Samsung Galaxy Jump pre-order date announced in Korea

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May 13, 2021

Last month, a Samsung smartphone called Galaxy Jump appeared on Bluetooth SIG as well as Google Play Console. The device’s model number suggested it to be a rebranded Galaxy A32 5G. Now, weeks later, the pre-order date of this smartphone goes official in South Korea.

The Samsung Galaxy Jump is said to be nothing but a Galaxy A32 5G in Red color. For those unaware, the original device only comes in these four colors – Awesome Black, Awesome White, Awesome Blue, Awesome Violet.

But unfortunately, the exact specs of this phone are a mystery as the listing on the KT Shop (retailer) does not mention them. But what we know is its price. The Galaxy Jump will retail for 300,000 won ($265) in South Korea.

The device will be available for pre-order starting May 14 (tomorrow) in the country. There’s no official word on its sale date yet.

Samsung Galaxy A32 5G All Colors — Samsung Galaxy A32 5G

Anyway, since the Samsung Galaxy Jump (SM-A326K) is based on Galaxy A32 5G, we expect it to have a similar set of features although it is yet to be confirmed. We can expect this handset to have a 6.5-inch HD+ TFT LCD panel, MediaTek Dimensity 720 SoC, 48MP (wide) + 8MP (ultra-wide) + 5MP (macro) + 2MP (depth) quad-camera setup, 13MP selfie camera, and Android 11 (One UI 3.x).

Other expected features include a side-mounted fingerprint sensor, MicroSD card slot, 3.5mm headphone jack, 5,000mAh battery, and 15W fast charging.

Deal: Get Tronsmart Mega Bluetooth Speaker for $34.50 (Original Price $50)

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Daily Deals

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May 13, 2021

Tronsmart Mega Bluetooth Speaker which generally retails for $50 is now available at a heavily discounted price of $34.50 only at AliExpress.

WHERE TO BUY

Tronsmart Mega Bluetooth Speaker at $34.50 (after discount)@AliExpress

Tronsmart Mega Bluetooth Speaker comes with 40W high power audio, perfect for outdoor speakers. The speaker features Sound Pulse Technology that gives you a loud and deep bass effect and a 28 core high fidelity subwoofer horn which provides high-quality loud audio in the outdoors. The 3D digital sound combined with the DSP technology enables this speaker to give out pitch-perfect music in any and every environment and with Bluetooth 5.0 you get a strong and stable connection and better range.

Tronsmart Mega Bluetooth Speaker allows you to pair two speakers simultaneously with a single device, to get a True Stereo effect. With Tronsmart you get 15 hours of nonstop playtime on one single charge. The speaker comes with advanced functions like NFC and Voice assistant and sports a touch panel on a beautiful box design.

Generally retailing for $50, you can now buy Tronsmart Mega Bluetooth Speakers for $34.50 only at AliExpress. Please note that this offer ends in the next two days. So hurry up and order asap, before the deal expires.

For more information on such exciting deals and offers check out our deals hub.

* Please Note: When you buy something using the links in our articles, we may earn a small commission at no cost to you.

MediaTek to invest over $3.5 billion in R&D this year

By

Sean

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May 13, 2021

With the world facing a shortage of semiconductors amid a booming demand for chips, MediaTek is apparently seeking to invest over 100 billion New Taiwan Dollars (roughly 3.5 billion US Dollars) in research and development this year.

The move from the chip making giant arrives to improve the competitiveness for the coming years in the consumer technology and semiconductor industries. The company stated that it had invested about 77 billion New Taiwan Dollars (roughly 2.75 billion US Dollars) back in 2020 on research and development, and it is planning to cross the 100 billion mark this year. This would also marked the highest investment from the company so far.

Furthermore, this is also indicative of the company’s growing investment each year into R&D, as it had previously raised its spending by 22.6 percent back in 2020 over 2019. As per an ITHome report, the hike in investment figures also arrives as a majority of the R&D expenses are related to remuneration of personnel related to research and development.

