Category: Tech

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Samsung Galaxy Note 10 Flagship Smartphone May Support 45W Fast Charging

Samsung’s long-awaited Note series flagship smartphone has yet again received more rumours and speculations regarding its specifications. Popular handsets receive numerous leaks claiming features that may never surface on the actual product. Only genuine and credible sources are to be taken seriously. A reliable gadget tipster of Samsung products, who goes by the name Ice Universe on Twitter has revealed the upcoming Galaxy Note 10 may support 45W fast charging.

Samsung Galaxy A70

The aforementioned information about the Galaxy Note 10 smartphone from Samsung was revealed by the tipster in a rather cryptic manner. Posting a picture on Twitter of Leonardo Da Vinci with a binary number at the bottom of the image. The code directly translates to the number 45. The previous leaks have revealed that the Galaxy Note 10 has been given a code name “Da Vinci”. The number, with the picture provided, seems to hint at a new fast-charging tech making an appearance on the upcoming Samsung flagship.

pic.twitter.com/8tvkvfvqdD
— ICE UNIVERSE (@UniverseIce) June 1, 2019

Other rumours and interpretations of the cryptic message have pointed at a variant of the Galaxy Note 10 being powered by a 4500mAh battery. The famous tipster had also revealed other information leading upto this leak, namely, the device retaining physical buttons but skipping on the 3.5mm headphone jack. Reports so far had pointed at the Note 10 removing the physical buttons, including the Bixby button, for some form of pressure sensing and capacitive functions. The rumour also had these pressure sensors be textured on the edge or be a raised bump.

As for the headphone jack, it is not optimistic. pic.twitter.com/BY2FWzK68m
— ICE UNIVERSE (@UniverseIce) May 31, 2019

Also Read: Spotify Tests New ‘Social Listening’ Feature That Lets Users Listen To Music Together

Ice Universe in his tweet refuted past claims of the removal of physical buttons as being just an initial prototype that did not make it through stress testing. From the multiple reports on the internet, one point towards the screen of the smartphone being a large 6.66-inch AMOLED display panel. Furthermore, the Samsung Galaxy Note 10 may also be equipped with the Exynos 9820 SoC on the phone as previously seen in the Galaxy S10 in some regions while the rest would receive the Snapdragon 855 SoC.

June 3, 2019
Spotify Tests New ‘Social Listening’ Feature That Lets Users Listen To Music Together

The experience of jamming to your favourite tracks by your favourite artist is much more accessible in this day and age than ever before. Gone are the days of having to search for songs on CDs that were sold in malls or local stores. Multiple online music streaming services are now available such as Spotify, that now seek to make listening to great songs a shared and interactive experience. The Swedish music streaming company is reportedly starting to test a new feature by the name of Social Listening that would let multiple users add songs and make playlists in real time. This is a group feature that will allow users to share and listen to new tracks simultaneously. Spotify is supposedly testing this feature internally within its employees, however, no confirmation has been officially given by the company as of yet regarding the public release of the feature.

The leaked information has stated that ‘Social Listening’ lets users control music together with their own devices using the added function of scanning Spotify Codes or by opening links to pair with other users to begin sharing songs. Screenshots that were leaked show the screens of devices ready to be paired by scanning codes or shared links, in an Android version of the application.

Spotify’s only official response to the feature is that the company is always testing new products and experiences, but have no news that can be shared regarding this function. The company prior to this had revealed its tests on new hardware (a first for the Spotify) ‘Car Thing”, a voice-controlled music and podcast player for cars. The test was only limited to the United States, however, Spotify will invite a few selected premium users for the experience too. Again no confirmations on the company actually releasing the device for consumers.

Also Read: WhatsApp Profile Photos Now Can’ Be Saved, New Album Features

The new social feature that allows group-based interactive playlist feature by Spotify that has just been teased would most definitely be a welcome addition to the social functions within its application.

