Smartphone brands like Xiaomi, Oppo, Huawei, and more are looking to pre-install the Aarogya Setu app on handsets following mandatory orders from the Indian Government. OEMs have stated that they will fully comply with the move and will include private sector employees as well.
For those unaware, Aarogya Setu is a contact tracing app developed by the Indian government to help to combat the coronavirus. This app essentially connects COVID-19 related health services to Indian citizens and also shares various practices and advisories. This app utilizes smartphones’ connectivity features like Bluetooth and GPS to determine the area of infected people and informing a person whether they have come in close proximity of a person tested positive.
Arriving back at the current situation, the government had also made this app mandatory for people that are still going to work, especially in the private sectors. But now, it seems that the app will be a lot more pervasive in our lives as it may soon arrive pre-installed in every smartphone from major vendors. This will also include telecom operators like the telecom equipment provider Ericsson, that is already having employees download the app.
So far, the Aarogya Setu app mainly is compulsory for those venturing out during this time of crisis for their jobs, but soon this may change. Xiaomi India’s Managing Director, Manu Jain, stated that the company will comply if the government made it mandatory for the app to be pre-installed. This basically means, that soon other OEMs will soon follow suit and will ensure 100 percent coverage of this app throughout employees and upcoming smartphones.
One factor buyers now take into consideration when purchasing a phone is software support. While Android phones generally suck at software support compared to iPhones, a few Android manufacturers try to provide at least two major OS upgrades for their phones. iQOO has now joined that group with its promise of three years of updates for its iQOO 3 flagship phone.
The official iQOO India account made the announcement yesterday on Twitter. The tweet said the iQOO 3 will get two major OS upgrades. This means the phone, which launched with Android 10 out of the box, will get upgraded to Android 11 and Android 12.
Get the best of everything in a single package. Buy an #iQOO3, and get 2 major Android updates, along with regular security, and OTA updates for 3 years. pic.twitter.com/BB7nguK6Oa
The tweet also revealed the iQOO 3 will get security and OTA updates for 3 years. So, software support until 2023. Not bad at all.
This sure is good news for owners of the phone. And for those who have set their eyes on the device but are yet to purchase, this announcement might just be the push they’ve been waiting for.
The iQOO 3 has a 6.44-inch Super AMOLED display with a punch-hole at the top right corner of the screen and Gorilla Glass 6 protection. It has a Snapdragon 865 processor inside and comes with up to 12GB of RAM and 256GB of UFS 3.1 storage.
The phone also packs a 48MP quad rear camera setup, a 16MP selfie camera, and a 4400mAh battery capacity with support for 55W fast wired charging. You also get NFC, an audio jack, and an in-display fingerprint scanner.
With a starting price of INR 34,990 (~$462), the iQOO 3 is definitely a device you can’t ignore.
OnePlus 8 Pro, the brand’s costliest mainstream flagship smartphone till date got off to a rough start. At first, some of the users were facing ‘green tint’ issue on their units similar to Galaxy S20 Ultra. But the company seems to have fixed it temporarily with an update last week. Followed by that, a set of few users reported ‘black crush’ issue. For which, the brand is offering refund, replacement, or free repair depending on what the customer wishes towill roll out an OTA update in the near future.
Now, OnePlus is rolling out OxygenOS 10.5.6 update to the device with camera-related improvements.
Users of OnePlus 8 Pro are receiving a new OTA update weighing about 125MB. The update bumps up the software build to OxygenOS 10.5.6. It does not bring any visual changes instead, it claims to fix certain known issues and improved the stability of the system.
The update also brings improvement to front camera shooting experience and overall stability. Also, it insists to refine the dirt detection capability so that the device can notify users to wipe off the camera lens when needed.
Anyway, here’s the official changelog of OxygenOS 10.5.6 update for OnePlus 8 Pro.
