This week we didn’t see many smartphones launches instead saw TV and Ac launches. Here is a weekly round up of tech news
Launches:
Thomson introduces 40-inch 4K Smart TV for Rs 20,999
A month afteroffering free one year ZEE5 subscription for limited buyers, French electronics brand Thomson has now introduced a new 40-inch 4K Smart TV in India. The new Thomson 4K TV will be available for an asking price of Rs 20,999 on Flipkart starting from March 16.
Paytm Payments Bank launches Mobile Banking app for its 43 million customers
Paytm Payments Bank Limited (PPB) announced the launch of its mobile banking app that offers users quick, effortless & secured access to their bank account on the go. The new app is presently available for download on the Google Play Store and shall shortly be available on the Apple app store as well. With a simple, & intuitive navigation, the mobile app will enable customers to check their balances, raise a request for physical debits cards, access digital debit cards, etc. Customers will also be able to receive 24×7 help and support through this mobile banking app.
Panasonic introduces a new range of air conditioners in India
Panasonic has announced the launch of a new range of air conditioners in India. The company has introduced two series, Advance and Arch for the Indian market at a starting price of Rs 39,990, which goes up to Rs 53,990. The brand has introduced models in 3 and 5-star rating in 1, 1.2, 1.5 and 2-tonne variants. Panasonic claims the new series delivers comfort, health, beauty and durability. The new air conditioners are equipped with a Twin Cool inverter technology.
Sharp KG-G40M air purifier and humidifier launched in India for Rs 33,000
Sharp has introduced the launch of a new air purifier cum humidifier in India. Dubbed as Sharp KC-G40M, the air purifier comes at an introductory price of Rs 33,000 and it is available for purchase from offline retail stores in India. Sharp KC-G40M air purifier r comes loaded with passive HEPA and PANDAA filters that the company claims eliminate PM2.5, Pollen, other gaseous substances such as Toluene, Ethyl Benzene and other HAZE compounds. The air purifier comes loaded with Active Plasmacluster technology that generates fresh air while eliminating toxic fumes, VOC, gases and a variety of pathogens.
LG this week introduced new dual cool inverter air conditioners in India. The new range comes with a starting price of Rs 31,990, which goes up to Rs 69,990. The brand has introduced 54 new models with 5 and 3-star rating from the Bureau Energy Efficiency (BEE). The key features of the dual cool inverter air conditioners come loaded with a host of interesting features. To begin with, the models are equipped with dual inverter compressor that comes with varied speed dual rotary motor ensuring faster cooling, more efficiency and reduction in noise and vibration levels.
Lava 34 Super feature phone launched in India for Rs 1,799
Lava 34 is the new feature phone launched by the company this week. The phone comes with a price tag of Rs 1,799 and it will be available across 75,000 retail outlets across the country. The new feature phone from Lava comes in Black-Red and Sunrise Gold colour options. The feature phone is equipped with a 2.4-inch screen and it comes with a 14.4mm thickness. The key highlight of the phone is a gradient keypad design. The Lava 34 Super comes with a box speaker that generates 99.6 dB loudness and the company claims that it comes with powerful amplifier for clearer audio output. The phone supports English and all Indian languages such as Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Bengali, Gujarati and Punjabi.
Syska Power Vault 200 Power Bank launched for Rs 1299
Syska Accessories launched the Syska Power Vault 200 Power Bank. The Power Bank is available on Flipkart for Rs 1299. The Syska Power Vault 200 is a multifunctional power bank that comes in White and Black colors, and is equipped with a large Grade A+ 20000 mAh Lithium Polymer Battery. It comes with a 6 months warranty against any manufacturing defects. The warranty will be effective from the date of purchase of the product. The power bank comes with multiple connectors like 2 Standard USBs, One Micro USB for input and one USB type C port for input as well as for output. The product is compatible with a wide range of devices including Laptops, Digital Cameras, Gaming Consoles, iPods, Mp3/Mp4 players, Tablets, PDAs, Bluetooth Speakers, Headphones, Android or iPhones.