Notably, MediaTek had also achieved a milestone last year, with its revenue crossing the 10 billion US Dollar mark for the first time back in 2020. This is now followed by the company recently announcing that it will be raising its production capacity in an attempt to further grow its revenue, with a targeted rise of 40 percent year on year in 2021.

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Huawei P50 series official renders have allegedly been leaked

By

Sean

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May 13, 2021

In the last few months, there have been numerous rumors and reports regarding the upcoming Huawei P50 series of smartphones. Now, a tipster has leaked what is apparently the official renders of the flagship handset.

The leak arrives from @Rodent950 on Twitter that shared images revealing the rear panel of the device. Looking at this image, the most striking aspect is the unique camera module on the back that comprises of two large rings. These dual rings contain a total of four cameras, which includes one large 1 inch sensor that is likely the primary lens of the handset. Furthermore, the tipster claims that these images are not mockups but are the official renders from the Chinese tech giant.

The two ring modules are stacked vertically, with the top ring housing three image sensors and just a single sensor on the lower ring. Notably, the lone sensor on the bottom is visibly the largest and is expected to be the primary lens. These rings had been seen in previous reorts but the layout of the sensors beneath these rings were not visible back then. It is being specualted that the device will also sport a periscope lens, although, it is not observable in the renders we see here.

But, this might just be the base model within the series and the higher end variants might feature the zoom lens. Talking about other specs of the device, the Huawei P50 is expected to feature a 6.3 inch display with a centered punch hole selfie shooter while the rear is reportedly the Sony’s 1 inch IMX 800 sensor. The smartphone is expeced to launch in the arriving weeks, so stay tuned for more updates.

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Redmi 10X Pro 5G, Redmi Note 9S receive Android 11 update

By

Sudarshan Ravichandran

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May 13, 2021

Last week, Xiaomi started rolling out the Android 11 update for the Redmi 10X 5G. Now, this update is live for the Redmi 10X Pro 5G as well. Additionally, the company has also begun to seed the Android 11 update for the Redmi Note 9S.

The Redmi 10X Pro 5G is a China-exclusive smartphone that was released in the first half of 2020. It debuted with MIUI 11 based on Android 10. The device was later updated to MIUI 12 and has now finally started receiving Android 11.

The Android 11 update for the Redmi 10X Pro 5G arrives with build number V12.0.2.0.RJLCNXM. The build is currently in the ‘Stable Beta’ phase. This means it is only available for a select few users as part of a limited rollout.

Anyway, the update should reach every unit in the coming days. Since this phone is only sold in China, there are no other software builds for this update.

On the other hand, the Android 11 update for the ‘Global’ variant of the Redmi Note 9S comes with build number V12.0.2.0.RJWMIXM. This build is also in the ‘Stable Beta’ phase and hence, it is only available for some users.

Unlike the former smartphone, the Redmi Note 9S is sold in multiple markets. Therefore, there are multiple MIUI builds for this handset, namely EEA, Russia, Turkey. These variants should also receive Android in near future.

Lastly, the Redmi Note 9S is also known as Redmi Note 9 Pro. But that device got the Android 11 update in late 2020 itself.

Get Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra Global Edition for $1399 at Giztop

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Daily Deals

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May 13, 2021

Giztop is giving Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra, Global Edition, 12GB + 256GB for $1399.

WHERE TO BUY

Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra, Global Version at $1399 @Giztop

Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra comes with a 6.81” 2K E4 AMOLED display and is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 5G processor. The smartphone comes with a triple rear camera setup with a 50MP main camera and a 20MP AI front camera for selfies. Powered by a massive 5000 mAh battery the smartphone supports both 67W wired and wireless charging. Available in Ceramic White and Black colors, the smartphone comes with 12GB LPDDR5 RAM and 256GB UFS 3.1 Storage.

Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra Global Edition is now available for purchase at Giztop for $1399. Please note that the above-mentioned price is applicable only to the 12GB + 256GB variant.

For more information on such exciting deals and offers check out our deals hub.