System
Fixed known issues and improved system stability
Camera
Refined the dirt detection capability to be more accurate than ever
Improved the camera’s shooting experience with the front camera
Recently, reports regarding Lenovo launching its first Android gaming smartphone had been making rounds online. The company is expected to launch a gaming device under its popular Legion lineup of gaming products and will mark the series expansion to mobile. While there were rumors up until now, a new leak has granted a more detailed look at the upcoming Legion smartphone, which is said to feature a side popup camera along with a higher refresh rate and more.
Looking at the screenshots, Lenovo teases its 90W fast charging technology again, which will be supported through two USB Type C ports (on the bottom and one of the sides during gaming). Through this image, we can observe that the rear panel has an LED flash right in the middle just below its dual camera setup which is also placed uniquely near the center of the back panel. The overall aesthetics of the device hints at gaming with angular designs that simulate speed and power through 3D textures.
Among the leaked screenshots, a few other details were also revealed. This includes Lenovo Legion’s new uEngine technology, which is its symmetrical dual X-axis linear vibration motor and hints at the device’s cooling and audio capabilities. The gaming phone will reportedly feature a 3D cooling tower structure with dual heat pipe partitions for long-lasting cooling. For audio, it will sport positive stereo sound from its full symmetrical 65mm dual speakers, dual 0.6mm amp speaker system, and 1.4cc large sound cavity.
Notably, the Legion logo can also be observed on the back on top of which a side mounted popup camera is also housed. The selfie camera’s placement is quite interesting, to say the least, and the company probably made the move for a full front display design. Furthermore, the report also revealed that the device carried the model number L79031 and is codenamed “moba.” Unfortunately, this has yet to be confirmed officially so stay tuned.
After launching the new MacBook Air in March this year, the US-based company has now revamped the MacBook Pro lineup with a new 13-inch model that replaces the problematic butterfly keyboard with the new magic keyboard.
The new MacBook Pro features a 13.3-inch LED-backlit display that offers a screen resolution of 2560 x 1600 pixels, 500 nits brightness level, P3 colour gamut support, and True Tone technology.
The base model comes powered by the 8th-generation Intel Core i5 processor and 8GB of RAM and 256GB storage. However, all the other variants feature the latest 10th-generation Intel Core processors, with up to 32GB RAM and 4TB storage.
The latest MacBook Pro also comes with a Touch Bar as a standard, along with a Touch ID fingerprint sensor and the keyboard has a physical Escape key. It also has four Thunderbolt 3 or USB-C connectors as well as a headphone jack.
As for the performance of the new laptop, Apple says that the 10th generation Intel Core processors have a turbo boost up to 4.1Ghz and that the new Intel Iris graphics support the Pro Display XDR at full 6K resolution.
The new Apple MacBook Pro 13-inch starts at $1,299 and is now available for order through the company’s official website in the United States and is slated to arrive in “select Apple Stores and Apple Authorized Resellers later this week.” In India, it starts at ₹1,22,990 but the sale date is not yet revealed.
The Huawei Y6p and Huawei Y5p are the upcoming mid-range phones from the company. Yesterday, leaked renders of both phones had surfaced online. Today, the Chinese firm has officially teasing on the arrival of the Huawei Y6p phone.
Huawei Y6p specifications
Huawei Cambodia’s Facebook page has a new promo of the upcoming Huawei Y6p smartphone. The handset is expected to as an upgraded version of last year’s Huawei Y6 and Huawei Y6s phones.
It is now known that the Huawei Y6p features a 6.3-inch IPS LCD display with waterdrop notch. It carries support for HD+ resolution of 720 x 1600 pixels. The handset has a front-facing camera of 8-megapixel. The backside of the camera has a triple camera system that has a 13-megapixel main lens, a 5-megapixel ultrawide lens and a 2-megapixel depth sensor. A fingerprint scanner is placed on the backside of the device.
