Nintendo is one of the most recognisable name in the gaming industry. The company is famous for its popular game title like Mario to even its consoles like the legendary NES. Now, the company has announced the launch of its latest portable gaming console catered to a more affordable range of audiences. The Switch Lite will be a smaller device that is exclusively built for handheld play.
Design & Features
The smaller iteration of the Nintendo Switch had been rumoured prior to its official announcement. The Switch Lite sports a 5.5 inch 720p display which is slightly smaller than the 6.2 inch found on the original. It is built on a compact form factor for exclusive hand held gaming. In other words, users cannot remove the side controllers as you could before since the design isn’t built with modularity in mind. This also implies users sacrifice the option to connect to a TV or play certain popular games on the Switch Lite. The device does not feature a light sensor so brightness must be adjusted manually.
Nintendo claims that the Switch Lite offers better battery life than the original Switch. The portable gaming console can play almost every game than the original could apart from the ones that specifically involved the Switch Joy-Cons being removed or played on portrait. The company will build prompts on its online shop to lets users know which games are not compatible with the Lite version. It is built on a single piece which means most of the body is a single colour such as yellow, grey, turquoise and even a Pokémon Sword and Shield edition. The device has a matte finish on its compact form factor.
Price & Availability
The Nintendo Switch Lite will be sold for $199 which is $100 cheaper than its elder sibling. It is priced lower for a streamlined Switch experience with fewer features and certain inflexibilities. For the lower price users also skip out on TV compatibility, Tablet mode, HD Rumble and IR Motion Camera. However, it would not discourage its prospective buyers that are loyal to the Nintendo ecosystem.
Switch was a popular portable console that had won hearts across the globe. The new Switch Lite from Nintendo intends to do the same while banking on the popularity of its original iteration. Its new lower price point will make the price of entry more approachable in many different countries like India. Updates regarding the device’s launch in India will be provided soon as and when more informations is available.
Samsung’s highly awaited Galaxy Note series’ latest iteration, the alleged Galaxy Note 10 has made many rounds on the internet. Various leaks, rumours and renders have already given us an idea as to what it would look like. The South Korean company is all set to unveil its latest flagship series next month during its Galaxy Unpacked 2019 event on August 7th. Now, the Samsung Galaxy Note 10+ has it’s colour variants and official press renders leaked.
According to the images, the Samsung Galaxy Note 10+ will arrive in two colours. The first is a Silver Prism with a Blue S Pen accessory and the second is black with a black coloured S Pen. It will sport the Dynamic AMOLED screen with negligible bezels on every corner of the front panel. On the back, no physical fingerprint scanner can be discerned which means an in display scanners like the Galaxy S10 and Galaxy S10+ is to be expected. The Galaxy Note 10+ has a quad camera setup with a 3D ToF sensor and an LED flash flanking the right of the main camera module. Samsung’s logo is present on the gradient back and the company might finally be skipping the button dedicated for the Bixby digital voice assistant.
The leaked specifications of the Samsung’s Galaxy Note 10+ reveal that it will feature a 6.75 inch QHD+ display with support for HDR10+ playback. Its front facing camera will reportedly be a 10MP sensor with dual pixel PDAF, similar to the one found on the Galaxy S10 lineup; the rear cameras will feature S10’s 12MP primary camera or a 48MP sensor accompanied by a telephoto and wide angles lens.
The Galaxy Note 10 is likely to run on the Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 or Exynos 9825 SoC depending on the country the device will be available to purchase in. The smartphone will run on the latest Android 9 Pie with the company’s OneUI on top. It is expected to have up to 12GB of RAM and up to 1TB of internal storage as well. Similar to the Galaxy S10 series, stereo speakers can be assumed along with the usual connectivity options, but the headphone jack’ presence is unclear. Samsung’s upcoming device would presumably also ship with IP68 water and dust resistance rating. The Galaxy Note 10 is claimed to be powered by a 4500mAh battery with 25W fast charging capabilities.
The competition is heating up with major OEMs are readying with their respective launches. Apple, Google and Samsung are one of the most renowned brands out there and the next couple of months is expected to be dominated by their launches. The latter with its Galaxy Note 10 series will have to pull an amazing feature or trick to arrive out on top of this arms race. More updates will be provided in the arriving week, stay tuned.
Earlier this year, Apple quitely refreshed the iPad Air and the iPad Mini with updated innards. In addition to previously launched devices, it seems that the company has a number of other tablets in the pipeline.
The company has freshly gained certification for five upcoming devices which are filed under the “tablet computer” category. Clearly, the upcoming devices will be iPads and they carry the following model numbers “A2068, A2198, A2230, A2197, and A2228”.