* Please Note: When you buy something using the links in our articles, we may earn a small commission at no cost to you.

POCO UI confirmed to arrive in late 2021

By

Sudarshan Ravichandran

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May 13, 2021

POCO started as a sub-brand of Xiaomi in 2018. The brand’s POCO F1 (aka POCOPHONE F1) was a phenomenal hit. The company made a comeback in 2020 as an individual brand under the Xiaomi Corporation. Since its early days, the company’s smartphones have been running MIUI for POCO. Now, the brand has revealed its plans for new software.

Yesterday, in an exclusive interview with Android Central, POCO spilled the beans on the upcoming POCO M3 Pro 5G and the brand’s future plans. In this interview, the company even revealed that it’s not going to launch Android One smartphones.

But we can expect different software on future POCO-branded phones. The POCO executives have confirmed that their devices will continue to use MIUI but with exclusive features.

For those unaware, when MIUI for POCO was introduced with POCO F1, it looked different than the regular MIUI found on Mi and Redmi smartphones. But with the brand’s second coming, the lines between the two versions of MIUI blurred. At present, they both look identical.

That’s because MIUI never had an app launcher. POCO F1 debuted with one dubbed as POCO launcher. With MIUI 11, Xiaomi baked this launcher into its software. Right now, the only noticeable difference between the two UIs is the default icon packs.

So how will MIUI for POCO differ in the future? The brand says that it will be implementing special features based on feedback from POCO Community and social media. This new version of the company’s software may release as POCO UI in late 2021.

In a nutshell, the upcoming POCO UI will be another clone of MIUI like Black Shark’s JOYUI. Another example of this type of implementation is realme UI, which is basically ColorOS.

Last but not least, POCO does say that it could develop an Android skin from scratch if the brand gains more market share globally.

Xiaomi Mi Notebook Pro X to launch in June with Nvidia RTX 3050 Ti GPU

By

Sean

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May 13, 2021

Xiaomi has just announced that its upcoming high end notebook will launch in June 2021. The laptop in question is the new Mi Notebook Pro X, which will feature the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050 Ti GPU.

The Chinese tech giant shared a teaser online, along with an image poster that highlighted the new laptop’s graphics card. For those unaware, the RTX 3000 series is Nvidia’s latest lineup of graphics card, with the RTX 3050 Ti and RTX 3050 being the latest cards that were announced. These cards are entry level GPUs that also offers support for ray tracing and DLSS technology as well. The graphics card chips are built on Samsung’s 8nm process, with the RTX 3050 Ti featuring 2560 CUDA cores and 4GB of GDDR6 VRAM.

These graphics card are powerful enough to achieve decent performance in most AAA titles that have launched recently and also deliver robust framerates for popular esports title. Nvidia’s official testings found that the GPU car run 60fps with the RTX version of Minecraft along with recently launched Call of Duty: Blacks Ops at 1080p resolution.

With the announcement of the new graphics cards, various laptop makers have announced that they will be launching their own offerings soon and it seems like Xiaomi will also be one of them. We can also expect specifications like SSD storage and about 16GB of RAM as well. Similarly, at least a 10th Gen Intel chip would be shipped or a Ryzen 5000 series processor if it launches in an AMD variant. Although, this is just speculation so take it with a pinch of salt and stay tuned for more updates.

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Huawei to announce new products on its May 19 launch conference

By

Sean

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May 13, 2021

Earlier today (13th May 2021), Huawei officially announced that it will be holding a new product launch conference later this month. In this event, the company will launch products under the “All Scenario Smart Life” banner, which will be held on 19th May 2021 in China.

The upcoming launch conference will have the Chinese tech giant unveil new electronic gadgets like TVs, earphones, and smart watches as well. While the company has yet to officially announce the products that will be released on the launch event, we have recently covered a few devices that we expect to be announced on this date. This includes the new variant of the Huawei Children’s Watch 4X, which was leaked recently, along with the Huawei Body Fat Scale 3 Pro.

