After Kerala, Mumbai and Tamil Nadu, Airtel has announced massive network expansion in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana as part of its network transformation initiative – Project Leap. During the FY 18-19, Airtel plans to roll out 15,000 new mobile sites that translates to one new site being added every hour along with an addition of more than 3000 kilometers of optic fiber.
Airtel also plans to deploy pre-5G Massive MIMO technology across major business and residential hubs in the two states to step up high speed data experience for customers.
Massive MIMO expands network capacities by 5-7 times on the same spectrum and delivers super fast data speeds despite a large number of concurrent users at the same location. Back in April, Airtel had deployed Massive MIMO pre-5G solution across IPL match venues offering up to 3x faster 4G speeds.
Airtel 4G already covers over 85% of the population across two states.
Commenting on the same, Avneet Singh Puri, Chief Executive Officer – Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, Bharti Airtel Ltd, said:
As India’s leading mobile network, we are committed to providing a world-class experience to our customers and are committed significant investments this year to expand our high speed data footprint across the two geographies. This will further boost the coverage and data ...
After Kerala, Mumbai and Tamil Nadu, Airtel has announced massive network expansion in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana as part of its network transformation initiative – Project Leap. During the FY 18-19, Airtel plans to roll out 15,000 new mobile sites that translates to one new site being added every hour along with an addition of more than 3000 kilometers of optic fiber.
Airtel also plans to deploy pre-5G Massive MIMO technology across major business and residential hubs in the two states to step up high speed data experience for customers.
Massive MIMO expands network capacities by 5-7 times on the same spectrum and delivers super fast data speeds despite a large number of concurrent users at the same location. Back in April, Airtel had deployed Massive MIMO pre-5G solution across IPL match venues offering up to 3x faster 4G speeds.
Airtel 4G already covers over 85% of the population across two states.
Commenting on the same, Avneet Singh Puri, Chief Executive Officer – Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, Bharti Airtel Ltd, said:
As India’s leading mobile network, we are committed to providing a world-class experience to our customers and are committed significant investments this year to expand our high speed data footprint across the two geographies. This will further boost the coverage and data ...
Xiaomi has achieved a new milestone by opening its 1000th authorized service center in India in Hyderabad. This includes 500 service centers for Mi TV. It opened its 500th service center in Bengaluru back in June last year. Xiaomi's service centers are now in over 600 cities in 4 years since the company entered India. The company said that it has over 6000 workforce contributing to the service network.
Xiaomi says that it has emerged as the industry leader in after sales service against other players, based on an independent study by Red Quanta. It also said that it has earned a Customer Satisfaction (CSAT) score of 86% with an industry Field Failure rate (FFR) at less than half of the industry average and the company's after sales team recorded an Turn Around Time (TAT) with 95% cases resolved within 4 hour repair time and an average of 84% cases been resolved in just 2 hour repair time.
To improve the customer satisfaction, Xiaomi has have taken new initiatives such as
E-token system which offers customers the privilege to save time and pre-book a visit to their nearest service center on Mi.com or Mi Store app, thereby experiencing a 72% reduction in the customer waiting time at ...
UNISOC (Previously Spreadtrum) has announced SC9863, the company's latest mid-range Octa-Core processor that has Cortex-A55 cores and SC9832E with Cortex A53 cores for budget smartphones at an event in India. The company did not reveal which fabrication process technology it uses in SC9863, but it has confirmed that SC9832E uses 28nm HPC+ processor technology. The company recently announced new brand name, identity and definition - UNISOC that completes the integration of Spreadtrum and RDA.
Compared to the ARM Cortex-A53, the performance of the processor is improved by 20% and AI processing power is increased by 6 times, says the company. The UNISOC SC9832E has been certified for Android Go, whch promises 20% higher performance compared to its competitive products.
UNISOC SC9863 specifications
Up to 1.6GHz ARM Cortex-A55 cores x 8
Supports 1080P HD video playback as well as FHD+ (1080 x 2160 pixels) displays
16MP at 30fps with a 3xCSI 4+4+2 Lane/4xCSI 4+2+2+2 Lane interface / 16MP + 5MP dual cameras
3D Face ID capability based on deep neural networks, offering fast, accurate face authentication
LTE Cat7 modem with dual-card dual-VoLTE and VoWiFi functionality and 4G+4G (LTE/WCDMA/GSM + LTE/WCDMA/GSM)
Real-time intelligent context detection and recognition offering intelligent identification and classification of images in the photo gallery
SLAM algorithm offers smooth, ...