The Helio P22 chipset is present under the hood of the Huawei Y6p and 4 GB of RAM. The EMUI 10 based Android 10 OS comes preinstalled on the device. There is a 5,000mAh battery inside the device. Emerald Green, Phantom Purple and Midnight Black are the three color variants of the phone. The 4 GB RAM + 64 GB storage will be priced at $139.
The Huawei Y5p appears to be a rebranded edition of the Honor 9S that was unveiled recently. It has a 5.45-inch IPS LCD HD+ display that supports 18:9 aspect ratio. It has a front camera of 5-megapixel.
The back panel has an 8-megapixel camera with LED flash. The Helio P22 chipset along with 2 GB of RAM powers the device. There is a 32 GB internal storage on the phone. A microSD card is available for additional storage. A 3,020mAh battery powers the phone. The EMUI 10.1 based Android 10 OS runs on the Huawei Y5p.
There is no word on the release date of Huawei Y6p and Huawei Y5p smartphones.
LG has recently released it’s largest and one of its most expensive TV ever. The TV will be a part of the LG Signature Series and is a massive 88 inch TV which also features the 8K resolution and will be available sometime in June 2020.
The LG OLED 8K model arrives in the ZX series and will be available in two sizes, namely, an 88 inch OLED display with an 8K resolution or another 8K 77 inch panel. The South Korean tech giant claims that it will offer sharper images thanks to its pixel density being 4 times higher than most 4K screens out there. This display is also one of the primary reasons for its exorbitant pricing.
Unfortunately, there is no real 8K content that is readily available at the moment. Thus, it offers only a marginal image quality improvement over regular 4K TVs. Apart from this, the only real difference one can observe is by looking closely at the display. The model number for the 88 inch variant is 88ZXPJA while the 77 inch version is called 77ZXPJA. The former is priced at 3.7 million yen (roughly 34,676 US Dollars) and the latter will sell for 2.5 million yen (roughly 23,430 US Dollars).
Amongst other things, the design of the LG 8K TV is quite impressive as well. It arrives in an extremely thin form factor, which can even have it resemble a picture on the wall setup if put up on a wall. Furthermore, it also arrives with an Artistic Sculpture Design stand and has support for the LG ThinQ voice assistant. For sound, the premium flagship TVs sport front firing 60W speakers that are claimed to offer a more cinematic experience in your homes.
In terms of other features, the LG 88 inch 8K OLED TV houses a Gen 3 AI processor technology alongside HDMI 2.1 inputs (which enables 8K output at up to 120fps) and other screen protection related measures for the expensive TV. The custom processor also improves image quality and reduces overall noise. So, if you really want to go all out on your next TV purchase, look no further.
Meizu 17 series will be debuting on May 8 as flagship phones of the brand. The Meizu 17 and Meizu 17 Pro duo will be the first 5G smartphones from the company. According to the latest teaser by the brand on Weibo, they will be also the first devices from the manufacturer to run Android 10 with Flyme 8.1 skin on top of it.
Meizu is popular for its design among geeks worldwide. Similarly, it is known for Flyme Android Skin in its home country China. Sadly, the current latest version of the software called Flyme 8 is still based on Android Pie.
Finally, that will be changing with the introduction of Android 10-baed Flyme 8.1 on Meizu 17 series. Unfortunately, the teaser shared by the company does not reveal anything about the new version of its mobile software.
However, we do know that the latest software will be adopting the native Android 10 dark mode. For the unaware, dark mode on Meizu smartphones is known as Night Mode and its present since Flyme 7.
With the release of Flyme 8, the Night Mode was updated to version 2.0 with new features and improvements. Now, once again with Flyme 8.1, it is expected to get a facelift utilizing stock option offered by Google.
Anyway, we will know more about Flyme 8.1 at the launch event of Meizu 17 series. The brand might even announce the list of eligible devices for the update.
Last year, Microsoft announced its Windows 10X operating system along with the new Surface Neo and Surface Duo devices. At that time, the company had revealed that the new OS will only be coming to the dual-screen devices.