Furthermore, the brand is also set to launch new TVs, which will be a part of the company’s SE series of smart TVs. Other expected products that might be launching later this month include a semi in ear headphones, dubbed the FreeBuds 4, along with the Huawei Watch3 series of smartwatches as well. We had previously reported on the company also gearing up to launch a new high end 16 inch MateBook notebook, while the company just shared a teaser on its official Weibo account for new Mate series product that could also be the new MatePad tab.

Unfortunately, there is not a lot of news to go on as of right now and we will have to wait for any teaser from Huawei that might arrive in the coming few days. So stay tuned for more, as we will be covering the event and providing any notable updates once additional information is available regarding the upcoming conference.

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Redmi Watch launched in India with GPS and heart rate tracking for 3,999 INR ($54)

By

Sean

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May 13, 2021

The Redmi Watch has just been announced in India. The smartwatch is the latest wearable that arrives in the region and was launched along with the Redmi Note 10S earlier today (13th May 2021).

Talking about its specifications and features, the new wearable offers a lot of the functions that are quite common with other smartwatches. This includes 11 sports modes for tracking physical activities, along with built in GPS + GLONASS for accurate navigation. The smartwatch is also capable of monitoring the users’ heartbeat, guided breathing, and can track sleep cycles as well. The new watch from the Chinese tech giant can be paired with a smartphone through the Xiaomi Wear app and offers more than 200 faces for its watch.

The device sports a 1.4 inch colored TFT LCD display that is covered by a 2.5D curved glass. Redmi officially claims that the wearable can last for up to 10 days on a single full charge and even offers 5ATM water resistance on the smartwatch as well. Notably, the smartwatch is the second wearable from the company in India, after the Redmi Band that was launched previously in the region.

The newly unveiled device was first announced back in November 2020 in China and will finally go on sale in India starting from 25th May 2021 and will be available in four different strap color variants along with Bluetooth 5.0 support. It is priced at 3,999 INR, or about 54 US Dollars and can be bought from the company’s official Mi Stores and Flipkart.com.

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Redmi Note 10S launched in India with Helio G95 SoC, AMOLED display, MIUI 12.5, and more

By

Sudarshan Ravichandran

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May 13, 2021

Xiaomi debuted the Redmi Note 10 series in India in March. At that time, the company only announced three devices, namely Redmi Note 10, Redmi Note 10 Pro, and Redmi Note 10 Pro Max. Now, two months later, the Indian arm of the Chinese handset maker has released the fourth model in the lineup dubbed as Redmi Note 10S. The firm also launched the Redmi Watch alongside this smartphone in the country.

Redmi Note 10S Featured A — Redmi Note 10S

Redmi Note 10S Specifications and Features

The Remi Note 10S is not a new device. This handset was already unveiled at the Redmi Note 10 series global launch event. Unlike other models in the lineup, this phone comes with Android 11-based MIUI 12.5 pre-installed. It is one of the two Xiaomi smartphones, other than the Redmi K40 Gaming Edition, to ship with the latest version of the MIUI out of the box.

Talking about specs, the device flaunts a 6.43-inch Super AMOLED display with a resolution of 2400 x 1080 pixels (FHD+), 409 PPI, 8-bit color, 1,100 nits peak brightness level, centered punch-hole, 180Hz touch sampling rate, and a standard 60Hz refresh rate. The panel covers 100% of the DCI-P3 color gamut, features a 4,500,000:1 contrast ratio, and is protected by a Corning Gorilla Glass 3 layer.

Under the hood, the phone houses a MediaTek Helio G95 SoC coupled with 6GB LPDDR4X RAM and up to 128GB UFS 2.2 storage. On the connectivity front, the handset supports dual-SIM, 4G, dual-band WiFi, Bluetooth 5.0, and GNSS (GPS, GALILEO, GLONASS, BeiDou).

Further, the back and the frame of the smartphone are made of plastic but they do look like glass and metal respectively. Anyway, the device is IP53-rated for splash resistance.