June 3, 2019
LG To Launch An Online Only Budget Smartphone Series In India Soon

In the last few years, the dominance of Chinese smartphone OEMs has increased substantially in the Indian market. Makers like Xiaomi, Realme and Honor have seen exponential growth in sales while established brands like Samsung and LG had lost their grip on the same, at least on the budget side of things. The former tried to redefine itself by launching the online-only Galaxy M series back in the month of January. By providing competitive specifications at a lucrative price tag, the lineup has seen a good reception and has put Samsung back on the radar. Now, the latest reports claim that another Korean giant, LG is looking to do the same; by launching an online exclusive, budget smartphone lineup in India soon.

About the series

As mentioned above, LG is planning to introduce a new series of smartphones in the Indian market. This may be a budget lineup which will only be available to purchase online. Along with the information, images alleged to be of a device in the series have also been shared in the report. These images reveal a handset with a glass finish and gradient colour scheme on the back. The right side of the smartphone has the volume rockers and the power button. Over at the back, a vertically placed triple camera setup along with an LED flash is visible. The rear panel also has a rear-mounted fingerprint scanner with the LG branding present.

Also read: Top Smartphones Launch In India: June 2019

One of the leaked images of the latest LG smartphone also reveals it will have a FullVision display; which may be an indication that it will have a near edge of to edge display with minimal bezels around it. It is also known that the device will make use of AI in certain areas around the handset; presumably in the UI (User Interface) and the camera application. The reports further claim the series will borrow many features from LG’s flagship series, such as the G and V lineup of smartphones. Unfortunately, more details about the handsets are unknown at the moment. But it is expected that the company may make an announcement regarding them soon.

June 3, 2019
Google Cloud Restored After Outage, Multiple Applications Affected

It seems that Facebook and Instagram are not the only platforms that suffered outages in the year 2019 so far, as Google Cloud services were down as well on June 3, 2019. The outage affected multiple applications such as Gmail and Nest. Furthermore, applications that implement Google Suite including Snap and popular voice-chat platform, Discord were offline as well. First reported by users in the United States, a similar issue was also brought to light by other users across the world.

As per a statement released by the company, the Google Compute Engine was suffering from a multi-region issue that was affecting Google Cloud services. Owing to network congestion in Eastern USA, users were experiencing extremely slow loading times and errors. Moreover, people reported issues with Google Nest that was not allowing them to change the temperature in their homes and apartments.

Reportedly, the issue was resolved a few hours later after its occurrence. Another statement put forward by the company confirmed that Google was conducting an internal investigation of the problem in order to prevent future recurrence of the same. However, concerns were raised regarding the vulnerability of Cloud-based software and applications. Since a multitude of services relies on Google’s Cloud Service, a lot of developers and organizations may start thinking about contingency plans in case an outage occurs again.

Also Read: WhatsApp Profile Photos Now Can’ Be Saved, New Album Features

Even though the cost of hosting applications on a third-party cloud platform is quite low, it basically implies that the entirety of the service is dependant on one platform to function. In such a case, a backup storage or cloud storage can be helpful for the organization. This particular outage experienced by Google may be a wake-up call for network-dependant applications that suffer if the service stops functioning even for a short duration of time.

June 3, 2019
WhatsApp Profile Photos Now Can’ Be Saved, New Album Features

The popular instant messaging platform, WhatsApp, is planning on removing the functionality that allowed users from saving someone else’s profile photo. This change was first noticed in the beta version of the application for iOS devices but now seems to be rolling out for Android users too. The latest update also adds new album features; such as providing more information about the files that need to be downloaded. These changes were spotted by a renowned WhatsApp leaker.

WhatsApp for iOS: What’s New?

The latest update from WhatsApp brings about many changes in the beta version on iOS. As mentioned above, the messaging app has stopped allowing to save someone else profile picture. While it is not confirmed wy this feature was provided in the first place, the removal of it seems to be related to privacy concerns. Apart from this, album improvements have also been added to the beta update. With this, whenever a user receives multiple images in a chat, the app will now tell the total size and number of images to be downloaded. All the aforementioned features were spotted in the beta version 2.19.60.26 of WhatsApp for iPhone.

