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Fitbit has launched Charge 3, the company’s next-generation fitness tracker in India, after it was introduced back in August It has PurePulse heart rate technology, offers automatic exercise recognition, sleep tracking, swimproof design with a touchscreen display, 15+ goal-based exercise modes, and promises up to 7 days battery life.
It has premium, lightweight materials, including an aerospace grade aluminum case and Corning Gorilla Glass 3 OLED display that is about 40% larger and brighter than its predecessor. It comes with inductive button, which includes new patent-pending technology that provides a streamlined, swimproof design, increased space in the device to add more sensors plus a larger battery with up to 7 days of use.
It has SpO2 sensor – a first for a Fitbit tracker – allows for the potential to estimate changes in blood oxygen levels and help track new health indicators, like sleep apnea.
The Fitbit Charge 3 comes in black with a blue gray with rose gold aluminum case, is priced at Rs. 13,999 in India and is available across Reliance Digital, Croma, Helios and other major retailers offline. There is also a Special Edition at Rs. 15999. Classic Band costs Rs. 2,990, Woven Band costs Rs. 3,490 and the Leather Band costs Rs. 4,490.
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5G is on the verge of becoming a big thing in 2019 as several manufacturers including Samsung, Huawei, OnePlus, Xiaomi are already working towards it. According to earlier rumors, Samsung and LG are going to debut their 5G smartphones at Mobile World Congress in February. However, a new report claims otherwise.
The upcoming LG’s 5G smartphone was initially believed to be the next iteration of the G series; the LG G8. But that might not be the case. According to the Korean electronic newspaper etnews, LG’s 5G smartphone will be a part of a completely different series. It will be introduced at the MWC in February, but will not carry LG G8 branding.
The LG G8 will most likely launch later in March of 2019 and will only have 4G/LTE capabilities. Though not official, the new 5G variant will carry a new branding, according to the company's senior executive. This classification of phones gives LG a chance to focus on both the 4G and 5G markets. As the 5G variant might come with a huge price tag which might not carter every market, so keeping a 4G flagship ready is equally important. The company will also introduce the LG Q9 which is its mid-range phone that ...
Google's Android One program debuted with an aim to offer low-end Android phone with commendable hardware and provide timely updates. However, things changed as the company let up the hardware requirements due to smartphone OEMs were not making enough from them. To some extent, Android Go was able to fill the void with its slimmed down version of Android.
The Android One program was still focusing on timely updates and Google's Android website explicitly mentions the phones would receive 2 full years of guaranteed updates. However, a few days ago, Reddit user anshumanpati6 noticed the removal of '2 years of updates' mention from the website. This is something huge as guaranteed updates was a big selling point for a lot of people.
This made the headlines all-over within no time and according to India Today publication who claims to have received a response from Google, denies any changes are being made to the promise of updates. In any case, we’ll need to wait and see if Google officially responds to this issue or if they end up adding the part about the promised updates back to the Android One landing page.
In the response, Google said:
We confirm that our promise to provide 2 years of updates on Android One devices still ...
Fitbit has launched Charge 3, the company’s next-generation fitness tracker in India, after it was introduced back in August It has PurePulse heart rate technology, offers automatic exercise recognition, sleep tracking, swimproof design with a touchscreen display, 15+ goal-based exercise modes, and promises up to 7 days battery life.
It has premium, lightweight materials, including an aerospace grade aluminum case and Corning Gorilla Glass 3 OLED display that is about 40% larger and brighter than its predecessor. It comes with inductive button, which includes new patent-pending technology that provides a streamlined, swimproof design, increased space in the device to add more sensors plus a larger battery with up to 7 days of use.
It has SpO2 sensor – a first for a Fitbit tracker – allows for the potential to estimate changes in blood oxygen levels and help track new health indicators, like sleep apnea.
The Fitbit Charge 3 comes in black with a blue gray with rose gold aluminum case, is priced at Rs. 13,999 in India and is available across Reliance Digital, Croma, Helios and other major retailers offline. There is also a Special Edition at Rs. 15999. Classic Band costs Rs. 2,990, Woven Band costs Rs. 3,490 and the Leather Band costs Rs. 4,490.
Sony is busy working on the Xperia L3, successor of the Xperia L2, which is rumored to debut at the CES 2019 in the next few days. With the possible launch inching closer, the device has passed through the FCC carrying FCC ID PY7-50241M. The design sketches show that the device will carry 18:9 aspect ratio and will feature a side-mounted fingerprint sensor.
