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Showing posts with label Latest Technology News. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Latest Technology News. Show all posts

Friday, June 1, 2018

Apple will reportedly launch 4 new iPhones this year, pricing details revealed

 
We’re nearly halfway into the year and haven’t laid eyes on a single 2018 Apple iPhone yet. But that’s all about to change, because according to an exclusive report by Forbes, we’re going to see four new iPhones in the coming months, starting with a new iPhone SE in June. That’s right, the iPhone SE is indeed getting a second generation model, if the report is to be believed. Despite rumours that it’ll look like a mini version of the iPhone X, Forbes reports that it will retain the same design and even the name, but introduce upgraded internal components. Whether it will borrow them the iPhone 7 or iPhone 8, we don’t know yet. But we know that the price will no longer be the modest $350 (Rs 23,500 approx) it was. The iPhone SE itself, to refresh your memory, is a re-engineered version of the original iPhone 5, which was released in September 2012. Joining the second-generation club in September is the new iPhone X, accompanied by a larger iPhone X Plus and a cheaper but larger version of the iPhone X. The ‘Budget iPhone X’, if we may call it that,  will have a 6-inch display and not a 5-inch one, as many expected. Sporting a metal chassis, single rear camera, and Face ID, the Budget iPhone X is expected to retail for $550 (Rs 37,000 approx), a price that’s touching the boundaries of the current iPhone 8’s price of $699 (Rs 47,000 approx). Apple is expected to price the iPhone X Plus at just under $1000 (Rs 67,000 approx), and make lower end iPhones costlier to buy. Apple is also reportedly going to include fast chargers with all models, which should translate to a savings of about $200 (Rs 13,400 approx) on the outgoing iPhone X. 

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Samsung launches 18 AR emojis, dual-VoLTE for Galaxy S9, S9 Plus

 
Samsung has launched a new set of 18 AR Emojis, the customisable animated stickers that can be used in messages to express emotions, for the Galaxy S9 and S9 Plus smartphones. With the launch, the total number of AR Emojis available on the Galaxy S9 and S9 Plus has gone up to 36. To get the new AR Emojis, users will need to update the smartphones’ camera app which is now available in the ‘My apps’ section of the Galaxy Apps store. “Samsung has made it even easier for users to express their inner selves by doubling the number of animated stickers that are automatically generated whenever an AR Emoji is created,” the South Korean electronics giant said in a blog post. The company said it also plans to add 18 more expressions in the coming months, “which will bring the feature’s total number of emotion-capturing sticker options to 54.” As a part of its India-centric innovation, Samsung also rolled out two other features to the Galaxy S9 duo. These include - dual-VoLTE feature and a new one-time screen replacement offer. Consumers will receive the dual-VoLTE feature through an over the air (OTA) update. With this feature, Galaxy S9 and S9 Plus users will have an option to be connected to two VoLTE networks simultaneously and can further choose the data network that most suits their need. To avail the one-time screen replacement offer, Galaxy S9 and S9 Plus consumers will need to pay Rs 1,999 to get their screens replaced for a period of nine months. The offer is valid from June 1 to June 30. Samsung launched this year’s flagship devices in India a week after it launched the smartphones at Mobile World Congress in February in Barcelona. Although the design of the phones remained largely the same, they boasted of new camera innovations with variable aperture lenses that switches between f/1.5 and f/2.4, depending upon the lighting conditions. The 64GB version of Galaxy S9 was launched at a price of Rs 57,900, while Galaxy S9 Plus 64GB version was made available for Rs 64,900. The Galaxy S9 and S9 Plus also come in 128GB and 256GB storage variants, respectively. According to market research firm Gartner, Samsung shipped 78,564.8 devices and captured 20.5 percent of the market share in the first quarter of 2018. Although its market share dropped by 0.3 percent, it still lead the market. Samsung's mid-tier smartphones faced continued competition from Chinese brands, which led to unit sales contraction year on year, Gartner said.

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All-new seventh generation BMW 3 Series: What we know so far

 
The BMW 3 Series is, was and possibly will be one of the best-selling entry-level luxury sedans globally. Of late, though, the company's hot model has lost out on a bit of its exuberance, because of the particularly brilliant Mercedes-Benz C-Class. To combat all of that, the Munich-based company is presently at the final stages of road-testing the 2019 BMW 3 Series, which is expected to feature both petrol and diesel powertrains, and come in multiple variants. While we have only seen the car under heavy camouflage till now, they've all hinted at a more aerodynamic, sportier design. The coefficient of drag is now 0.22, with an overall sleek body that looks quite fast, and very like the BMW 5 Series. The overall dimensions, while remaining reasonably compact, are expected to be on the stubbier side to follow the family's design language. Autocar UK has also quoted BMW officials as saying that the Mercedes-Benz C-Class is the clear competitor and benchmark for the BMW 3 Series, and also suggests that the new 3 Series has a bunch of elements from the BMW X2 SUV. The new BMW 3 Series is being built on the company's CLAR architecture, and the possible larger dimensions are 4703mm length, and 2830mm wheelbase, both larger than before. The new platform will also reportedly help the seventh generation BMW 3 Series to lose up to 50 kg over the present BMW 3 Series, hence also increasing rigidity and potential quality of handling. BMW is reportedly looking to increase the overall comfort proposition of the 3 Series to match the smoothness and refinement of the C-Class. While BMWs have always been hailed for the sporty appeal, the general consensus of buyers in the executive sedan category seems to have veered towards comfort as a priority factor. It is this that BMW is aiming with its new 3 Series. The car is also expected to get iDrive 7.0, with an smoother physical controller, and a larger touch-enabled display running on smoother new firmware. The overall design and layout of the interiors, however, is possibly going to remain the same, as seen from Car Magazine UK's spy shots so far. Source

