ASUS launched the Max M2 in India along with the Max Pro M2. We already brought you the unboxing of the Max Pro M2, here is the unboxing and the first impressions of the
Box Contents
ASUS Zenfone Max M2 smartphone in Black color
2-pin charger (5V-2A)
Micro USB cable
SIM Ejector tool
Clear protective case
User guide and warrant information
The Zenfone Max M2 has a 6.26-inch screen with a notch, but this features HD+ resolution. Powered by Snapdragon 632 SoC with up to 4GB of RAM, the phone runs Android 8.1 (Oreo) which is stock. There is a small chin below the screen, similar to most other phones with a notch.
The notch has an earpiece,8-megapixel camera, LED flash, sensors as well as notification LED.
Unlike the Max Pro M2 with a glass-like back, this has a metal back with plastic finish on the top and the bottom like the Max Pro M1. The phone feels solid in hand.
There is a 13-megapixel rear camera with f/1.8 aperture, EIS, along with a secondary 2-megapixel camera for portrait shots. There is also a fingerprint sensor on the back. It has dedicated dual SIM and microSD card slots and packs a huge 4000mAh battery, but it doesn't have ...
ASUS launched the Max M2 in India along with the Max Pro M2. We already brought you the unboxing of the Max Pro M2, here is the unboxing and the first impressions of the
Box Contents
ASUS Zenfone Max M2 smartphone in Black color
2-pin charger (5V-2A)
Micro USB cable
SIM Ejector tool
Clear protective case
User guide and warrant information
The Zenfone Max M2 has a 6.26-inch screen with a notch, but this features HD+ resolution. Powered by Snapdragon 632 SoC with up to 4GB of RAM, the phone runs Android 8.1 (Oreo) which is stock. There is a small chin below the screen, similar to most other phones with a notch.
The notch has an earpiece,8-megapixel camera, LED flash, sensors as well as notification LED.
Unlike the Max Pro M2 with a glass-like back, this has a metal back with plastic finish on the top and the bottom like the Max Pro M1. The phone feels solid in hand.
There is a 13-megapixel rear camera with f/1.8 aperture, EIS, along with a secondary 2-megapixel camera for portrait shots. There is also a fingerprint sensor on the back. It has dedicated dual SIM and microSD card slots and packs a huge 4000mAh battery, but it doesn't have ...
After a leak, Huawei P Smart (2019) a mid-range smartphone has been listed by a French retailer revealing complete specifications and images. It has a 6.21-inch Full HD+ waterdrop notch display with 19:5:9 aspect ratio and over 90% screen-to-body ratio, is powered by Kirin 710 SoC with 3GB RAM, support for GPU Turbo 2.0 and runs Android 9.0 (Pie) with EMUI 9.0 on top. It has a 13-megapixel rear camera with f/1.8 aperture along with a secondary 2-megapixel camera for AI portraits and AI scene detection.
It also comes with a 8-megapixel front camera with AI selfies, has a glass back with gradiant finish in some models, rear-mounted fingerprint sensor and packs a 3400mAh battery.
Huawei P Smart (2019) specifications
6.21-inch (2340 x 1080 pixels) Full HD+ 19:5:9 2.5D curved glass display
Octa-Core Kirin 710 12nm (4 x 2.2GHz Cortex-A73 +4 x 1.7GHz Cortex-A53) with ARM Mali-G51 MP4 GPU
3GB RAM, 64GB storage, expandable memory up to 512GB with microSD
Android 9.0 (Pie) with EMUI 9.0
Hybrid Dual SIM (nano + nano / microSD)
13MP rear camera with f/1.8 aperture, LED flash, secondary 2MP rear camera
8MP front-facing camera
Dimensions: 155.2×73.4×8mm; Weight: 160g
Fingerprint sensor
Dual 4G VoLTE, Wi-Fi 802.11 ac (2.4GHz + 5GHz), Bluetooth 4.2 ...
LG has announced new ultra-light gram laptop line-up and will showcase the same at CES 2019. This new laptop in the gram series includes the new LG gram 17 (model 17Z990) and 14-inch LG gram 2-in-1 which conveniently folds to transform from laptop to tablet.
The LG gram 17 sports a 17-inch high-resolution WQXGA (2560 x 1600 resolution) 16:10 ratio display. It weighs 1,340 grams and features a highly efficient 72W battery that can last up to 19.5 hours on a single charge. The laptop complies with U.S. military MIL-STD-810G durability including shock, dust and extreme temperatures.