Back in April this year LG Electronics signed South Korea’s most popular K-Pop boy band, BTS as its brand ambassador for smartphones globally. Today the company has introduced exclusive BTS-themed content for 2017 and 2018 LG smartphone models. The BTS Value Pack includes seven themes, one for each member of BTS. This completely transforms the UI including home screens, menus, dialing screens, among others.
The company has also introduced exclusive BTS Smart Case for the LG G7 ThinQ that incorporates NFC technology to allow owners to implement customized themes based BTS. There are eight unique themes, which transforms the phone’s UI with unique backgrounds, color schemes, even icon designs based on the individual personalities of each BTS member.
The BTS Value Pack can be downloaded from the LG SmartWorld app on the LG smartphone.
Truecaller is now rolling out a new update to its app which brings a set of new Pro features including a re-designed Who Viewed My Profile, Private mode, and other regular features like Ad-free experience, contact requests, Pro badge for your profile.
The re-designed Who Viewed My Profile Pro feature allows you to see who has been checking out your profile. This feature may work to show you, someone, you know, but it is also designed to give you more safety to identify those you do not know. Once you become a Pro user, if you receive a notification saying someone has viewed your Profile, it means another user has searched either by number, or name and tapped the detail view of your profile using Truecaller.
The app provides you more information like name or picture of the person who viewed your profile, once you click on the notification. However, this also depends on other users privacy settingscontact information such as phone number or additional information a user may add could be hidden. Then again, you will have to send a Contact Request for their private details. Privacy goes both ways, you can always control who views what information on your own profile by going to the ‘Privacy center’ in the Settings ...
Myntra today has debuted into the wearable segment and has built the software platform that will power its wearable devices as well as the ones developed by the third-party device makers. The platform is called 'Myntra Wearable Platform', and is developed by the company's innovation labs unit. This platform allows wearable devices to discover and communicate with each other.
The move comes two months after Myntra acquired Bengaluru-based smart wearables startup Witworks. Myntra is also looking in tie-ups with traditional players with less or no tech expertise. The company has also launched the first Wearable product; Blink Go; it is compatible with Android 5.1 and iOS 10 and above and connects to a smartphone via Bluetooth 4.0+ with BLE. It is also water-resistant.
The fitness band comes with a colored display, a heart rate sensor, and designer straps. It is capable of showing caller ID, WhatsApp, Message, Mail notifications. It also features Sessions mode, custom alarms, timer, Find my phone and Sedentary reminders. It will also have an activity tracker that enables users to keep track of their step count, distance, calories and sleep and a leaderboard. It comes with 100mAh battery that is capable of lasting 3-5 days.
Though Myntra has roped in a global partner for manufacturing of the product, it ...
Microsoft today has announced that it is acquiring AI startup Bonsai with an aim to fuel its AI efforts. Bonsai has developed a novel approach using machine teaching that abstracts the low-level mechanics of machine learning, so that subject matter experts, regardless of AI aptitude, can specify and train autonomous systems to accomplish tasks and the actual training takes place inside a simulated environment.
Bonsai says that going forward, it sees a massive opportunity to empower enterprises & developers globally with the tools and technology needed to build and operate the BRAINs that power these intelligent autonomous systems. This acquisition will also accelerate the efforts furthermore. It will combine Bonsai’s unique deep reinforcement learning and machine teaching platform with Microsoft’s Azure Platform and tools, extensive deep learning research, and recent AirSim simulation innovations.
Microsoft says that the Bonsai has achieved some remarkable breakthroughs with their approach that will have a profound impact on AI development. It also reminded that Bonsai has also established a new reinforcement learning benchmark for programming industrial control systems.
Gurdeep Pall, Corporate Vice President, Business AI, Microsoft said:
We’re really confident this unique marriage of research, novel approach and technology will have a tremendous effect toward removing barriers and accelerating the current state of AI ...
Samsung has introduced highest capacity 8TB NVMe solid state drive (SSD) based on the incredibly small next-generation Small Form Factor (NGSFF) / NF1 SSD. This optimized for data-intensive analytics and virtualization applications used in next-generation data centers and enterprise server systems. Next-generation Small Form Factor (NGSFF) SSD standard, which succeeds the M.2 standard is expected to be standardized by JEDEC in October.
Highlights of 8TB NVMe NF1 SSD
Built with 16 of Samsung’s 512-gigabyte (GB) NAND packages, each stacked in 16 layers of 256 gigabit (Gb) 3-bit V-NAND chips, achieving an 8TB density in an ultra-small footprint of 11cm x 3.05cm.