Also read: Top Smartphones Launch In India: June 2019

Another change that is reported soon to arrive on WhatsApp is the use of a new media format. The current voice messages and audio filed use a format known as opus. This offers low latency and subpar quality of audio, which will now be replaced with the M4A audio coding format. The new format is reported to offer better quality and support in third-party apps. This feature is only available on iOS as of now. With the latest update, a new pop up prompting users to change their number when they try to delete their account. These features may make their way to the stable update soon.

June 2, 2019
Top Smartphones Launch In India : June 2019

It is June already and many smartphone OEMs have announced that their handsets will launch in India this month. Amidst a sea of devices, we have compiled a list of all the top upcoming smartphones that are expected or have been confirmed to be launching in the Indian market in June.

OnePlus 7

Click here to buy the OnePlus 7 from Amazon

OnePlus has already announced its latest smartphone, the OnePlus 7 on the 14th of May. The company has now revealed it will go on sale starting on the 4th of June. It is the successor of the OnePlus 6T from last year and boasts of several improvements over its predecessor. In terms of specifications, the OnePlus 7 features a 6.41-inch Optic AMOLED display with a waterdrop notch. For biometric security and rapidly unlocking the device, it has an in display fingerprint scanner and support for face unlock technology.

Under the hood, it is kitted with the 7nm Snapdragon 855 SoC which is comprised of an Octa-core CPU and the Adreno 640 GPU. For memory and storage, the OnePlus 7 has up to 8GB of RAM and 256GB of internal storage. In terms of optics, the handset has a dual 48MP + 5MP camera setup and a single 16 MP camera on the front. It is powered using a 3700 mAh battery with 20W fast charging support. The smartphone has been priced at Rs. 32,999 for the base variant with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of internal storage and Rs. 37,999 for the version with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of onboard memory.

Samsung Galaxy M40

The Samsung Galaxy M40 will be the latest addition to the company’s online exclusive Galaxy M lineup. It has been announced that the smartphone will be launched on the 11th of June. While the specification of the device has not been confirmed yet, past leaks have revealed it will sport a 6.3 inch LCD display; with an Infinity O style hole punch on the top left corner of the display. The teasers have also exhibited the presence of a rear-mounted fingerprint scanner for efficiently accessing the handset.

Under the hood, the Galaxy M40 is expected to run on the 11nm Snapdragon 675 SoC; which is comprised of an Octa-core CPU and the Adreno 612 GPU. In terms of optics, it is revealed to have a triple camera setup, details of which are not known yet. The device is also rumoured to feature up to 6GB of RAM and 128GB of Internal storage. More details about the upcoming smartphone may be revealed as we move closer to its launch.

Samsung Galaxy A80

The Samsung Galaxy A80 was announced in the month of April and is the first smartphone from the company to feature a mechanical camera mechanism. It was introduced alongside the Galaxy A70 which has already gone on sale in India. In terms of specifications, the Galaxy A80 features a 6.7 inch Super AMOLED display with no notch or hole punch in sight. The device has an in display fingerprint scanner with support for face unlock.

Under the hood, the Galaxy A80 runs on the 8nm Snapdragon 730 SoC, which is comprised of an Octa-core CPU and the Adreno 618 GPU. In terms of optics, the upcoming smartphone has a triple camera setup, which has a 48MP primary sensor, combined with an 8MP ultra wide sensor and a Time of Flight (ToF) sensor for capturing depth. The highlight feature of the device is the rotating camera mechanism, which allows the users to take selfies from the primary camera.

For memory and storage, the handset has 8GB of RAM and 128GB of internal storage. The Galaxy A80 is powered by a 3700 mAh battery with 25W fast charging. It is expected to be priced at around Rs. 45,000 when it launches in India later this month.

Asus ZenFone 6

Taiwanese electronics giant Asus introduced its latest flagship smartphone, the Zenfone 6 at an event on the 16th of May. It is expected to be launched in India on the 6th of June at a lucrative price tag. In terms of specifications, it has a 6.4 inch LCD display with no obstruction like a notch or hole punch. For quickly accessing the device, there is a rear-mounted fingerprint scanner and also support for face unlock.

