 and is the most expensive of the three smartphones launched. The other two smartphones – Coolpad Mega 5C and Coolpad Mega 5M – are priced at Rs 4,499 and Rs 3,999. The smartphones will only be sold via offline stores in India and are available in Blue, Gold and Dark grey colour options.Coolpad Mega 5, Coolpad Mega 5M, Coolpad Mega 5C specifications
We’ll begin with the specifications of Coolpad Mega 5 smartphone. The most expensive among the new offerings launched today, Coolpad Mega 5 smartphone features a 5.7-inch HD+ display and is powered by 1.5GHz quad-core MediaTek MT6739 SoC clubbed with 3GB of RAM. The smartphone comes with 32GB of internal storage, comes with a microSD card slot and has dual-SIM functionality. Coolpad Mega 5 runs Android 8.1 Oreo and sports a dual rear camera setup with a 13MP sensor and a 0.3MP VGA sensor with LED flash. For selfies and video calls, there is a 5MP sensor on the front panel. The smartphone houses a 3,000mAh battery. Speaking of Coolpad Mega 5C, it comes with dual SIM card slots and runs Android Oreo. The smartphone features a 5.45-inch HD+ display and is powered by 1.3GHz quad-core processor coupled with 1GB RAM. The newly launched device comes with 16GB of onboard storage and can hold a microSD card of up to 32GB. On the camera front, Coolpad Mega 5C comes with a 5MP primary sensor and a 5MP front-facing lens. The smartphone packs a 2,500mAh battery and supports Face Unlock. Coming to Coolpad Mega 5M mobile, it sports a 5-inch HD display and is powered by 1.2GHz quad-core processor. There is no clarity on the Android version of the smartphone and it packs 1GB RAM and 16GB inbuilt storage. It can also hold microSD cards of up to 32GB and houses a 2,000mAh battery. For imaging duties, it comes with a 5MP rear camera and a 2MP selfie camera. For the latest gadget and tech news, and gadget reviews, follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. For newest tech & gadget videos subscribe to our YouTube Channel.Instagram goes ‘musical’ with these new features
Popular photo-sharing app Instagram has added a number of new features to Stories. With the new features, Instagram users can ask for music recommendations from their followers, answer questions during a live stream and create a countdown for your moments. The update to the app has started rolling out to both its Android as well as iOS versions.
The Facebook-owned company created a blog post to announce these features to its users. Another interesting thing that you can do is reply to questions sticker in Stories with a song from their library. But it is worth noticing that this feature is only available in regions where the app’s music library is available. If it is available in your region, you’ll be able to see a music icon with the question sticker on your friends’ Stories. On clicking that icon, users will be able to share a song from your music library on the photo-sharing app.
Instagram has also enabled new camera effects that work with the music that is being played via the app. To access these, you can go to the music section in camera and click on the new icons that are available above capture.
The question sticker can also be used in live videos on Instagram going forward. With the feature, you will be able to post questions as you normally would in Stories format. Once the user goes live on the app, they’ll be able to see your questions in order to answer them.
Furthermore, followers will also be to view which questions that are being answered by the user who has gone live. The photo-sharing app will also let users share photos and videos during live broadcasts.
The latest update will also enable you to use the new countdown sticker in your Instagram Stories. Furthermore, users can add a countdown with an end date and time. They will also be able to select the colour of the countdown before it gets added to their Story.
You will also be able to use the countdown sticker in your future Stories. When your countdown ends, your followers will receive a notification about the same. This feature is now available on both Android and iOS versions of Instagram across the globe.
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Asus ZenFone 5 is now getting Android 9 Pie update
You would be happy to hear that the Asus ZenFone 5 has received the Android 9.0 Pie update finally. There are two kinds of updates which are available—the FOTA update and the OTA update. The FOTA update has already been launched and the OTA update is going to be launched soon.
In order to download the FOTA update, we have enlisted a few steps for your convenience. They are pretty easy to follow so go ahead if you have the Asus Zenfone 5:
- Download the package from the source link
- Move the downloaded files to the microSD card
- Then after entering into recovery mode click on “apply updates” from microSD
- Now select the downloaded package and your work is done
Netgear Orbi RBK20 router with tri-band WiFi system launched in India
The brand new Orbi RBK20 has been launched by Netgear, today. Netgear is a global networking company which has been providing devices to customers, based on connectivity, for a long time. The company is based out of California, USA and has its offices in India too. They have a large range of WiFi routers and digital hubs in India and now they expanded the line-up with the launch of Orbi RBK20. According to the company, this device has been made specially in order to evade the consequences of cyber threats, which often pervade through WiFi networks, if not configured properly.
The device has a 5GHz connection between the router and satellite and can provide signals to up to 4,000 square feet. It is compatible with diverse kinds of houses and can spread connectivity to large extent due to its four high-gain antennas. This feature is based on the company’s vision to provide WiFi to any kind of home considering that every home nowadays is in demand of a great and more powerful wireless internet connection.
The WiFi speed on his machine can reach up to 2.2Gbps. It comes with FastLane3 technology (the dedicated WiFi backhaul) that creates a better 4K HD streaming and gaming environment in spite of connecting to more devices. The WiFi can be connected to more than one satellite if need be, and therefore it eliminates a lot of dead zones. In other words, the WiFi provides a large network coverage at a very high speed. It also means that a lot of devices can be connected to it without hinderance of any one device’s net speed. Over that, this WiFi hub has smart parental controls, works with Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant.