As for cameras, the rear side includes a quad-camera setup consisting of a 64MP primary sensor, an 8MP 118° ultra-wide unit, a 2MP macro shooter, and a 2MP depth sensor. Whereas, on the front, there is a 13MP snapper inside the punch-hole for selfies and video calls.

Other features of this phone include dual stereo speakers, 3.5mm headphone jack, Hi-Res Audio certification, USB Type-C port, side-mounted fingerprint sensor, z-axis linear vibration motor, infrared sensor, accelerometer, proximity sensor, compass, 360° ambient light sensor, gyroscope, 5,000mAh battery, and 33W fast charging.

Last but not least, the Redmi Note 10S measures 160.46 x 74.5 x 8.29mm in dimensions, weighs 178.8g, and comes in three colors (Deep Sea Blue, Frost White, Shadow Black).

Redmi Note 10S Price and Availability in India

The Redmi Note 10S will retail for the following price tags in India.

6GB + 64GB – ₹14,999 ($204)
6GB + 128GB – ₹15,999 ($217)

The first sale of this smartphone is scheduled for May 18 at 12 PM. It will be sold on Mi.com and Amazon India. Like any other Xiaomi product, it will be soon available at retail stores across the country.

VAIO SX14 and SE14 with the 11th-gen Intel Tiger Lake processor launched in India.

By

Jed John Ikoba

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May 13, 2021

Nexstgo, holder of the VAIO laptop brand license for the Asian market has unveiled two new laptops for the Indian market. The VAIO SX14 is a high-end laptop with a 14-inch 4K display, while the new SE14 comes with the next-gen Intel Core processor.

The new VAIO laptops come with a lot of impressive features. On its part, the VAIO SX14 parades an interesting list of features and is no doubt at the top of the pack. It has fingerprint and Face recognition capabilities. The notebook equally runs on the 10th-gen Intel Core i7 processor and packs a 4K ultra HD display. The audio output from the SX14 is also touted to be of vivid quality. The model has a RAM capacity of 16GB and 1TB internal storage. Further, it comes fitted with Windows 10 operating system while the stated battery life is 6 hours.

The new SE14 is powered by the 11th Gen Intel Tiger Lake processor with an Iris Xe GPU which surpasses the 8th Gen Core i5 processor that was used for the original SE14 model which was unveiled a few months back. The E15 and SE14 were unveiled to the global audience earlier this year. The new SE14 design concept focused on the latest technology in the industry for enhanced performance, processor speed, graphics quality, and overall efficiency.

The new VAIO SE14 boasts an extensive list of features that places it on the high end of the spectrum. It has a minimalist design wrapped with a durable exterior veneer made of metal and plastic. The laptop has a 14-inch 4K display, full HD display, comes with Windows 10 pre-installed, and a strong (up to 12 hours) battery.

The SE14 will hit the market in two variants – one with 8GB RAM and 512GB SSD and a second model with a staggering 16GB RAM and 1 TB SSD combo. Each of the variant is capable of quick charging. There is also a built-in fingerprint reader and a 1080P IR front web camera.

Both models will be available for the Indian market from May 16 and will be sold on Amazon.in. As for the pricing, the premium SX14 is priced at Rs. 1,72,990 (~$2,352) while the VAIO SE14 notebook will be sold at Rs. 88,990 (~1,207).

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Vivo TWS 2 with Active Noise Cancellation to launch in China on May 20

By

Jeet

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May 13, 2021

Vivo had launched its true wireless earbuds named Vivo TWS in 2019 along with the NEX 3 series of smartphones. Last year, in the month of June, the company launched other similar earphones, dubbed Vivo TWS Neo.

Now, the China-based company is gearing up to launch the successor of its first true wireless earbuds. The upcoming earphones from the company are named Vivo TWS 2 and will be officially launched on 20th May in China.

The upcoming Vivo TWS 2 will be the company’s first true wireless earphones to come with support for Active Noise Cancellation. Along with the launch date, the company has also showcased the product.

As for the design, it looks quite similar to its predecessor and will be offered in a Blue-colored gradient. Currently, nothing much is known about the upcoming earphones apart from the support for ANC.