The Windows 10X for phones, tablets and laptops featuring two displays was set to first come with the Surface Neo during holiday season this year, however the device has now reportedly been delayed until 2021, which is in line with our previous reporting.
Microsoft Surface Neo
Meanwhile, the company has confirmed that it is changing focus and will now launch the Windows 10X operating system first for the single-screen devices, which is basically laptops. In a blog post, Microsoft’s chief product officer Panos Panay says: “With Windows 10X, we designed for flexibility, and that flexibility has enabled us to pivot our focus toward single-screen Windows 10X devices that leverage the power of the cloud to help our customers work, learn and play in new ways.”
He goes on to add that the single-screen devices will be the first expression of Windows 10X for the customers and the company continues to work with its OEM partners to bring dual-screen devices to the market at the right time.
It seems that the company decided to take this step because its timeline has been disrupted due to the on-going COVID-19 pandemic. Panos Panay also hints at this when he says that “the world is a very different place than it was last October when we shared our vision for a new category of dual-screen Windows devices.”
While it has been confirmed that the Windows 10X will first come for single-screen devices, it has not been revealed when this operating system would arrive. Since the company isn’t focusing on dual-screen devices, the launch could happen soon. To know for sure, we’ll have to wait for the announcement from Microsoft.
Xiaomi’s Youpin platform has today launched a new fan on its platform named EDON Foldable Fan. While the company has launched this fan in China, it is yet to share details about the pricing and availability.
The foldable fan, along with helping circulate fresh air in the room, also comes with purification and humidification feature. The wireless fan can be mounted on a platform or can also be used on the ground. It uses a step-less rotating shaft design, which can rotate the head 120-degree on the sides and 360-degree up and down to circulate the air.
There is a humidifier at the bottom which can instantly release 1-5um fine water mist with its 3000rpm cross-flow wind pressure technology. With this feature, it can moisturise the skin and can effectively solve the problem of skin heat and dry itching which is usually caused by the hot and closed space.
It is designed in a seamless manner without any screws around. Weighing at just about 1.5 kilograms, the EDON Foldable Fan can be easily folded in just three steps into a small round units, looking similar to the Mi Robot Vacuum Cleaner.
With the fan being foldable, it can be easily stored into the bed drawer or under the sofa as it does not take up much space. It has an LED touch module for all the operations and can also be controlled through a remote control up to 80 meters away.When not in use, the remote controller can also be magnetically attached in front of the fan to prevent loss.
Meizu will be officially launching the Meizu 17 series of flagship smartphones with 5G connectivity on May 8. Ahead of it, the brand has revealed most of the specifications of these forthcoming devices. It has been also teasing the announcement of several accessories like Super mCharge power bank. Today, the company has also revealed to release a new GaN charger.
Meizu GaN Charger Teaser
Chinese smartphone maker Meizu has already confirmed its Meizu 17 series to come with GaN (Gallium Nitride) charger. The in-box charger will operate at a maximum rate of 30W, which the phone will support to fill its 4,500 mAh battery.
Besides that, the company will be also launching a separate GaN charger for multi-purpose. According to the teaser poster, this charger will have three ports and a foldable plug. Also, although the Weibo post does not say anything about the capacity of the upcoming accessory, it is expected to operate at a higher capacity than what the brand’s upcoming flagship series will support.
Gallium Nitride chargers are not new as they are becoming quite popular since last year. OEMs like Oppo, Realme, and Nubia are now providing GaN charger in-box with their products like Oppo Reno Ace, Realme X50 Pro 5G, and Nubia Red Magic 5G.
Additionally, companies like Huawei and Xiaomi are also selling their standalone Nitride chargers.
Apple Watch has been credited for a few times for saving life of its user after the device reportedly detected a potentially fatal incidents. Now, it seems that the smartwatch is again in news for helping its user detect a medical condition.