To talk more about the company, Netgear sells its products in more than 30,000 retail locations worldwide, and through tentatively 25,000 resellers. The selling also takes place by the means of multiple major cable, mobile and wireline service providers. The product is priced at Rs 12,899 and is selling via online stores such as Amazon, here in India.
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7 easy tips to extend battery on your Android smartphone
Do you have battery troubles with your smartphone? We know that most people would answer that with a yes. Considering that the tasks we perform on smartphones in today’s time are so demanding, it’s actually unsurprising to see so many people carry power banks. With this list, we are here to make your life easy so that you can make the most of your Android smartphone’s battery. Here are some easy tips to follow in order to do so:
In a recent report, Google literally admitted that dark mode consumes less battery on any Android smartphone. If your smartphone has a system-wide dark theme, enable it right away. If not, opt for the dark mode in as many apps as you can and use a dark wallpaper. YouTube, Android Messages, Twitter, and Pocket are examples of apps that support the dark theme.
We understand that disabling GPS on your device is not a practical piece of advice. So we recommend going to the Settings of your smartphone to see which all apps have access to your location. You’ll find this in the option of App-level permissions under Location tab. From here, you can disable the apps which you think don’t really require your location or the ones you don’t use too much.
If you use a device that has Android Oreo or Android Pie, you would know that your smartphone notifies you about open Wi-Fi networks even if Wi-Fi has been disabled. You can turn this off by heading to Settings, then clicking on Network & internet and then selecting the option of Wi-Fi. Here, go to Wi-Fi preferences and uncheck ‘Open network notification’.
Did you know that a lot of apps stay active even after you exit them? But these are not something to worry about as you only have to adjust a few settings in order to save the battery they use. Head to Settings and click on Apps & Notifications. Here, go to the app’s page and tap on Battery and then go to the option of ‘Battery Optimisation’. Here, select all the valid options to save battery that is being used by the app.
Check the battery usage of all of your apps in the settings of your smartphone. You can do this by heading to Settings and then to Battery Usage under the Battery tab. If you find some apps to be draining too much battery, uninstall them and instead install their Lite version or use them on the web if the Lite version is not available.
Using Google Assistant surely makes things fun and easy, but then, it can use up a lot of battery from your device in order to provide you with information and respond at your wake command. So, if you are not heavily dependent on it, here are the steps to disable it. Head to Google app and select ‘More’. Tap on Settings and then go to Google Assistant header. Here, tap on Settings again and select Assistant. Press on Phone and switch Google Assistant off.
If you find notifications on your smartphone to be too annoying, you can disable them completely. For doing this, go to the Settings of your smartphone, and press on Accounts. You would be able to see the Automatically sync data option at the bottom. Scroll down and disable it or disable it for select apps by going to their page. Going forward, you would only see the new content on that app when you visit it.
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[td_smart_list_end]
In This Article
Enable dark mode on your device
In a recent report, Google literally admitted that dark mode consumes less battery on any Android smartphone. If your smartphone has a system-wide dark theme, enable it right away. If not, opt for the dark mode in as many apps as you can and use a dark wallpaper. YouTube, Android Messages, Twitter, and Pocket are examples of apps that support the dark theme.
Control your location settings
We understand that disabling GPS on your device is not a practical piece of advice. So we recommend going to the Settings of your smartphone to see which all apps have access to your location. You’ll find this in the option of App-level permissions under Location tab. From here, you can disable the apps which you think don’t really require your location or the ones you don’t use too much.
Turn the option of Automatic Wi-Fi off
If you use a device that has Android Oreo or Android Pie, you would know that your smartphone notifies you about open Wi-Fi networks even if Wi-Fi has been disabled. You can turn this off by heading to Settings, then clicking on Network & internet and then selecting the option of Wi-Fi. Here, go to Wi-Fi preferences and uncheck ‘Open network notification’.
Check background apps
Did you know that a lot of apps stay active even after you exit them? But these are not something to worry about as you only have to adjust a few settings in order to save the battery they use. Head to Settings and click on Apps & Notifications. Here, go to the app’s page and tap on Battery and then go to the option of ‘Battery Optimisation’. Here, select all the valid options to save battery that is being used by the app.
Use the Lite version of battery draining apps
Check the battery usage of all of your apps in the settings of your smartphone. You can do this by heading to Settings and then to Battery Usage under the Battery tab. If you find some apps to be draining too much battery, uninstall them and instead install their Lite version or use them on the web if the Lite version is not available.
Turn off Google Assistant
Using Google Assistant surely makes things fun and easy, but then, it can use up a lot of battery from your device in order to provide you with information and respond at your wake command. So, if you are not heavily dependent on it, here are the steps to disable it. Head to Google app and select ‘More’. Tap on Settings and then go to Google Assistant header. Here, tap on Settings again and select Assistant. Press on Phone and switch Google Assistant off.
Turn off auto-sync
If you find notifications on your smartphone to be too annoying, you can disable them completely. For doing this, go to the Settings of your smartphone, and press on Accounts. You would be able to see the Automatically sync data option at the bottom. Scroll down and disable it or disable it for select apps by going to their page. Going forward, you would only see the new content on that app when you visit it.
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[td_smart_list_end] Huawei P20, P20 Pro, Mate10, Mate Pro along with Honor Play and View 10 will be updated to EMUI 9 based Android Pie soon
The EMUI based Android Pie update is going to roll out for a lot of Huawei phones. Those phones include Huawei P20, P20 Pro, Mate 10, Mate 10 Pro, Honor View 10, Honor Play and Honor 10. The Honor Play, View 10, 10 are priced Rs 15,999, Rs 29,999, Rs24,999 respectively. The Huawei P20 Pro and Mate 10 are priced Rs 59,999 and Rs 16,835.