Sennheiser Memory Mic wireless microphone launched in India for Rs 18,900
A week after launching theIE 40 PRO In-Ear Monitors in India for Rs 9,990, Sennheiser has launched the wireless Memory Mic which it says will work seamlessly with Android as well as iOS devices. The Sennheiser Memory Mic wireless microphone will be available across offline stores and the Sennheiser web store in India for an asking price of Rs 18,990.
Picture Gallery
Smartphones with 6GB RAM, March 2019
Android Q Beta 1 Preview: killer Features you need to know!
Xiaomi Redmi Go: Everything you should know
Interview:
Unlike competitors, all our ACs are made in India: LG
In 2019, LG is going to make available 54 ACs in India and all of them will be inverter ACs and 20 of them will come with 3 Star rating and 34 will have 5 Star Rating. As far as Windows ACs are concernedcompanywill launch 8 models.
VideoiInterview with LG
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Operators News:
Airtel 4G Hotspot now comes with new monthly and semi-annual plans
Airtel has introduced new plans for its 4G Hotspot service in India. The company has introduced Rs 399 and Rs 599 plans for its 4G Hotspot users and it has introduced semi-annual plans as well. To begin with the base Rs 399 plan, Airtel users will get 50GB of data per month. Once the limit is exhausted, one will still be able to access the internet, but at a reduced speed of 80 Kbps. Next in the line is Rs 599 plan, this pack offers 100GB of data per month and once the data is over, users will get 80 Kbps.
Leaked Information:
Huawei P30 spotted on Geekbench with Kirin 980 SoC and 6GB RAM
Huawei is all set to launch its upcoming flagship smartphones – Huawei P30, P30 Pro, and P30 Lite on 26th March in Paris, France. Now, ahead of the phone’s official launch, the Huawei P30 has been spotted on Geekbench. Earlier, Huawei P30 Pro was also spotted on the same website. The Geekbench listing of the P30 reveals some important details related to the smartphone. It confirms that the smartphone is powered by the company’s own Kirin 980 7nm processor clocked at 1.8GHz along with 6 GB of RAM. As for the software, the smartphone will run on the latest Android Pie OS out of the box.
Xiaomi Poco F1 Lite spotted On Geekbench with 4GB of RAM and Snapdragon 660
The Xiaomi Poco F1 Lite has spotted on GeekBench Benchmarking website revealing its key specifications. As per the GeekBench listing via Slashleaks, the Poco F1 Lite smartphone will be powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 octa-core processor. In addition to the chipset, the Geekbench listing also confirms that the smartphone will feature 4GB of RAM. For the software, the Poco F1 Lite will run Android Pie out of the box. In the GeekBench listing, the phone has scored 1,341 points in the single-core and 4,830 points in the multi-core test.
Oppo A1K leaked with Helio P22 and 4,000 mAh battery
The smartphone will soon go official with the MediaTek Helio P22 Chipset coupled with 2GB of RAM. The Oppo A1K will run on the ColorOS 6 which is based on the Android Pie and will get 32GB of storage on the smartphone. The report further reveals that the A1K will come in two colour variants – Red and Black. The smartphone will be fueled by a 4,000mAh battery and it will feature a single camera on the rear panel. The phone will measure 154.4 x 77.4 x 8.4mm and weigh 165 grams. It is tipped to feature a 6-inch waterdrop notch display on the front.
Sony Xperia 4 with Snapdragon 710 SoC, 21:9 aspect ratio screen in works?
Sony is reportedly working on a new smartphone, which is named as Xperia 4. As per a report by Sumahoinfo, key specifications of the device has been leaked. To begin with, the Xperia 4 will feature a 5.7-inch Full HD+ display with a screen Resolution of 2520 x 1080 pixels. The phone will be equipped with a 21:9 aspect ratio, similar to what we have seen in above-mentioned smartphones. The phone is reported to be powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 710 chipset.