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Samsung expands J series, launches Galaxy J4 in India starting at Rs 9,990

 
After launching the Galaxy J6, J8, A6 and A6+ in India just last week (Read First Impressions), Samsung has now launched the Galaxy J4 in the country. The smartphone is aimed at selfie enthusiasts and comes with an adjustable front LED flash which accompanies a 5MP front camera. Unlike the J6 and J8, the Galaxy J4 does not feature an Infinity Display design. Instead, it comes with a 5.5-inch HD Super AMOLED display, with a 720 x 1280 pixels resolution and a 16:9 aspect ratio. For its processing needs, the Galaxy J4 uses an Exynos 7570 quad-core platform clocked at 1.4GHz. At the back is a 13MP camera with an F1.9 aperture. This entire package is powered by a 3,000 mAh battery. The Galaxy J4 is available in two storage and RAM variants - 2GB RAM + 16GB ROM and 3GB RAM + 32GB ROM. Although both variants have the exact same specs, albeit storage and RAM, the Galaxy J4 with 3GB RAM and 32GB storage is priced higher at Rs 11,990. The base variant of the J4 with 2GB RAM/16GB ROM is prices at Rs 9,990. In a press release announcing the new device, Samsung added that it includes a ‘Made In India’ feature for memory management. Called ‘Advanced Memory Management’, the feature helps users save space by automatically redirecting images and videos from social media applications to the external memory card. Advanced Memory Management also helps in keeping the device memory clean by deleting duplicate images received on social media messengers. Further, the Galaxy J4 comes preloaded with Samsung Mall, a service that lets users shop by clicking a picture of the desired product and automatically getting results for the item across popular e-commerce platforms. There’s also an 'App Pair' feature, which opens a consumer defined pair of apps simultaneously in two multi windows for faster multitasking. Another 'Adaptive Wi-Fi' feature helps the Galaxy J4 turn Wi-Fi on and off automatically depending on the location. With the Galaxy J4, Samsung aims to offer an affordable device within its “best-selling” J series range of devices in India. “With 60 million plus devices sold & counting, Galaxy J series is India’s most popular smartphone series owing to the millennial focused meaningful innovation. Galaxy J4 comes packed with a host of new innovations like Advanced Memory Management, Adjustable Front LED Flash & Samsung Mall that makes it perfect for millennials,” said Sumit Walia, Director, Mobile Business, Samsung India.

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Mahindra, Tata Motors to supply 1,000 EVs each to Maharashtra government

 
Tata Motors and Mahindra have signed individual memorandums of understanding (MoUs) with the government of Maharashtra to supply 1,000 electric vehicles each. The move comes on the back of the government's push to boost electric mobility in the state, which is seeing an increasing amount of interest from different players in this category. Under this MoU, Mahindra Electric will be seeing deployment of their EVs in a range of fields, including taxi services, logistics operators and more. Furthermore, Mahindra will also be investing Rs. 500 crore into its plant in Chakan, Pune for building EVs and electric car components, which should see the company ramp their presence up in the electric car segment. Meanwhile, Tata Motors, in partnership with its parent group company Tata Power, is being tasked with expanding the network of electric car charging stations, beginning with Mumbai. Tata Power inaugurated its first public EV charging station in Vikhroli, following which it has expanded to other areas within Mumbai. The two companies have also been the joint suppliers of electric vehicles to government-undertaken body Energy Efficiency Services Ltd. (EESL)'s tender for 10,000 electric vehicles. The EESL has so far sourced a total of 500 Tata Tigor EV and Mahindra e-Verito sedans from the two companies, and aims to procure the rest by Q1 2019. Tata Motors has also spoken at length about its focus on smart cities and the role that electric and electrified vehicles will play in such situations, and this is one of the first steps towards the company's eventual goal.

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Smartphone sales in 2019 will be driven by 5G, 6-inch displays, and India: IDC Report

 
The smartphone market around the globe took a 0.3% beating in sales last year. It is expected to reoccur this year with a 0.2% drop before rising again in 2019. According to American market research company International Data Corporation (IDC), 2017 and 2018 saw sales of 1.462 billion units and 1.465 billion units respectively.  With 2019 though, and the years leading up to 2022, the number is expected to climb to 1.654 billion units. IDC has identified three key elements that will bring about this rise in smartphone sales in 2019: 5G: The technology that could speed things up IDC predicts that consumers will start seeing 5G on their smartphones sometime in the second half of 2019, with a steady rise in regional availability all the way till 2020. IDC also predicts that roughly 7 percent of all smartphones will be 5G-enabled by 2020. 5G, as a technology standard, should offer faster internet speeds and more reliable connections. We expect to see an average download speed of 1Gbps. 6-inch displays: The spec that could become the norm IDC reckons that by 2022, 98% of Android phones will feature screens with a size larger than 6 inches. Though some of these will be premium flagship models, the average selling price of Android phones with a 6-inch screen or larger is estimated to be $414 (Rs 27,781 approx). It’s the same case with iPhones as well. The overall sales of iPhones is expected to grow by 2.6% this year, and Apple too is expected to move towards a screen size equal to or larger than 6 inches for the iPhone. India: The country that will see more internet IDC expects the sale of smartphones in China to drop by 7.1 percent this year before stabilising in 2019. In India, however, IDC expects the sale of smartphones to grow by 14 percent this year and by 16 percent in 2019. It also predicts the growth and proliferation of Chinese smartphone OEMs in India with focus still retained on low-end devices. Ryan Reith, Program Vice President for IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Device Trackers, is quoted in the report saying, “Even though it declined 5% in 2017, China remains the focal point for many given that it consumes roughly 30% of the world's smartphones. But plenty of pockets of growth can be found beyond China. India is now grabbing headlines and the market itself is going through some rapid transformation. Local India manufacturing continues to ramp up, despite still having a heavy dependence on China for components. The boom in India is likely to continue in the years to come, but the move toward building up local production has certainly caught the eye of many in the industry.” With major Chinese players like OnePlus, Xiaomi, and Lenovo all releasing new phones at regular intervals, it’s not hard to believe that we’ll see more and more China-based models in India in the years to come.