Similar to its predecessors, we expect the upcoming earphones to come with support for the AAC codec as well as the aptX adaptive codec. It is also likely to have IP ratings for water and dust resistance, Jovi Smart Assistance, Find My Earbuds feature, One-Touch pairing mode, and Touch Gesture support, among others.

Many smartphone manufacturers have been actively launching TWS earphones in the market, including its sister companies like Realme, OPPO, and OnePlus. However, the launch cycle of Vivo is quite slow, having launched just two such earphones in the market so far and the third one on its way.

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LG Display to scale up its TV OLED production capacity in China

By

Jed John Ikoba

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May 13, 2021

The display arm of South Korean tech giant LG has announced plans to expand the production capacity of its TV OLED factory in Guangzhou, China, to meet the rising demand for its TV OLED panels. TheElec mulled the report, which hinted that the 60,000 substrates per month factory would be expanded to 90,000 substrates per month before July 2021. The details of the expansion, which will increase the factory’s capacity by 50%, show that each of the 30,000 capacity lines in the factory will be scaled up to produce additional 15,000 units each, starting from the first week of July.

LG will not be spending many resources in carrying out the upgrade. Specifically, improvements will be made to the deposition kit’s equipment to enable a shorter turnover time. This will combine with the deployment of an already installed oxide thin-film transistor backplane with 90,000 capacity but under-utilized before now.

The factory upgrade will give LG Display up to 170,000 substrates per month when its factory in South Korea is factored in. LG continues to make progress within the display arm of its business model. It has projected up to 8 million units of its OLED panels to be shipped this year, substantially higher than its estimates for 2020, which was 4.5 million units.

LG has had a mixed bag of fortunes across its businesses in recent years. This led to the shedding off of some of its unproductive units and outsourcing of others. The moves were aimed at stemming the tide of negative financial results in its balance sheet. LG Display is one of the few businesses that continue to post impressive results, together with a positive outlook in the years to come.

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Apple reportedly blocked potential frauds worth $1.5 billion on the App Store in 2020

By

Jed John Ikoba

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May 13, 2021

US tech major Apple has announced that it prevented potentially fraudulent transactions via the Apple App Store to the tune of about $1.5 billion in 2020. The Apple news provides cheering reassurance to users of iOS devices that their safety is guaranteed when using the App Store.

There were a couple of accusations that Apple was not doing enough to safeguard its customers from potentially fraudulent activities on several fronts. One of the ways that fraudsters have used to gain access to critical data was through fraudulent apps. But Apple insists that its App Store remains a highly secure platform for mobile applications for its customers.

The blog post highlighted some of the steps taken to protect the App Store users, and the company outlined the outcomes. Apple said that up to a million problematic new apps were removed or rejected, together with a similar quantum of updates rejected. Several thousands of apps did not scale through the rigorous review process put in place, while many others were also axed for violating privacy restrictions.

Notably, the tech giant also says that more than 100,000 illegal apps were blocked on pirate storefronts, about 0.25 billion customer accounts were deactivated due to fraudulent or abusive activity within the year. In addition, about 424 million attempts at creating new accounts were denied after fraudulent patterns were associated with the potential accounts. Apple also says it could prevent more than 3 million stolen credit cards from being used to purchase goods and services.

App security remains a critical issue, and Apple focuses on establishing a secure platform responsive to potentially fraudulent activities. But despite these efforts there are still reports of fraudulent activities on the store. An iPhone user was recently thrown into confusion after his life saving of over $600,000 in Bitcoin was emptied by fraudsters using a fake Trezor wallet he downloaded from the Apple App Store.

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LeEco is coming back; announces LeTV Smart Ecological Conference on May 18

By

Jeet

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May 13, 2021

LeEco, the Chinese company which was once aiming to take on the likes of tech giants in the western part of the world, crumbled after facing a number of setbacks as the company was growing too fast without a solid financial foundation.

