Taiwanese electronics giant ASUS recently rolled out Android 12 stable updates for the Zenfone 8 with the Flip version also scheduled to get the update by the year’s end. In line with its promise, ASUS has now started rolling out Android 12 stable updates for the Zenfone 8 Flip.
The firmware for the Asus Zenfone 8 Flip has version number 31.1004.0404. The update is currently only available for the Zenfone 8 Flip with model number ZS672KS, while other models will subsequently roll out from January 2022. In addition to the specific model for which the Android 12 upgrade is available, the smartphone must be running the latest Android 11 firmware rolled out by Asus. The latest Asus firmware for Android 11 is WW-30.13.35.8 for the specified Zenfone 8 Flip model.
The Android 12 upgrade for the Asus Zenfone 8 Flip offers an array of features that guarantees a great user experience. The features include security and safety options that improved user privacy, although some third-party apps are not compatible with the Android 12. Asus will continue to roll out Android 12 upgrades to several of its devices for enhanced customer experience and safety. The next devices on the lineup to get the stable version of Android 12 are from the ROG lineup as well as the Zenfone 7.
LG Display has been in the news lately for several innovations and impressive concepts for its TV displays. It also showcased some of its transparent display designs which could be tapped by other TV manufacturers.
The company has now introduced its ‘OLED EX’ technology for OLED TVs and it says the new technology will offer up to 30% more brightness compared to current OLED displays. The OLED EX uses the deuterium and personalized algorithm-based ‘EX Technology to achieve the improved brightness of the display.
Explaining the concept behind the OLED EX, LG Display says EX represents Evolution and eXperience and is in line with the company’s goal of providing customers with new experiences through its ever-evolving OLED technology.
The OLED EX will offer faster response rates and overall excellent display performance. It allows for more control of the TV display using machine learning processes. This will optimize the display’s energy input to more accurately express the details and colors of video content being played. By reducing the thickness by 30%, LG Display says the OLED EX display will have slimmer bezels and offer a more immersive viewing experience in a premium design.
LG Display will use the OLED EX technology in all OLED TV displays manufactured at its plants in Paju, South Korea, and Guangzhou, China, from the second quarter of 2022. The OLED EX is part of LG Display’s lineup at CES 2022 taking place next month.
Since Realme has scheduled to launch the Realme GT 2 series on January 4, the last batch of leaks and teasers are in full swing. Amidst these teasers, the phone has passed the Geekbench certification confirming its key specifications.
The Realme GT 2 with model number RMX3310 has scored 1125 single-core points and 3278 multi-core points on Geekbench v5. It confirms the internals of the phone revealing the Snapdragon 888 SoC under the hood. It has 12GB of RAM and runs on Android 12 out of the box. We expect it to have RealmeUI 3.1 on top of it.
Previously, the phone was spotted on certifications like TENAA, NBTC, and BIS. It revealed the device to sport a 6.62-inch AMOLED display. It equips a triple camera setup at the rear with a 50MP main sensor. It is touted to be accompanied by an 8MP ultra-wide lens and a 2MP sensor. The device will pack a 5,000mAh battery with support for 65W fast charging. It will have two configurations – 8GB RAM + 128GB storage variant and 12GB RAM and 256GB storage option.
The Realme GT 2 series will comprise more than three phones, the Realme GT 2, Realme GT 2 Pro, the Master Edition, and a camera focused variant; as revealed by a recent leak.
The phones may have a similar design, however, the GT 2 and 2 Pro are teased to come with highlighting Diamond Ice Core Cooling Plus and VC Liquid Cooling technology. The Pro model will come powered by the more powerful Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 SoC. Rumous reveal that the Pro model may have up to 1TB of built-in UFS 3.1 internal storage.
A Reddit user with the identity u/UnknownWon has posted an unboxing video of the Samsung Galaxy S21 FE, showing some of its stand-out features. The video also contains more details about the Galaxy S21 FE as the January launch of the device draws nearer. The slim box of the Galaxy S21 FE does not include the charger, as per the video.