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Xiaomi Mi 8 camera scores 99 overall on DXOMark, beats the iPhone X and Google Pixel 2

 
DxOMark has released an extensive camera review of the recently announced Xiaomi Mi 8. The device has garnered a score of 105 points in photo category and 88 points in video recording. To put things into perspective, the Huawei P20 Pro got a photo score of 114 and a video score of 98. The Samsung Galaxy S9+ got 104 photo score and a 91 video score. The Pixel 2 got a photo score of 99 and a video score of 96 whereas the iPhone X got a photo score of 101 and a video score of 89. With an overall score of 99, the Mi 8 shares the 4th place with the Galaxy S9+. DXOMark’s review of the Mi 8’s camera says, “Xiaomi might not be the first name to think of when looking for a high-end smartphone, but the Mi 8 offers camera performance that is up there with the best. The Mi 8 camera is capable of super-fast and accurate autofocus, along with excellent exposures and detail rendition under a wide range of lighting conditions. It has good dynamic range and a genuinely usable telephoto option with good quality 2x magnification, as well as an effective simulated bokeh mode. The Mi 8 is also a solid performer in video mode — all of which, when put together, make for a highly attractive package and a good value proposition.” Xiaomi launched the Mi 8 smartphone in China on May 31, 2018. The company also announced the Mi 8 Explorer Edition and a smaller Mi 8 SE model. The Mi 8 is Xiaomi’s first smartphone to feature a notch on the display. The Mi 8 SE is a smaller variant that is less powerful than the other two models. The Mi 8 SE is the first device to run on the Snapdragon 710 SoC. The Mi 8 will be available in Black, Blue, Gold and White color variants and is priced at 2699 yuan (Rs 28,460 approx) for the 6GB RAM/ 64GB storage model and is priced at 2999 yuan (Rs 31,620 approx) and 3299 yuan (Rs 34,785 approx) for the 128GB and 256GB storage versions respectively.  The Mi 8 features a 6.21-inch Full HD+ AMOLED display and is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 SoC. The devices run on Android 8.1 Oreo with MIUI 9 on top but the company has promised an MIUI 10 update soon. The dual-SIM smartphones feature a vertically stacked 12MP + 12MP dual rear camera setup. The notch on the front houses a 20MP camera sensor, a proximity sensor, an earpiece, infrared lighting and an infrared lens. The last two pieces of equipment enable a user to unlock the Mi 8 using its IR Face Unlock feature and the Mi 8 Explorer Edition using 3D Face Unlock. The Mi 8 also comes with a rear-mounted fingerprint sensor. The package id powered by a 3400mAh.  Source

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OnePlus 6 Silk White Limited Edition to go on sale in India starting June 5

 
OnePlus has announced that the sales of the OnePlus 6 Silk White Limited Edition will start from June 5. Those interested in the variant can choose to be be notified by clicking on the ‘Notify Me’ option on the Amazon India website. Buyers can also avail a cashback of Rs 2,000 if they purchase the device using Citibank Debit or Credit cards. They are also eligible for No Cost EMI for up to 3 months on all major banks. Other offers include a 12-month Accidental Damage Insurance by Servify on downloading Kotak 811 app. Buyers can also avail Rs 250 on Amazon Prime Video and discounts of up to Rs 500 on Amazon Kindle e-books. Partner offers include up to Rs 2,00 cashback and device insurance for Idea subscribers and benefits of up to Rs 25,000 on flight and hotel bookings from ClearTrip. Hardware-wise, the OnePlus 6 is identical to the 8GB RAM/128GB storage variant of the OnePlus 6. However, it’s the design of the Silk White Limited Edition that stands out. The phone offers a subtle shimmering effect that comes from the addition of pearl powder to the rear of the phone. The device also features copper-gold accents. As mentioned before, the internals of the phone are still the same as the standard, 8GB RAM/128GB storage variant. It features a 6.28-inch FHD+ Full Optic AMOLED display with a 19:9 aspect ratio and a resolution of 2280 x 1080 pixels. It is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 SoC and runs OxygenOS, which is based on Android Oreo 8.1. The phone sports a dual-rear camera setup with a 20MP + 16MP combination, while at the front is a 16MP unit. The OnePlus 6 Silk White Limited Edition sports a 3300mAh battery and offers the company’s proprietary Dash Charge technology. This isn’t the only limited edition variant of the OnePlus 6. The company also released a Marvel Avengers Limited Edition version of the phone. Unlike the Silk White edition, the Marvel Avengers edition offers 256GB of storage. Besides this, the device also came bundled with an Iron Man case, as well as medallion, which will be one of six. The company has challenged users to find and combine all six medallions as part of its Infinity Medal Challenge.  You can read our review of the OnePlus 6 here.