Under the hood, the Zenfone 6 is kitted with the 7nm Snapdragon 855 SoC; comprised of an Octa-core CPU and the Adreno 640 GPU. In terms of optics, a dual camera setup is present on the flip camera mechanism on the back. This setup consists of a 48MP primary sensor and a 13MP ultra wide angle sensor which can be flipped to 180 degrees for taking selfies. For memory and storage, the device has up to 8GB of RAM and 256GB of internal storage. The handset is powered by a mammoth 5000 mAh battery with 18W fast charging. It is expected to be priced around Rs. 40,000 range in India.

Nubia Red Magic 3

The Red Magic 3 is the latest gaming smartphone from ZTE’s subsidiary Nubia. It was announced in the month of April and features top tier hardware. In terms of specifications, the device has a 6.65-inch OLED display with a 90Hz refresh rate. For quickly accessing the handset, a rear-mounted fingerprint sensor with support for face unlock is present.

Under the hood, the Nubia Red Magic 3 runs on the 7nm Snapdragon 855 SoC, comprised of an Octa-core CPU and the Adreno 640 GPU. In terms of optics, it has a 48MP primary rear sensor with a 16MP selfie camera. For memory and storage, the device has up to 12GB of RAM and 256GB of internal storage. For efficiently cooling the upcoming smartphone under heavy gaming load, it has the company’s air and water cooling technology. The handset is powered by a 5000 mAh battery with 27W fast charging. It is expected to be priced around Rs. 35,000 price bracket in India.

Redmi K20 Series

Xiaomi introduced the Redmi K20 and K20 Pro last week. While the former is a mid-range offering, the latter is a flagship-grade device from the company, featuring top tier specifications at a competitive price. In terms of specifications, the smartphones have a 6.39 inch AMOLED display. For biometric security and unlocking the smartphones, the Redmi K20 series has an in display fingerprint scanner along with support for face unlock.

Under the hood, the Redmi K20 is kitted with the 8nm Snapdragon 730 SoC. The chipset is comprised of an Octa-core CPU and the Adreno 618 GPU. The more premium Redmi K20 Pro runs on the flagship grade 7nm Snapdragon 855 SoC which has an Octa-core CPU and the Adreno 640 GPU. In terms of optics, both smartphones have a triple rear camera setup consisting of a 48MP + 13MP ultra wide angle sensor + 8MP telephoto sensor. For selfies, a 32MP sensor is housed in the pop-up mechanism on top of the handsets.

Both the Redmi K20 and the K20 Pro are powered by a 4,000 mAh battery. However, the former supports 18 W fast charging while the latter supports 27 W fast charging. The Redmi K20 is expected to be priced around Rs. 20,000 while the K20 Pro might cost around Rs. 30,000 in India. Both the upcoming smartphones are one of the most anticipated in the country.

Honor 20 Series

Announced last month, the Honor 20 and 20 Pro are the latest flagship devices from the Huawei subsidiary. The company has announced the upcoming smartphones will be launched in India on the 11th of June. In terms of specifications, the handsets feature a 6.26 inch LCD display with a punch hole cutout on the top left corner. They have a side mounted fingerprint scanner for quickly accessing the device.

Under the hood, the smartphones pack the Kirin 980 SoC consists of an Octa-Core CPU and the Mali G76 GPU. The key highlight the Honor 20 and the Honor 20 Pro is the rear facing quad camera setup. Both smartphones have a 48 MP Sony IMX586 sensor, 16 MP wide angle sensor and 2 MP macro sensor. The fourth sensor on the Honor 20 is a 2 MP depth sensor whereas the Honor 20 Pro has an 8MP telephoto lens. For memory and storage, the handsets have up to 8GB of RAM and 256GB of internal storage.

Also read: China Prepares A Counter-Strike On The Huawei Ban

In terms of battery, the Honor 20 is powered by a 3750 mAh battery whereas the Honor 20 Pro is powered by a 4,000 mAh. Both devices also support 22.5 W fast charging. They are expected to be priced around Rs. 35,000 in India.

June 1, 2019
Xiaomi Mi Band 4 With A Coloured Display Leaked In Images

Xiaomi launched the latest iteration of its fitness wearable, the Mi Band 3 last year. It has been long speculated that the company will launch a successor to the device soon. Details about the upcoming wearable; purportedly called the Mi Band 4 have been leaked online in the past. Images of the device have surfaced online which reveal the updates inbound over its predecessor.