There is no confirmation yet on the exact date in January for the launch, as speculation swirls around the first two weeks in the new year. Notably, the CES 2022 event could be a perfect event for its unveiling.
The Reddit tipster had earlier provided some specs details of the S21 FE including a 4,500mAh battery, fast charging support, and fast wireless charging. The tipster also suggests that the Galaxy S21 FE suffers from a green tint in comparison with his Poco X3, and the white balance of the display is not adjustable manually.
The in-display fingerprint scanner of the S21 FE was optical while the phone comes with 6GB of RAM. The model in the unboxing video was a dual SIM variant powered by the Snapdragon 888 chipset.
The Samsung Galaxy S21 FE has had a tortuous journey and will be released in a calendar year different from its series number. It could be priced up to $700 and offer some premium and sleek specs. However, due to its delayed launch, the Galaxy S21 FE will have a short run before it is upended by the Galaxy S22 lineup.
Recent months have seen multiple phones blasting in India, be it a OnePlus Nord 2 or the Poco M3 which caught on fire earlier this month. Now, a new case has surfaced with a Realme XT catching on fire.
According to a report by 91mobiles, yet another Realme XT has blasted while using. A similar incident concerning the same model occurred back in June 2020. Twitter user Sandip Kundu posted images pictures of the burnt Realme XT in question which belongs to his friend.
According to the Twitter user, the Realme XT device belonging to his friend blasted while being used. The images posted by him reveal a severely deformed and burnt back with the side panel completely burnt off. The display also sustained burn damage which is apparent from the pixel bleed on the screen. By the looks of it, it seems to be a blast that originated in the battery.
Realme XT blast
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Luckily, other than some burnt bedding, no injuries or loss occurred to the aggrieved party. The Twitter user has also posted a video of the phone smoking on his bed after the initial blast occurred.
Realme‘s social media handle on Twitter has acknowledged the issue and has offered to help stating, “We would like to inform you that we have already contacted the person and also we have asked him to visit the nearest authorized service center. Please be assured, we will try our best to resolve his concern as soon as he visits us”.
Finer details regarding the cause of the incident are yet to surface, but the repeated incidents are a cause of worry for realme users.
A few months back, Realme launched the Watch 2 wearable smartwatch in India with features like a 1.4-inch color display, 90 sports modes, and a SpO2 sensor. Initially, the company launched the smartwatch in a single Black color variant. However, it was later rumored to arrive in a Gold color option. Now, ahead of any announcements, the Realme Watch 2 in Gold color was found listed on the official Realme website.
In fact, the Flipkart listing of the watch also had the new Gold colour variant. The Realme Watch 2 in Gold color is priced the same as the Black variant i.e. ₹3,499(~$47). But on the Realme India website, you can get it for ₹100(~$1.5) off. It is available for purchase in an open sale both on Flipkart and the Realme India website.
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The Realme Watch 2 in Gold has a golden-colour framing with a Grey colored strap. The smartwatch has a 1.4-inch IPS LCD color display with a 320 x 320 pixels resolution. It has a brightness of up to 600 nits and features over 100 watch faces. Amongst these 100, there are also a few live watch faces to choose from.
Some of the highlighting features of the Realme Watch 2 are 90 sports modes including outdoor walking, outdoor running, indoor walking, indoor running, yoga, hiking, basketball, rowing, and others. It comes with Smart AIoT control to control all the Realme smart devices. The watch has SpO2 monitor, heart rate monitor, stress tracking, and sleep tracking features.
It packs a 315mAh battery that is claimed to last for up to 12 days on a single charge. The smartwatch can receive message alerts, call alerts, and even app alerts.
Since 2020, Apple has started a trend in the smartphone industry with its iPhone 12 lineup. Yes, we’re talking about the controversial decision from Apple to remove all chargers from the boxes of its brand new iPhone 12 series.
iPhone 12 without a charger in the box
In the name of environmental awareness, Apple clarifies that it is looking to reduce its carbon footprint via reducing the production of its plastic chargers that come in its sealed new iPhone 12 boxes. Apple further explains that it has gathered surveys from its users and many iPhone users mention that they don’t use the new charger in the box as they reuse back the charger they got from their previous iPhone.