Reports suggest that the phone will come with a 5.7-inch 18:9 aspect ratio display, 3.5mm headphone jack, a USB Type-C port, and dual rear camera setup. Build-wise, the handset is expected to offer a plastic or polycarbonate body with a glossy finish. The device is said to be powered by the Snapdragon 660 Octa-Core SoC, 3GB RAM, 13 MP + 5 MP Dual Primary Cameras.
On the front, it might pack an 8MP sensor along with earpiece, a notification light, and other sensors. It will pack a 3400mAh battery with a USB Type-C port. For now, nothing is confirmed, so, stay tuned for more details to surface on the internet or for the company to officially announce the phone.
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A U.S Judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed against Google by consumers who claimed the search engine’s photo sharing and storage service violated their privacy on Saturday. The U.S. judge has cited a lack of “concrete injuries.” The U.S. District Judge Edmond Chang in Chicago granted a Google motion for summary judgment, saying the court lacked “subject matter jurisdiction because plaintiffs have not suffered concrete injuries.”
The suit was filed in March 2016, alleges Alphabet Inc’s Google for violating Illinois state law by collecting and storing biometric data from people’s photographs using facial recognition software without their permission through its Google Photos service. The plaintiffs had sought more than $5 million for the “hundreds of thousands” of state residents affected, according to court documents.
Plaintiffs had asked the court for $5,000 for each intentional violation of the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act, or $1,000 for every negligent violation. Google, in return, had argued in court documents that the plaintiffs were not entitled to money or injunctive relief because they had suffered no harm.
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The European Union announced that it would launch bug bounty program in 2019 January that will offer prizes for spotting security flaws in 14 free, open source software tools EU institutions use. These include well-known tools like VLC Media Player, KeePass, 7-zip and Drupal, GNU C Library, Apache Tomcat, PuTTY and more.
The bounties range from €25,000 to €90,000 ($28,600 to $102,900) and will start expiring August 15th, 2019; a few will last until 2020. The European Union started checking the open source software in earnest in 2015, which is when it launched the Free and Open Source Software Audit (FOSSA). It then extended the project by three more years in 2017, when it first planned to offer bug bounties as a measure to increase the security of Free and Open Source Software.
While there is no guarantee for complete security from cyber attacks, but bounties always ensure patching vulnerabilities that might otherwise go undiscovered.
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Several Xiaomi products have seen price fluctuations in recent months. The company's Mi LED TV rates were hiked back in November due to depreciation of the rupee, however it recently reduced rates of its smartphone . Today, for the new year the company has reduced the rates of some of its TVs, including the Mi LED TV 4C Pro 32" and Mi LED TV 4A Pro 49" that received a price hike couple of months back.
Xiaomi Mi LED Smart TV 4A 32 - Rs. 12,499 (Rs. 1,500 price cut)
Xiaomi Mi LED TV 4C PRO 32 - Rs. 13,999 (Rs. 2,000 price cut)
Mi LED TV 4A PRO 49 - Rs. 30,999 (Rs. 1,000 price cut)
Reason behind the price cut on its 32-inch models is due to reduction of GST by the government on TVs up to 32 inches from 28% to 18%. Rs. 1000 price cut on Mi LED TV 4A PRO 49" is due to recent dollar moderation, says the company. This is definitely a great move to attract more buyers for the new year and the festive season. These Mi LED TVs are available at new rates across all online and offline platforms starting from today.
Commenting on the same, Raghu Reddy, Head of Categories and Online ...
CES 2019 show is right around the corner and we are already seeing brands gearing up to introduce their innovation at the show. Sony announced that it will hold its press conference on January 7th, 2019 at 5PM PST (6:30 IST January 8th) in Las Vegas, USA. The company already started sending out invites to media.
Sony usually retains its flagships for MWC 2019 which takes place in Barcelona at the end of February. Back in 2017, Sony at the CES show introduced the Xperia XA2, XA2 Ultra, and L2, so there is a good chance that Sony could announce some of its new entry-level and mid-range phones in the XA series and L3 .
With the fuss surrounding 5G for a while now, we could also hear more concrete information on Sony's 5G mobile plans. Since January 7th is not too long, we don't have to wait much to know more details and what's in store. Stay tuned.