The news about the update was found out from a tweet Huawei posted recently that it is going to roll out Pie skinned with EMUI 9 for the aforementioned phones. The update might not come to everyone’s phone immediately as the roll out is being done in a gradual process. Previously the company rolled out the same update for Huawei P20 and Huawei P20 Pro, which happened in China this month. Along with the update the November security patch for the P20 and P20 Pro has been released to protect the phones from any bugs, viruses whatsoever.
According to reports, one is required to have at least 80 percent battery and a strong WiFi connection before this update can be downloaded. These things are really important for the updates to be downloaded successfully in your Android Smartphone.
Once the software updated is successfully downloaded, it is reported to provide the following benefits:
- New UI.
- Gesture based navigation.
- The new HiVision visual, which does image search similar to that of Google Lens. One thing good about it is that it shows a range of food items and also their calories, so one can eat without caution of having to become obese. They can test the calories out prior to eating and select the food items that are healthy for them. Also, HiVision shows landmarks of 15 countries and over 10 million artworks.
- HiTouch is another feature, which helps users to search by tapping two fingers on the screen. This feature can search 120 different items from more than 200 e-commerce platforms and also official online stores of 100 brands.
- Next is One click projection, GPU Turbo 2.0 and PC mode that are also part of this update.
Apple continues to struggle in Indian smartphone market as iPhone sales fall
The year is not a good one for Apple in India. It was earlier reported that the sales of iPhones have taken a hit this year and that the Cupertino based technology giant has seen the first full year decline in sales. And now, a report has emerged that highlights how the company continues to lose its grip in the Indian smartphone market. The report in The Wall Street Journal states that the expensive Apple iPhone range is not able to compete against devices from companies like Samsung, Xiaomi and Oppo in India.
A number of smartphone makers from Asia, and mainly China has captured the Indian smartphone market. While Xiaomi reportedly dominated the budget segment, OnePlus has been ruling the premium smartphone market in the country, according to research firms Counterpoint and IDC. Generally, devices from these companies are more affordable than Apple and they pack a number of features, so customers are naturally drawn to buy them.
Coming back to the The Wall Street Journal report, it highlights a counter salesperson from India who said that even a single iPhone sale in a day now is being considered lucky. A few years back in 2013, around 80 iPhones were sold in a single day, the source continued to tell. However, we should mention that a shift from offline to online shopping must be considered. Also, the competition in recent years has grown stiffer with a number of new smartphone players coming in.
Apple’s this year’s range comprises of iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max and the ‘affordable’ iPhone XR. However, since the smartphone bears a price tag of Rs 76,900, it is not exactly what many people call as ‘affordable’. However, some Apple devices do continue to sell in India, but these are mostly older models including the iPhone 6 and iPhone SE. It is worth noticing that these can be bought by customers at around Rs 20,000. The more expensive models have fewer takers. And to add to Apple’s woes, OnePlus and Samsung are continuing to strengthen their hold in the smartphone market.
According to the report, Apple’s premium and high-margin approach may make it successful in some ‘developed’ markets, but it’s not doing the company much good in India. A change in strategy is the obvious next move for Apple if it hopes to revive in India.
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New PUBG Vikendi map would be available on Android and iOS from 20th December: Learn how to download it
In order for you to download the Vikendi map, you need to update the mobile game to 0.10.0 version, which has been released by Tencent games in both the mobile operating systems. This can also be done through the respective app stores. Earlier there was a notice that the Vikendi map would be activated in the game starting 18th December, however that has been delayed by two days. It was also mentioned that those who download the game update before 25th December would be able to avail Outfit box III and 1,888 BP.
The new map sort of celebrates Christmas. The home screen of the game is based on the holidays. There is snowy background with an SUV in the game which has Christmas lights. In the backdrop there is a Christmas song going on, which warns players to beware of enemies while cherishing the festive season. The map’s dimensions are 6x6km. The game would be later available for consoles on January 21.
Here is everything you need to know about the new PUBG Vikendi Map:
- The snow map is 6x6km
- Arabic language support is added
- New Snowmobile added being the Vikendi-exclusive vehicle
- Snowball fight in Vikendi Spawn Island
- Players who regularly exit matches right in the beginning will be barred from entering matches for a certain period of time
- Players can collect all daily mission awards at one time
- By finishing daily missions, players would be able to avail Added Lucky Treasure feature, which gives them a chance to upgrade weapon
- Backpack has added features to show players the sources of unobtained items
- Added season spending rewards
- New commands added for quick chats
- Suspicious behaviour can be reported if spotted by players while spectating after dying
- The added snow theme in the game leads players to collect bells from classic mode and exchange them for rewards
- Added cross-server match making: players now have the privilege to compare themselves with other players from the same tier
- Added firearms upgrade system
- Added display for crew challenge winners on Erangel’s Spawn Island
OnePlus 5G smartphone’s first image gets leaked
The upcoming year will be an important one for OnePlus. The Chinese smartphone brand will not only be seen launching its OnePlus 7 and OnePlus 7T smartphones, but it has also announced that it will be unveiling a 5G smartphone too. Although earlier speculations assumed that OnePlus 7 will come with 5G capabilities, the company clarified that it is planning a separate range for its 5G handsets as it wishes to continue selling its flagships at affordable prices. Reports about both its upcoming devices keep surfacing online.