Huawei P30 Pro key specs revealed ahead of an official launch
Huawei P30 Pro key specifications has been revealed as the phone has been spotted on Geekbench and AnTuTu. The listing on both the benchmarking websites reveal model number Huawei VOG-L29. Starting with Geekbench first, the listing reveals that the runs on Android 9.0 Pie and it comes with 8GB of RAM. The phone runs on octa-core processor clocked at 1.8GHz, which could be none other than Kirin 980 chipset. The phone has received 3289 points in single-core test and 9817 points in multi-core test.
Honor 10i with triple-camera setup, Kirin 710 SoC leaked online
The phone’s key specifications and live images have been leaked leaving little to the imagination. The live images and specifications were shared by a Russian website and it reveals the front and back panel of the phone. Starting with the front panel, there is a dewdrop notch at the top with minimal bezels at the edges. The back panel of the phone features a triple-camera setup, which is aligned vertically and there is a fingerprint sensor as well.
Vivo S1 key specs, renders and price surfaced online
Vivo is reported to be working on a new smartphone, which is dubbed as Vivo S1. The smartphone key specifications along with press render and the price has been leaked online. A tipster has shared all the information on the Chinese social media site, Weibo. To begin with, the press renders first, it shows a similar design language to Vivo V15 Pro, which was launched in India in February.
Motorola Razr foldable smartphone key specifications leaked
The Motorola Razr will be a mid-range smartphone as it is powered by an octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 710 processor clocked at 2.2GHz along with Adreno 616 GPU. The phone will be offered in two memory configurations. There will be a 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage variant and a 6GB RAM + 128GB of storage option. There is no information on whether the memory can be expanded or not.
Other News
Realme 3 Radiant Blue colour variant first sale date announced
Realme recently launched Realme 3 in India in three colour variants – Dynamic Black, Radiant Blue and Black. The first sale for the Dynamic Black and Black variants was held on March 12. Now the first sale date of Radiant Blue colour variant has also been announced by the company via its Twitter handle. The Realme 3 Radiant Blue colour variant will go on sale on Flipkart and Realme official website exclusively. The sale will start at 12 PM on March 26, 2019, for the Radiant Blue variant. In the first sale of Dynamic Black and Black variants, the company has claimed to sold over 2.1 lakhs of handsets.
Asus Zenfone Max Shot, Zenfone Max Plus M2 with world’s first Snapdragon SiP processor announced
Asus has announced the launch of two new smartphones at an event in Brazil that comes with world’s first Qualcomm Snapdragon System in Package (SiP) processor namely, the Asus Zenfone Max Shot and Zenfone Max Plus M2. The phones are powered by world’s first Qualcomm Snapdragon SiP 1, which comes with 14nm manufacturing processor and it features eight cores clocked at 1.8GHz. The chipset is identical to the Qualcomm Snapdragon 450 SoC. The new chipset comes with Adreno 506 GPU.
Vivo X27, confirmed, to feature 48MP camera, 8GB RAM and 4,000mAh battery
Vivo will announce itsX27 smartphone in China on March 19. Now the company has confirmed some of the key specifications of the Vivo X27 smartphone via teaser images. As per the first teaser, Vivo X27 will be featuring 8GB of RAM and inbuilt storage of 256 GB. The smartphone will be equipped with a big battery of 4,000mAh. The battery is rumored to come with 22.5W rapid charging support through USB-C. The phone will come with a triple rear camera setup with 48-megapixel primary sensor. The teaser reveals that the phone will come with Wide-Angle mode and night view mode to ensure great results in low-light conditions.
Black Shark 2 to feature e-sports battery with 60 percent improved performance
Xiaomi Black Shark 2 will be announced on March 18 in China at a launch event to be held in Beijing. For gaming smartphones, battery life is one of the critical factors and the company will bring a new solution for the upcoming smartphone. Black Shark CEO Peter revealed via a Weibo post that the phone will come with an e-sports grade battery. He added that this will increase the charging and discharging performance by 60 percent for the smartphone, thanks to the optimized battery chemical system. The company has tweaked the charge and discharge algorithm. He also confirmed that the phone will come with Liquid Cooling 3.0 technology.