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Apple wont unveil any new hardware at WWDC: Report

 
Apple’s annual conference, the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) is happening next week (between June 4 and June 8). If the reported information coming from Bloomberg's sources, or as the publication calls them "people familiar with the plans", is to be believed, Apple will not announce any new hardware at all this time at WWDC. Instead, the California-based multinational tech giant will focus on software improvements. First among those will be iOS 12, where the company is expected to deliver news of quality improvements and new features in the mobile and tablet OS, including a new dark mode and always-on display option that the iPhone X’s OLED screen can benefit from. Whether this hints at future iPhones and iPads also employing OLED displays, we do not know yet. Apple is also expected to include in iOS 12 an implementation of its new CoreNFC framework that will help iPhones take more advantage of their NFC chips. If done right, it might enable iPhones to unlock encrypted doors (at say, hotels) and make contactless payments more easily. Similar to the Android Dashboard tool we might get to see in Android P, iOS too will introduce tools to help its users understand how much time they spend on their devices and on certain apps. Apple plans to call this new initiative Digital Health. It is expected to consist of a series of tools. Initiatives like this should help users break free from addiction to apps, games, and even notifications. Apple also plans to release a second iteration of ARKit, an API that lets third-party developers build augmented reality apps by making use of the device’s camera, GPU, and motion sensors. Similar to Google ARCore, ARKit 2.0 will allow users to add an object in a virtual area and retain their position permanently. All this should eventually help pave the way for Apple’s rumoured AR headset, which is expected to arrive in 2020.

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Samsung Galaxy Note 9 launch officially delayed by two weeks: Report

 
Samsung Galaxy Note 9, the Korean tech giant's second flagship smartphone for the year, will launch sooner than its predecessor, but apparently a little after its scheduled launch. The Galaxy Note 8 launched in September 2017 and it is expected that the Galaxy Note 9 will launch as early as July or August 2018. The launch of the smartphone has however reportedly been delayed by a mere two weeks. This is because of a last-minute change that has been made to the design. According to several reports emerging from Korea, Samsung's Vice Chairman, Lee Jae-Yong, visited a Shenzhen store where he checked out some Oppo, Xiaomi and Vivo smartphones. He wanted to see and experience the devices and apparently, he liked what he saw. Because of this, some small design changes are being made to the Note 9.  The Samsung VP has asked for the front glass thickness to be reduced by 0.5mm. This means that the Galaxy Note 9 which was expected to have a 1.5 mm thick glass will now have slimmer glass on the front. It was also expected that Galaxy Note 9 will bring with it an in-display fingerprint sensor, something that we have seen in action on the Vivo X21 smartphone, but reports now suggest that the in-display fingerprint sensor could come as late as the Galaxy S10. Rumours circulating the internet suggest that the Galaxy Note 9 may launch with 8GB of RAM and 512GB of storage. Currently, the Galaxy S9+ offers the most amount of memory with 6GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. OnePlus recently launched the OnePlus 6 which has a maximum of 8GB RAM and 256GB storage.  Recently, the Samsung Galaxy Note 9 was spotted on Geekbench. According to the listing, it was noted that the Note 9 may offer 6GB of RAM. It is possible that the Note 9 may come in two variants – 6GB and 8GB RAM variants. The GeekBench score of the Note 9 revealed scores of 2737 and 9064 on the single and multi-core tests respectively.  Speaking of rumoured specifications, the Galaxy Note 9 is tipped to feature a 6.4-inch Super AMOLED display with an aspect ratio of 18.5:9. It is expected to be powered by a 4000mAh battery, which is a lot more than the 3300mAh unit used in the Galaxy Note 8. We think Samsung is finally confident about the high battery capacity on a Note device after learning lessons from what happened to the Galaxy Note 7. Source

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ARM announces Cortex-A76 CPU, Mali-G76 and Mali-V76 GPUs based on 7nm process promise laptop-class performance

 
The performance of high-end smartphones have increased by leaps and bounds over the years, but there is always room for improvement. ARM, the architects behind mobile chipsets have unveiled a product destined for future smartphone chipsets. The latest addition is aimed for high-end smartphones and promises laptop-class performance. The new additions include the Cortex-A76 CPU, Mali-G76 GPU and Mali-V76 video processor for ultra-high resolution displays. The Cortex-A76 will replace the Cortex-A75 high-performance cores unveiled last year, while the Mali-G76 will succeed the G72. The Mali-V76 replaces the V52 and V61. The Cortex-A76 are performance cores or the ‘big’ part of the big.LITTLE arrangement. ARM hasn’t announced ‘LITTLE’ cores to support the new one. As a result, chipmakers are likely to stick with the existing Cortex-A55 for now. The naming of the new CPU may make it seem like a minor upgrade, but the Cortex-A76 is a new CPU from the ground up. The CPU features a completely new high-performance microarchitecture design that ARM claims to have made from scratch to deliver higher performance. ARM is calling the performance of the new CPU ‘laptop class’. ARM claims the new Cortex-A76 CPU can deliver a 200 percent performance gain over the current laptops powered by Cortex-A73 CPUs. While gains over the last gen Cortex-A75 may be lesser, the difference is still noticeable. More importantly, the Cortex-A76 is particularly proficient in machine learning tasks, with up to a 400 percent gain in performance, courtesy what ARM states ‘optimised dot product instructions’. The A76 is based on the 7nm manufacturing process and will deliver speeds up to 3GHz improving performance by around 35 percent over a 10nm A75 running at 2.8GHz. Furthermore, ARM is claiming a 40 percent boost in energy efficiency thanks to a change in microarchitecture and a smaller target process node. The CPU is designed in a way that a single A76 core can run at full power indefinitely, and frequency throttling will only kick in when there is a 3 or 4 core cluster configuration, especially in thermal and power constrained environments like smartphones. This will essentially result in more consistent high-end performance for devices that will use the A76 cores. ARM is using its proprietary DynamIQ cluster technolgy that will see the Cortex A76 paired with power-efficient Cortex-A55 cores in a heterogeneous configuration. The octa-core layout is perhaps the likely configuration we will see the new cores in, while a 2+6 or a 1+7 will offer better performance-to-cost ratio for cheaper chipsets. Coming to the new GPUs, the Mali-G76 is based on the same Bitfrost architecture like the older G72 and G52, but at 7nm, it offers a 1.5x performance boost. The performance boost has been achieved by doubling the number of execution pipelines within each core’s engine. This, ARM claims, doubles the FP32 and FMA throughput with only a 28-percent increase in area. As a result, the G76 GPU is around two time as powerful as the G72. Apart from the boost in performance, the Mali-G72 claims a 30 percent improvement in energy and area efficiency when built on the same process node. But going down to 7nm will improve performance and efficiency even further which will help in improving battery life without compromising on the performance. The Mali-76 can be configured for four to 20 cores, which is a downgrade from the 32 maximum cores with the G72. The higher core counts are for products with larger batteries and where thermal constraints are not much of a factor, like laptops. Finally, the Mali-V76, is designed for high-res displays. It can support up to 8k60 decode and 8k30 encore as well as multiple 4K and 1080p streams. Undoubtedly, this is double the performance from the older Mali-V61. While this is totally overkill for smartphones displays, the Mali-V76 is likely to be used in high-end TVs and high-res AR and VR headsets.

