Sony at the MWC 2018 introduced the Xperia Ear Duo wireless headphones with noise-cancelling and Google Assistant and Siri integration. It went on pre-order in the U.S. back in February and went on sale lat month. Today the company has announced that the headphones have started rolling out through Xperia Store Online in select markets including UK, Ireland, France, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark, Spain, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Netherlands, Italy, Poland, Czech Republic, Portugal, Greece, Hungary, Bulgaria and Belgium.
The dual listening experience combines music that you are listening to environmental sounds for the richer sound experience. It can send audio notifications about your calendar, news headlines, and other topics to the headset. The intelligent “Daily Assist” feature recognizes the time, location and activities to offer relevant information throughout the day.
The Sony’s in-house developed Spatial Acoustic Conductor, allows the sound generated behind the ear by the unit´s driver to be transmitted directly to the ear. It is powered by the Sony’s ultra-low power consuming CXD5602 chip and a sophisticated multi-sensor platform.
Highlights of Sony Xperia Ear Duo
Truly wireless freedom to keep you in tune with the world
Smart assistance with contextual alerts - personalized information is delivered based on your whereabouts or your current activity
...
Sony at the MWC 2018 introduced the Xperia Ear Duo wireless headphones with noise-cancelling and Google Assistant and Siri integration. It went on pre-order in the U.S. back in February and went on sale lat month. Today the company has announced that the headphones have started rolling out through Xperia Store Online in select markets including UK, Ireland, France, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark, Spain, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Netherlands, Italy, Poland, Czech Republic, Portugal, Greece, Hungary, Bulgaria and Belgium.
The dual listening experience combines music that you are listening to environmental sounds for the richer sound experience. It can send audio notifications about your calendar, news headlines, and other topics to the headset. The intelligent “Daily Assist” feature recognizes the time, location and activities to offer relevant information throughout the day.
The Sony’s in-house developed Spatial Acoustic Conductor, allows the sound generated behind the ear by the unit´s driver to be transmitted directly to the ear. It is powered by the Sony’s ultra-low power consuming CXD5602 chip and a sophisticated multi-sensor platform.
Highlights of Sony Xperia Ear Duo
Truly wireless freedom to keep you in tune with the world
Smart assistance with contextual alerts - personalized information is delivered based on your whereabouts or your current activity
...
Huawei introduced the Nova 3e back in March, which was launched in India as P20 Lite along with the P20 Pro last month. Even though this might not have top-end specifications as the P20 or the P20 Pro, this has a similar notch design, glass-like finish on the back and a 24-megapixel front camera. Is the smartphone worth the price of Rs. 19,999? Let us dive into the review to find out.
Box Contents
Huawei P20 Lite smartphone in Klein Blue color
2-pin charger (5V-2A)
USB Type-C Cable
Headset
SIM Ejector tool
Clear protective case
User manual and warranty information
Display, Design, and Hardware
The Huawei P20 Lite comes with a 5.84-inch Full HD+ LCD 2.5D curved glass display with a resolution of 1080 x 2280 pixels, pixel density of 432 PPI, 19:9 aspect ratio with a notch and a screen-to-body ratio of about 80%. The display is bright, offers good color reproduction, thanks to 96% NTSC super high-colour gamut, has good viewing angles and the sunlight legibility is good as well. It also has toughened glass for protection says the company with revealing which one it is.
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Similar to the P20 and the P20 pro, this has an option to hide the notch at the top of the display that ...
Oath Inc today announced that it is shutting down Yahoo Messenger on July 17th and until then you continue to use the service normally. Yahoo Messenger is one of the first instant messaging apps on the market. The company says your Yahoo ID remains intact for other services like Mail and fantasy sports.
While the company isn't specific about the shutdown but given the dominance of the WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and other chat applications it is understandable. Oath had also shut down AIM's AOL Instant messenger back in December last year. The company says that as communications landscape continues to change, it is focusing on building and introducing new communications tools that better fit consumer needs.
Squirrel is a group messaging app that Yahoo started testing last month, so this new app will be replacing Yahoo messenger. The company mentioned that users can download the chat history on Messenger for the next six months from here. But the files can be saved locally but can't be imported to other platforms.