The certification was granted by Eurasian Economics Commission or EEC which is based Russia. The listings are critical as every device that can be sold in the region is needs to have the clearance certification from the supervising authority. Companies usually tend to get the devices registered with such bodies just before their launch when the device is ready for mass production. Therefore, the previously mentioned iPads could very well be finalided and they can launch in the near future.
Moreover, the EEC filing also reveals that the future iPad models will run on iPadOS 13 which was revealed at the WWDC 2019 event. The new OS is intended to bridge the gap between a full fledged PC OS and a mobile OS. The newly unveiled OS allows iPad owners to control their devices with a mouse and keyboard with native support. Hence, the device can work as a mobile workstation, possibly replacing a laptop. The iPad OS is currently in the Beta testing stage and will roll out for the general public later this year.
Unfortunately, the EEC listing certification does not reveal any other details about future iPads. However, they are expected to either succed the iPad Pro duo from 2018 or they could be the rumoured 10.2 inch iPad. Though less likely, they could by the foldable iPad which was previously leaked.
As of now, nothing can be confirmed about the future tablets from Apple. Therefore, we will have to wait for the company to officially shine some light on the launch of the devices.
Honor has been long anticipated to launch a couple of mid-range smartphones which will succeed the sensational Honor 8X from 2018. As per reports, the new handsets will be dubbed the Honor 9X and Honor 9X Pro. The design of the upcoming smartphones has previously leaked online which states that the handsets will feature a pop-up camera like the OnePlus 7 Pro and the Vivo V15 Pro.
Surprisingly, ahead of the official launch, full specs of both the smartphones have been leaked on Twitter which are listed below:
Honor 9X
Honor 9 Pro
Dimensions and Weight
163 x 77 x 8.6 mm, 190 grams
163 x 77 x 8.6 mm, 190 grams
Display
6.59 inch
2340 x 1080 px
391 ppi
6.59 inch
2340 x 1080 px
391 ppi
Chipset
Kirin 810 (7 nm)
Octa-Core
Mali G52 GPU
Kirin 810 (7 nm)
Octa-Core
Mali G52 GPU
OS
Android 9 Pie, EMUI
Android 9 Pie, MIUI
Connectivity
Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 5, GPS
Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.2, GPS
Rear/Front Camera
24 MP + 8 MP + 2 MP
20 MP (Pop Up)
48 MP + 8 MP + 2 MP
20 MP (Pop Up)
Battery
4000 mAh
10 W
4000 mAh
22.5 W
The specifications of the Honor 9X and 9X Pro exhibit worthy mid-range devices. Besides, if the company is able to price them aggressive as seen on their predecessor, the devices have the potential to become one of the best selling handsets in the mid-range segment. It is assumed that the smartphones will be priced between the US $ 200 and US $ 300 price bracket which will make them a lucrative option.
Though the current leak does not provide any details about the design of the smartphones, they can be derived from the previously mentioned leaks.
Both the Honor 9X and Honor 9X Pro will have an attractive design accrediting to an edge-to-edge display on the front. The rear of the handsets will house the company branding and the triple cameras which will be vertically aligned on the top left side.
To sum it up, all the leaks and claims about the Honor 9X and Honor 9X Pro can only be verified once the company officially announces them. Even though the launch date of the smartphone is not yet revealed, the sheer number of leaks suggest they will launch soon.
The Huawei MediaPad T5 is now available for purchase on Amazon.in. To sweeten up the deal, the company is providing Huawei Earphone AM 12 headphones Worth INR 2,998 and flip cover absolutely free. Interested users can purchase the tablet from the links provided below:
Original Story
Huawei had faced many hardships with the start of Q2 2019. The company was facing critical crippling of its business caused by the US Trade ban. The ban did not seek to deter the company as operations continued as normal, and devices like Nova 5 was launched with Android OS. Now, US has lifted the restrictions on Huawei and business is again in full swing with the officially launch of MediaPad T5 tablet in India.
Specification & Features
Huawei’s MediaPad T5 is a 10.1-inch tablet which sports a 1920 x 1200 resolution. Tablets generally do not feature minimal bezels and this also applies for the T5. The screen-to-body ratio of the device is still a respectable 76.4%. The tablet places emphasis on multi-media consumption owing to its large footprint. This is further bolstered by its dual stereo speakers.
HiSilicon Kirin 659 SoC drives the MediaPad T5 with RAM offerings varying from 2GB and 3GB. Huawei offers 2 storage options, namely 16GB and 32GB. The internal storage can be supplemented through its expandable storage solution via microSD card that supports up to 256GB. A massive 5,100mAh battery powers the entire device and should, at least on paper, deliver exceptional up time.