It is powered by the 8th Generation Intel Core processor and up to 16GB of DDR4 memory, and comes with 256GB solid-state drive (SSD) and has an extra slot for an additional SSD. It also includes Thunderbolt 3 port means users can charge devices, transfer files and display content via a single port. Additionally, it has support for DTS Headphone X surround sound and a fingerprint sensor.
Up next is the LG Gram 2-in-1 convertible boasts a distinctive form factor with a 14-inch touchscreen display with Corning Gorilla Glass 5. It also meets the U.S. military MIL-STD-810G standard for durability. The 2-in-1 comes with Wacom AES 2.0 Pen with 4,096 pressure ...
Google, until now allowed free photo and videos to be uploaded to Photos services as long as they are compressed. However, the company is changing it now, as of December 6th, videos in unsupported formats are no longer included in the free storage.
In the Google support site, the company added the following note: "videos uploaded after December 6, 2018, take up storage space." Google Photos supports almost any video format which includes .mpg, .mod, .mmv, .tod, .wmv, .asf, .avi, .divx, .mov, .m4v, .3gp, .3g2, .mp4, .m2t, .m2ts, .mts, and .mkv files. Since it is on the unsupported video page, your files are likely still free.
Rare video formats like VOB or RAW video from a high-end camera will take up storage space going forward. It is also likely that Photos users are tinkering with the file containers to make large, non-video files look like videos. Something of this kind that might have counted as free storage in the past but no more.
Source
Following the trend, it set, Google is back with 'Year in Search' for 2018. The quick recap highlights all the user’s interests based on the searches made by the users in India on Google and also covers the major events happened in the last 12-month period.
This year in the top 10 overall list, sporting events and entertainment are the two topics that dominated search queries. Questions around FIFA topping those around the IPL events. Searches for children’s shows including Baal Veer and Motu Patlu also made it to the list. There were queries relating to Robot 2.0.
There were three Hollywood movies that made it to this list, all of which happen to be Marvel blockbusters: Avengers: Infinity War, Black Panther, and Deadpool 2. On the music front, the songs that ruled the roost included Neha Kakkar’s Dilbar Dilbar, Arijit Singh’s Tera Fitoor and others, where the lone English entrant was the evergreen Latin hit Despacito. Among the personalities that took prominence in Search this year, topping the list is Priya Prakash Varrier, followed by Priyanka Chopra's spouse, Nick Jonas.
Among the most interesting searches were those centered around ‘How to..’, and ‘What is…’, which saw a wide variety of asks spanning ‘What is the ...
OnePlus has released Android 9.0 (Pie) open beta update for its 5 and 5T smartphones (Open Beta 22 for the OnePlus 5 and Open Beta 20), ahead of stable roll out in the coming weeks. This comes after the OnePlus 6 got the stable Android Pie-based OxygenOS 9.0 update back in September. The update brings new navigation gestures for the 5T, Parallel Apps support for more phones, and more features.
The OnePlus 5 / 5T Android 9.0 Pie beta update is 1.7GB in size and also includes Android security patch for November 2018. Check out the complete change log below.
System
Updated system to Android™ 9.0 Pie
Brand new UI for Android Pie
Brand new navigation gestures (this is only for 5T)
Updated Android security patch to 2018.11
Optimizations for background app process handling
Do Not Disturb mode
New Do Not Disturb mode with adjustable settings
Communication
UI Improvements for emergency rescue
Optimized UI for speed dial and calling interface
Now able to assign a specific SIM for a specific contact or group of contacts when using dual SIM
Parallel Apps
Added support for more apps (Telegram, Discord, IMO, Uber, OLA) in parallel apps
Weather
Now able to switch dynamically to your current location
...
OnePlus just launched the OnePlus 6T McLaren Edition in India, as it had promised. It was introduced at an event in UK yesterday, packs 10GB of RAM and 30 watt Warp Charge 30, OnePlus’ new charging standard that promises 50% charge in just 20 minutes of charge for a day’s use. That company has used new Integrated Circuits in both the charger and the phone, as well as finely tuned power management software without generating excessive heat.
It has Papaya Orange finish that races around the bottom edge of the device before fading into the black. The pattern underneath the glass back of the phone is based on McLaren’s groundbreaking carbon fiber. Light streaks across the McLaren logo, illuminating and disappearing in an instant.