This is twice the capacity offered by the M.2 NVMe SSD (11cm x 2.2cm) commonly used in hyper-scale server designs and ultra-slim laptops.
The NF1 SSD is expected to quickly and easily replace conventional 2.5-inch NVMe SSDs by enabling up to three times the system density in existing server infrastructure, allowing for an unprecedented 576TB of storage space in the latest 2U rack servers.
The NF1 SSD features a brand new, high-performance controller that supports the NVMe 1.3 protocol and PCIe 4.0 interface, delivering sequential read speeds of 3,100 megabytes per second (MB/s) and write speeds of 2,000MB/s, five times and three times that of ...
Flutter is Google's mobile UI framework that aims at helping developers to make high-quality apps that work on both Android and iOS as easily and seamlessly as possible. Post the Google's I/O 2018 presentation back in May it has seen a 50% increase in active Flutter users.
The Google's Flutter SDK preview one is available right away, and the shift from beta to release preview signals our confidence in the stability and quality of the company's focus on bug fixing and stabilization. It also announced that Alibaba has now deployed their Flutter-based app to millions of devices, and Tencent is currently rolling out their NOW app with Flutter.
The Release Preview 1 includes Flutter support for hardware keyboard and barcode scanners, video recording, and including a folder of image or font assets. Also, it will also include many new packages that are contributed to package sites, such as Flutter Platform Widgets, a set of widgets that automatically adapt for iOS or Android. It also further extended the Firebase support to include Firebase Dynamic Links, an app solution for creating and handling links across multiple platforms.
It is also broadening the support to include 32-bit iOS devices with ARMv7 chips, enabling apps written with Flutter to run on older devices. It says that it is working on improving the ...
Xiaomi has launched Mi Pocket Speaker 2, the company's latest portable speaker in India on the World Music Day. The 5W speaker created in partnership with Germany's popular brand Tymphany has a minimal design made of aluminium with an anodized oxide coating and PC + ABS for durability, fabric net design for clear sound with perfect bass and treble, features an LED indicator, uses Bluetooth 4.1 and promise up to 7 hours of continuous music playback.
The speaker was introduced back in 2016 as Mi Round Bluetooth speaker 2 and Won iF Product Design Award 2016.
Xiaomi Mi Pocket Speaker 2 (LYYX01ZM) specifications
Top mounted control button to power on/off, Bluetooth pairing and volume and playback controls via rotating the aluminium ring
Bluetooth 4.1 for connecting to devices
Built-in microphone for hands-free calling
Maximum output power : 5W; Speaker Impedance : 4 ohms
Dimensions : 60.0 x 60.0 x 93.3mm
1200mAh battery offers about 7 hours of continuous music playback
USB Power input : 5V. 1A
The Xiaomi Mi Pocket Speaker 2 comes in Black and White colors and is available from Mi.com for Rs. 1,499.
Bharti Airtel today announced that Google Pixel range of smartphones is now available on the Airtel Online Store with down payments starting at just Rs 10,599. On the Airtel Online store, users need not pay the full price of the smartphones upfront, instead, they can break it down.
Airtel Online Store offers instant financing with convenient EMIs that come with a built-in postpaid plan, which includes data, unlimited calling, and bundled content. For the Google Pixel 2, users can just need to make a downpayment of Rs 10,599 for the 64GB storage and Rs 12,599 for the 128GB and pay the rest in 18 months with an easy EMI of Rs. 2,799. This also includes 50 GB data/month with rollover, unlimited Calls – Local + STD, free National Roaming, 1 year Amazon Prime Subscription, free Airtel TV, free Airtel Secure device protection package.
As for the Google Pixel 2 XL, you will have to make a downpayment of Rs. 15,999 for the 64GB and Rs. 22,599 for the 128GB and pay the rest in 18 months with an easy EMI of Rs. 2,799. This also includes 50 GB data/month with rollover, unlimited Calls – Local + STD, free National Roaming, 1 year Amazon Prime Subscription, free Airtel TV, free Airtel ...
Garmin has launched Forerunner 645 Music in India. It was introduced as it's first smartwatch that lets you store music for offline listening earlier this year at the CES. It can store up to 500 songs so that you can connect a Bluetooth headset and play them when you are working out, without the need of a smartphone.
It has 24/7 heart rate monitoring2, advanced running dynamics, performance monitoring tools, connected features and more. It has a metal bezel, chemically strengthened glass and interchangeable bands. Training status automatically evaluates previous exercise and fitness levels to let athletes know if they are training productively, peaking or overreaching.