MediaPad T5 runs the EMUI 8.0 that is based on the dated Android 8.0 Oreo. The tablet features a dedicated Children’s Corner that allows separation and locking of certain apps when in the hands of kids. The feature also has a reminder that informs children to maintain a proper posture while using the tablet. A timer can be enabled that restricts over usage of the device.
Price and Availability
Huawei is shipping the MediaPad T5 in two configurations carrying different prices. The first is the 2GB RAM+16GB ROM variant which is priced at INR 14,999, while the beefier version that offers 3GB RAM+32GB ROM will be sold for 16,999. The Chinese company will start taking pre-orders for the tablet on Amazon alongside a complimentary bundle worth INR 2,999 which includes a flip cover and earphones.
Huawei’s sub-brand Honor had promised further Android support for its concerned Indian audience in a recent tweet.. The aforementioned ban had Huawei stuck in a no-mans land with US based firms that had the hardware and software it required. The tech giant is now well on its way to regain its grounds lost over the past couple of months, starting with the MediaPad T5.
After missing several rumoured launch dates, the photography centric Nokia 9 PureView has finally been launched in India. The handset has a premium build with a Quad HD display and five rear cameras which are placed in an elegant constellation shaped layout. The handset carries a hefty price tag of Rs 49,999. However, the camera capabilities that Nokia proposes are valid enough to lure in customers.
Nokia 9 PureView Design And Specs
The Nokia 9 PureView has an attractive design with glass on both front and rear which is reinforced using an aluminium chassis. The handset measures 155 x 75 x 8 mm and tips the scale at 172 grams. It sports a 5.99 inch Plastic OLED display that has a QHD resolution of 2880 x 1440 px and a pixel density of 538 ppi.
The left and right bezels around the display of the Nokia 9 PureView are negligible while the top and bottom bezels are considerably thick. The bezel above the display houses the Nokia branding, earpiece grille for receiving phone calls and a 20 MP front-facing selfie camera which can also capture 1080p videos @ 30fps. For rapidly and securely getting through the lock screen, it features an in-display fingerprint sensor which has become common sighting on most flagship smartphones.
For added protection, both the front and rear panel of the Nokia 9 PureView is covered with Corning Gorilla Glass 5. The rear panel of the device carries the Nokia branding, Android One logo and its key highlighting feature, the Penta camera setup. The rear camera setup consists of five 12 MP sensor and an LED flash. Out of the five cameras, two are RGB sensors while the remaining three are mono sensors.
The Nokia 9 PureView runs on latest Android 9 Pie and the Android One logo at its rear assures the device is guaranteed to receive at least 2 major Android updates for. The handset is powered by a generous 3,320 mAh battery which can be charged via the bottom-mounted USB Type-C port. In addition to the wired charging it also supports Qi wireless charging. Connectivity options on the smartphone include 4G VoLTE, 802.11 ac Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.0, NFC, GPS and GLONASS.
Nokia 9 PureView Price, Storage, Colours and Availability
The Nokia 9 PureView is available in just one colour variant which is Blue. The handset is available for purchase online from Flipkart.com starting 10th of July. It will also be sold via offline stores starting the 17th of July. The device is offered in a single storage variant for which the price is as follows:
6 GB + 128 GB – Rs 49,999
Even though the Nokia 9 PureView not equipped with the latest flagship processor or does not support high-speed charging, the device is aimed towards an entirely different set of audience which ranges from professional photographers to budding enthusiasts.
Asus is well renowned for its Republic Of Gaming sub-brand that offers gaming machines or gaming-related peripherals. The company has announced refreshing its ROG lineup in India with new releases in the Zephyrus and Strix ranges of gaming laptops. The company had updated the Asus ROG Zephyrus S GX01 and ROG Zephyrus S GX531 earlier this year in March. Now, Asus is introducing its newest iteration of the aforementioned laptops.
Asus ROG Zephyrus M GU502
The Asus ROG Zephyrus M GU502 is a Windows gaming laptop that sports a 15.6-inch FHD IPS Pantone display with a refresh rate of 144Hz and response time of 3ms. It is also equipped with the Intel’s 9th generation processors alongside NVIDIA GeForce 1660Ti graphics card. The GPU is tweaked for a max clock speed of 2100 MHz in Turbo mode with ROG Boost. The new gaming laptop features an “intelligent” cooling system with 83 blade fans.
It supports an ESS Sabre HiFi digital to analogue converter (DAC) with Hi-Res Audio certification and M.2 NVMe SSDs for up to 1TB of RAID 0 storage. Notably, the Zephyrus M can be charged through its USB-C port via a mobile power bank. The keys are backlit with RGB lighting and configuration allows for up to 32GB of RAM. Asus ROG gaming laptop offers up to 6 hours of battery life and weighs a light 1.9kg. Its starting price in India is INR 1,49,000.