An 80-year old woman in Germany complained about chest pain but after the standard ECG and lab tests, nothing was detected to be out of ordinary. But then she showed her Apple Watch ECG records to the doctor.
While using Apple watch, after installing the mobile application, it records ECG when a finger is placed in the watch’s digital crown. Now, a 30-second tracking is stored in a PDF file which can be retrieved later.
The records showcased that she was exhibiting a specific pattern of change whenever she was having the pains. As it turns out, the signs were for “marked ST-segment depressions” which is commonly associated with the condition of coronary artery ischemia.
After noticing this and based on the readings of Apple Watch ECG records, she was sent for a procedure to scan vital artery in more detail. It resulted in a clear image of stenosis (or narrowing) in the left main stem of the vessel, with an additional obstruction in another part of it.
The doctors treated these anomalies and the patient was discharged from the hospital next day. This highlights it being second case where the Apple Watch has saved a patient’s life thanks to the clinical-grade diagnosis.
With the launch of Apple Watch Series 4, the company introduced Fall Detection feature that uses data from accelerometer and gyroscope to identify when the user has suffered a fall. If this happens, the Watch will initiate a call to emergency services and if the user is unresponsive after 60 seconds, the emergency call is placed.
The feature has already saved a life when a 67-year-old man in Norway was home alone. When he fainted and suffered a hard fall in his bathroom, but as he was wearing his Apple Watch Series 4, first responders were automatically alerted. They are a few more examples of this wearable saving lives, from a man in UK by promptly detecting low heart rate to saving two stranded Kayakers at sea with Emergency SOS feature.
An unannounced Vivo smartphone with model number V2012A has been spotted on Geekbench. While the identity of the phone is under the wraps, it appears to be an upcoming upper mid-range handset from the company.
The Geekbench listing of the Vivo V2012A reveals that it scored 2930 and 7838 points respectively in the single-core and multi-core tests. The phone is running on the latest Android 10 OS.
The phone is driven by Qualcomm’s octa-core processor chipset. The Identifier field mentions it as “ARM implementer 81 architecture 8 variant 15 part 2052 revision 14.” It has a base frequency of 1.80GHz. While the name of the chipset is not mentioned, it appears to be powered by the Snapdragon 765G chipset.
In February, Vivo launched the Snapdragon 765G powered Vivo Z6 5G phone in China. The newly spotted V2012A phone could be a completely new device. There is a possibility that it could be a global version of the Vivo Z6 5G. It is advisable to wait for further reports to know more about the V2012A phone.
The Vivo Z6 5G has a punch-hole display that measures 6.57 inches. The 20:9 aspect ratio screen supports full HD+ resolution. The Snapdragon 765G fuels the device. The handset comes in 6 GB and 8 GB RAM versions in the home market. Both models have native storage of 128 GB.
It has a front-facing camera of 16-megapixel. The rear side of the device is fitted with a quad camera setup. It comprises of a primary lens of 48-megapixel, an ultrawide sensor of 8-megapixel, a macro lens of 2-megapixel and a depth lens of 2-megapixel. The receives power to perform from a 5,000mAh battery. The handset comes with a 44W fast charger.
The COVID-19 lockdown has been reduced in India. This has allowed e-commerce sites to begin the sales of non-essential products in certain parts of the country. The Redmi Note 9 Pro is also up for sale once again in India. Xiaomi India Managing Director Manu Kumar Jain took to Twitter yesterday to reveal the sales of the Redmi Note 9 Pro will begin today.
As mentioned in the tweet by Jain, starting from 12 PM (local time) today in India, the Redmi Note 9 Pro can be availed through Mi.com and Amazon India. Customers can avail Rs. 1,000 discount on transactions through ICICI Bank credit cards and EMI transactions.
Since the time when the Coronavirus lockdown was imposed for the first time in the first week of March, the sales of smartphones were stopped across India. Customers living in the Red zone will not be purchase the Redmi Note 9 Pro. However, the smartphone will be available for consumers who belong to the Green or Orange zones in the country.