Yahoo regarding the shutdown has said:
There currently isn’t a replacement product available for Yahoo Messenger. We’re constantly experimenting with new services and apps, one of which is an invite-only group messaging app called Yahoo Squirrel (currently in beta).
Source | Via
Motorola has updated its camera app to version 7.2.19.8 that brings several new features including Google Lens support inside the camera app that brings object and landmark recognition, but this simply launches the Google app. This was announced by Google at the I/O, and Sony smartphones got the feature recently.
The app is also fully integrated with Google Photos that lets you swipe left for sharing, editing, and backup tools, and it also now shows Best Shot or Portrait in the Google Photos library. It adds easier zoom controls that lets you just swipe up and down in the viewfinder and integration with YouTube Live. Check out the complete changelog below.
Single finger up/down zoom
Drag to focus with exposure UI
Improved modes exit UI
Combined front / rear camera settings UI
Google Lens
YouTube Live
Bug fixes and stability improvements
All these features are available for 2018 Motorola smartphone, and the update is available via Google Play.
Google never throws hints at the features of its upcoming flagships this early, but with Google being the force behind the software that powers the flagships digging a little deep into the codes and strings revealed some interesting possibilities. The company recently rolled out the Android P beta 2 update to Pixel phones and within the update, there were traces that point at a new type of wireless charging dock support that we believe is in preparation for the Google Pixel 3 and Google Pixel 3 XL.
Yesterday we had seen the live images of the Pixel 3 XL which showed a glass body design, while that doesn't necessarily mean it would have wireless charging support (OnePlus 6). However, the new code that was found in the latest Android P Developer Preview combined with the Pixel 3 XL information points at next Pixel will indeed have wireless charging support.
Google in the Android 4.2 (Jelly Bean) added a special sound that plays when you charge wirelessly and later Android versions differentiate between wireless and wired charging for charging indicators, so AOSP has had some level of recognizing wireless chargers for a while. Now it seems like Android P will expand this by adding a new class of devices under ...
Apple is said to be planning on bringing solid-state buttons that don’t move up and down but will sense the touch of a finger. The company will still stick to the button configuration, with a button and a digital crown placed on the side of the device, but the bottom will not physically click as before.
The buttons will react to users touch by physically moving back and forth and the new buttons will vibrate post fingertip using the Apple's haptic effect called the Taptic Engine. This switch from regular buttons to the solid-state buttons falls in-line with the conversion of the iPhone’s home button to a solid-state design with iPhone 7 in 2016. Apple has been consistently shifting its components such as MacBook trackpads and iPod control wheels from moving parts to solid-state technology.
This could either be a part of the new Apple Watch that it will announce this fall, or, if not, will be included in the 2019 Watch. Solid-state buttons will make the Watch more water-resistant and also takes up less space in the design. Apple is also working on using the top of the buttons as sensors to gather health-related data such as heart rhythms. It is also said that the company's ...
Lenovo this week introduced the Z5 smartphone along with the K5 Note and A5, Asus's ROG division introduced the ROG gaming phone, Honor introduced the Honor Play and Honor 9i 2018 edition, Xiaomi launched the Redmi Y1 smartphone, Motorola launched the Moto G6 and the Moto G6 Play smartphones, and lots more in our weekly roundup.
Lenovo announced the Z5, the company’s latest mid-range smartphone in the ‘Z series’ in China, as it had promised. It packs a 6.2-inch Full HD+ display with 19:9 aspect ratio and a notch and 90% screen-to-body ratio, even though the company teased it as a bezel-less smartphone. It is powered by Snapdragon 636 with 6GB of RAM, runs Android 8.1 (Oreo) with ZUI 3.9 on top.
It features a 16-megapixel rear camera along with an 8-megapixel secondary rear camera with AI support. It has an 8-megapixel camera on the front with AI beautification and face unlock. It comes with a glass back with 2.5D curved Corning Gorilla Glass protection, anti-fingerprint coating and 6 Series aluminum metal frame and a fingerprint sensor on the back. It packs a 3300mAh battery with support for 15W fast charging.
It Lenovo Z5 comes in Aurora Blue, Black and Indigo Blue colors, starts at 1299 yuan (US$ ...