Samsung Galaxy A9 (2018) receives Android Pie update
After rolling out Android Pie update to Galaxy A8+ (2018) recently, Samsung is now rolling out the Android 9.0 Pie update to the Galaxy A9 (2018) smartphone. The Android Pie update is currently rolling out across Poland. The device was launched with Android 8.0 Oreo last year in India. It is strange that Samsung is yet to release Pie for the Galaxy A7 (2018), which was the first A-series device. Though the company also recently rolled out Android 9.0 Pie Beta update to Galaxy A7 (2018) users in India.
Huawei Nova 4e launched with 6.15-inch FHD+ display, triple rear cameras, 32MP front camera
Huawei announced the launch of Huawei Nova 4e smartphone in China this week. The smartphone is priced at 1999 Yuan (Rs 20,720 approx.) for the 4GB RAM variant and the 6GB RAM variant will cost you 2299 Yuan (Rs 23,835 approx.). It features a 6.15-inch full-HD+ (1080×2312 pixels) IPS display, octa-Core Kirin 710 12nm processor with ARM Mali-G51 MP4 GPU. The phone has 4GB / 6GB RAM, 128GB of internal storage. The smartphone comes equipped with triple rear camera setup with a combination of a 24-megapixel primary sensor with an f/1.8 wide-angle lens, 8-megapixel sensor with an ultra-wide-angle lens, and a 2-megapixel depth sensor. For the front, the phone includes a 32-megapixel selfie camera with an f/2.0 lens. It runs EMUI 9.0.1 based on Android 9 Pie and is backed up by 3340mAh battery with fast charging.
Asus Zenfone Max Pro M2 receives new FOTA update
Asus has started rolling out a new update for its latest smartphone – the Zenfone Max Pro M2 in India. The latest update brings bug fixes and improvements along with the latest security patch. The update comes with version number 15.2016.1902.192. The update brings the latest February 19 security patch to the latest smartphone. It also improves front camera quality. The new update also upgrades touchscreen firmware and improves display in status bar. Asus has revealed that the update is currently rolling out in batches. Users can check for the latest update by going to Settings > About Phone > System updates.
Nokia 3.1 receives stable Android 9.0 Pie update
Nokia 3.1 has finally started receiving a stable Android 9.0 Pie update. The phone was launched last year with Android 8.0 and was later updated to Android 8.1 Oreo as well. After the update, the Nokia 7 Plus will come advanced in machine learning and AI features, such as Adaptive Battery and App Actions, ensure smarter resourcing of power and processing and accelerate smartphone functionality. As part of the Android One family, the Nokia 3.1 will introduce App Actions – a new feature unique to Android One devices and Google Pixel phones running Android 9 Pie.
Xiaomi Redmi Go to launch in India on March 19
Xiaomi will be launching its first Android Go smartphone – Redmi Go in India on March 19. The company has now started sending media invites for the launch event to be held in New Delhi. Redmi Go smartphone was announced earlier this year and its price was revealed when it went up for pre-orders in the Philippines at PHP 3,990 (roughly Rs. 5,400). It is expected that the smartphone will be priced at around Rs 5,000 in India. Xiaomi Redmi Go will be Flipkart exclusive in India
Apple schedules WWDC conference forJune 3, iOS 13, macoS 10.15 and more expected
Apple has announced that it will be hosting with annual developer conference, Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) on June 3. The company will holding conference from March 3 to March 7 at the McEnery Convention Centre, San Jose. For those who are not aware, WWDC is a developer conference where Apple generally introduces new versions of iOS, macOS, watchOS and tvOS. The company has revealed that this year’s programme will feature technical sessions, hands-on labs and guest speakers.
Samsung Galaxy A50 gets a new update in India
Samsung has started rolling out a new update to its latest mid-range smartphone, the Galaxy A50, in India. The update comes with bug fixes, improvements and latest security patch.The company has started rolling out the update with version number A505FDDU1ASC1/A505FODM1ASC1/A505FXXU1ASB7 and weighs around 141 MB. The update changelog reveals that camera picture quality of the Galaxy A50 has been improved.