And now, we may have got the first look at one of the upcoming OnePlus smartphones. A photograph from an internal company meeting that shows OnePlus CEO Pete Lau has been leaked. In the background, one can see a picture of a OnePlus device. But there’s no clarity on whether it’s OnePlus 7, OnePlus 7T or OnePlus’ 5G smartphone. However, if you take a look at the picture, you’ll see the upcoming smartphone has a very different design compared to the one we have seen till now on other OnePlus smartphones.
The device featured on the slide is Red in colour and it sports a huge circular camera module on its back panel. The smartphone lying on the desk seems to be of the same colour too. But if you see the picture closely, the man sitting towards the right has the same OnePlus smartphone with a huge camera module. The only difference is, that the smartphone he is holding is White in colour. As we mentioned earlier, we don’t know which model of OnePlus this is, but if we believe the reports that claim that OnePlus’ 5G smartphone would be launched earlier than OnePlus 7, then in all probability the device in the image is OnePlus 5G mobile. Recently, OnePlus had announced at Qualcomm’s annual summit that the first carrier to get the OnePlus 5G will be EE in the UK. The 5G-enabled smartphone by OnePlus is expected to cost $100 or $200 more than OnePlus 6T. The company has also announced that its 5G-enabled smartphone will be powered by the Snapdragon 855 chipset paired with X50 modem. The same chipset will also be present in OnePlus 7, but with a different modem. Image courtesy: Ishan Agarwal/Twitter For the latest gadget and tech news, and gadget reviews, follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. For newest tech & gadget videos subscribe to our YouTube Channel.EXCLUSIVE! Here's your first look at an upcoming OnePlus Device I don't know much about. This image shows the device in prototype/designing stage and it is not final but this is probably how the device may end up looking. That's Pete (CEO of OP) in the img and the device itself. pic.twitter.com/Yau9EsgSDy
— Ishan Agarwal (@ishanagarwal24) December 19, 2018
Asus Zenfone Max Pro M2 review: Amongst the best budget smartphones
When Asus launched its Zenfone Max Pro M1 smartphone earlier this year, it set a benchmark for budget smartphones. The smartphone packed good features and was very reasonably priced. And we loved it when we reviewed it. Naturally, we were really looking forward to using the Asus Zenfone Max Pro M2. The smartphone comes in three storage variants priced in the range of Rs 12,999 to Rs 16,999. Read the rest of our review to know more about Asus Zenfone Max Pro M2 and how did it perform on our test bench:
Asus has claimed that Zenfone Max Pro M2 is the first smartphone in the price segment to come with Corning Gorilla Glass 6. Coming back to the display, it is outlined by thin bezels on the sides and the top, and has a slightly broader chin at the bottom. It is worth noticing that Asus Zenfone Max Pro M2’s earpiece is not placed inside the notch, but instead, it lies more towards the top part of the frame. The company has done this in order to decrease the size of the notch.
Asus Zenfone Max Pro M2 has plastic side edges that house the power and volume buttons on the right and SIM tray on the left. The bottom edge has the microUSB port, the primary microphone, the 3.5mm headphone jack and the speaker grille. The secondary microphone is placed on the top.
There are a number of the things that we liked about the design of the device. Firstly, it is extremely comfortable to use the smartphone with one hand. The power and volume buttons and the fingerprint sensor are all placed well and are easy to reach. During our time with the smartphone, the fingerprint scanner worked really well.
Coming to the 6.3-inch Full-HD+ display of the smartphone, it is another aspect that we really liked. The screen produced very sharp and clear images with accurate colours. When we tried looking at the screen from different angles, the colours did not lose their consistency. The sunlight readability was not a problem either. We spent long hours playing games and watching YouTube videos on the device and we loved every bit of it.
We always give some extra marks to smartphones that come with a stock Android experience. And Asus Zenfone Max Pro M2 is one of them. We love how the software had no bloatware at all and came without any customizations, which can at times make the experience laggy. The smartphone had Google’s entire suite of apps, and Facebook, Messenger and Instagram – which can’t really be counted as extra apps since most of us use it on a daily basis. Other than this, the Sound Recorder, FM Radio and Calculator apps are from Asus. So, they are really as few as they can be.
During our time with the smartphone, we did not encounter any lag in its performance. The apps launched very quickly and we had no trouble switching between them. There were no delays in the smartphone’s performance when we multitasked on it and we found the experience with the UI to be pretty smooth. However, there was one small thing that we missed in this smartphone. In a lot of smartphones that come with notches, there is an option of running the apps in full-screen mode. In Asus Zenfone Max Pro M2, some apps ran in full screen, but when we tried to use the others, the area on either side of the notch blacked out. It’s negligible, but you’ll miss it if you have used the functionality in a previous device. Furthermore, there isn’t an option of ‘removing’ the notch using software adjustments, so you would really just have to live with it.
Most games ran on the device very smoothly. The lighter ones didn’t cause any trouble at all, and even the heavier ones like Asphalt 9 Legends ran reasonably well. If you play a heavy game on the device for around 30 minutes or so, it might start getting slightly warm. But this doesn’t apply to games that come without very heavy graphics. As we mentioned earlier, we watched a number of videos on YouTube during our time with the smartphone. The experience was really good. The images depicted were sharp and clear. The Zenfone Max Pro M2’s speaker can be very loud, too. Clubbed together, they make the video watching experience extremely good.