Apple Music is getting a new update and it includes a series of new features including the new section called "Coming Soon," which allows subscribers to check out new albums that are about to be released. It is also listing the album launch dates as well.
The coming soon section on iOS and Mac OS can be found in Browse tab > New Music > scroll down to find Coming Soon >. This hub lists artists from a variety of different genres. However, it only lists about 10 albums, so the coming soon section isn't entirely a reliable source for all the upcoming albums, but since Apple has started updating, we expect it will expand the list gradually.
Lastly, the company is also adding artist profiles, for now showing up only in iTunes on macOS. These profiles have a slightly tweaked layout with artist portraits in circular bubbles, and a "Featured Release" that includes release dates. There's also a new Play button present next to the artist name, this was first noticed by iOS 12 beta testers and now it appears to be launching now for all Apple Music users.
Coming soon tab and release dates have appeared for multiple users on iOS 11.4, as well as on macOS 10.13.4. With Apple ...
Apple is said to have asked its suppliers to build "around 20 percent fewer" components for the upcoming iPhones that are set to debut in the second half of 2018, according to four sources of Nikkei . This move is an attempt to cautiously approach with the iPhone shipments in 2018 compared to 2017 orders.
Apple in 2017 said to have ordered around 100 million iPhone 8, 8 Plus, and X production units and now the number is down to 80 million in 2018, according to the report, which corroborates with the recent claims made by Security analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, stating that all three new iPhones will ship in September 2018, despite some rumors said that the LCD model could launch slightly later.
The company has also asked suppliers to prepare earlier for this year's OLED models to ensure that the smartphones can launch in September, and eliminate the iPhone X's like delay in November in 2017. The components for these smartphones will arrive at assemblers like Foxconn and Pegatron for final assembly in July, while the same will occur for the LCD model in August. It is a known fact that Apple is planning on launching three new iPhone models later this year; a 6.5-inch "iPhone ...
MediaTek during the Computex 2018 last week in Taiwan silently introduced its M70, the latest 5G modem based on TSMC's 7nm process incorporating EUV technology. The company said that it has collaborated with NOKIA, NTT Docomo, China Mobile, Huawei, and other vendors. It supports 5G NR (New Radio) and will meet the latest 3GPP Release 15 standard specification (complete specification released in June) With 5Gbps transfer rate.
MediaTek CEO Rick Tsai said that the company's R&D teams are actively working to create for consumers the best user experiences associated with 5G and AI. Zhou Yujun, senior vice president and Chief Technology Officer (CTO), MediaTek said that that since MediaTek invested 5G R&D time much earlier than 4G, it also participated in the 3GPP organization's standard setting and discussion in 5G. MediaTek's development of 5G products enabled MediaTek 5G modems to be launched faster than 4G.
The MediaTek Helio M70 is expected to ship in 2019. The company said that will reveal more details about the modem later this year, possibly at the IFA in a couple of months.
Source 1, 2
Audiophiles on a budget have never had it better. From Soundmagic to MEE Audio, 1More, FiiO and more, there's an option for every sound preference and every budget. We've previously reviewed a range of 1More products and found them to be excellent value for their price point. In the case of the 1More Triple Driver earphones,we found them to deliver sound quality that punches well above its weight. For someone with a lower budget though, 1More has a dual driver variant. We've been testing out the 1More Dual Driver In-Ear Headphones over the last few weeks and here's our review.
Design
The 1More Dual Driver earphones have a design that is very similar to the one on the company's Triple Driver Earphones. Aluminum enclosures lead to rubberised cables with an in-line microphone and remote. The cables are reasonably thick and we didn't observe any significant amount of microphonics. The remote is made of plastic and isn't the highest quality but it gets the job done.
Beyond the Y-Splitter though is a braided nylon cable that feels pretty good though it isn't exactly tangle free. At the end is an L shaped connector.
The earbuds themselves are on the larger side and have an angled ...