Asus ROG Strix Range
Under Asus’ ROG Strix series of gaming laptops, new models have been unveiled for gaming enthusiasts. The ROG Strix Scar III and Hero III models are esports ready and feature a removable NFC module called Keystone. It allows gamers to move their saved profiles from one compatible laptop to another. The Keystone has a function that unlocks hidden storage areas on the owner’s laptop. The Scar III and Hero III have been launched in 15 inch and 17 inch variants that can be configured with either Intel’s 9th Gen i7 or i9 CPUs. Both laptops are offered 144Hz or 240Hz refresh rate display options. Due to its gaming nature, these laptops will have RGB LEF strips along with their bases with an RGB keyboard.
The Asus ROG Strix III G531 lineup is equipped with NVIDIA’s latest GeForce RTX 20 series graphics card ranging from the RTX 2060 to RTX 2070; while the Hero III sports an FTX 1660Ti video card. The laptops feature a 15.6 inch IPS display with up to 240Hz refresh rate offering and a 3ms response time. The laptops can be equipped with the latest Intel 9th Gen i9-9880H CPU with the same intelligent cooling system and RangeBoost algorithm for better connectivity. It can house up to 32GB of RAM and up to 1TB storage. These laptops weigh 2.395kgs and their prices start from INR 1,39,000.
Finally, the Asus ROG Strix G Edition G531 and G731 series of laptops offer a 120Hz display with a response time of 3ms. The gaming laptop feature a 9th Gen Intel i7-9750H CPU paired with up to NVIDIA GeForce 1650 GPU. The laptop will also include Intelligent cooling and RangeBoost algorithm. the ROG G531 has its prices start from INR 59,990 on Flipkart, while the G731 will sell for INR 79,990. The later will go on sale in the second half of July.
Asus ROG PC range
Asus has also announced its range of gaming desktop PCs alongside its laptop counterparts. The Asus ROG Huracan G21CX, Asus ROG Strix GL12CX, and the Asus ROG Strix GL10CS desktops. The G21CX features up to NVIDIA RTX 2080 GPU with Intel Core i9 CPU on the Z390 motherboard which has overclocking capabilities. The gaming laptop will support up to 32GB RAM and offers 512GB M.2 SSD and 2TB storage. It will sport front and rear speakers with inbuilt WiFi, Bluetooth, Microphone and various USB ports and audio jacks. The machine is bundled with ROG Strix Flare keyboard and ROG Gladius II Mouse and starts from INR 1,99,990.
Asus ROG GL12CX PC packs the latest i9-9900K CPU which is factory overclocked to 5.1GHz. The laptop features NVIDIA’s RTX 2080Ti GPU alongside two M.2 SSDs and Intel Optane memory. It also offers up to 32GB RAM along with front and rear speakers. Under connectivity options, inbuilt Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, microphone, headphone jack, USB Type-C, USB Type-A ports are offered. The Asus ROG Strix GL12CX price in India starts from Rs. 1,49,990.
Finally, the Asus ROG GL10CS is a customisable desktop with CPU ranging from 9th Gen i5 to i7. The graphics card options go up to NVIDIA’s RTX 2060. It features two isolated air chambers for housing its CPU and GPU completely separate from its power supply unit; ensuring clean airflow and preventing heat generated from the CPU and GPU to affect the PSU and storage drives. The PC will support up to 8GB RAM with 256GB of M.2 SSD. The Asus ROG GL10CS PC starting price is INR 61,990.
Asus is offering a couple of great gaming machines in India. These laptops and desktops will cater to different categories and price segments. More options for gamers is always a good sign. It showcases the growth of the Indian gaming community in the global standards with companies placing more emphasis on the country with their products. Soon, we may begin to see more esports title tournaments being held in India as well.
Shooter games are one of the fundamental genres of the gaming industry. Popular titles like the Halo and Call Of Duty franchise are one of the founding pillars that led to its massive success. Unfortunately, the aforementioned titles and many more of the sort have gamers shell out a fair amount of money. Here is a list that’ll showcase amazing experiences to be had without ever spending any money.
Games such as Fortnite, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and Team Fortress 2 will not be included. These games are already well known free to play shooters. The list will also focus on games capable of running on low-end PCs or even laptops.