Now, it seems that LeEco is making a comeback. The company has shared a new product launch invitation for the LeTV Smart Ecological Conference held on 18th May. Based on the invitation, the company seems to be gearing up to launch new Smart TVs in the market.

The company’s invitation reads “I’m back!” in large and bold characters, exerting confidence about its comeback in the market. It also shows a human profile filled with text of various productions but the highlighted one reads “LeTV Super TV.” It could also hint at the comeback of the brand’s founder Yueting Jia to take charge.

LeEco’s core product offering has been TV and the company was earlier called LeTV. It remains to be seen what the upcoming lineup from the company offers to retake its position in the market. Along with the TV, the invitation also hints at LeTV Super Phone, LeTV TV, Anti-Wear Headset, Portable Watch, and Game Controller, among others.

The company has also mentioned products in other categories as well, including Bluetooth Speakers, Smartwatches, Door Locks, Routers, Bicycles, etc. While it doesn’t make sense to launch all these products at once, the company could launch several devices at the upcoming event given that it’s an event for “smart ecological” products.

Last year, in October, the company had launched LeTV Zero65 Pro Ultra-Slim Mural TV for the price of 6,999 yuan, about $1,037 that offers a massive 97 percent screen-to-body ratio and measuring just 13.5mm in thickness. Earlier this year, in January, the company launched LeTV Super Earphone Ears Pro which comes with support for Active Noise Cancellation and 28-day battery life.

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OPPO One-Touch Phone Case is the world’s first to pack UWB for controlling smart home devices

By

Jeet

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May 13, 2021

OPPO has today launched the world’s first smartphone accessory that comes equipped with Ultra-wideband (UWB) technology — OPPO One-Touch Phone Case Set. Apart from providing protection to the device, it also has an interesting use case.

The mobile case comes in a Galaxy Gray color scheme and has a hand-feeling paint finish that offers a delicate and smooth feel. Equipped with UWB, it enhances the spatial perception of the smartphone through functional modularity.

With the one-key identity sticker, it can realize the one-key connection and real-time control of smart home devices. The one-key ID sticker comes in a two-color and two-material water ripple design.

The sticker has a hidden indicator light that acts as a switch status prompt. There’s also a USB Type-C interface to make charging easy and convenient. Additionally, the magnetic design allows users to easily place identification stickers on smart home devices.

The product comes with the support of three modes — Switch, Control Card, and Startup. The user just needs to point the phone towards the device that needs to be controlled and then double-click the back are of the case to complete the trigger action.

The Switch mode can turn the specified device ON or OFF while the Control Card mode brings up the control page for that device with more functions to choose from. The Scene mode executes a preset profile. The usage of this last mode is quite interesting as it can be used in several situations, for instance, to turn off all the devices when leaving home.

The Ultra-wideband (UWB) is a wireless technology with several advantages over Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. It offers accurate positioning, wide application, low power consumption, and low interference. OPPO UWB Space Sensing technology uses a high-precision lateral antenna array on the mobile phone side, and a low cross-polarization microstrip antenna on the identity sticker side to achieve centimeter-level positioning accuracy, ±3° angle measurement accuracy, and a usable distance of up to 15 meters.

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Xiaomi launches FlipBuds Pro with Active Noise Cancellation in China

By

Joel Joseph

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May 13, 2021

TWS earbuds have been in demand for the past few years and Xiaomi is trying to further tap into the market with the launch of the new Flipbuds series in China. The first model in the lineup is the FlipBuds Pro, targeted at a relatively premium segment of the market with Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) and an Airpods Pro-like design.

There’s no denying that the Xiaomi FlipBuds Pro gets its inspiration from the Apple AirPods Pro. The typical short stem design with a curved body looks similar to the Apple earbuds. However, the FlipBuds Pro distinguishes itself with a high-gloss all-black body and it’s the only color available, at least for now. Xiaomi states that the earbuds get a mirror finish thanks to a nano NCVM coating that gives it a premium look.