London saw a lot of action when both Honor and OnePlus decided to launch their latest flagships back to back. Priced under the incredibly hot, sub Rs. 35,000 ‘value flagship’ segment, the Honor 10 and OnePlus 6 both bring killer specifications at a very similar price point. So obviously, one can’t help but compare the two to see which one is better. And that’s just what we’re going to do.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2JzmmaoiKc
Design
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Up front, the Honor 10 jumps onboard trend and manages to have reduced bezels on all sides. The phone is really comfortable to hold with excellent ergonomics thanks to the rounded edges, smaller display. Flip the Honor 10 over and you’ll see the glass back featuring a reflective pattern made up of 15 layers of glass. The phone comes with a nano-scale optical coating and design alternates between various hues of blue and purple depending on how light strikes the back panel. The end result is visually stunning and unlike anything on the market. The phone measures 7.7mm in thickness and weigh around 153 grams.
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The OnePlus 6 is the company’s first flagship with a glass back and it has Corning Gorilla Glass 5 ...
Apple today has updated its app guidelines to stop developers from sneaking any functionality into the apps within the company's ecosystem. The company now says that "apps, including any third party advertisements displayed within them, should not run any unrelated background processes; cryptocurrency mining.
According to May guidelines, Apple allowed apps to facilitate crypto transactions given that they do so in compliance with all state and federal laws making the ICO language nearly identical as well. Apple says that Wallet apps are fine, but the developer is enrolled as an organisation. Apple won't allow apps to mine crypto, unless they process off the device, like in cloud-based mining. It will also allow exchanges as long as they are offering transactions of currency.
Apps that facilitate ICOs, futures trading or other securities must be provided by established banks, securities firms and futures commission merchants (FCMs). The company won't allow apps to offer currency as a reward for downloading other apps. The company is also against posting to social networks or encouraging other users to download apps. Going back in time, back in 2013 and 2014, Apple banned Coinbase and other crypto-related apps from the App Store.
Source | Via
Facebook today announced that it is launching new standalone 'Memories' page to easily access the moments you’ve shared with family and friends, including posts and photos, friends you’ve made, and major life events. The company says that more than 90 million users use On This Day.
Facebook further said that the research suggests this kind of reflection can have a positive impact on people’s mood and overall well-being and for this exact reason it is updating the experience to ensure all of your memories are easy to find. The new Memories page includes On This Day, Friends Made On This Day, Recaps of Memories, Memories You May Have Missed. In the 'On This day' section, you will see the content you love, showing your past posts and major life events from this date.
In the 'Friends Made On This Day' section, it will include a list of friends you made on this date in the past, including special videos or collages that. Next on the list is the 'Recaps of Memories' where it features seasonal or monthly recaps of memories. Finally, the Memories section will show you the posts that you might have missed from the past week. You can access the Facebook Memories from here.
Source
Two months after introducing the Snappables; its social AR offering the company is now working with companies to create and sell branded versions of Snappables games and the new offering is part its effort to make it easier for advertisers to purchase AR ads.
The first Snappables will go live on Thursday, according to Snap spokesperson. King; the maker of Candy Crush; Dunkin’ Donuts, and Bud Light are among some of the first companies who will be partnering with Snap on the games at launch. Snappables are multiplayer and high score games that users can play with each other. On another note, starting today its Lenses ad format will now be available to purchase on its self-serve ad manager tool.
Snapchat introduced the sponsored Lenses back in October 2015, Snap sells them on an effective CPM basis for $8 to $20, which means that companies pay $8 to $20 per 1,000 impressions. Snap is also testing out new shoppable formats for Snap Ads and Story ads which will now include a tappable product catalog that can take users to the web pages for multiple products for one company. The company said that this new ad format will roll out more widely later summer.
The company is also introducing ...
Xiaomi just announced the Redmi 6, the company's latest smartphone in the Redmi series and the successor of Redmi 5 that was announced back in December last year, as it had promised. It has a 5.45-inch HD+ display 18:9 aspect ratio display with 80.7% screen-to-body ratio, is powered by MediaTek Helio P22 12nm processor and runs Android 8.1 (Oreo) with MIUI 9 on top, which will be upgraded to MIUI 10. It packs a 12-megapixel rear camera with LED flash along with a secondary 5-megapixel camera for AI portrait shots. It has a 5-megapixel front camera with face unlock and AI portrait.
There is also Redmi 6A with the first MediaTek Helio A22 12nm Quad-Core SoC, single 13-megapixel rear camera, and a 5-megapixel front camera both with AI Portrait mode, but it doesn't have a fingerprint sensor. Both the phones have a polycarbonate back panel has a brushed metal surface.