The battery life of the smartphone was definitely among the key highlights. After usage that involved browsing the internet, listening to music, playing games, watching videos and using Google Maps for straight two hours, the smartphone was still left with over 50% charge by the end of the day. In fact, we only charged it once in two days. However, fast charging is not supported on the device and it takes almost two hours to charge it fully.
Coming to the cameras of Asus Zenfone Max Pro M2, they also did a good job. The camera app was very simple to use and comes with quick access buttons for shooting modes and beautification along with depth effect. There are a number of filters present on the app that can be used on the images too. In the December update, Asus has said that the camera app will also get AI enhancements; and EIS and Bokeh effect for the selfie camera.
We liked the performance of the cameras. The images were detailed and the colours were accurate. The photos taken retained clarity even when they were viewed on a laptop. While the pictures taken in well-lit areas were very good, the ones taken in dimly lit areas were reasonable. Selfies taken by the front-facing snapper were decent too, but they became much better as soon as we enabled the Beautification mode.
For some reason, we couldn’t run the Antutu benchmark test on this device. In Geekbench, Asus Zenfone Max Pro M2 scored 1,474 and 5,539 in the single and multi-core scores. Putting it at the top lot of the category.
In This Article
Asus Zenfone Max Pro M2 Design and Display
Let’s start with the design of the smartphone. Asus Zenfone Max Pro M2 looks more premium than its predecessor and its good looks show that the company has invested thought and time into its design. The new offering from Asus is available in two colour options – Blue and Titanium, and the one that we got for review was dressed in Titanium. Asus Zenfone Max Pro M2’s back panel is laminated and has a glossy finish. This, in fact, is primarily what makes the smartphone look so premium. It does attract more fingerprint smudges than its predecessor, but then that can’t really be compared as Asus Zenfone Max Pro M1 mobile came with a metal back panel. The back panel of Asus Zenfone Max Pro M2 houses the vertically stacked dual rear cameras in a module that also includes the LED flash. The fingerprint sensor of the device is placed in the centre and right beneath it lies the Asus branding. The front is dominated by a 6.26-inch display that has a notch on the top and is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 6.
Asus has claimed that Zenfone Max Pro M2 is the first smartphone in the price segment to come with Corning Gorilla Glass 6. Coming back to the display, it is outlined by thin bezels on the sides and the top, and has a slightly broader chin at the bottom. It is worth noticing that Asus Zenfone Max Pro M2’s earpiece is not placed inside the notch, but instead, it lies more towards the top part of the frame. The company has done this in order to decrease the size of the notch.
Asus Zenfone Max Pro M2 has plastic side edges that house the power and volume buttons on the right and SIM tray on the left. The bottom edge has the microUSB port, the primary microphone, the 3.5mm headphone jack and the speaker grille. The secondary microphone is placed on the top.
There are a number of the things that we liked about the design of the device. Firstly, it is extremely comfortable to use the smartphone with one hand. The power and volume buttons and the fingerprint sensor are all placed well and are easy to reach. During our time with the smartphone, the fingerprint scanner worked really well.
Coming to the 6.3-inch Full-HD+ display of the smartphone, it is another aspect that we really liked. The screen produced very sharp and clear images with accurate colours. When we tried looking at the screen from different angles, the colours did not lose their consistency. The sunlight readability was not a problem either. We spent long hours playing games and watching YouTube videos on the device and we loved every bit of it.
Asus Zenfone Max Pro M2 Performance and Cameras
Before we start talking about the performance of the device, we’ll take a minute to shed some light on its specifications. Asus Zenfone Max Pro M2 is powered by an octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 processor clubbed with either 3GB/4GB/6GB of RAM. It comes in two storage models – 32GB and 64GB. The one in this review is with 4GB RAM. On the camera front, Asus Zenfone Max Pro M2 sports a dual rear camera setup with 12MP and 5MP sensors. For selfies and video calls, there is a 13MP sensor on the front panel. The key highlight of the Android 8.1 Oreo-based smartphone is its massive 5,000mAh battery.
We always give some extra marks to smartphones that come with a stock Android experience. And Asus Zenfone Max Pro M2 is one of them. We love how the software had no bloatware at all and came without any customizations, which can at times make the experience laggy. The smartphone had Google’s entire suite of apps, and Facebook, Messenger and Instagram – which can’t really be counted as extra apps since most of us use it on a daily basis. Other than this, the Sound Recorder, FM Radio and Calculator apps are from Asus. So, they are really as few as they can be.
During our time with the smartphone, we did not encounter any lag in its performance. The apps launched very quickly and we had no trouble switching between them. There were no delays in the smartphone’s performance when we multitasked on it and we found the experience with the UI to be pretty smooth. However, there was one small thing that we missed in this smartphone. In a lot of smartphones that come with notches, there is an option of running the apps in full-screen mode. In Asus Zenfone Max Pro M2, some apps ran in full screen, but when we tried to use the others, the area on either side of the notch blacked out. It’s negligible, but you’ll miss it if you have used the functionality in a previous device. Furthermore, there isn’t an option of ‘removing’ the notch using software adjustments, so you would really just have to live with it.
Most games ran on the device very smoothly. The lighter ones didn’t cause any trouble at all, and even the heavier ones like Asphalt 9 Legends ran reasonably well. If you play a heavy game on the device for around 30 minutes or so, it might start getting slightly warm. But this doesn’t apply to games that come without very heavy graphics. As we mentioned earlier, we watched a number of videos on YouTube during our time with the smartphone. The experience was really good. The images depicted were sharp and clear. The Zenfone Max Pro M2’s speaker can be very loud, too. Clubbed together, they make the video watching experience extremely good.