Since then, Android manufacturers, specifically Samsung, followed the trend and started removing chargers starting with its Galaxy S21 flagship series. Xiaomi almost followed the trend with its Mi 11, however, during the launch in China, they did give consumers the choice of choosing between a box with a charger or one without the charger.
In a Chinese forum, one Chinese netizen specifically voiced his disgust against the new policies practiced by Apple and Samsung, because this practice has affected consumers directly as they had to spend more to buy a new charger that supports fast charging. This was mainly because the new phones only support the marketed fast charging speeds with the supported brand charger (which is not included in the box). In turn, the consumers had to pay more, and more plastic packaging was wasted in the process of packaging the phone and charger separately as opposed to packing them together in the same box in the first place. So the netizen hoped that the Chinese government takes action on these companies.
China MIIT replying to the forum user’s complaint
China’s MIIT (Ministry of Industry and Information Technology) took notice of the social media post. It replied that regarding the issue of chargers being sold separately from the phone, manufacturers should explicitly list in all of its marketing materials that the device does not include the charger in the box when they advertise the phone comes with fast charging. This is because it is the consumers’ right to be informed before making a purchase decision. And in the end, the consumer should be the one in charge of making the purchase decision themselves, whether they should buy the device or not.
MIIT further adds that if it is explicitly stated in the marketing materials, the consumer is already informed that they have to pay extra to buy the faster charging, therefore they should be ready to pay more to get the extra feature that they want in their phone. While it is indeed true that we are seeing the trend of chargers sold separately in several flagships from the likes of Apple, Samsung and Xiaomi, MIIT notes that if the practice is not a safety hazard or health hazard to consumers, the feasibility of the practice can be observed over time.
Xiaomi Mi 11 box in China didn’t include the charger
Further, China’s MIIT also suggested companies should ensure that the correct information is passed on to their users to ensure that the satisfaction rate of their customers still remains at a competitive level.
Considering this comment comes from the official Chinese organization which regulates the development and approval of smartphones in China, it looks like the trend of selling separate chargers from the smartphone will continue in China.
So, what do you think of this increasing trend of removing chargers from smartphone boxes?
OnePlus 10 Pro will go official next week and ahead of its launch the phone passed several certifications. Today, the device has yet again passed one such certification, this time of the Chinese 3C authority. The 3C documents confirm that the phone will come with crazy-fast charging speeds.
As per the 3C certification, the OnePlus 10 Pro with model number NE2210 supports output of 7.3ampere at 11V. It translates to a whopping 80W fast charging speed. This is way faster than the predecessor phones. So far the fastest charging supported by the OnePlus devices is 65W. With the 80W fast charging speeds, the OnePlus 10 Pro will become the fastest charging OnePlus device.
Other than this, the phone was previously touted to come equipped with a 5,000mAh battery. It will be supported by a 50W wireless charging support. In terms of its other specs, the phone is rumoured to feature a 6.7-inch punch-hole curved LTPO AMOLED screen with a 120Hz refresh rate and a QHD+ resolution.
There will be a 50MP Hasselblad-branded triple rear camera system on the phone. It will boast a 32MP selfie shooter placed in the punch-hole cut-out of the screen. One of the highlights of the phone would be its processor. The device will come powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 SoC and is expected to run on Android 12 OS out of the box.
As the holiday-season 15-day giveaway from Epic Games is fast approaching its climax, the company has dropped one of the all-time great games to be claimed for free. The latest addition to the giveaway brings Salt and Sanctuary, which is currently available on epic games for free.
Salt and Sanctuary features beautiful 2D hand-drawn visuals, as well as gameplay mechanics similar to the Souls series. The game at its core is an action hack and slash RPG with a well-written enticing storyline.