Highlights of Garmin Forerunner 645 Music
1.2-inch (240 x 240 pixels) sunlight-visible, transflective memory-in-pixel (MIP) always-on Garmin Chroma Display with chemically strengthened glass
Bluetooth Smart and ANT+, Compatible with Android and iPhone
Store up to 500 songs to your watch, and connect with Bluetooth headphones (sold separately) for phone-free listening
Syncs music from select streaming services for offline listening
Provides advanced running dynamics, including ground contact time balance, stride length, vertical ratio and more
Uses wrist-based heart rate to offer performance monitoring features, including evaluating your current training status
5 ATM water resistant
Battery life: up to 7 days in smartwatch mode; 5 ...
Google today is releasing a new feature to Chrome that offers another way to use Chrome on Android for users in India along with more than 100 countries including Nigeria, Indonesia, and Brazil. The new feature allows users to surf the web with Chrome even without a constant internet connection.
Chrome will now automatically download relevant articles, based on what content is most popular in your location and if you’re signed into Chrome, you’ll also get articles that are relevant to you, based on your browsing history. This downloaded content is then available whenever you want to access it, even if you don’t have a connection. This new feature is already rolling out to users in India and can be used once you have updated the Google Chrome app.
This feature is really handy instead of waiting around for a proper internet connection to read the content, users can offload it and read it later.
Source
Meizu has silently launched M6, its latest budget smartphone and the successor of last year’s M5 in India. It packs a 5.2-inch HD 2.5D curved glass screen, is powered by a 1.5 GHz Octa-Core 64-bit MediaTek MT6750 processor and runs on Android 7.0 (Nougat)-based FlymeOS 6 on top. It has a 13-megapixel rear camera with 4-color RGBW flash and an 8-megapixel front-facing camera.
It has a polycarbonate body with a metal frame and metallic lines, features a mTouch fingerprint sensor embedded into the home button that can unlock the phone in 0.2 seconds, comes with 4G VoLTE support and packs a 3070mAh battery.
Meizu M6 specifications
5.2-inch (1280 x 720 pixels) HD 2.5D curved glass display, 1000: 1 contrast ratio, 450 nits brightness
Octa-Core MediaTek MT6750 (4 x 1.5GHz A53 + 4 x 1.0GHz A53) processor with Mali T860 GPU
2GB RAM, 16GB storage, expandable memory up to 128GB with microSD
Android 7.0 (Nougat) with Flyme OS 6.0
13MP rear camera with 4-color RGBW flash, PDAF, f/2.2 aperture
8MP front-facing camera, f/2.0 aperture
Hybrid Dual SIM (nano+nano/microSD)
Dimensions: 148.2 x 72.8 x 8.3mm; Weight: 143g
4G VoLTE, WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n (2.4GHz/5GHz), Bluetooth 4.1 LE, GPS / GLONASS
3070mAh battery
The Meizu M6 comes only in Black color in 2GB RAM with 16GB ...
Google today has announced improvements to the Google Account experience. These new improvements include features like easy navigation to your account, more prominent security and privacy options, and detailed summaries of your personal info, your devices, payment methods, purchases, subscriptions, reservations, and contacts.
Google has also announced new features to your Google Account to make it even easier to review and control this data. The new search functionality enables you to find settings and other info like how to change the password. Since privacy is a major concern for many users, Google is making the privacy options easy to review with its new intuitive, user-tested design.
With these changes, you can now easily find your Activity controls in the Data & Personalization tab and choose what types of activity data are saved in your account. You can also find the recently updated Privacy Checkup that helps you review your privacy settings. These new account experiences will alert you of any prominent notices if it detects anything that can be improved. The new experience is available today for all Android users and will launch on iOS and web later this year.
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We quite liked the original 1MORE iBFree when we reviewed it last year but found it to be a bit lacking in terms of sound quality. The 1MORE iBFree Sport aims to correct that while offering improved physical hardware and better still, an IPX6 rating. We've been testing out the 1MORE iBFree Sport Bluetooth Earphone over the last few days and here's what we think.
Design
The 1MORE iBFree Sport looks almost identical to the original iBFree. When we'd reviewed the iBFree, we'd found the design to be visually appealing and more importantly geared towards active usage.
Physically not much has changed. The driver unit is cylindrical and is available in both black and red colors. The ear tips are angled inwards for a better fit. However, it is the wingtips that really help keep the iBFree locked in your ears. We ran miles on end and never had to worry about these falling out. The lightweight aluminum construction that clocks in at just 14 grams aids comfort levels. Like the original iBFree, the iBFree Sport is an exceptionally comfortable earphone to wear.