Mi Band 4

The Mi Band 4 will be the latest fitness wearable from Xiaomi. Images of the device reveal it will have a coloured display. This will be an improvement over the monochrome display found on the Mi Band 3. While its rest of the design is reminiscent of the previous generation, the addition of a colour display will make for a notable addition. As a colour display consumes more power than a monochrome display; the future smart wearable may have a 135 mAh battery which is a considerable bump from 110 mAh found on the current device. Noteworthy, disparate to previous Mi Band versions, the Mi Band 4 will have an inbuilt charging port. The previous generation devices have proprietary charging connectors; which have not been well received by numerous consumers due to their complexity.

Xiaomi Mi Band 3

Also read: Apple To Focus On Devices Other Than The iPhone In The Future

The leaks in the past also reveal the Mi Band 4 will be offered in two variants. The affordable variant will only have support for Bluetooth 5 Low Energy (LE) while the top end variant will also support NFC. The rest of the features will reportedly be taken over from the Mi Band 3; including a heart rate tracker, a pedometer for counting steps and a water resistance rating. In terms of pricing, it is expected that the lower end, Bluetooth version of the Mi Band 4 will cost Rs 2,000 like its predecessor; while the NFC version may be priced in the neighborhood of Rs 3,500. The smart wearable is expected to be unveiled in the following weeks.

June 1, 2019
Under Armour And Dwayne Johnson Launch Project Rock Truly Wireless Earphones

American apparel brand Under Armour and popular actor/retired professional wrestler, Dwayne Johnson have collaborated to unveil new ‘Project Rock’ Truly Wireless Earphones. The earbuds are focused towards consumers who indulge in extensive fitness activities such as gymming, running and exercising. Previously, the duo launched the over-the-ear UA Sport Wireless Project Rock Edition headphones in 2018.

Project True Wireless Earphones Features

The Truly Wireless Earbuds will be the latest addition to the “Project Rock” audio products. Named as the “UA True Wireless Flash Project Rock Edition”, the earphones are IPX7-rated water and sweat resistant. On a single charge, the earphones can last for about 5 hours. Upon discharging, they can be juiced up via the charging-cum-carrying case, which provides an additional 20 hours of recharge. The carrying case itself can be charged via a micro-USB 2.0 port. Regarding audio, the company has teamed up with JBL audio.

The Project True Wireless Earphones feature UA TALKTHRU, which enables the user to lower the music momentarily to focus on the surroundings. This technology is similar to the one found in JBL’s own wireless earbuds. A golden bull logo is embossed on both the earphones, which doubles up as a button to activate noise cancellation and block out external audio. The earphones will ship with a set of antibacterial ear tips that will enable them to sit comfortably in the ear without falling off.

Also Read: Facebook Patent Reveals A Drone Powered By Kites

The Project Rock earphones will pack JBL’s 40mm drivers for high-precision audio. Dwayne Johnson has been teasing the sound quality of the earphones for quite some time now on his Instagram channel. The earphones will be shipped June 7 onwards, and are priced at US$ 199 (~INR 13,800). They will go up against the Beats PowerBeats Pro Truly wireless earbuds, which retail for $249.95.

June 1, 2019
DJI Unveils The DJI Storm Drone Alongside Its Own Van And Crew

DJI, one of the most highly celebrated brands in the field of drone and cinematography has yet again outdone themselves with its latest professional-grade filming drone. The drone is as flagship as they get, so much so that the model is not even available for purchase. DJI has rather decided to employ its service of this drone alongside a van that is equipped with various tech and parts of the drone being manned by a team of professionals trained crew for filming.

Aptly named, DJI Storm received a rather uneventful reveal with the company discreetly uploading a video of the drone on YouTube. The drone is heavily equipped to tackle various scenarios and function at the optimum levels(operational parameters ranging from -10°C to 40°C). Carrying with it an eight-rotor blade, the drone has a maximum payload capacity of 18.5kg.