In the box there is a book celebrating the history of both companies, Papaya Orange braided cord cable, McLaren’s logo, the iconic Speedmark, recreated in McLaren-designed F1 AA grade carbon fiber – the same material used in the McLaren MCL33 2018 Formula 1 car. OnePlus says that over six F1 cars’ worth of carbon fiber were used in the production of the Speedmarks. The phone has exclusive software animations, tuned to McLaren’s unique style and history.
OnePlus 6T McLaren Edition specifications
6.41-inch (2340 × ...
Its hardly been a few weeks since the launch of the OnePlus 6T Thunder Purple edition and the company is back with yet another special edition. The McLaren Edition of the phone, however, is more than just a new colourway. With their partnership with McLaren, the focus is entirely on speed and that's just what OnePlus has worked on.
Let's get straight to the point. There are two big changes here. The RAM on the OnePlus 6T has been bumped up all the way to 10GB. Why? In an interaction with OnePlus, the company claimed that they've made optimizations to load game and app content from the ROM into the RAM. The top 100 apps on the Play Store have been tested for this though the company claims that any app with a large amount of data will benefit from the added amount of RAM.
The other big change is Warp Charge 30. The next generation of Dash Charge, the new charging standard will charge your phone to 50% within 30 minutes and deliver a full charge in 59 minutes. While this is exclusive to the McLaren edition, you can expect it to be standard on the next main stream OnePlus smartphone.
The ...
Samsung Electronics announced that it will cease operations at one of its mobile phone manufacturing plants in China, owing to poor sales in China amid rising competition from lower-cost local rivals. Samsung has witnessed its shares in China shrink to 1 percent in the Q1 2018 of this year
The company is losing its share to home-grown brands like Huawei. According to Counterpoint market research firm, Samsung’s share in China was around 15% at mid-2013. The factory currently employs about 2,600 people and is scheduled to be shut down by the end of this year.Samsung said that it would offer compensation packages to the employees and also provide opportunities to transfer to other Samsung facilities.
The company of late has been focusing on low-cost countries like Vietnam and India for production. The company would continue to operate another Chinese phone factory in Huizhou, in the southern province of Guangdong. Samsung’s Tianjin plant produces 36 million mobile phones a year and the Huizhou plant makes 72 million units, while two of Samsung’s factories in Vietnam combined make 240 million units a year.
Samsung in a statement said:
As part of ongoing efforts to enhance efficiency in our production facilities, Samsung Electronics has arrived at the difficult decision to ...
Apple is actively building its own cellular modem chip for future iPhones, according to reports. Apple said to have put engineers to work on the project close to its headquarters in Northern California. For several months, Apple has also been actively hiring engineers in San Diego.
Since the wireless modems are complex, it could take Apple at least three years to ship iPhones with their own modems. Apple is already rumored to debut its first 5G-enabled iPhone in 2020, with an Intel modem, so the first iPhone with an Apple-designed modem could launch in 2021. This move will also help Apple to shift towards the in-house chip.
The shift wouldn't be all that surprising, as Apple is currently in a legal battle with its former modem supplier Qualcomm over chip-related licensing fees. Intel will be the exclusive supplier of modems in the latest iPhones. For now, though, there's no timeline as to when these modems would make it to the market, but we will update you when we hear anything.
Source
Xiaomi launched the Redmi 6A, successor of last year’s Redmi 5A in India back in September starting at Rs. 5999. However, at the launch the company said that the pricing is complimentary and it will increase in a couple of months. It also increased the price of 16GB version by Rs. 600 and Rs. 500 for the 32GB version last month. Now the company has cut the price of the phone back at launch prices of Rs. 5999 and Rs. 6999. You can get the phone on Amazon.in, Mi.com and offline stores.
Last month Xiaomi Mi A2, Redmi Note 5 Pro and Redmi Y2 smartphones got a price cut in India to celebrate Xiaomi being is the top Smartphone Brand for 5 quarters in a row, as per the latest IDC report. The company said that Xiaomi India has an amazing 42% share of dual camera phones.
Last month it hiked the rates of Redmi 6, 10000mAh Mi Powerbank 2i and Mi TV (32″ Pro & 49″ Pro), however it didn't say if these will get a price cut to original rates.
Intel at the Architecture Days 2018, has revealed the CPU core roadmaps through 2021 which includes the next generation of integrated graphics, the future of Intel’s graphics business, new chips built on 3D packaging technologies, and even parts of the microarchitecture for the 2019 consumer processors.