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Jio rolls out Holiday Hungama prepaid offer with Rs 100 instant discount for PhonePe users

 
Reliance Jio is discounting one of its most popularly sold Rs 399 prepaid plan in partnership with PhonePe. Jio prepaid users who recharge their numbers with the Rs 399 plan can now avail an instant discount of Rs 100, if they transact using UPI-based digital payments platform PhonePe. This Rs 100 instant discount has two components, the company announced on Thursday. A Rs 50 instant discount will be valid for Jio Prepaid users for who have Rs 50 cashback vouchers from Jio on recharging via MyJio App and another Rs 50 instant cashback when payment is done via PhonePe, inside MyJio App. Jio’s Rs 399 plan offers 1.5GB of daily data for a validity of 84 days. The total data available over the course of 84 days is 126GB. The plan further offers unlimited calling, 100 SMS per day and complimentary access to Jio’s suite of apps. All this will now cost Rs 299 under the Holiday Hungama offer for a limited period of time. The Holiday Hungama prepaid offer is valid for recharges made between June 1 and June 15, 2018. “Jio wishes to make it easier for people to recharge on the go and make the most of these holidays,” the company said in a press statement. To avail the latest offer, log into the My Jio app and click on the Recharge tab. After that, select the Rs 399 plan and click on the ‘Buy’ button to access the payments page. Here, select PhonePe as your payment option. The app will then ask you to sign-in to your PhonePe account after confirming your number and OTP. Complete the payment using the PhonePe wallet and you will be eligible for the Rs 100 instant discount.

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Dell and Microsoft working on foldable Windows hybrids powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 850: Report

 
If information circulating the internet is to be believed, then Microsoft and Dell are planning to release foldable smartphone/laptop hybrids running on the upcoming Qualcomm Snapdragon 850 platform. Currently, Qualcomm’s latest chipset, the Snapdragon 845, powers flagship smartphones. The only flagship running on the platform in India is the OnePlus 6. The Snapdragon 850 is apparently just a Snapdragon 845 chip that’s been modified to run at faster speeds. The Snapdragon 850 is aimed at Windows ultra-portable devices. It features 8-cores with the “big” cluster clocked higher than the Snapdragon 845. It seems that the chipset will run Microsoft’s recently patented all screen foldable device. This isn’t the first time we will see PC hardware powered by a mobile chipset. At its annual Snapdragon Technology Summit, Qualcomm announced Snapdragon 835-powered Always Connected Windows PCs bringing in all day battery life, gigabit LTE connectivity and Windows 10 S operating system. The Snapdragon 835-powered PCs have the Qualcomm X16 Gigabit modem for 5G connectivity and have more than 20 hours of battery life. Although we'd like to make it clear that the 20 hour battery life can only be achieved when the brightness of the device is kept low and the processor isn't under heavy strain like running games or heavy apps. The devices are slim and sleek with Windows 10 S at the heart of the OS. The processor is clocked at 2.21GHz. Further, the hybrid laptops use a fan less design, similar to Intel's M series processors we have seen power devices like the MacBook. You can read more about the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 powered PCs here.  Source

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Patanjalis Kimbho app busted by security researcher Elliot Alderson, taken down from Play Store citing server issues

 
Yoga guru Baba Ramdev's Patanjali had published a new online messaging app named Kimbho yesterday. The app was announced in a tweet by the company’s spokesperson SK Tijarawala. The so called 'desi' messaging app aims to take on the likes of WhatsApp and WeChat, however, it seems that the Kimbho app is nowhere as secure as it should be, and was instead, a total security nightmare. Going by the Tweets of renowned French security researcher Elliot Alderson (@fs0c131y), it is possible to break into the Kimbho app and send a customised security verification code between 0001 and 9999 to the phone number of your choice. Alderson later tweeted that the app is a complete rip-off of another application on the Apple’s App Store called ‘Bolo Messenger’ and that he is able to access messages of all users of the Kimbho app. The Kimbho app was taken down from the Play Store later during the day.  The app’s listing on the Play Store indicated that it was made by Patanjali Communications and by the developer Appdios, who also published the Bolo Messenger app in 2015. However, the Kimbho app’s website is still under construction and also prone to hacking, says @fs0c131y. There is also a Twitter account named Kimbho Chat App (@KimbhoApp) and its latest tweet reads, “We are facing extremely high traffic on Kimbho. We are in process of upgrading our servers and will be back shortly. Sorry for the inconvenience. Please stay tuned.” Patanjali’s spokesperson Tijarawala also tweeted that the app is no longer available for download on any platform and that the company doesn’t take any responsibility if you install any duplicate apps. He also says that the app was published for one day on the Play Store as a trial run and under three hours, more than 1.5 lakh users have downloaded the app. “Technical work is in progress & #KIMBHO APP will be officially launched soon @yogrishiramdev”, He adds. What we fail to understand is, why publish a half-baked app with tons of security flaws on both Android and iOS app stores for open download if it’s not ready? Most apps are tested in Alpha, Beta and/or limited user testing before being open to download for all, but it seems that the app’s publisher had some misplaced confidence in their app’s capabilities. Additionally, even if it was a one-day trial run, which it should not have been, does not mean that the app’s developers get leeway on copying and repackaging their previous app in such a defective manner. After digging around, we found on LinkedIn that Aditi Kamal and Sumit Kumar are the founders of Appdios Inc. Going by their profiles, the two have worked with companies like Google and Apple. We also found Kamal’s Twitter account and before writing this article she tweeted, “We got 2+ lakhs downloads within 6 hours of app beta launch. Not many apps have got this overwhelming response. Our servers were not expecting this much traffic. We have paused our services and will be back very soon with formal app launch. Please be with us #Kimbho” Kamal also posted some images of the app’s analytics from the Google Play Store, which are somewhat concerning given the vulnerabilities found in the app. As per the images, over 216,000 users installed the app in the brief amount of time it was available for download.