Redmi Note 9 Pro price in India
The Redmi Note 9 Pro is available in India in two options such as 4 GB RAM + 64 GB storage and 6 GB RAM + 128 GB storage. They are priced at Rs. 13,999 and Rs. 16,999, respectively.
The Redmi Note 9 Pro has a massive 6.67-inch IPS LCD display that offers full HD+ resolution and 20:9 aspect ratio. The Snapdragon 720G processor powers the Redmi Note 9 Pro along with LPDDR4X RAM. It features UFS 2.1 storage.
The quad camera setup placed on the backside of the Redmi Note 9 Pro has a 48-megapixel main lens, an 8-megapixel ultrawide shooter, a 5-megapixel macro shooter and a 2-megapixel depth sensor. It has a front-facing camera of 16-megapixel. The device houses a 5,020mAh battery with support for 18W fast charging.
After several months of silence, Meizu is preparing to launch a new series of smartphones: Meizu 17. It will be composed of at least three models: Meizu 17, 17 Pro and 17T. Just a few days are separating us from the official launch and, thanks to several leaks and rumors, we learned almost everything about the specifications. In this article, we gathered all the most reliable pieces of information we got until now in order to give you a complete overview of the new upcoming flagship lineup. Note that a lot of info is still based on rumors and unofficial sources, so take everything with a pinch of salt unless we say it has been officially confirmed by the company.
Meizu 17 series rumor roundup
Design
Thanks to several leaked renders, we had the chance to see the whole design of the new Meizu 17 which will be similar to its variants. The handset will come with a glass back and an aluminum frame. But the Pro variant, as officially confirmed by the company, will ship with a ceramic chassis, as well as a curved display. For its previous flagships, Meizu adopted a unique solution in order to get rid of bezels around the display: it always guaranteed a symmetric design by reducing the bezels without adopting a notch or other similar solutions. This year, Meizu will go mainstream by opting for a punch-hole display with a selfie camera on the top right corner. The volume balancer will be placed on the right side of the phone, alongside the power key. On the rear side, there will be a quad-camera setup placed horizontally in a unique camera module, with a flash ring including multiple LEDs in the middle. There will be at least three color variants: Dark Green, Fantasy Unicorn White, and 17-Degree Gray.
Meizu said that Meizu 17 will sport a fully-custom Samsung Super AMOLED display supporting a high 90 Hz refresh rate. The resolution is expected to be Full HD+. Naturally, we expect the Meizu 17 Pro to come at least with the same Super AMOLED display. The panel is tipped to have a 6.5-inch diagonal and it will surely come with a punch hole at the top-right corner, as mentioned above and as you can see in the renders. The display will have very narrow bezels and it is likely to have curved edges on the Pro version. The company revealed that the Meizu 17 will come with mEngine 3.0 horizontal linear motor for better haptic feedback. Naturally, there will also be an in-display fingerprint reader.
As Meizu already confirmed, Meizu 17 and 17 Pro will have a top-tier hardware department. It will include the Snapdragon 865 chipset by Qualcomm with 5G support as well as a fast UFS 3.1 internal storage: UFS 3.1 is the latest and best technology for mobile storages. The Pro variant should also come with LPDDR5 RAM, while the vanilla version is said to sport an LPDDR4X RAM. Leaked benchmarks showed that Meizu 17 is able to reach more than 580,000 points on AnTuTu benchmark. However, the device spotted on benchmarks is said to be just a prototype: the final score of the flagship may be way higher. There will also be a technology called OneMind 4.0 AI for improving performance through software optimizations. The Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 found on the Meizu 17 and 17 Pro paired with a Snapdragon X55 modem will allow for download speeds up to 2,457 Mbps and supports SA/NSA dual mode 5G network. The phones will also support WiFi 6 with download speeds up to 4,151 Mbps. The lineup will come with stereo speakers for a better multimedia experience. Android 10 will be obviously installed out of the box, customized by Flyme OS that is the company’s own Android personalization.