The battery life of the smartphone was definitely among the key highlights. After usage that involved browsing the internet, listening to music, playing games, watching videos and using Google Maps for straight two hours, the smartphone was still left with over 50% charge by the end of the day. In fact, we only charged it once in two days. However, fast charging is not supported on the device and it takes almost two hours to charge it fully.
Coming to the cameras of Asus Zenfone Max Pro M2, they also did a good job. The camera app was very simple to use and comes with quick access buttons for shooting modes and beautification along with depth effect. There are a number of filters present on the app that can be used on the images too. In the December update, Asus has said that the camera app will also get AI enhancements; and EIS and Bokeh effect for the selfie camera.
We liked the performance of the cameras. The images were detailed and the colours were accurate. The photos taken retained clarity even when they were viewed on a laptop. While the pictures taken in well-lit areas were very good, the ones taken in dimly lit areas were reasonable. Selfies taken by the front-facing snapper were decent too, but they became much better as soon as we enabled the Beautification mode.
For some reason, we couldn’t run the Antutu benchmark test on this device. In Geekbench, Asus Zenfone Max Pro M2 scored 1,474 and 5,539 in the single and multi-core scores. Putting it at the top lot of the category.
Verdict and Final Words
At the given price, it is surely one amongst the best devices that are available. It has a beautiful design, a good display, and smooth performance. The battery is undoubtedly the best feature of Asus Zenfone Max Pro M2 and the cameras work reasonably well too. We see no reason to not recommend it. You certainly would not regret spending your money on Asus Zenfone Max Pro M2. The smartphone does give a strong competition to the Realme handsets available in the budget range, but our vote goes to Asus Zenfone Max Pro M2 since it comes with stock Android. With it, you can expect to get timely Android updates and security patches. So your device will stay updated at all times. Pros – Beautiful design, Amazing battery, Smooth performance Cons – Reasonable low-light photography, Warms up after prolonged gaming For the latest gadget and tech news, and gadget reviews, follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. For newest tech & gadget videos subscribe to our YouTube Channel.Moto G7 Play passes EEC Certification
Motorola is all set to launch its Moto G7 series early next year. And from what we know so far, the company will be launching four smartphones in the series —Moto G7, Moto G7 Power, Moto G7 Plus, Moto G7 Play.
And now, it has been reported that Moto G7 Play has been certified by the Eurasian Economic Commission. According to the listing on EEC, the Moto G7 Play with model number Moto XT1952-1 will be powered by Android 9.0 Pie out-of-the-box. According to an FCC listing that earlier surfaced online with the image of the smartphone, Moto G7 Play will have a microSD slot, an audio jack, a hybrid dual SIM slot and a back-mounted fingerprint scanner with a Moto dimple. The listing also said that the smartphone will house a 2,820mAh battery.
To speak further about the specifications of Moto G7 Play, the smartphone will be powered by a Snapdragon 632 SoC processor, according to the listing. Though some renders show that the phone will feature a waterdrop notch on top of the front screen, the images from FCC listing differ on that. According to the images, the upcoming Moto G7 Play will have a rectangular screen and will not sport any cut-outs for camera or other sensors.
To recall, a previous report from 91mobiles claimed that Moto G7 will be launched on December 25. The expected price of the smartphone is Rs 19,990 and it will reportedly be powered by an Octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 processor. Reports suggest that Moto G7 will house a 3,000mAh battery and will come with 6GB RAM and 64GB storage.
The device will feature a dual rear camera setup with 16MP and 5MP sensors. For selfies and video calls, there will be a 12MP sensor. The smartphone will reportedly be available in two colour variants—black and red.
While we have already seen a standard, a Plus and a Play variant this year, what we are looking forward to is Moto G7 Power. While not much is known about the smartphone yet, it is expected to house a big battery as it is named ‘Power’.
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Asus ZenFone Max Pro M1 starts receiving the FOTA update
Earlier this year, Taiwanese smartphone brand Asus launched its Zenfone Max Pro M1 smartphone in India. The budget smartphone packed a big battery and garnered appreciation for its performance in the Indian smartphone market. And now, Asus ZenFone Max Pro M1 is getting a FOTA update by the company.
The version number of this update is OPM1.WW_Phone-15.2016.1811.338-20181206 and it is being said that it will enhance the device’s performance. The FOTA update gets the November security patch to the smartphone which would improve its Wi-Fi and hotspot compatibility. The update would also enhance the smartphone’s camera and video shooting capability. It will also improve the device’s third party app compatibility, and this is particularly focussed on Instagram.
The FOTA update would optimise power consumption of Asus Zenfone Max Pro M1 and also enhance its audio quality on headphones. The FOTA update started rolling out to users today 12:30PM IST onwards. The roll out of the update is happening in a phased manner.
To recall, Asus Zenfone Max Pro M1 runs on Android 8.1 Oreo and comes in three RAM variants. The 3GB RAM variant is clubbed with an internal storage of 32GB and the 4GB/6GB RAM variants come with 64GB in-built memory. The handset has a microSD card slot which can hold cards up to 512GB in size and sports 13MP+5MP dual camera setup. There is a dual selfie camera setup on the device that comprises of 8MP and 16MP sensors.