The game begins with the player stowed away in a ship that is also carrying a princess from an unnamed country who is to be married to an opposing country’s king in order to avert war. However, a group of marauders attack the ship, murdering its crew. If the player kills all the marauders and escapes to the deck, they are then set upon by a giant “Kraekan” (a corruption of Kraken) of the sea resembling Cthulhu. Whether or not they are able to defeat the marauders and the powerful kraeken, the ship is wrecked, sending them drifting to shore on a mysterious island.
The game is a joy as well as a challenge to play and guarantees enjoyment and a sense of accomplishment. The game is one of if not the best to come out of this Epic games giveaway so far and is free to claim for the next 24 hours. But if you miss the time window, you can’t claim the game again.
The uncharted territory and black boxes that some tech devices are in are brought to the fore by a recent incident with Amazon’s Voice Assistant Alexa. A 10-year-old girl who asked Alexa for a challenge was advised by the voice assistant to partake in the penny challenge which entails touching a coin to the prongs of a half-inserted phone charger with the switch turned on. The dangerous “penny challenge” started circulating on TikTok in 2020. Amazon said it has fixed the error immediately it became aware of the incident and has now updated the voice assistant.
The report indicates that the young girl was with her mother when the incident happened and the mum immediately intervened by shouting “No, Alexa, no”, although she knew her daughter was knowledgeable enough not to take on the dangerous challenge. It is unclear how Alexa got to suggest a very dangerous endeavor and this brings to focus again on the need for greater scrutiny of these devices and their algorithms.
Amazon stated that it had updated Alexa to prevent the suggestion of dangerous activity in the future, but it remains to be seen how effective the new updates will be. The risk remains and the voice assistant should be put to fair usage. Amazon insists that customer trust is at the heart of its activities and operations, stressing that Alexa is designed to provide accurate, relevant, and helpful information always.
Yesterday, Xiaomi’s Flip phone patent was surfaced on the Internet showcasing the tall clamshell design of its upcoming phone. Today, we’ve spotted a patent filed by the company for its new foldable smartphone with a Stylus Pen.
The Xiaomi Fold phone’s patent was filed with the United States Patent Trademark Office (USPTO). It showcases a device with a two-way folding mechanism, something which we’ve seen with the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold. It also looks similar to the company’s Mi Mix Fold foldable phone.
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Interestingly, the schematics show the Stylus Pen attached magnetically on the left spine of the phone. At the rear, the device seems to have a single camera with an LED flash beside it. The right-side of the foldable phone has the volume button and the power key. The device has a USB Type-C port and a speaker grille at the bottom.
Unfortunately, we do not learn any specs of the foldable phone but we may hear about it in the coming months. Netizens on the internet tout that it could be the upcoming folding phone from the company that could succeed the Mi Mix Fold.
In related news, A Xiaomi Flip phone patent was also seen earlier. It showed a Galaxy Z Flip3-like clamshell flip design with a large primary folding screen. It has a punch-hole display with a dual-selfie camera cut-out. The device has a dual-camera system at the rear and a small secondary screen.
Ahead of its January 5th launch in the Indian market, leaks have revealed the full specifications and pricing details of the upcoming vivo V23 5G and the vivo V23 Pro 5G smartphones. Now, further leaks suggest that there will be a third device included in this lineup and also hinted to its launch timeline.
According to a report by 91mobiles, vivo will include the V23e variant to their Indian lineup. As you might remember, the vivo V23e first debuted in Thailand as a budget 5G offering. Now, industry sources have revealed that the device will launch in India in February, which is a month after the official release date of the V23 and V23 Pro. Additionally, sources have suggested that the device is expected to be priced between Rs 25,000 and Rs 30,000.
As the device is already available in Thailand, it is expected to come packing the same specs and features for the Indian variant as well.