In an official teaser poster, Meizu confirmed that Meizu 17 will feature a quad-camera setup where the primary sensor will be a 64 MP Sony IMX686 lens. The phone will also feature a 3D depth sensor: while the company has not revealed information about the 3D depth sensor, it is believed to be a LiDAR scanner used in iPad Pro. Unfortunately, we have no info about the other sensors of the rear cameras. On the front panel, there will be a 32 MP selfie snapper housed in a punch hole.
Meizu 17 will be powered by a large 4,500 mAh battery which should help the phone get through an entire day even with 5G enabled. The battery is said to support a 40W fast charging technology on the Meizu 17 Pro and 30W fast charging on the vanilla Meizu 17. The Pro version will also support wireless charging with the Super wireless mCharge technology. It is also said to ship with a fast GaN charger supporting a high power in a compact body. Meizu 17 will lack wireless charging. Meizu 17 achieved 11.77 Hours in the internal battery endurance test.
Meizu 17 series will be official on May 8. The lineup will hit the Chinese market first. It may expand on the global market as well. The Meizu 17 may arrive in China with a starting price of 3,999 Yuan, while the Meizu 17 Pro may carry a price tag of 4,500 Yuan in China. At the actual change, 3,999 Yuan roughly translates into $566, while 4,500 Yuan is equivalent to about $637. What do you think about the specifications and possible prices of the new lineup? Will Meizu succeed? Let us know your opinion by using the comment box below.
LG Velvet is expected to be launched on May 7 and there is no doubt that the full details of the phone are already in the open. Images of the device have appeared online severally but we have just spotted clear images of the device. The images were posted on the website of a Korean store along with a short hands-on video.
The specs listing shows the device features a 6.8-inch Full HD+ OLED panel with a U shaped notch housing a 16MP camera. It further confirms the presence of a Qualcomm Snapdragon 765 paired with 8GB RAM and 128GB with support for microSD card up to 2TB. We expect the phone to have other memory configuration.
The rear camera setup is consistent with what we already know. That is a 48MP primary sensor, an 8MP ultra-wide shooter, and a 5MP depth sensor. The handset measures 167.1 x 74.0 x 7.85mm in dimensions, has IP68 water and dustproof rating and weighs 180 grams. It crams a 4300mAh battery and has wireless charging support. Other important features we were able to pick up from the photos include AI-powered stereo loudspeakers, ASMR video recording and gimbal-like video stabilization.
Finally, it will be available in Aurora White, Aurora Grey, Aurora Green, and Sunset colour options. What is left is for LG to announce the pricing and availability.
Chinese start-up Transsion Holdings has launched a new product under its Tecno brand. the Tecno Spark 5 is an upgrade over the Spark 4 which was launched in September last year. The Spark series is a budget series and as such the pricing is pretty affordable. The design and features are quite impressive for a cheap smartphone.
The Spark 5 features a slightly bigger 6.6-inch display with HD+ resolution of 720×1600 pixels. The display has a screen-to-body ratio of 90.2% and houses a punch-hole selfie camera.
It is powered by an unknown Octa-core processor which would likely be a MediaTek chipset. The processor is paired with 2GB of RAM and there is 32GB of expandable storage onboard. At the rear, it packs a quad-camera setup with a 13MP main sensor and quad-LED flash. The phone also packs a rear-mounted fingerprint sensor.
The phone runs on the latest Android 10 operating system with Tecno’s custom HiOS 6.1 overlay. It crams a 5,000mAh battery. On the connectivity side, there’s 4G with VoLTE support and a 3.5mm headphone jack.
The Tecno Spark 5 is on pre-order in Ghana for GHS 720 (around $125). This is higher than the Spark 4’s price of Rs. 7,999 (~$113) when it was launched in India last year. It is available in four colour options; Misty Grey, Vacation Blue, Ice Jadeite, Spark Orange. They all have a wavy grooved pattern on the back and a bit of a starburst gradient.