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Coolpad wants to cooperate with Xiaomi provided it stops infringing on their patents

 
Coolpad and Xiaomi are going to be at loggerheads not in the smartphone market. Instead, they will be taking each other on in a Chinese courtroom after Coolpad filed a patent infringement case against Xiaomi in January 2018. However, Coolpad, in a briefing with the Indian media, said that it is open to cooperation with Xiaomi provided the company agrees to stop the sale and manufacturing of infringing products immediately. “As of today, we want to put an end on the infringing activities of Xiaomi before they obtain a valid license from Coolpad. We stand ready to cooperate with Xiaomi to push forward the communication industry in a friendly manner,” Nancy Zhang, Global Chief Patent Officer, Coolpad said in the briefing. The company owns around 13,000 patents globally which are mostly centered around basic communication systems, display and interactions technology. The most important patent, for which Coolpad won multiple awards and accolades is the Dual SIM technology. Coolpad claimed eight Xiaomi smartphones that are currently in the market are using the technology without obtaining a valid license for it. Apart from that, there are three other patents that Xiaomi is allegedly infringing upon which includes patents for icon management,  systems interaction and user interface systems. The smartphones include the flagship Mi 6 and the Mi Mix 2 apart from the Mi Max 2, Mi Note 3, Mi 5X, Redmi Note 5 and the Redmi 5 Plus. Coolpad had sent warning letters back in 2014 to Xiaomi informing them of the patent infringement but the company claims Xiaomi never responded. "Back in 2014, we sent warning letters to Xiaomi informing Xiaomi they are using our technologies without  obtaining licenses from Coolpad and we requested friendly negotiations and talks with Xiaomi, but Xiaomi never replied,” Nancy said. Four years later, Coolpad has taken Xiaomi to court. It’s subsidiary, Yulong has filed a case against Xiaomi with Shenzhen Intermediate People’s Court and the application was approved by the court on Janurary 25 2018. However, Xiaomi has a different story to tell. In a statement to Digit.in, the company said, “Xiaomi was made aware that Coolpad filed the motion before the Shenzhen Intermediate People’s Court regarding alleged patent infringements. However Xiaomi understands that the filing has yet to be accepted by the court.” Xiaomi, which claims itself to be the number 1 smartphone brand in India has also requested the Patent Reexamination Board of SIPO, which is the official organisation that grants patents in China, to declare the invalidation of the three patent rights regarding the above mentioned patent infringement law suit. In May 2018, Coolpad further stirred the pot by filing an injunctive relief requesting the court to “ban the sale, the promise of sale and the manufacturing of the above mentioned smartphones of Xiaomi.” According to Coolpad, the injunctive relief can be granted even before court proceedings begin. "According to Chinese Civil Procedure, it is standard procedure for the plaintiff to file for protection even before the litigation and trial begins. It is also based on the Chinese civil law. The plaintiff can request the stopping of an infringing activity with the court,” Nancy said. The court, however, has yet to grant the injunctive relief request made by Coolpad against Xiaomi. In three of the lawsuits filed by Coolpad against Xiaomi, Coolpad has filed for customs protection for two patents, which include “method of mobile telecommunication device collaboration and its interface system” (CN200610034034.8) and “implementation method for multi-model mobile device call history interface system” (ZL200610034036.7). Customs protection means the patent holder can seek protections from the customs department regarding the patents informing customs about the patent holder status and information related to the infringing product so that they can monitor the goods that pass through customs for suspected IP infringements. But Coolpad hopes it won’t have to go hard on Xiaomi. In a statement, Coolpad said, “Litigation is a legal remedy for resolving intellectual property disputes. Coolpad is looking forward to working with Xiaomi to find a better solution, strengthen intellectual property protection and create a good working environment.”