PUBG Lite
PUBG Corp. has just launched the latest instalment in its battle royale focused franchise. The original PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds had seen massive success which had even carried forward to its free PUBG Mobile version. The game is in beta stages with polishing still required but in all intents and purposes is a true PUBG experience. It features watered-down textures and effects to have a broader audience similar to its Mobile version. Its key elements include:
Realistic gun mechanism and physics
Minimal size and system requirements
Indian Servers for a lag-free experience
Better graphical fidelity over PUBG Mobile emulator
The game is slowly gaining traction in India and has a positive impact on the Indian gaming community and culture. It can be played from both first-person and third-person perspective. Similar to its previous iterations it will also feature every map that has been released so far. PUBG Lite is available on PC through its official website.
Paladins: Champions Of The Realm
The year 2016 had seen the massive success of two genres, Battle Royale and Hero Shooter. Paladins from HiRez studio is a free to play first-person hero shooter with an emphasis on a team focused gameplay like Team Fortress 2 and Overwatch. The game is based in a fantasy world of magic and dragons. It is one of the top 20 most played games on Steam and has a healthy player base. Every character in the game is unique and has dedicated roles to perform in every game. If people wonder what makes it different from Overwatch that features arguably similar characters and game modes:
Free To Play
Unique Champions
In-depth card customisation and character modification options
Capable of running on low-end PCs
It is one of the more popular games on Steam and has game modes such as Team Deathmatch, Onslaught (Secure area) and Siege, where a team captures the objective and pushes it. However, Unlike the more popular Overwatch, Paladins does not have the same great graphical fidelity or mirror polish that accompanies a Blizzard Entertainment title. It is constantly updated with new characters, skins and limited-time game modes making it a must-try title. The game is available for PC, PS4, Xbox One, and Nintendo via Steam.
Warframe
Does space sound enticing? Do Ninjas? Now, how about space fighting Ninjas. Warframe is a title that heavily marketed its space ninjas before its launch. It is a game based on the distant future where humanity has conquered the solar system and the biggest threats they now face are themselves with various ongoing faction and allegiance fighting over dominance. The game involves a hack and slash melee gameplay mixed with fluidic gunslinging action from a third-person perspective. The game currently holds one of the top 5 players based on Steam. Key gameplay elements include:
In-depth character customisation
Faction wars and Special Events
Fluidic Parkour movement across air, walls and ground.
Amazing Gunplay and Special attacks
Game is a looter shooter where the player can grind daily.
The game is developed by Digital Extreme game studio which is well renowned for its healthy relations with its gaming community. It is constantly updated and new features and cosmetics are always added. Warframe is available on PS4, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One And PC via Steam.
Realm Royale
Realm Royale is a battle royale game with a unique twist in the formula. It is another game developed by HiRez Studios and adds its unique hero shooter formula to a larger map game mode. In the game 100 players drop in after preselecting their class which allows them to have special abilities or buffs in certain areas. This also includes the weapon choices that can be crafted in-game rather than constantly having to loot. The game, unlike most other battle royale titles, promotes engaging in fights rather than avoiding them to be the last man standing. Its key elements are:
Unique class systems
Class-based abilities, perks and weapons
You turn into a Chicken when downed and are auto revived after a minute
Players can summon a horse for traversing the large maps.
The game had initially taken off when it was first launched back in 2018 and had a numerous big streamers and people playing the game. Unfortunately, the game isn’t as popular as it used to be but still has a good amount of player base. The game is available on PS4, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, and PCs via Steam.
Splitgate: Arena Warfare
Splitgate: Arena Warfare is a multiplayer first-person shooter that uses player-controlled portals to open a new gameplay mechanic in a first-person multiplayer shooter game. Ever had a pesky camper spawn camp? No problem shoot a portal behind him then gun him down via portals. The game places heavy emphasis on the old arena shooter like Unreal Tournament or Quake. Its unique elements are:
Players can make portals to open different angles of attack and movement.
Jetpack! To open aerial combat into the mix.
Simple but sound shooting and movement mechanics
Completely free and is extremely easy to get into.
The game was launched to a welcoming audience and has a healthy playerbase. It is capable of running in various low-end PCs as well with a little tinkering. Splitgate is currently available on Steam for Xbox One and PC.
Comment below if you ever get a chance to try out any of the games. Give us your feedback as to what other gaming related information you’d like to receive. More updates similar to this and upcoming titles will be arriving soon. Stay tuned for more on the gaming world.
The Indian Space Research Organisation or ISRO for short is the official space agency of the Government of India. It has been credited for developing space exploration missions at an extremely low budget. ISRO announced a while ago that its next mission, the Chandrayaan 2 will be launched on the 15th of July. The successor to the extremely successful Chandrayaan-1 mission from the year 2008, the upcoming launch has a lot to be excited about. Here is everything you need to know about the Chandrayaan 2 before its flight to outer space.
It is the first Indian space campaign to attempt a soft landing on the surface of the Moon.