This opens up the potential for drones to carry various mid-sized and professional filming cameras like the Arri Alexa LF camera that was equipped with its lens as seen in the YouTube reveal video. The camera was also outfitted with one of DJI’s wireless focus system (that follows the subject in focus) along with DJI’s Ronin 2 gimbal for stabilization.

The video showcased a myriad of expensive hardware that is not exactly consumer grade but rather used for professional work or filming. Even DJI’s latest drone model available for sale, the Matrice 600 for professionals, costs $5000 (approx. Rs. 3,47,000). The Matrice 600 however, is only capable of carrying a load of upto 6kg. DJI Storm is also reportedly faster than the Matrice variant by 10mph, having a top speed of 80kmph. DJI has listed the capabilities of the drone to sustain flight for 15 minutes with a payload of 12kg, this depends on the batteries used to power the drone systems.

DJI Storm is working out to be one of the most expensive filming drone systems ever seen. The DJI Ronin 2 gimbal for stabilization carries a hefty price tag of $8000 (approx. Rs. 5,56,000) and the heavy duty drones like xFold Dragon X12 will put buyers down by $30,000 (approx. Rs. 20,87,000).

However, the company seems to be reserving the equipment for its DJI Studio Custom Aerial Cinematography Service, which is seen in the video with the special van, professionally trained crew, and many of the DJI’s top gears like Master Wheels and Force Pro remote control systems. These systems allow the cinematographers to move the drone’s camera as they would do in person.

Also Read: Mysterious Mid Range HTC Smartphone Certified By Bluetooth SIG, Launch Imminent

DJI Studio is not a relatively new department within DJI, having been working with Asian markets for a while now. What can be gathered by the company’s Chinese website show offerings for only the DJI Matrice 600 paired with the Sony A7S II camera or the DJI Inspire 2. It is unclear as to which markets would be hit with this service as no official announcements have been made so far.

June 1, 2019
Samsung Galaxy M40 Specs Leaked, Reveals 32MP Primary Camera

As previously reported, South Korean technology giant Samsung is all set to launch the Galaxy M40 smartphone on June 11, 2019. Similar to the other devices in the Galaxy M series, the Galaxy M40 is expected to provide decent specifications at a competitive price point. Samsung seems quite confident with the upcoming device owing to the success of the Galaxy M10, M20 and M30 in the market. As per fresh leaks, the smartphone is expected to feature a 32MP primary camera alongside two other sensors.

Galaxy M40: Leaked Specifications And Features

Leaks suggest that the Galaxy M40 will sport a 6.3 inch FHD+ display with a resolution of 2340 x 1080 px. The smartphone will boast of a high screen-to-body ratio thanks to the Infinity-O display (punch-hole display). The right side of the device will accommodate the volume rockers and the power button. The rear panel of the handset houses the triple camera setup, the fingerprint scanner and the company branding in the middle.

Samsung Galaxy M30

Under the hood, the Galaxy M40 will run on the Snapdragon 675 chipset, which consists of the octa-core Kryo 460 CPU and the Adreno 612 GPU. Information regarding different variants is unknown, but it is confirmed that the smartphone will launch with at least 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. It will be powered by a 3,500 mAh battery, unlike the Galaxy M30 (see review here), which packed a massive 5000 mAh battery.

Regarding optics, the Galaxy M40 will feature a triple rear camera setup, which will consist of a 32MP primary sensor, a 5MP depth sensor and a third 8MP ultra wide sensor. For selfies, it will sport a 16MP front camera housed in the in-screen cutout. Noteworthy, the M40 will be the first M-series smartphone to run on Android 9.0 (Pie) out-of-the-box.

Galaxy M40: Expected Price And Availability

Also Read: Mysterious Mid Range HTC Smartphone Certified By Bluetooth SIG, Launch Imminent

As mentioned before, the Galaxy M40 will be unveiled by the company on June 11, 2019. Sources state that it will be priced around the price point of INR 20,000 (~$287). When launched, it will be retailed on an online-only basis, with the retailers being popular e-commerce website Amazon and Samsung’s own online store.