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Facebook is testing dark mode on Messenger in selected countries, and the feature itself is incomplete for now. The company has been experimenting with various features and changes in the recent times and the dark mode are one among them. The feature was announced back in October last year.
Facebook Messenger, seemingly due to prolonged external nagging, has started public testing Dark Mode in certain countries
They have put up a fair warning that Dark Mode isn't everywhere yet so don't complain when some UI burns your eyes off
previously: https://t.co/9fCvbYXS5Z pic.twitter.com/wF3w5hsHfh
— Jane Manchun Wong (@wongmjane) December 31, 2018
As mentioned, the dark mode for Messenger is only limited to selected countries, and we don't have the list of supported countries. The "Dark Mode" setting will appear in the "Me" section of the app and will also include a warning detailing that the new dark mode is still a work in progress. The warning sign should appear when toggling the feature.
Just as you would expect, the new dark mode replaces all the stark and bright white backgrounds with black, and inverting text from black to white. The search bar and some other UI elements remain gray, but a little darker. This means that Facebook is still ...
Google said to be testing Group calling and low-light mode on its video calling app; Duo. The group calling only supports for up to seven people compared to 32 on Apple's FaceTime.You must first create a group with the contacts you wish to video chat with, and then you can start a call.
For now, it appears that you can't add anyone into a group calling during the call. Tapping on the group name in the bottom right corner of a call brings you a list of group members. You can create multiple groups, and they will appear in your contacts list right at the top. Other users aren't able to answer the call if they currently lack the feature. Meaning, it might be limited to specific regions, perhaps a server-side switch.
As for low-light, when you're in a dark environment, a pop-up will appear asking if you'd like to enable low light mode. If you choose to do so, it "automatically adjusts your video in dark environments so others can see you better." It's not clear how this works, but it should be pretty useful. It might also be possible to turn it on from the settings.
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Xiaomi has introduced its new Mi Home Projector Lite (Youth Edition) in China. It can project from 40 to 200 inches in 1080p resolution, comes with intelligent voice control and also has HDR10 support. The LED has 30,000 hours of life, so if you use to for two hours every day, it will last for years.
Features of Mi Home Projector Lite
Can project out to 40 to 200-inch huge screen with 500 ANSI lumens, 1080p resolution with HDR10 support, 1:2:1 aspect ratio
Intelligent voice control
Built-in Mi TV to watch latest movies and TV episodes
Integrated speaker, Dolby Atmos, DTS
HDMI, USB port, AUX Port
Compact design - 15cm tall and 1.3kg
30,000 hours of LED life
The Mi Home Projector Lite comes only in white color, is priced at 2,199 yuan (US$ 320 / Rs. 22,440 approx.) and is available for order via its crowdfunding platform in China. It will retail for 2,499 yuan (US$ 364 / Rs. 25,500 approx.) after that.
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As Fitbit continues its transition towards a health services platform, the Charge 3 is the latest device to join the company's fairly diverse lineup. A relatively conventional tracker, the Charge 3 distils the company's learnings over the years into a product that aims to be a health aid first with just a bit of smartness included to appeal to a modern demographic. We tried out the Fitbit Charge 3 over the course of a week to see how well it fares against Fitbit's own higher-end wearables. Here's what we observed.
Design
It would be fair to say that the design of the Charge 3 is an evolution of the tried and tested formula. A more organic design, the tracker has smoother edges and lots of curved lines that make it discrete to look. The dark grey or 'graphite' color scheme is subtle and works well with practically any outfit. What I really liked though is how the curved contours of the watch sit on the wrist. Compared to my larger and slightly heavier Ionic, the Charge 3 is definitely a more comfortable device to wear.
We've got the Special Edition here with us which ships with a sports-oriented white silicon band that has ...
OnePlus has rolled out OxygenOS 9.0.3 update for the OnePlus 6 that brings Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Camera improvements, adds audio tuner for Bluetooth earphones and more. The company has also rolled out OxygenOS 9.0.1 update for OnePlus 5 and 5T bringing stability improvements and fixes.
The OnePlus 6 OxygenOS 9.0.3 update is 159MB in size and also includes Android security patch for December, 2018. The OnePlus 5 and OnePlus 5T OxygenOS 9.0.1 update is 1.7GB in size for those who are directly updating to Android Pie. Check out the complete changelog below.