For the high-performance Core architecture, Intel has three new codenames over the next three years. These are the code names for the individual core microarchitecture, not the chip. Sunny Cove is built on 10nm and will come to market in 2019 and offer increased single-threaded performance, new instructions, and ‘improved scalability’.
Next up, the Sunny Cove will have AVX-512. These cores, when paired with Gen11 graphics, will be called Ice Lake. Willow Cove looks to be a design for 2020, most likely also on 10nm. Intel lists the highlights here as a cache redesign, new transistor optimizations, and additional security features, likely referring to further enhancements from new classes of side-channel attacks.
Golden Cove; the round of trio will firmly come in 2021 and we’re likely to see it on 10nm and or 7nm. Golden Cove is where Intel adds another slice of the serious pie onto its plate, with an increase in single threaded performance, a focus on ...
It has been a year since Micromax launched its mid-range Canvas Infinity Pro smartphone. In the past few months the company has been launching budget smartphone and Android Oreo Go Edition smartphones. Today the company has sent out invites for the launch of its first smartphone with a notch.
The invite just shows a notch without reavealing any other details about the smartphone.
We are excited, the countdown has begun. #AboveTheRest pic.twitter.com/Egtv7oeeUM
— Micromax India (@Micromax_Mobile) December 12, 2018
On social media teasers, the company mentions #AboveTheRest and also asks Does the Powerful excite you? These teasers hint at a new Canvas series smartphone. We should know more details in the coming days.
Google has unveiled a new and immersive shopping search experience catered for Indian users. The new personalized experience will allow users to easily filter through offers, review prices from multiple retailers and find the products they are looking for. This experience is available across several Google products; a made-to-browse experience on the Shopping home page, the Shopping tab on Google Search and in Google Lens. For retailers, Google has expanded the Merchant Center to Hindi.
The new ‘Shopping Homepage’ is a made-to-browse destination for shoppers to search across multiple product categories, and browse products from thousands of retailers. To make the shopping experience richer, it comes with smart features like price drops and a collection of the most popular products on Google have been added. The experience will also be available as a Progressive Web App (PWA) for users with entry-level phones.
The ‘Shopping Tab’ in Google Search will allow users to post queries in Hindi and English and show product lists, local store inventory and review prices from across multiple retailers. Lastly, Style Search in Google Lens is an all-new visual approach to find products such as clothes, furniture, and home decor, by simply pointing the Lens app. Retailers can now also use Merchant Center to upload product details so they can appear across Google, without paying for ad campaigns.
Talking about ...
Mobiistar has launched C1, the company's latest smartphone in the 'C series' in India. It has a 5.34-inch FWVGA+ display, is powered by a quad-core MediaTek MT6739 processor with 2GB of RAM, runs Android 8.1 (Oreo), has a 13-megapixel rear camera and a 8-megapixel front camera, both with LED flash. It doesn't have a fingerprint sensor, but comes with face unlock.
Mobiistar C1 Shine specifications
5.34-inch (480 x 960 pixels) FWVGA+ 18:9 display
1.28GHz quad-core MediaTek MT6739 64-bit processor with PowerVR Rogue GE8100 GPU
2GB RAM, 16GB internal storage, expandable memory up to 128GB with microSD
Android 8.1 (Oreo)
Hybrid Dual SIM (nano + nano / microSD)
13MP rear camera with LED flash
8MP front camera with LED flash
Dimensions: 146.17x70.46x8.75 mm; Weight: 166g
4G VoLTE, WiFi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.2, GPS
3000mAh battery
The Mobiistar C1 Shine comes in blue, gold and space grey colors, is priced at Rs. 6100 and will be available through over 500 distributors across the country from December 15th. The company said that it has set up 1000 service centres to provide best in class after sales services to its customers.
Vivo has announced to launch their second manufacturing facility in India. The company has acquired additional 169-acre of land in the Yamuna Expressway region in Uttar Pradesh with an estimated investment of Rs. 4000 crore. Hon’ble Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Shri Yogi Adityanath welcomed the initiative and congratulated Vivo for the upcoming facility.
The new land has been acquired near the existing 50-acre manufacturing facility. This will help Vivo expand its manufacturing capabilities and support Vivo’s continued growth in India. All Vivo smartphones sold in the country are manufactured at the Greater Noida facility.