June 1, 2019
Panasonic S1H Launched With Support For 6K Video Recording

Japanese electronics company Panasonic is widely known for making capable mirrorless cameras under its Lumix brand. The company on 31st May has announced its latest offering, the Lumix S1H Digital Single Lens Mirrorless camera; which boasts of being the worlds first full frame camera capable of recording in 6K resolution at 24 frames per second (fps). It is the successor to the Panasonic Lumix S1 launched last year and features notable improvements over it.

Panasonic S1H

As a full frame digital camera, the Panasonic Lumix S1H claims many world’s first to its name. Like mentioned above, it is the world’s first to record in 6K resolution at 24 fps in a 3:2 aspect ratio; or in 5.9K resolution at 30fps with an aspect ratio of 16:9. It is also capable of recording 10 bit 4K DCI video at up to 60 fps, which is also a world’s first. The camera has a variety of recording formats like the 4:3 Anamorphic mode like present in the popular GH5 camera from the company. The Lumix S1H also claims a wide dynamic range of 14+ stops with the V-Log/V-Gamut mode. Noteworthy, this dynamic range is the same as the premium Panasonic VariCam video camera.

Also read: Alphabet’s New AI Defeats Human Players In A Multiplayer Game

Unfortunately, Panasonic has not specified if the Lumic S1H will feature the in body image stabilization; like present in its predecessor, but it is assumed that the latest camera will pack in the stabilisation option. It also does not have any recording time limit, which may be a beneficial feature for shooting events. In terms of pricing and availability, the Panasonic Lumix S1H will be available starting fall, which generally refers to the fourth quarter of the year in the US; with the global availability to be announced soon. For pricing, the company’s latest offering is expected to be priced around US$ 4000 (Rs 2,78,300).

June 1, 2019
OnePlus 7

OnePlus 7 is the latest smartphone from the Chinese smartphone OEM OnePlus and was launched alongside the OnePlus 7 Pro on 14th of May. It is the successor to the OnePlus 6T from last year and features top tier specifications; which include a 6.41 inch AMOLED display, 7nm Snapdragon 855 SoC and up to 8GB of RAM and 256GB of internal storage.

Click here to buy the OnePlus 7 from Amazon.

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May 31, 2019
Mysterious Mid Range HTC Smartphone Certified By Bluetooth SIG, Launch Imminent

Taiwanese company HTC is best known for its smartphones. However, due to intense competition in the space, courtesy of Chinese OEMs, sales for the company have fallen significantly in the past few years. It has been long speculated that the company may exit the smartphone business altogether. However, in the month of April, a mid-range HTC handset surfaced on performance benchmarking platforms Geekbench and Antutu which suggests otherwise. Now, the device has been granted Bluetooth certification which suggests an imminent launch.

HTC Mid-range Smartphone

The mysterious smartphone from HTC is expected to be a mid-range offering. It has been certified by the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) with the model number 2Q7AXXX. This falls in line to the two previously leaked mid-range devices from the company. While the former had the model number 2Q7A100; the latter used the HTC 2Q741 moniker to identify itself. This insinuates the aforementioned handsets are part of a series that HTC may introduce soon. Unfortunately, the Bluetooth certificate of the smartphone does not add to the existing information about it, except for the fact that the upcoming device will have support for Bluetooth 5.0 Low Energy.

HTC Desire 12

Also read: Xiaomi Delays The Release Of Its Foldable Smartphone Over Market Insecurity

Previous leaks revealed the mysterious HTC mid-range smartphone will run on the 10nm Snapdragon 710 SoC. The chipset consists of an Octa-Core CPU and the Adreno 616 GPU. In terms of memory and storage, the device may have 6 GB of RAM and 128 GB of internal storage which might be further expandable via a microSD card. Even though the listing did not reveal the screen size of the upcoming device, it mentions an FHD+ resolution of 2160 x 1080 px. Unfortunately, HTC has not confirmed the authenticity of the leak, therefore, the price and the launch date of the upcoming smartphone by the company is anyone’s guess. But, the listing on the Bluetooth certification website hint toward an imminent launch.