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Thursday, May 31, 2018

Daily deals roundup: Discounts on headphones, gaming consoles and more

 
Today we have deals covering a wide category of devices. We have listed some of the best deals you can get on gaming consoles, audio devices like headphones and earphones, and more.  Philips IN- HTL1041/94 40 W Bluetooth Soundbar Deals Story: Rs 6,999 The Philips Bluetooth soundbar has a power output of 40W and comes with an external subwoofer which has a max power output of 18W. The device has 2.1 configurations with an aux input connection. You can buy it here. Samsung LS22F355FHWXXL 21.5-inch LED Monitor Deal Price: Rs 8,090 + Rs 1,133 cashback The Samsung monitor sports a full HD resolution and flicker-free technology. It features a LED-backlit panel and has a response time of 5ms. You can buy it here. Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Deal Price: Rs 59,990 The Samsung Galaxy Note 8 is powered by the Exynos 8895 octa-core processor with 6GB RAM and 64GB internal storage. It features a 6.3-inch QHD+ display and features a 12MP dual-rear camera and an 8MP front-facing sensor. You will also receive an Rs 8,000 cashback as Amazon Pay balance on purchasing it via the seller STPL. You can purchase the smartphone here. JBL T450 Extra Bass On-Ear Headphones with Mic Deal Price: Rs 1,895 + Rs 190 Cashback The JBL headphones come with 32mm drivers and sport a frequency response between 20Hz and 20KHz. It comes with a mic and button to control music playback and flat wires which don’t tangle easily. You can buy the device here. Apple AirPods Wireless Bluetooth Earphones Deal Price: Rs 12,442 + Rs 1,493 cashback  The Bluetooth enabled Apple AirPods boast of giving three hours of audio playback in a short 15 minute charging time. It comes with a case, which also charges the devices. You can buy it here.  Microsoft Xbox One X 1TB Gaming Console  Deal Price: 40,990 The recently launched Xbox One X is on sale with a 10 percent discount and the console supports gaming at 4K resolution and also doubles as a Blu-ray player. You can check it out here. Sony PS4 Slim 1 TB with Call of Duty Infinite Warfare( Standard Edition)  Offer Price: Rs 31,790 + Rs 200 cashback The PS4 features High Dynamic Range (HDR) technology and features 2.4GHz/5GHz Wi-Fi mode options and HDMI 2.0 output. The large 1TB HDD should be sufficient for most gamers and it comes pre-bundled with the COD Infinite Warfare title. You can buy the gaming console here.  Epson EB-S41 Projector  Offer price: Rs 28,999  The Epson SVGA projector has a maximum projection distance of 16.7mm and a lamp life of 10000 hours. It also has an 800X600p resolution and has 10 bits of colour processing support. You can buy it here. 

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Xiaomi announces Mi 8, Mi 8 Explorer Edition, Mi 8 SE, Mi Band 3, Mi LED TV 4, Mi VR Standalone headset and MIUI 10

 
Just as teased, Xiaomi has launched its Mi 8 smartphone in China today, along with the Mi 8 Explorer Edition and a smaller Mi 8 SE model. Apart from the smartphones, MIUI 10 was also showcased today, along with the unveiling of the Mi Band 3, a 75-inch Mi LED TV 4 and the Mi VR Standalone headset. The Chinese manufacturer has gone all out for its 8th anniversary and as rumoured, the Mi 8 is Xiaomi’s first smartphone to feature a notch on the display. The Mi 8 Explorer edition can be considered the top-model with a transparent rear panel and a pressure-sensitive in-display fingerprint sensor. The Mi 8 SE is a smaller variant that is less powerful than the other two models, but is now the first device to be running on the Snapdragon 710 SoC. The Xiaomi Mi 8 houses a four-way curved glass back panel and an aluminium frame. Even with a notch on top of the display, there is a bottom chin. The Mi 8 will be available in Black, Blue, Gold and White color variants and is priced at 2699 yuan (Rs 28,460 approx) for the 6GB RAM/ 64GB storage model and is priced at 2999 yuan (Rs 31,620 approx) and 3299 yuan (Rs 34,785 approx) for the 128GB and 256GB storage versions respectively.  Both the Mi 8 and the Mi 8 Explorer edition smartphones feature a 6.21-inch Full HD+ AMOLED ‘notch’ display which is supplied by Samsung with 600 nits brightness with 60000:1 contrast ratio. They are powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 SoC, which the company says scored 301,472 on AnTuTu benchmarks. The devices run on Android 8.1 Oreo with MIUI 9 on top but the company has promised an MIUI 10 update soon. The dual-SIM smartphones feature a vertically stacked 12MP + 12MP dual rear camera that comes with 1.4ยตm pixel size, 4-axis OIS, dual-tone LED flash, AI portraits, AI scene detection and video editing support. The notch on the front houses a 20MP camera sensor, a proximity sensor, an earpiece, infrared lighting and an infrared lens. The last two pieces of equipment enable a user to unlock the Mi 8 using its IR Face unlock feature and the Mi 8 Explorer Edition using 3D Face unlock. Xiaomi says that the Mi 8 Explorer Edition is the first Android smartphone to feature 3D Face Unlock technology. The Mi 8 also comes with a rear-mounted fingerprint sensor. The Mi 8 is backed by a 3400mAh whereas the Explorer Edition packs a 3000mAh battery. Both devices support QC 4+ fast charging and the Mi 8 also comes with Dual-frequency GPS. It is said to “eliminate interference from buildings and reduce signal delays, increasing the accuracy of navigating with Mi 8.” The Mi 8 SE features a 5.8-inches Full HD+ 18.7: 9 display with a notch on top and it comes in two variants, one with 4GB RAM/64GB storage and another with or 6GB RAM with 64GB of internal memory. The smartphone features a 12MP+5MP dual camera setup on the rear, while on the front is a 20MP sensor. It is backed by a 3120 mAh battery and it will be available in Red, Blue, Gold and Black colour variants.    Except for the Mi 8 Explorer Edition's transparent rear panel, it has the same exterior design as the standard Mi 8. It also sports a pressure-sensitive in-display fingerprint sensor and is priced at 3699 yuan (Rs 39,000 approx). It comes in one variant of 8GB RAM, coupled with 256GB internal storage. Both versions of the Mi 8 will be available in China starting June 5. The Mi 8 SE’s base model starts at CNY 1,799 (Rs 19,000 approx) whereas its 6GB RAM variant costs Yuan 1999 (Rs 21,080 approx). As AI seems to be the new gold, the newly launched MIUI 10 also makes extensive use of it. There is now a revamped recent screen that is said to maximise screen space, support full-screen display gesture, swipe to delete tasks and more. Additionally, the MIUI 10 itself helps the user to capture AI portraits with bokeh effects on both single and dual camera smartphones. Using Machine Learning, MIUI 10 is said to reduce load times to “zero” by studying and anticipating a user’s actions and it can also be used for controlling smart home devices.  Xiaomi also launched its largest ever television, the Mi TV 4 which is a thin-bezel TV with built-in AI voice assistant. It features a 4K HDR Ultra HD display and is powered by the 64-bit ARM-A53 quad-core processor with 2GB RAM and 32GB internal storage. The Mi Band 3 has also been unveiled at the event and it features a 0.78-inch OLED capacitive display and one can view messages and answer calls via the device. It is also waterproof up to 50m, claims of a 20-day battery life and comes with motion tracking and health management features. Further, Xiaomi announced the Mi VR Standalone headset that the company has developed in collaboration with Oculus. It is powered by the Snapdragon 821 platform, is wireless and comes with a 2k fast switch screen. There is an “intuitive” controller for the device and it is backed by a 2600mAh battery. The company announced that there are already over 1000 Oculus optimised games available for it.