The smartphone houses a massive 5000mAh non-removable battery and comes with standard connectivity options. The base model of Asus Zenfone Max Pro M1 is priced at Rs 10,999 and the most high-end model bears a price tag of Rs 14,999. The smartphone was the first to be launched under the brand’s strategic partnership with Flipkart.
It has also been reported that the smartphone will be getting the Android Pie update in February next year. This timeline has been confirmed by the company itself during the launch of its Asus Zenfone Max Pro M2 and Zenfone Max M2 smartphones.
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Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9+ start receiving the new beta version of Android Pie
South Korean smartphone giant Samsung has started rolling out a beta version of Android Pie update for its Galaxy S9 and S9+ smartphones. However, we should point out that the update is currently available only in the UK, France, Poland and Germany. The beta update is 324MB in size and gets software version G960FXX2ZRLF for Samsung Galaxy S9 and G965FXXU2ZRLF for Galaxy S9+.
It is worth noticing that the stable update for Android Pie for Samsung Galaxy S9 and Samsung Galaxy S9 + would be available in January. By rolling out such updates, the company is actually working to fix the bugs that have been detected in previous beta builds of Android Pie for the two smartphones.
The bugs this update takes care of includes improper functioning of apps that require Samsung account, problems with Message notifications, and Phone app crashing on pressing the call button. The update will reportedly reach other markets in a few days’ time too.
Speaking about the specifications of Samsung Galaxy S9, it is powered by the Exynos 9810/Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 processor and runs on Android Oreo with Samsung Experience UI on top. The smartphone features a 5.8-inch Quad HD+ Super AMOLED Infinity display that is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 5.
The flagship smartphone weighs 163grams and houses a 3,000mAh battery. The device comes with a Super Speed Dual Pixel 12MP autofocus f/1.5-f/2.4 camera with optical image stabalization. It is available in Midnight Black, Coral Blue, Titanium Gray, Lilac Purple, Burgundy Red, Sunrise Gold, Ice Blue and the recently launched Polaris Blue colour options.
Coming to the specifications of Samsung Galaxy S9+, it comes with a 6.2-inch QHD+ Curved Super AMOLED display with an aspect ratio of 18.5:9. The smartphone has 6GB of RAM and a 3,500mAh battery. The device comes with a dual rear camera setup with Super Speed Dual Pixel 12MP autofocus f/1.5-f/2.4 lens and a telephoto lens with 12MP autofocus f/2.4 lens. The mobile has three internal storage variants— one with 64GB storage, another with 128GB storage and the most high-end one with 256GB storage.
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ASUS unveils two AMD-powered laptops aimed at gamers in India
Taiwanese consumer electronics maker ASUS has launched its two gaming laptops in India today. Powered by the latest generation AMD Ryzen Mobile processors, both the laptops – ASUS Gaming F570 and VivoBook 15 – come with graphics from AMD Radeon Vega and focus on gaming and entertainment. Here are the pricing details and specifications of the newly launched ASUS Gaming F570 and ASUS VivoBook 15 laptops:
In This Article
ASUS Gaming F570 and ASUS VivoBook 15 price in India
ASUS Gaming F570 laptop is available with up to 8GB of RAM and it is priced at Rs 52,990. ASUS VivoBook 15, on the other hand, comes in two variants – 4GB RAM and 8GB RAM – priced at Rs 30,990 and Rs 35,990 respectively. Both the laptops are available for purchase on Paytm Mall as well as offline stores in the country.ASUS Gaming F570 and ASUS VivoBook 15 specifications
Coming to the specifications of the two laptops, ASUS Gaming F570 comes with 15.6-inch FHD (1920×1080) Anti-Glare display and it is powered by AMD Ryzen 5 -2500U processor clubbed with up to 8GB of DRAM DDR4 RAM and AMD Radeon Vega 8 Graphics. The laptop supports up to 16GB of memory and has 1TB SATA 5400RPM HDD storage. ASUS F570 laptop focuses on gaming and runs the Windows 10 operating system. It weighs 1.9kg and comes with two memory card slots, Bluetooth v4.2, two Type A 2.0, one Type A 3.0 and one Type C 3.1 (Gen1) USB ports. Speaking of ASUS VivoBook 15 (X505), it has a 15.6-inch FHD Anti-Glare display with 81% screen-to-body ratio. One of its variants come with AMD Ryzen 3 – 2200U processor and AMD Radeon Vega 3 Graphics, and the other comes with AMD Ryzen 5-2500U processor and AMD Radeon Vega 8 Graphics. The 4GB RAM variant supports 12GB of memory and 8GB of RAM comes with 16GB of memory. The device comes with 1TB SATA 5400RPM HDD storage and runs Windows 10. Speaking about the launch of the two laptops, Arnold Su, ROG and PC Head of ASUS India said, “We are excited to unveil the Gaming F570 and VivoBook 15 (X505) specially designed for our Indian consumers. Both the laptops feature the latest AMD Ryzen 5 processor and Radeon Vega graphics, ensuring effortless productivity, multitasking, and entertainment. Pioneering the thin and light segment we are the only brand with models catering to this segment with Ryzen processor. We’re positive that the rising brigade of India’s ambitious users demanding more from their laptops would appreciate the latest offering.” For the latest gadget and tech news, and gadget reviews, follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. For newest tech & gadget videos subscribe to our YouTube Channel.Garmin Instinct launched in India: Price and specifications
Garmin has launched its GPS-enabled smartwatch Instinct in India today. The rugged smartwatch is aimed at sports enthusiasts and those who love being a part of extreme activities, particularly outdoors.