The new ANC earbuds feature Qualcomm’s QCC5151 ultra-low power audio chip along with 11mm ultra dynamic sound drivers. It supports Bluetooth 5.2 and Xiaomi claims that low-latency activities like gaming shouldn’t be an issue on its new earbuds. As for gestures, it’s very similar to what you get on the Apple AirPods Pro. So long pressing either left or right earbuds will switch between transparency and noise-canceling modes, a single press will play/pause/ accept calls, a double press will move to the next music track or reject calls.

The new FlipBuds Pro can also seamlessly switch between your smartphone and your laptop (Dual Device Intelligent Connection). You can also connect two pairs of these earbuds to a single smartphone or laptop to share the audio output between two people.

Coming to its noise-canceling performance, the Xiaomi FlipBuds Pro can officially block up to 40dB of noise in its strongest ANC setting. You can choose between three levels of ANC like daily, office, and travel, depending on your environment for the optimum noise cancellation performance. You get these settings via the MIUI pop-up settings menu (on Xiaomi phones) or the XiaoAI app on other Android smartphones.

The FlipBuds Pro comes in an oval charging case which you can charge via USB-C port or a wireless charger. The company promises 28 hours of battery life in total with the case and up to 7 hours of playback on a single charge. The earbuds support fast charging so you can get up to 2 hours of playback in just 5 minutes of charging with the case.

The Xiaomi FlipBuds Pro will go on sale from May 21 across all sales channels in China at a retail price of 799 yuan (~$124).

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Motorola partners with GuRu to bring over-the-air charging to its smartphones

By

Jeet

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May 13, 2021

Earlier this year, the parent company of Motorola, Lenovo, had teased its new concept for an air-to-air charging system that can charge multiple devices remotely. Now, the company has announced a partnership that will further advance the development to make this technology practically available for everyone.

Motorola has partnered with GuRu Wireless to add support for over-the-air wireless charging to the company’s smartphones. For those who are unaware, GuRu specializes in customizable over-the-air power systems that use “millimeter-wave integrated circuits, modules and proprietary Smart RF Lensing technology”.

This is quite an interesting move by Motorola which usually avoids adding wireless charging capabilities to its phones but now it is making a major development by investing in a charging technology that is truly wireless and doesn’t require phones to be placed on a charging pad for it to work.

This new concept for charging technology is named “Motorola One Hyper.” The demonstration shows two handsets start charging without any contact with the charger over the air when they are placed at 80cm and 100cm away respectively.

Motorola’s devices will be using GuRu’s RF Lensing to charge the device from across the room. It uses a miniature power transfer system to transmit power in a long range and with precision. As of now, nothing much is known about this partnership.

It remains to be seen when the fruit of this partnership will be available to the users but it’s likely that we will have to wait a bit longer as the technology seems to be at least a few months away for commercial use.

This year, Xiaomi also unveiled its Mi Air Charge which is a similar technology to what Motorola is trying to build. The concept from Xiaomi for an over-the-air charging system uses space positioning and energy transmissions to remotely charge a device.

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Tesla stops accepting Bitcoin payments citing environmental concerns

By

Jeet

-

May 13, 2021

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has announced that the company has stopped taking Bitcoin as payment for its electronic cars. The reason being provided for this move is concern about the environmental impact.

The development is quite surprising given that the company had started accepting bitcoins as a payment method along with the traditional card payment options for its vehicles a few weeks ago, in late March.

According to the statement issued, the company would start accepting bitcoin payments once the process of mining bitcoin “transitions to more sustainable energy.” It adds that the company is also “looking at other cryptocurrencies that use <1% of Bitcoin’s energy/transaction.”

Along with this, Elon Musk has also said that the company won’t be selling any more bitcoin from the stash worth around $1.5 billion that is purchased earlier this year. For those who are unaware, Tesla sold some of those bitcoins in the first quarter of this year which helped the company’s quarterly profit figures.

Mining of cryptocurrency involves computers competing against other machines to solve complex mathematical puzzles, which is an energy-intensive process. As per one estimate, it takes up about the same amount of energy annually as the Netherlands.

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