Xiaomi Redmi Note 7 gets a new update for low light performance
Xiaomi has started rolling out a new update to its recently-launched Redmi Note 7, in India. The new update brings better low light performance in the camera department. The company has started rolling out a stable new MIUI Global Stable ROM update for Redmi Note 7. The new update comes with version number MIUI 10.2.7.0.PFGINXM and it weighs around 500 MB in size.
Google Pixel 3, Pixel 3 XL users complain about the audio issue during calls
Google Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL users are complaining about a new issue that is occurring during making a call. As per multiple users, the audio quality goes for a toss when they make a call. Users raised this issue on Reddit and Google Forums. They say that whenever they make a call, the receiver hears echoes, tiny sound and choppy audio. However, the audio quality remains decent at caller’s end. This simply means that the issue could be related to the microphone.
Poco F1 receives MIUI 10.2.30 update, Widevine L1 support and 4K video recording is still missing
Xiaomi’s sub-brand Poco has started rolling out a new update to first flagship smartphone, the Poco F1. Multiple Poco F1 users have started update with version number MIUI 10.2.3.0.PEJMIXM. The update is about 560MB in size and it is based on Android 9.0 Pie. It also brings the latest February security patch to the device. One can check for the update by going to Settings > Software Update and download the new firmware.
Xiaomi Mi A2 receives yet another price cut in India
Xiaomi has reduced the price of Mi A2 by Rs 2,000. With the price cut, the smartphone is now available for purchase at Rs 11,999. However, it is important to note that the price cut is meant for the 4GB RAM + 64GB of internal storage variant, while the 4GB RAM + 64GB storage option is still priced at Rs 15,999.
Honor 8X to get EMUI 9.0 update based on Android 9.0 Pie in India from March 18
The company has confirmed that it will be rolling stable EMUI 9.0 update, which will be based on Android 9.0 Pie, for the Honor 8X pretty soon. Honor has announced that the Honor 8X will get Android 9.0 Pie update starting from March 18 in India. The brand has revealed that it will roll out the update in batches, which simply means that a small percentage of users will get the update from the said date, while the broader roll out might take a bit longer time reach all Honor 8X units.
Samsung Galaxy A7 (2018) receives a stable Android Pie update
Samsung is now rolling out the Android 9.0 Pie update to the Galaxy A7 (2018) smartphone. The update brings the latest One UI and the brand has started rolling out the update over-the-air currently in Russia. Samsung has released an Over-The-Air(OTA) update for Galaxy A7 (2018) users and it carries build number A750FNPUU1BSC4 for the A7 (2018). The update also brings the February Android security patch level to the device. The new update also brings the OneUI to the table. With this, users can enjoy host of different features.
Review
Samsung Galaxy M30 Review: Is this the best of Samsung you can get at this budget?
Samsung recently introduced its yet another smartphone focused at the millennials. Dubbed as Samsung Galaxy M30, the smartphone comes with an asking price of Rs 14,990 for the 4GB RAM + 64GB storage and 6GB of RAM + 128GB variant is priced at Rs 17,990. With this, Samsung is trying to eye the Rs 15,000 to Rs 20,000 segment, which is heavily guarded with the Chinese players like Xiaomi, Realme and Vivo. The company has added some nifty arsenal to its device with a new gradient finish, triple-camera setup an impressive 5000mAh battery. But, is it enough to make the best proposition to its potential buyers?
Asus Zenbook 14 Review: Sleeker, lighter and powerful!
Asus Zenbook 14 comes loaded with a sleek design and it is quite compact in nature. The display is sharp and provides an immersive viewing experience, though it is quite reflective in nature. The performance is top notch, though coil whine issue can bother some. The battery life is simply amazing. To conclude, if you are looking for a compact yet powerful laptop and budget is not a constraint then this can be considered as one option.