If the launch is successful, India will become the fourth country ever in the world to do a soft landing on the Moon. The ISRO performed a controlled crash landing from the Moon Impact Probe that was a part of the Chandrayaan-1 mission in the year 2008.
The Chandrayaan 2 mission will carry a lander, a rover and several other payloads to the surface of the Moon.
The mission will be India’s first rover based space mission. This means it is the first time the country is sending a vehicle to explore and collect data from the surface of the Moon.
The Chandrayaan 2 will be the world’s first attempt at reaching the south polar region of the Moon. Talk about setting records in space!
The launch vehicle used by ISRO for the mission will be a GSLV (Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle) Mk III. It is a three-stage heavy-lift launch vehicle developed by the space organisation. The GSLV Mk III is India’s most powerful launcher to date and has been completely designed and fabricated from within the country.
The lander of Chandrayaan 2 is called Vikram and has been named after the father of the Indian Space Programme Dr Vikram Sarabhai. The lander is developed to function for a duration of 1 lunar day. A day on Moon is roughly equivalent to 14 days on Earth.
The star of the mission, the Pragyan rover is an AI-powered, robotic vehicle with a total of six wheels. The name translates to wisdom in Sanskrit.
Chandrayaan 2 will make a soft landing on the surface of the Moon on the 6th of September this year.
The total duration of the Chandrayaan 2 mission is one year, the time in which the rover will collect all the necessary data required from the Moon’s surface.
How to watch the launch:
The Chandrayaan 2 mission will launch on the 15th of July at 2:51am at the ISRO’s Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota. Unfortunately, registrations for watching the event live from the centre have been closed. however, interested people can still watch the event live, which is expected to be telecasted from ISRO’s social media channels.
Laptop maker, Vaio which has now perished from the global electronics market is still going strong in its home country, Japan. The company has launched the Vaio SX12, an ultra-compact 12.5-inch laptop which only weighs 897 grams or less depending on the variant. Despite having a thin and light form factor, Vaio has managed to pack the SX12 with a wide variety of input and output ports which were usually present on much chunkier notebook computers from early 2010
The Vaio SX12 is made out of brushed aluminium which not only provides for a robust feel but also a premium design. The lid of the device is ergonomically designed, therefore, when in it is in the open state the base of the laptop slightly rises from the surface which allows for better airflow and convenient typing angle.
Even though Vaio SX12 has a compact footprint, the laptop packs a full-size keyboard which is well spaced. Also, the keys are coated with a special UV coating which prevents them from rubbing off after a period of time. The device features a multi-touch glass trackpad which is accompanied by right and left mouse buttons. For securely and rapidly logging into Windows, the laptop also features a fingerprint sensor.
As previously mentioned, the Vaio SX12 features a 12.5-inch display. It is coated with an anti-glare liquid crystal which reduces eye strain when the laptop is used continuously for long hours. The laptop is kitted with U line of Intel 8th generation processors which offer upto four courses and eight threads.
The Vaio SX12 is equipped with high-speed SSD which helps in drastically reducing boot times and app load times. In terms of I/O ports the laptop is outfitted with the following ports:
HDMI port
VGA port
RJ45 LAN port
USB C Port
SD card slot
3.5 mm Hybrid Audio in/out jack
Kensington Lock
3x USB A Ports
Charging Port
In terms of battery, the Vaio SX12 is claimed to offer a backup of upto 14 hours which will vary dependent on the type of usage. It also supports 4G LTE, therefore, users who are always on the go can carry the device with them without fearing availability of an internet connection.
The Vaio SX12 is priced between 119,800 yen (around Rs 75,500) to 216,800 yen (around Rs 1,36,000) based on storage, colour options, and processor. The device is currently limited to the Japanese market and the company is yet to provide a statement whether it will be launched in India or not.
What your thoughts on the mini yet feature-loaded offering from Vaio? Let us know in the comments below
People unlucky enough have had their smartphones being lost, and more, unfortunately, stolen. It is a common sight in police stations to see multiple people lining up to file a report for stolen handsets in India. There has already been a large outcry over the authorities inability and ill-equipped manner to tackle this issue. The widespread evil that has already affected most people either directly or indirectly. Now, The Department of Telecommunications of the Indian Government is reportedly ready with a new system to finally tackle the extremely evident problem.
Xiaomi Redmi 7A
DoT’s new system will be capable of tracking mobile phones that are detectable even if they have their SIM cards removed or IMEI numbers changed. As per a report, the new system will be called the Central Equipment Identity Register which will be deployed nationwide in August. CIER is a new technology for tracking lost and stolen phones which have been under development since July 2017 under the DoT. The agency was instructed to create a system that discourages theft and snatching cases that prevalent in the country by the Indian Government.