Vivo V23e 5G specifications & features
To recall, the vivo v23e 5G features a 6.44-inch Full HD+ AMOLED display with 2400 x 1080 pixels screen resolution. Internally, the device is powered by the MediaTek Dimensity 810 processor, coupled with 8GB of RAM. It packs 128GB of internal storage and comes with a microSD card slot that allows you to further expand the storage capacity up to 1TB. There’s also an on-screen fingerprint sensor as an additional security measure.
The phone features a triple-camera setup on the back that consists of a 50-megapixel main sensor with f/1.8 aperture, an 8-megapixel wide-angle sensor with f/2.2 aperture, and a 2-megapixel sensor with f/2.4 aperture. On the front side, the device has a 44-megapixel snapper for taking selfies and video calling.
Connectivity options on the device include Dual SIM, 5G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth v5.1, USB Type-C port, and GPS. It runs the Android 11 operating system out-of-the-box with the company’s own FunTouch OS 12. The device is powered by a 4,050mAh battery that comes with support for 44W fast charging technology.
Realme is expected to launch the Narzo 50 smartphone soon in the market. However, the exact launch timeline and specs are yet to be known. Now, the phone has passed several certifications like the NBTC, BIS, and EEC hinting at a launch sooner than expected.
A Realme phone with model number RMX3286 has passed the NBTC certification. Thanks to the past few leaks, we know that this model number belongs to the upcoming Realme Narzo 50. Furthermore, the device was also seen on BIS and NBTC certification again affirming its moniker.
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The handset was also spotted on EEC and Indonesia telecom portals with the same model number. It confirms that the phone may launch soon in Indonesia, India, and other Asian markets.
Talking about the phone, the Realme Narzo 50 is expected to come with a similar design to its siblings the Narzo 50A and 50i. The other specs, however, are unknown at the moment.
Realme Narzo 50A Specifications
The Realme Narzo 50A, launched in September this year, comes with a 6.5-inch dew-drop notch display and has a triple rear camera system. It has a 50MP primary lens, a 2MP portrait sensor, and a 2MP macro lens. Upfront, it has an 8MP selfie snapper.
Under the hood, it is powered by the MediaTek Helio G85 SoC paired with 4GB of RAM and 64GB or 128GB of onboard storage. It has a microSD card slot for storage expansion up to 256GB. It houses a 6,000mAh giant battery with 18W fast charging support.
Competition in silicon valley is getting tough with tech giants scrambling to gain and retain talented employees. In its latest effort to achieve the same, Apple has issued unusual and significant stock bonuses to some of its employees.
According to a Bloomberg report, Apple is providing some hefty bonuses to select engineers in order to prevent them from leaving for competitor companies like Meta (formerly known as Facebook). According to the report, select engineers from silicon design, hardware, and software development, and operations were informed that they would be receiving a stock bonus which ranged from $50000 to $180,000.
Most engineers received stock worth $80,000 to $120,000, but the bonus isn’t a no-strings-attached reward as it comes in the form of restricted stock units that are set to vest over the course of four years provided the employees stay with Apple and do not take jobs at other companies.
The Bloomberg report further reads that “The payouts aren’t part of normal Apple compensation packages, which include a base salary, stock units and a cash bonus. Apple sometimes awards additional cash bonuses to employees, but the size of the latest stock grants were atypical and surprisingly timed, the people said. They were given to about 10% to 20% of engineers in applicable divisions.”
The Cupertino company has informed its managers that these bonuses could be provided to engineers as a bonus payout for high performance. After losing more than 100 employees to Meta in the last few months, the move comes as a preventative measure to keep the tech giant from conceding any more ground to Meta ahead of their AR headset launch.
Apart from TECNO SPARK 8 Pro, the brand also launched an entry-level smartphone dubbed as TECNO SPARK Go 2022 in India. As the name suggests, it is the successor of TECNO SPARK Go 2021 from earlier this year. Let’s check out what’s the new phone has to offer.
TECNO SPARK Go 2022
TECNO SPARK Go 2022 Specifications and Features
The TECNO SPARK Go 2022 flaunts a 6.5-inch HD+ LCD screen with a dewdrop notch. It is powered by an unnamed chipset with a quad-core SoC. This silicon is paired with 2GB RAM and 32GB internal storage.