OnePlus 6 OxygenOS 9.0.3 update changelog
System
Improved Wi-Fi stability for better connectivity
Improved Bluetooth stability for better connectivity
Updated Android security patch to 2018.12
General bug fixes and improvements
Camera
Improved Nightscape performance
Improved slow-motion performance
Optimized image processing
Earphone
Audio tuner for Bluetooth earphones
Communication
Support VoLTE for Bouygues FR
OnePlus 5 and OnePlus 5T OxygenOS 9.0.1 changelog
System
Improved stability for Wi-Fi connection
Optimized sRGB display mode
Optimized Reading mode
Fixed issue with 4G VoLTE toggle missing
Fixed random reboots when Screen Casting
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Vivo launched its NEX smartphone in India back in July for Rs. 44,990. Today it has received a Rs. 5000 price cut and is available for Rs. 39,990 from offline reatilers and Amazon.in.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAXnvS45D0c
Vivo NEX specifications
6.59-inch (2316×1080 pixels) Full HD+ Super AMOLED 19.3:9 aspect ratio display, DCI-P3 color gamut
2.8GHz Octa-Core Snapdragon 845 64-bit 10nm Mobile Platform with Adreno 630 GPU
8GB RAM, 128GB storage
Dual SIM
Funtouch OS 4.0 based on Android 8.1 (Oreo)
12MP Dual PD rear camera with dual-tone LED flash, Sony IMX363 sensor, 4-axis OIS, f/1.8 aperture, secondary 5MP camera with f/2.4 aperture
8MP front-facing camera, f/2.0 aperture
In-display fingerprint sensor
Dimensions: 162×77×7.98m; Weight: 199g
3.5mm audio jack, CS43199 + SSM6322 Amplifier
Dual 4G VoLTE, Wi-Fi 802.11 ac (2.4GHz / 5GHz) 2×2 MIMO , Bluetooth 5 LE, GPS + GLONASS, USB Type-C
4000mAh battery with 22.5W fast charging
Via
Update: Huawei has sent out invites for the launch of the Y9 2019 in India on January 7th.
Earlier: Huawei has started teasing the launch of Y9 2019, a new mid-range smartphone on Amazon India. The phone was introduced couple of months back and packs 6.5-inch Full HD+ display with a narrow chin and high screen-to-body ratio, is powered by Kirin 710 SoC, runs Android 8.1 (Oreo) with EMUI 8.2, has a 16-megapixel rear camera with LED flash, and a 2-megapixel secondary camera to capture depth information in portrait shots and a 13-megapixel front camera along with a 2-megapixel front camera for portrait selfies, and both have AI photography features.
It has a curved design in 3D arc, rear-mounted fingerprint sensor and packs a 4000mAh battery.
Huawei Y9 2019 specifications
6.5-inch (2340 × 1080 pixels) Full HD+ 19:5:9 2.5D curved glass display
Octa-Core Kirin 710 12nm (4 x 2.2GHz Cortex-A73 +4 x 1.7GHz Cortex-A53) with ARM Mali-G51 MP4 GPU
4GB RAM with 64GB storage, 6GB RAM with 128GB internal storage, expandable memory up to 400GB with microSD
Android 8.1 (Oreo) with EMUI 8.2
Dual SIM
16MP rear camera with LED flash,2MP secondary camera
13MP front-facing camera, 2MP secondary camera
Fingerprint sensor
Dimensions: 162.4×77.1×8.05mm; Weight: 173g
Dual 4G ...
There's no dearth of power banks on the market. From dirt cheap (and not really recommended) no-name models to Xiaomi's well regarded and still affordable battery packs. As Stuffcool enters this fairly crowded segment, they'll have to offer something truly unique. Good thing then that the Stuffcool 10,000 mAh 720PD Power Bank offers a veritable cornucopia of features that makes it a very interesting product. Check out our review to read more about it.
Design
The Stuffcool 720PD is as staid and straightforward as power banks come. The shell is predominantly aluminium with some very minimal branding and labelling at the front. Over at the back is requisite certification information. All around the sides running a black plastic frame that is nice and grippy.
The left side sports a single button while on the right are four LEDs that indicate the current status of the battery. Coming to the charging ports, there's more than a few on offer. Between two full-size USB ports, a micro USB port and even a Type C connector, it is fair to say that you can charge practically any modern electronic device with the Stuffcool 720PD. The entire construction of the Stuffcool 720PD Power Bank is metal which attracts scuffs, ...