Mobile phone theft and snatching cases have blown out of control over the past couple of years. According to reports, a 500% increase of snatching cases has been reported in New Delhi alone over the last five years. The Indian Government has reportedly allocated a sum of INR 15 crores for the spread of the CIER system throughout the country. CIER will make all stolen or lost handsets unusable across every service provider networks. Most stolen phones are sold in the black market where new IMEI numbers are flashed on these devices to make them untraceable. The new method will still affect the stolen devices with changed IMEI numbers making them just an expensive paperweight, unusable across networks.
IMEI database of all mobile operators will be consolidated in one central system. It means that network providers will be able to share details of stolen or lost handsets to be blocked from future use. The new system is currently being tested for the first time in Maharashtra. Indian Government have finally found a concrete method to crack down on criminals that harm its lawful citizens. It can potentially save the people crores in rupee from the loss of property. CIER is a much-needed system which will finally be put into practice.
Sanso is a less known electronics and smartphone manufacturer from Germany. The company is reportedly developing a high-end smartphone which will be packed flagship specifications in addition to a couple of distinguishing features.
According to a leak, the upcoming device will be dubbed the Sanso X and it will be the world’s first commercially available smartphone to have an “indisplay camera” sensor. As the name suggests, the front-facing selfie camera on the smartphone will be placed beneath the display and will remain hidden when not in use. As soon as the said camera is toggled, the pixels right above it will turn off allowing the sensor to capture images and videos through the transparent display.
Oppo Smartphone With Indisplay Camera
The innovative feature on the Sanso X will reportedly be similar to the prototype smartphone that was showed off by Oppo last month. This will allow the company to pack a seamless display on the front of the device which is devoid of any obstruction causing notch. As of now, it is unknown whether placing the camera under the display will hamper the quality of videos and images captured from it.
Besides, the Sanso X will also support 5G which is the fifth generation of mobile telecommunication. Like the Galaxy S10 5G, it will incorporate the X50 modem and the Snapdragon 855 SoC which consists of an Octa-Core CPU and Adreno 640 GPU.
In terms of design, the Sanso X will have an Anodized metal chassis with glass on both the front and back. The smartphone will feature a 6.3-inch display with 3D curved edges. Notably, the display will have a 90 Hz refresh rate which is the same as the OnePlus 7 Pro.
OnePlus 7 Pro With 90 Hz Display
Listed below are the full specs of Sanso X:
Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ X50 5G Modem
Product Weight 190g
Material Anodized Oxidized Metal CNC Alloy chassis with mirror shiny glass back cover and front & back
Gorilla Corning protection 6
Resistance Standard – IP67 water resistant
Colour – Rose Gold, Diamond Black & Gold mix
Power Adapter – 50W EU-charger?5A – Super-Sonic Charging?
OS – Android 9.0 Pie
Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 chipset
12GB LPDDR4x RAM
512GB of internal storage
6.3 inches, 19.5:9 – Baseless, Full View Infinity Display – 3D Curved Edges (93.4% screen to body ratio)
90Hz refresh rate
Corning® Gorilla® 6.0
Front camera – 32MP, f/2.0 aperture, wide angle (In-Screen Embedded Camera)
5X Optical Zoom; 10X Hybrid zoom; 50X digital zoom
4500mAh battery
Quick Charge™ 4+ technology; Fast Charging; 10 minutes of charging 4 hours of battery life
Under-display fingerprint scanner
To sum it up, the Sanso X seems like a handset that is capable of disrupting the premium smartphone market. Given, that it is priced aggressively and has a bloat free User Interface.
AMD had announced its latest Radeon RX 5700 & 5700 XT graphics card offerings in its keynote at Computex 2019. It marks the company’s entry into the mid to high tier ranges of GPUs. The video cards were made in response to NVIDIA’s GeForce RTX 20 series GPUs with a better price to performance value. AMD officially launched the cards on 7th July and finally released the official Indian pricing after the surprise price slash.
Team green’s Ray Tracing enabled cards featured flagship (from the 2080Ti and 2080) to the upper mid range (2070 and 2060) GPUs; unfortunately, the aforementioned PC components also carried a hefty price for the new technology offered. AMD is seeking to fill the premium and mid range gap with its RX 5700 series of powerful cards and lucrative prices. NVIDIA is launching its refreshed, beefed up version of the original, RTX SUPER cards today to be better compete with AMD.
Specifications
AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT features 40 compute units or 2560 streaming processors that deliver 9.75 TFLOPs of FP32 performance. The 7nm GPU will sport 8GB of GDDR6 VRAM with a core clock of 1606MHz and a boost clock of 1905 MHz. This is by far the highest clockspeed seen in any AMD GPU, all thanks to its new RDNA architecture and 7nm process. It will compete with the new RTX 2070 SUPER while outperforming the now discontinued vanilla RTX 2070 from NVIDIA.