Well over one year after the Poco F1 was first announced, Xiaomi’s independent Poco brand is now set to go official with the much-touted Poco F2 Pro. As a matter of fact, the phone’s launch may even be closeby. The Poco Global Twitter account is now teasing the return of the brand “after 265 days” apparently referring to the F1 launch.
If that isn’t enough to get you excited about the PocoF2 Pro, popular e-retailer GearBest has launched a promo page for the device. The page features a couple of posters teasing some of the features that will be onboard the flagship.
The page also indicates that the device is “coming soon”. The Gearbest promo page requires intending buyers to provide their email address and get notified when more details emerge when the phone is ready to ship. You also stand a chance to win a free unit and will enjoy early shipping.
The teaser confirms the smartphone will be equipped with the most-powerful chipset which at present is the Snapdragon 865 SoC. This again confirms speculations that the F2 Pro is a rebadged Redmi K30 Pro.
Further, it will come with a full-screen design and an excellent camera housed in a round housing. Also listed is a large battery with fast charging support.
The Poco F2 Pro will be available with 6GB of RAM and 128GB storage as standard and a higher 8GB RAM/256GB storage option. The model will be available in four colours; Purple, White, Grey and Blue. Although the price wasn’t listed, an earlier leak suggests the device will retail for €600 or €650 in Europe. If there is a 4G version, the price may be lower.
Xiaomi sprang a surprise early last year when it announced the Mi Mix 3 5G at MWC 2019. The device was later released in Europe and became the first 5G smartphone to go on sale in Spain and Italy priced at €599 (€699.90 in Italy). The Mix 3 5G came preinstalled with Android 9.0 Pie-based MIUI 10. Interestingly, the flagship device is yet to get updated to either MIUI 11 or Android 10 even when MIUI 12 is announced. I’ve come across several comments of fans venting their anger over this unfortunate situation. A Mi Mix 3 5G owner has now taken things beyond mere complaints and has floated a petition on Change.org in a bid to get the Chinese tech giant to update the software.
Apparently, the absence of any new update or the Mi Mix 3 5G isn’t a mistake. Turns out the device didn’t perform well in the market as only a few units were sold and so the company decided to halt software support. Recall that the Mi Mix 3 5G was released at a time 5G connectivity had barely rolled out in Europe. So, enthusiasm wasn’t really high for the device at that time. Who needs a 5G phone when there are no 5G services? Well, a few persons did.
But then, the poor sales are no fault of the few persons who bought the model. The Mi Mix 3 4G which is sold in China has already gotten updated to Android 10-based MIUI 11. Thus, the owners of the 5G version also deserve to get new updates, possibly to MIUI 12 as well.
This petition seems to have drawn inspiration from a similar petition by Mi A3 users urging the Chinese company to push Android 10 update to Mi A3 models. Xiaomi responded in a short time but the update could at best be described as ill-fated. We wait for a response from Xiaomi on this petition.
India has been under lockdown for over a month to fight back the spread of coronavirus. Even e-commerce was non-operational except for certain essential goods. But from May 4, the government has announced certain relaxation, which also includes selling and delivery non-essential products like smartphones via online as well as offline retail stores.
Abiding the new rule, smartphone brands have started selling their devices in the country. Companies like Xiaomi, Realme, Vivo, and Samsung have begun to take orders on their respective online stores.
However, they are not fully operational as they are only allowed to offer services to regions marked green and orange by the government. The same rule also applies for e-commerce companies like Flipkart and Amazon India who have also resumed their services.
Customers will have to enter their pin code to check availability of products to their area. On top of that, the delivery of ordered products could be delayed.
Also, Vivo has introduced a service by which users can order smartphones via SMS, which will be delivered by 20,000 retail stores across the country. Some of the local retail mobile shops have also been reopened in several regions.
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