May 31, 2019
Facebook Patent Reveals A Drone Powered By Kites

A freshly revealed patent shows that Facebook is working on a drone which is quite unconventional. The drone will not use its own power source for flight, instead it would make use of kites to stay afloat. Named the “dual-kite aerial vehicle”, each drone consists of two separate kites that can be directed independently. Moreover, the drone can utilize the force of the wind to extend its flight time, essentially making it self-sufficient.

The patent was originally filed in the month of November 2018. It depicts a drone that is connected to the kites via a kiometre-long tether. It is designed along the lines of a helicopter-style aircraft, and by cutting down the size and weight of the drone, it can attain extra-long flight durations. Facebook also mentions that a fleet of such drones can be controlled wirelessly from the surface. Since higher altitudes imply more sunlight, they can be employed to generate power through solar panels as well.

The social media giant was previously reported to be working on Aquila, which was a project that involved beaming down an LTE network from high-flying droneships in the stratosphere. The drones in Aquila were supposed to run on solar energy, providing sustainable flight over long durations of time. However, the project didn’t really take ‘flight’, and was abandoned by the company in the year 2018.

Also Read: Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare Trailer Reverts The Series Back To Its Roots

The drone in the freshly filed patent, however, is nothing like Aquila. It resembles the balloons that Google previously showcased for its Loon project. Nonetheless, the reveal should be taken with a grain of salt, since it could be long before we could get to witness such an offering from the company. With the privacy and security concerns looming over Facebook, it may not want to launch large drones into the sky anytime soon. However, considering that the organization previously teamed up with aviation giant Airbus to provide high altitude connectivity, a prototype may be under development as well.

May 31, 2019
Alphabet’s New AI Defeats Human Players In A Multiplayer Game

Concepts easily understood by humans are not as simple to machines. Variables always arise and questions that machines can’t answer make complete autonomy difficult. Alphabet, Google’s parent company had its DeepMind’s technological studio train its AI to learn how to play a game of capture the flag on a level greater than that of a human.

One of the most basic games in terms of principle, capture the flag has two teams go against each other with the primary objective of the game being to capture a flag (any marker). The marker is located at each teams respective base and has to be captured by an enemy team after which they have to safely return with it to their own base safely. Easy for humans to understand and play, but complex for a machine that has to make numerous calculations that’ll help it strategize in a manner resembling humans.

This stands to change with AI and machine learning. A report published by researchers at DeepMind, subsidiary of Alphabet, details a system not only capable of learning the game, capture the flag but also devising strategies and planning on a level of human teams in Id Software’s Quake III Arena. The paper published reported on how the AI was not taught how the game played but only informed if the opponent was beaten or not.

Reasoning behind this approach of training an AI stems from the unpredictable behaviour that can be exhibited as the learning process continues. Some of the researchers working on DeepMind’s AI have previously developed alongside AlphaStar, who’s machine learning program beat professional StarCraft II players. The key techniques utilized in the study was reinforcement learning, which had rewards given out to incentivize the software towards the goal.

The agent utilized by DeepMind, appropriately dubbed For The Win (FTW), learns from on-screen pixels using a convolutional neural network, a collection of mathematical functions (essentially neurons in the human brain) arranged in layers. The data absorbed by this is sent to two recurrent long short-term memory (LSTM) networks, one that that operates on a slow timescale while the other on a faster timescale. This enables a degree of prediction about the game world and take actions through an emulated game controller.

The 30 FTW AI agents were trained in different stages with the powerful learning paradigm to improve real world performances. Agents there on were reported to have formulated and enacted strategies generalised across the different maps, team rosters, and team sizes. The AI’s learned human behaviours like following teammates, camping, and defending their base from attackers while not repeating tactics that do not give any inherent advantages like following the teammate too close as the training progressed.

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The AI had surpassed the win-rate of human players by a substantial margin in a tournament involving 40 humans that were randomly matched in both games as teammates and enemies. The Elo rating (the probability on winning) of the AI was 1,600 compared to good human players that had an Elo of 1,300 while the average for human players was 1,050. This held true even when the agents were slowed down by a quarter of a second. Human players only won 12-21% of the times ranging from skill level.

May 31, 2019