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YouTuber gets Google Assistant to trigger a gun, makes us ponder the dangers of AI

 
In a world that's progressively ploarising into pro-AI and anti-AI netizens, a video dropped on YouTube by Alexander Reben last week has managed to send reactions of different kinds rippling through the vast internet. The thirty-second-long video shows an air gun mounted on a stand with a string attached to its trigger. The ends of the string are attached to a solenoid, which, in turn is connected to a switch that can be controlled by the Google Assistant. Within the gun's line of sight is an apple (read: a few centimetres away from the muzzle), also placed on a stand of equal height. So, when a voice commands, 'Activate Gun', the gun fires a pellet at the apple, knocking it down to the floor. Watchers of the video were seen reacting in either one of two ways: dismissing the stunt or making a fanciful story out of it. Some users of YouTube and Reddit commented that it was a cheap trick to name a switch 'Gun' and have Google Assistant activate it, while online media networks like Engadget and Shacknews constructed a story out of it with exciting headlines like, 'We're A Little Concerned'. Where do we, at Digit, stand on the matter? Well, we believe that while the video itself doesn't convey anything about the malevolence of Google Assistant or artificial intelligence-enabled systems in general, it does tend to let our imaginations drift towards the sombre image of a more sophisticated weapon setup, where a virtual assistant like Google Assistant or Amazon Alexa is instructed to pull the trigger of a gun to shoot a real bullet at something more substantial and more significant than a little red apple. When we covered Google's I/O 2018 earlier this month, Sundar Pichai was heard saying, after the demonstration of AI-enabled tools for health care, "It’s clear technology can be a positive force, but it’s equally clear we just can’t be wide-eyed about about the innovation tech creates. We feel a deep sense of responsibility about how to get this right." Given how unnervingly accurate Google Duplex was during its demonstration at I/O 2018 earlier this month, it makes us think harder and deeper about the direction in which artificial intelligence is headed in general. Could there be a day when an instruction to harm somebody is as easy as an instruction to turn the kitchen lights on? Are we on the path to a world of easy creations peppered equally with easy distructions? Well, SpaceX and Tesla-CEO thinks we can relax at least for the moment, "Absent a major paradigm shift - something unforeseeable at present - I would not say we are at the point where we should truly be worried about AI going out of control." It behoves us to be more cognizant of the machines we build in any case.

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Swiggy testing WhatsApp enterprise solution for better connectivity

 
Online food ordering and delivery platform Swiggy on Thursday announced that it is testing WhatsApp enterprise solution as a faster way to stay connected with customers. "Swiggy will appear in WhatsApp chat interfaces on consumers' smartphones and will keep them abreast of their order status in real-time, providing seamless communications system," the food-delivering app said in a statement. Consumers, however, will have a choice to opt out of Swiggy's WhatsApp services by replying with "STOP" on the chat-thread. "With this new integration, Swiggy aims to further enhance utility and convenience for its consumers," the company added. The online food delivery platform will continue to update customers who are not on WhatsApp via text messages. The service is already available for some users as part of testing and will be rolled out for all soon, Swiggy said.

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Netflix redesigns Android apps video player to change UI for the better

 
Netflix users on Android are in for some better news today as the platform is rolling out a redesigned video player with added controls and improved navigation to switch between episodes. The update is rolling out to all Android users of the Netflix app currently, but the redesigned video player has not yet showed up for the iOS version of Netflix’s mobile app. So how has the player changed? Well, for starters, the revised video player has added three new buttons. The much needed 10-second forward and rewind buttons now show up when you tap the screen while watching a video on the app. This is not something we haven’t already seen on other video streaming platforms, but it’s a welcome update for Netflixers who have been asking for these buttons since a while. Another new button added is the ‘Next Episode’ button which is labelled by the same name and allows users to, you guessed it, navigate to the next episode faster. Other controls on the video player have also been labelled for ease of use. Users can now switch between episodes by tapping on the ‘Episodes’ button within the player itself. Once the episode list opens up, users can go ahead and select episodes for download as well. Audio language and subtitles can also be better managed with the labelled button now visible clearly at the bottom of the player. All these new buttons have haptic feedback. Further, the play/pause button has now moved to the centre of the screen, instead of its previous placement to the extreme left of the screen. There is no news on when the redesigned video player will show up on the iOS version of the Netflix app, but we guess it shouldn't take long.

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