Xiaomi Redmi 6 specifications
5.45-inch (1440 × 720 pixels) HD+ 18:9 2.5D curved glass display, 1000:1 contrast ratio,
2GHz Octa-Core MediaTek Helio P22 (MT6762) 12nm processor with 650MHz IMG PowerVR GE8320 GPU
3GB RAM with 32GB storage, 4GB RAM with 64GB storage, expandable memory up to 256GB with microSD
Android 8.1 (Oreo) with MIUI 9
Hybrid Dual SIM (nano + nano / microSD)
12MP rear camera ...
Android Messages seems to have picked up a new version over the weekend and like before, there aren't any noticeable visual changes, but there are things going on behind hinting the preparation of new features. Some of the Gif search and Sticker related features of Allo might be coming to Android Messages.
Apart from these, we might also be getting helpful search filters that bring attachments into view. It also features some new text that suggests Google is working on an active role in fighting text spam. Android Messages might soon get a native GIF search, ensuring that users may have a way to share Gifs even if they're not using a keyboard with built-in GIF support. It might look and behave just like the GIF search previously found in Gboard.
The latest Android Messages update suggest that the sticker interface is going to gain a dedicated space for your favorite stickers or sticker packs. It will let you mark stickers that you want to readily use while texting. It is unclear if the Favorites section is reserved for individual stickers or entire sticker packs. It looks like a double-tap will be used to mark and unmark favorites.
Finally, Android Messages might be getting search functionality where you can ...
Samsung is not stopping its fight against Apple, the company has asked the court last Thursday to either dismiss the judgment in its phone patent fight with Apple or retry the case in which the damages were decided. Samsung has filed a 34-page post-trial motion filed with the US District Court in San Jose, California suggesting that the jury's $539 million verdict is "excessive" and not supported by the evidence.
This move doesn't come as a surprise by any means, to remind you, the verdict was given against Samsung last month and the jury has ordered Samsung to pay $539 million to Apple over patent infringement with Android phones it sold in 2010 and 2011. Samsung in a response to the verdict: "We will consider all options to obtain an outcome that does not hinder creativity and fair competition for all companies and consumers."
The overall verdict was a whopping $140 million steeper than the amount earlier trials had determined it owed, so it was a big step backward for the company. In a separate motion, Samsung said that it wants to be reimbursed for the $146 million, plus interest, that it already paid over an invalidated touchscreen patent.
Source
Google is pushing out a new developers preview built to Wear OS and this update re-enables alarms and jobs for background apps that were disabled in the previous build with battery life as a major focus. This change will be reflected in all connected Wear OS preview devices.
After collecting the feedback, it saw that a strict on/off setting prevents reasonable usage and promotes anti-patterns. It is also planning to leverage the App Standby Buckets feature in Android P to fine-tune a suitable setting for Wear OS devices. However, the exact setting for alarms and jobs for background apps is still being iterated on.
According to Google, another area that developers should pay attention to is the strengthening of input and data privacy for background apps in Android P. This depending on an app's requirements, developers may need to use a foreground service to enable access to the device sensor throughout the day. Google says that it is expecting to push out more updates to this preview before the final production release.
Source
Uber today launched Uber Lite app in India for entry-level smartphones is less storage like Android Oreo Go Edition devices. The app is just 5MB in size, compared to 40MB Uber Android app, works even if you have limited coverage like 2G networks, and lets you book your ride in four taps. It works on Android smartphone running Android 4.1 or above. Ola already has a Lite Android app that is just 1 MB in size.
Unlike the standard app, this doesn't have animations and offers a minimalist-looking map with animated cars. It has a text-based interface that saves time in booking a ride, makes it faster and also saves data, but there is an optional map view which can be enabled if needed.
This relies on GPS location, which is very accurate since it does not show users a map and will cache the city’s top spots, so it works event when you are offline. Additional features, such as language selection and ride requests without network connectivity will be available soon.
The Uber Lite app will first be available to riders in Delhi, Jaipur and Hyderabad with other cities to follow soon. You can register here to be the first to try out the app. Uber ...