The existing manufacturing set-up which was set up with an investment of Rs. 300 crore already functions at a capacity of 2 million units per month with more than 5,000 workforces. Vivo said that it will also contribute significantly to the socio-economic growth of the manufacturing ecosystem in India by creating additional jobs, wage growth, and skill development.
iI hopes to generate 5000 additional employment in the first phase of expansion. During this phase, Vivo also plans to double the current production capacity to 50 million units per annum.
Nipun Marya, Director-Brand Strategy, Vivo India said:
Vivo entered India in 2014 with a commitment to bring product innovation, focus and value ...
Apple has announced that it will set up a new campus in Austin with an investment of $1 billion. The company also announced plans to establish new sites in Seattle, San Diego, and Culver City and expand in cities across the United States including Pittsburgh, New York and Boulder, Colorado over the next three years.
Apple added 6,000 jobs to its American workforce in 2018 and now employs 90,000 people in all 50 states. As announced in January, the company is on track to create 20,000 jobs in the US by 2023. Apple’s newest Austin campus will be located less than a mile from its existing facilities. The 133-acre campus will initially accommodate 5,000 additional employees, with the capacity to grow to 15,000, and is expected to make Apple the largest private employer in Austin.
Jobs created at the new campus will include a broad range of functions including engineering, R&D, operations, finance, sales, and customer support. The new campus will include 50 acres of preserved open space and, like all Apple facilities worldwide, its workspaces will be powered by 100 percent renewable energy. Apple plans to invest $10 billion in US data centers over the next five years, including $4.5 billion this year ...
It is already known that Samsung is busy prepping the Galaxy S10 and its variants which are due in February 2019. According to a new report, the launch date, release date, storage sizes, screen sizes, variants, some features, and even the UK price points have leaked.
The S10 will launch at a Samsung Unpacked event before the Mobile World Congress 2019, on the 20th of February, according to the report. The phone will be available for pre-order the same and will then be released on the 8th of March. Sources further suggest that the S10 will be available in three variants; the regular version, a Plus version, and a flat version. Furthermore, it will also have a regular 3.5mm headphone jack.
As expected, the Galaxy S10 will have the Infinity O display that contains a selfie camera and it avoids having a notch. Like the Huawei Mate 20 Pro, the S10 will be able to wirelessly charge other devices with a feature they're calling Powershare. It will use ultrasound waves to read the ridges of your finger in 3D. There will be no iris scanner on the S10. The regular version of the Galaxy S10 will have a 6.1-inch screen. The Plus variant will have a 6.4-inch screen, while ...
After Qualcomm was granted a preliminary injunction to ban the sale and import of Apple iPhone 6s through iPhone X in China, Qualcomm now plans to file for an injunction on the iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, and iPhone XR in China. This would prevent the sale of those devices in the country. Qualcomm has granted the preliminary injunction after it ruled that the devices violated two Qualcomm patents.
The first Qualcomm patent reportedly enables users to "adjust and reformat the size and appearance of photos," while the second is said to relate to "managing applications using a touch screen when viewing and navigating apps." However, Apple has continued to sell the affected iPhone models in China because it believes the patent infringement ruling does not apply to iOS 12 and this led Qualcomm to Fuzhou Intermediate People's Court to enforce the injunction.
This move suggests that Qualcomm is forcing Apple into settling its on-going legal battle, primarily over chip-related licensing fees. Apple says that a Chinese ban on sales of the iPhone will force it to settle long-standing licensing battle with Qualcomm Inc., This outcome that may end up harming the country’s smartphone industry and give its fiercest legal rival a boost.
The ruling on Apple comes at times when Washington ...
Google Home Speakers in the US can now choose between an Australian-accented voice and a British-accented voice for your Google Assistant across devices. All the other settings and features including setting a timer, checking the weather and getting an overview of your commute and everything else remain the same while your Assistant will speak with a new accent.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMZYVMr5UJQ
The Google Assistant speaking in an Australian-accented voice and a British-accented voice are built using DeepMind’s speech synthesis model WaveNet, which uses deep neural networks to generate raw audio waveforms resulting in more realistic and natural-sounding voices for the Google Assistant.
To try out these new voices on your Assistant, navigate to “Settings” on your phone, tap on the “Assistant” tab, and select “Assistant voice.” You’ll now see two new voices that you can select, either “Sydney Harbour Blue” for the Australian voice, or “British Racing Green” for the British voice.
Source