The device has a dual rear camera setup comprising a 13MP primary sensor and an AI lens. For selfies and video calls, it uses an 8MP snapper.
As for connectivity, the handset comes with dual SIM card slots, 4G, WiFi, Bluetooth, and GNSS. It also sports a MicroSD card slot, a 3.5mm headphone jack, and a MicroUSB port.
The remaining features of the smartphone include a rear-mounted fingerprint sensor, Android 11 Go Edition, a 5,000mAh battery, and an 8.95mm thickness.
TECNO SPARK Go 2022 Price and Availability in India
The TECNO SPARK Go 2022 arrives in a single 2GB + 32GB memory configuration in India priced at ₹7,499. It is already up for sale on Amazon India in a sole Turquoise Cyan color option. It could be later available in an Atlantic Blue hue option.
Back in November, Oppo unveiled the Oppo A16K budget-centric smartphone in the Philippines market. Rumours are rife that the phone may land in the Indian region soon. Now, 91Mobiles has learned from the tipster Mukul Sharma that the device will launch next year.
According to the tipster, the Oppo A16k will debut in the first or second week of January 2022. The device will be marketed with the tagline “live a worthy life”. Some key specs of the smartphone have also been revealed.
The upcoming Oppo A16K India version may come with a 6.52-inch display with an HD+ resolution. It is touted to have an eye-case water-drop display with flat edges. It will feature is a dual-camera setup with a 13MP primary lens and a 5MP secondary sensor.
Inside, the phone is expected to pack a 4,230mAh battery with support for 10W fast charging technology. The device will run on Android 11 out of the box with ColorOS 11.1 on top of it. It will weigh 175 grams and have a 7.85mm thickness. The device is touted in three colour variants – Black, Blue, and White.
With the reference to its Philippines launch, the phone may come powered by the MediaTek Helio G35 SoC paired with 3GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage.
As for the pricing, the Oppo A16K was launched in the Philippines for PHP 6,999(roughly $137) and it may launch in India at similar pricing. Since the launch is touted to be in early January, we can expect the company to drop teasers in the coming days.
Update [31/12/2021]: Lenovo has just shared another teaser for the Legion Y90. The new poster image reveals the rear design of the gaming smartphone. It features RGB lighting at the back for the Legion “Y” logo and also appears to have a middle bump, similar to the previously launched Legion Phone 2 Pro.
Original story continues…
With the launch of the Lenovo Legion Y90 being just around the corner, let’s have a look at all the rumored and confirmed specifics and features that we know about the upcoming gaming smartphone.
Legion Y90 render by ITHome
Design
Since the upcoming Legion Y90 is a gaming smartphone, the Chinese smartphone maker has placed an emphasis on its design, especially in regards to its thermal management system. The company has previously teased its Double Engine Air Cooling technology, which it claims will help keep the device’s temperature in check despite playing intensive multiplayer games at high framerates. While the device looks like any other modern smartphone from the front, the rear panel would likely feature a gaming aesthetic with the “Legion” branding and physical fans as well, for its air cooling mechanism.
Specifications & Display
Under the hood, the device is expected to feature a Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 chipset, which will be paired with LPDDR5 RAM and UFS 3.1 storage. Arriving at its display, Lenovo has officially revealed that the Legion Y90 will feature a large AMOLED display that measures 6.92 inches. The panel is a Samsung E4 AMOLED screen that supports a 144Hz refresh rate and a 720Hz touch sampling rate. One of its highlighting features will be the anti blue display and HDR support. The screen will have an anti blue light eye protection certification ensuring that it lowers the blue light getting emitted from the screen.
Pricing and Availability
Unfortunately, the pricing and availability details regarding the upcoming Lenovo gaming smartphone are still unknown. While it was initially rumored that the company will be unveiling the device during the CES 2022 event, it was officially announced that the Legion Y90 smartphone will be announced on the New Year, which is 1st January 2022. So stick around as we wil be covering the launch event.