Priced at Rs 26,990, the Garmin Instinct smartwatch comes in Flame Red, Graphite and Tundra colour variants. Interested buyers can buy the newly launched smartwatch at Garmin’s authorised stores, the company’s official website, Paytm Mall, Amazon India, and select Helios stores.
The smartwatch has a 3x-axis compass and a barometric altimeter. Multiple navigation satellites are supported on Garmin Instinct including GPS, GLONASS, and Galileo. Additionally, the smartwatch also comes with a wrist-based heart rate monitor that not only tracks your heart rate zones when you are working out but also gives you information about your stress levels.
The Instinct smartwatch is said to last up to 14 days in a single charge, provided its done in smartwatch mode. With full GPS tracking, its battery will last for 16 hours and when the power-saving UltraTrac mode is on, it can be used for 40 hours.
Garmin Instinct is said to be compatible with other products from the company including the InReach Mini. For those unaware, InReach Mini enhances the security of users by enabling them to send and receive messages and SOS calls from the watch itself.
The smartwatch from Garmin also comes with Virb action cameras and the company’s dog-tracking collars, Astro. Besides all this, there are some other fitness features in the newly launched smartwatch including a sports app and wellness data.
The smartwatch comes with 16MB of storage and users can sync the smartwatch with their smartphones using Garmin’s Connect app. Garmin Instinct is compatible with both Android and iOS. The Garmin Explore app can be used to create and edit routes, download maps, and more.
The company has also added that their new offering, Instinct, is made up of fibre-reinforced polymer, which is said to add strength and durability to it. Besides being rugged and outdoor-centric, the GPS-enabled smartwatch is said to come with the US military standard 810G. This basically means that it is thermal, shock and water resistant.
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Fitbit Ionic and Versa smartwatches get support for more third-party apps
Popular wearables maker Fitbit has updated its Ionic and Versa smartwatches with the latest version of Fitbit’s operating system – Fitbit OS 3.0. Among the key highlights that the update has got is the ability of the smartwatches to support some new third-party apps. Fitbit OS 3.0 will also enable users to create logs for their water intake, sleep, and weight directly in their smartwatch. Earlier, this had to be done via the mobile app that connected the smartwatch to the user’s smartphone.
The most notable apps which will now be supported by smartwatches running on Fitbit OS 3.0 are Couch to 5K and Achu Health. Speaking about these apps, Couch to 5K is a training program that coaches beginners towards running long-distance races, while Achu Health can help users predict potential illness by notifying them about any unusual temperature increase in their bodies. Going forward, these apps will display daily goals or send notifications to users on their smartwatches.
Another two apps that are now available on Fitbit smartwatches include Genius Wrist and MySwimPro. While Genius Wrist will provide structured on-device workouts, productivity and visualization tools, MySwimPro will get video coaching and training plans for swimmers of all levels. The latter will also use real-time heart rate of the wearer from the smartwatch and help them enhance their swimming performance accordingly.
Support for some other apps will be added next year on Fitbit OS 3.0. These include TRX, Charity Miles, FitBark and Mindbody.
We should point out that if you use Charge 3, you will not be getting this OS update. So your wait for popular third-party apps will be a little longer than that of others. And as of now, there is no official word on when the OS update will be rolled out to Charge 3 users.
What we do know is that an upcoming update in 2019 will improve the female health tracking feature on the smartwatches to show more data. Fitbit has said that it will be adding symptom trends to its female health tracking feature. While there is no word on whether there will be features for menopause tracking or family planning, we really do wish that Fitbit gets those in its smartwatches, as these features are what most women would find useful.
Speaking about the software update being rolled out, Jon Oakes, Senior Vice President of Product at Fitbit said, “We are excited to announce these software and app updates as they provide Fitbit smartwatch users with more ways to take action based on their personal data to achieve their health and fitness goal.”
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India sees over 50% improvement in average fixed download speeds in 2018: Ookla
In 2018, India saw the greatest improvement in fixed broadband speed among the most popular countries in the world. According to a report shared by Ookla, a platform that is widely known for its speedtests, India ranks 65th in broadband and 111th in mobile.
The report further said that the country has shown an improvement of 50.4% and has an average fixed download speed of 23 Mbps. Speaking of mobile, the country showed a 15.2% increase in average overall download speeds.
If you we talk about the five largest countries in the world, China topped the list of the fastest average mobile speeds. The list of countries with fastest fixed download speeds was dominated by the United States, and China managed a second spot there too. India and Brazil had a tie on the third position of the list.
Another important reveal by the report was that the number of gigabit tests in New Delhi swelled from 119 in 2017 to 20239 results in 2018. This is a massive increase of 16908%.
Ookla’s report also said that the overall world’s internet speed increased by over 15% in the current year. The mean global speed, according to the report, is said to be 22.82 Mbps. It was also stated that mobile downloads went up by 15.20% in the last 12 months and mobile uploads grew by 11.60%.
It is worth noticing that with Reliance Jio’s JioPhone and JioPhone 2 feature phones being introduced in the market and the fall in tariff pricing of mobile data plans, the number of internet users has grown tremendously in India. As of September 2018, Jio had a user base of a massive 1,191.40 million. And we should point out that other major telecom players like Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea also have millions of users in the country. Since’s Jio’s entry in the telecom space, these players have been forced to slash the prices of their mobile data plan too. But this fall in prices has led to a lot more Indian users come online.
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