Motorola is known to be working on G-series phones including the Moto G7, Moto G7 Plus, Moto G7 Power and Moto G7 Play. However, the company is even rumored to be working on refreshing Z-series with the upcoming Moto Z4 Play. Thanks to well-known leakster, Steve Hemmerstoffer, we now are getting to see the renders of the phone before it launches officially.
The Moto Z4 Play is said to sport a water-drop shaped notch at the top of the display and sports thin bezels on each corner. The volume rocker and power buttons are placed on the right. There is a single rear camera present in a typical circular pattern. The rear also has Moto Mod connectors probably hinting at 5G mod support. It still has a 3.5mm audio jack and USB-C port.
The device is said to sport a 6.2-inches screen and measure in at 158 x 75 x 7.25 mm. We currently don't have hardware specifications of the device, but since Z-series has always been the high-end segment, we can hope a flagship processor to power it. For now, all we have are the renders of the phone, so stay tuned for more details.
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Apple has announced that it is revising its guidance for Apple’s fiscal 2019 first quarter, which ended on December 29. The company expects total revenue of approximately $84 billion, gross margin of approximately 38%, operating expenses of approximately $8.7 billion. Apple expects the number of shares used in computing diluted EPS to be approximately 4.77 billion.
Apple says that it is aware of the different timing of the iPhone launches would affect the year-over-year compares. The top-end iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max, shipped in Q4’18—placing the channel fill and early sales in that quarter, whereas last year iPhone X shipped in Q1’18, placing the channel fill and early sales in the December quarter. This created a difficult compare for Q1’19, and this played out broadly in line with the expectations, says Apple.
The company also says that it knew the strong US dollar would create foreign exchange headwinds and forecasted this would reduce its revenue growth by about 200 basis points as compared to the previous year. Sales of Apple Watch Series 4 and iPad Pro were constrained much or all of the quarter. AirPods and MacBook Air were also constrained. Owing to the economic weakness in some emerging markets had a significantly greater ...
Audio enthusiasts on a budget have never had it this good. Today, there are quite literally dozens of options available in all possible form factors and at all price points. Over the ears, on-ears, in-ears and even earbuds are making a comeback. With Chinese hi-fi options become a real threat, we're seeing newer options from industry leaders. German giant, Beyerdynamic, too has recently announced a range of affordable audio products. The entry-level model in this is the Beat BYRD. We've been testing it out for a few weeks and here's what we think.
Design
The Beat BYRD sports the all-new design language and logos revealed by Beyerdynamic. Representing a modern evolution of the legendary audio product manufacturer, the BYRD is very discrete. The entire earphone/driver unit sits snug inside your ear and the flat outer shell ensures that it has an extremely low profile.
You can comfortably wear it while lying down on your bed or under a beanie if you sport one. Weighing a mere 5 grams, the earphones simply vanish when you're wearing them and are very comfortable. Noise isolation isn't absolute but with the volume set to 60% or so, you can drown out most ambient audio. A 1.2m rubberised cable ...
USB Implementers Forum has launched the USB Type-C Authentication Program. The USB Type-C Authentication specification defines cryptographic-based authentication for USB Type-C chargers and devices. It empowers host systems to protect against non-compliant USB chargers and to mitigate risks from malicious firmware/hardware in USB devices.
Thanks to this protocol, host systems can confirm the authenticity of a USB device, USB cable or USB charger, including such product aspects as the capabilities and certification status. All of this happens right at the moment a connection is made before inappropriate power or data can be transferred. It is a standard protocol for authenticating certified USB Type-C chargers, devices, cables, and power sources.
It also brings support for authenticating over either USB data bus or USB Power Delivery communications channels. It relies on 128-bit security for all cryptographic methods. USB-IF selected DigiCert to manage the PKI and certificate authority services for the USB Type-C Authentication Program.
Jeff Ravencraft, USB-IF President, and COO said:
USB-IF is excited to launch the USB Type-C Authentication Program, providing OEMs with the flexibility to implement a security framework that best fits their specific product requirements. As the USB Type-C ecosystem continues to grow, companies can further provide the security that consumers have come to expect from certified USB devices.
Geoffrey Noakes, ...