A hard plastic cable guide runs down from each earphone and helps relieve stress. Closer to the right-hand earpiece, you'll find the control module ...
Anyone who looks closely Apple is slowly yet steadily moving towards wireless era, be it the removal of 3.5mm audio jack or the introduction of wireless charging supports in the iPhone 8 and iPhone X phones. This feature brings the ability to drop the iPhones on a charging mat and juice it up via a process known as induction. Apple introduced an accessory of its own for this; the AirPower but said that it wouldn't be available until 2018.
However, Apple hasn't publicly discussed the accessory and the company engineers have been toiling away to address problems. One such challenge is making sure that it doesn't overheat, while another is the complexity of the circuitry, according to people familiar with the device’s development. Unlike the most wireless chargers these days, Apple's accessory; AirPower is designed to charge three devices simultaneously.
Apple also wants to give the ability to users to place any of their devices anywhere on the charging mat to begin a charge and this ambitious goal requires multiple charging sensors. This process has been proven difficult, said the sources. An executive at an Apple partner that manufactures third-party wireless chargers for iPhones said that the multi-device charging mechanism is challenging to build because it likely requires ...
Apple is not stopping its legal battle against Qualcomm as the company has filed petitions with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to challenge four of Qualcomm’s patents. The main goal of Apple is to have the patent office cancel the four Qualcomm patents in question. Interestingly, all four are involved in the patent infringement lawsuit Qualcomm levied against Apple last year.
Apple says that it wants the patent office to cancel four Qualcomm patents, saying they don’t cover new ideas. The patents include ways to automatically focus a digital camera; a device that functions as both a phone and personal digital assistant; touch-sensitive displays; and circuit memory. However, the patent office is easy to work than courts; it regularly invalidates patents involved in patent infringement cases.
The next step in the process is for the Patent Trial and Appeal Board to review the petitions from Apple and give Qualcomm the opportunity to make its case. Post the review; the board will then make a “preliminary” decision. Surprisingly this move comes after the International Trade Commission found Apple guiltily of infringing at least one of Qualcomm’s patents.
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Jabra has launched new Elite 65e wireless headphones with both active and passive noise cancellation, and Elite Active 65t wireless earbuds, expanding its Elite series of headphones. The Elite 65e has a neckband design and comes with three-microphone technology that creates a noise-blocking zone – making sure the voice is conveyed with crystal-clear clarity.
The oval earbuds offer a better fit in the ear canal – in combination with the eargels for a perfect grip, provide an optimal seal for the passive noise cancellation of ambient sounds. The Active Noise Cancellation digitally removes additional noise levels. It promise 8 hours of battery life when using ANC, and an 13 hours with ANC tuned off.
Highlights of Jabra Elite 65e
3-microphone call technology creates a noise-blocking zone for crystal-clear voice on calls
Business-quality background noise reduction, achieved with powerful hybrid active noise cancellation and sound-isolating earbuds
Up to 8 hours battery using active noise cancellation and an incredible 13 hours with ANC turned off
IP54 rated, with 2-year warranty against damage from water and dust (registration required on Jabra Sound+ App)
One-touch access to Amazon Alexa Siri and Google assistant
Listen to your music the way you want to hear it, by personalizing your sound with a customizable ...
Car Connectivity Consortium (CCC), which is a mix of major smartphone and automotive brands has announced the Digital Key Release 1.0 standard that will let you download a virtual key that can unlock your vehicle, start the engine and even share access with other drivers. Good thing is that this technology keeps its primary focus on security more than anything else.
The Digital Key specification can create a robust ecosystem around interoperable digital key use cases, including allowing drivers to lock, unlock, start the engine, and share access to their car directly from their smartphones. This Release 1.0 provides a generalized deployment method that allows vehicle OEMs to securely transfer a digital key implementation to a smart device, using an existing Trusted Service Manager (TSM) infrastructure.
CCC has also mentioned that it started its work on the Digital Key Release 2.0 specification. This specification is under development in collaboration between CCC’s charter member companies including Apple, Audi, BMW, General Motors, HYUNDAI, LG Electronics, Panasonic, Samsung, and Volkswagen, and core members including ALPS ELECTRIC, Continental Automotive GmbH, DENSO, Gemalto, NXP, and Qualcomm Incorporated.
The Release 2.0 is targetting to complete the work by Q1 2019 and it will provide a standardized authentication protocol between the vehicle and ...