Tecno has officially launched the TECNO SPARK 8 Pro in India as scheduled. The latest budget smartphone from the brand offers a large display, a MediaTek chipset, a triple camera setup, and a huge battery with fast charging support. It is also priced on par with the competitors.
TECNO SPARK 8 Pro
TECNO SPARK 8 Pro Specifications and Features
The TECNO SPARK 8 Pro flaunts a 6.8-inch FHD+ LCD panel with a centered punch-hole and 500 nits peak brightness. It is powered by a MediaTek Helio G85 chipset paired with LPDDR4x RAM and eMMC 5.1 storage.
It houses a vertically aligned triple camera setup on the rear consisting of a 48MP primary sensor, a 2MP depth sensor, and an AI lens. Whereas, an 8MP shooter resides on the front for selfies and video calls.
Connectivity options on the handset include dual SIM card slots, 4G, dual-band WiFi, Bluetooth 5.0, and GNSS. Since it’s a budget smartphone, it also has a MicroSD card slot and a 3.5mm headphone jack, in addition to a USB Type-C port.
The remaining features of the phone include a side-mounted fingerprint sensor, Android 11, a 5,000mAh battery, 33W fast charging, and 8.77mm thickness.
TECNO SPARK 8 Pro Price and Availability in India
The TECNO SPARK 8 Pro arrives in a single 4GB + 64GB memory configuration in India. The handset carries a special introductory price tag of ₹10,599 ($142).
It will be available for purchase starting January 4 on Amazon India in Interstellar Black, Turquoise Cyan, Winsor Violet, and Komodo Beach color options.
On Tuesday, the Chinese multinational automotive company Geely announced that their premium electric brand, Zeekr, will partner up with Waymo. This partnership is to build an all-electric, self-driving vehicle for the Waymo One ride-hailing autonomous fleet in the United States.
For those unaware, Waymo LLC is an American autonomous driving technology development company that is a subsidiary of Alphabet Inc (Google’s parent company).
Both Geely and Waymo stated in a press release that the ride-hailing cars would be designed and developed by Zeekr, Geely’s electric mobility brand, at a facility in Gothenburg, Sweden using “a new proprietary and open-source mobility architecture.” Once the cars are delivered to Waymo in the United States, the company plans on setting it up with their autonomous driving technology called Waymo Driver.
The company did not provide any specific timeline of when we can expect the vehicles to hit the streets but stated that the cars would be introduced in the Waymo One fleet in the years to come. However, the company has already has been testing its self-driving vans in Phoenix, Arizona for more than a year now.
Google first established its self-driving car project in 2009. It was later re-named Waymo and made a separate subsidiary of Alphabet. However, after almost 13 years of its establishment, it looks like we still have a while before Waymo offers a widespread, fully autonomous ride-hailing service to the general public.
A strict lockdown put in place in Xian to contain COVID-19 in light of the Omicron variant has resulted in Samsung Electronics reducing its chip production in the region. The company through a press release said that it has “decided to temporarily adjust operations” at its chip factory in the city.
The press release further stated that the decision was made to protect the health and safety of our employees and partners, which remains the top priority. Necessary measures will also be taken to ensure that consumers are not affected, including leveraging Samsung’s global manufacturing network.
Chinese authorities had earlier on December 22 enforced a lockdown in Xian, prompting an emergency response from Samsung which shifted all of its available personnel on the production line to continue operating at maximum capacity.
“Due to the lockdown, there are difficulties in employees’ commutes and logistics, so it was inevitable to adjust operations. When the lockdown is lifted, operations will be normalized,” a company official told Korea Herald.
The Xian factory is Samsung’s only overseas memory chip factory and has been operational since 2014. Roughly 40% of the company’s NAND flash chips originate from it.
Meanwhile, Samsung SDI’s electric vehicle battery factory in China seems to be unaffected by the lockdown, with a company official saying that it’s currently “in normal operations.”
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