On the other hand, the Radeon RX 5700 features 36 compute units or 2304 streaming processors that deliver 7.95 TFLOPs of FP32 performance. The 7nm GPU will sport 8GB of GDDR6 VRAM with a core clock of 1465MHz and a boost clock of 1725 MHz. It will compete with the new RTX 2060 SUPER while outperforming vanilla RTX 2060 from NVIDIA.
Price & Availability
The AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT is officially priced at INR 30,990 (INR 36,570, after tax), while the Radeon RX 5700 will sell for INR 26,990 (INR 31,850, after tax). However, AMD is not launching the higher end RX 5700 XT Anniversary Edition in India. The two GPUs will be under AMD’s current flagship the Radeon VII and will also be available from other brands. Variations of the graphics card will be sold by Gigabyte, MSI, Sapphire, ASUS, and more with single digit percentage difference in performance.
It is a great time to be a gamer or build a gaming PC. Prices for viable PC components are now available. The sub $500 market has never been so competitive. Both team green and red offer are offering some great deals that give more choice to consumers which is always a plus point. One can essentially buy from either the RTX SUPER or RX 5700 Series and not regret it. The tech giants have offered great value for money with the new affordable graphics card. The new launches bring a positive impact for the Indian gaming community and culture as a whole.
The highly anticipated Samsung Galaxy Note 10 is set to launch on the 7th of August at an event in New York. Similar to the Galaxy S10, the company is alleged to launch four variants of the future flagship which will be called the Note 10e, Note 10+, standard Note 10 and Note 10 5G.
As the launch date of the Galaxy Note 10 lineup nears, more features about the device unravel from both official and unofficial sources. This time, Samsung itself has shared a teaser which reveals a distinguishing factor of future smartphones.
The teaser boasts that the Galaxy Note 10 will have the functionality to be used as multiple computing devices. In simpler words, the smartphone could be used as a personal computer, a camera and a conventional handset. This will allow users to eliminate the need for carrying multiple devices simultaneously. Besides, the data will also remain synchronised further enhancing the ease of use.
To attain the functionality of a computer, the device will make use of the DeX feature which has been present on Samsung devices for a couple of years. DeX is short for “Desktop eXperience” and as the name suggests it allows supported Samsung tablets and smartphones to provide a desktop-like experience by connecting a keyboard, mouse and monitor.
With the Galaxy Note 10, the company is expected to enrich DeX feature with many more updates which can further diminish the gap between an emulated desktop in comparison to traditional PC. Noteworthy, flagship Samsung devices are offered with storage capacity even upto 1 TB. Therefore, storage won’t be an issue and users can even store large files in their pocketable device.
Although the theory seems farfetched, Samsung could launch a hybrid laptop dock like the Motorola Atrix lapdock which will allow the Galaxy Note 10 to work as an actual laptop. Talking about other features the devices will pack AMOLED display with a centre mounted punch hole, Snapdragon 855 or Exynos 9820 SoC dependent on the region and three or more rear cameras on all variants.
To conclude, precise details including the multi device functionality of the Galaxy Note 10 smartphones will be revealed at the official launch event which is scheduled for the 7th of August.
Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei has had a rollercoaster of a year. While the company was on the brink of becoming the biggest smartphone maker of the world; the US government issued a trade ban on it. This restricted any American company to do business with Huawei. The decision led to the future of its smartphone business laying in jeopardy. However, a while ago, the ban against the company was lifted which meant it could resume business with American organisations. However, it was revealed in the meanwhile that Huawei had been working on its own Operating System(OS) for a while, called HongMengOS. Now, the latest reports reveal that the software may be launched by the company at the Huawei Developer Conference (HDC) in China on the 9th of August.
HongMengOS
The HongMengOS by Huawei is an alternative to the Android operating system it has been using for its smartphones until now. It has been in development since at least 2012 when the company feared their reliance on US-made technology. While most features and details about HongMengOS are still under wraps, it was revealed that the software will be reportedly 60 percent faster than Android or iOS. Huawei has also been in talks with many developers, out of which around 5,000 are expected to attend its developer conference. Along with them, 1,500 key partners of the company will also be marking their presence at the event, which insinuates that HongMengOS may finally see the light of the day there.
Every operating system in order to be successful needs an ecosystem with a plethora of applications. It seems like Huawei, at its developer conference is all set to launch the HongMengOS with just that. It is also speculated that the company will opt for a different name for the OS in the global market and the current name will only be marketed as such in China. Unfortunately, more details about it are shrouded in mystery but are expected to be revealed as we move closer to the launch date.
