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Xiaomi Black Shark

Xiaomi-backed Black Shark officially launchd in China. The gamma smartphone has an enhanced CPU cooling system and a dedicated Shark key for enabling immersive gaming experience. It is powered by the latest Snapdragon 845 chips and has up to 8GB of RAM and 128GB of onboard storage. As is with a lot of Xiaomi smartphones, the Black Shark is expected to be a China-Exclusive smartphone as of now.

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Latest News

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April 3, 2018
HTC U12 Design Leaked In New Renders

The HTC U12 is the upcoming flagship which is expected to launch in July 2018. A new leak from a case render has confirmed the design and aesthetics of the HTC U12. However, the leak is a bit contradictory to the previous leaks, as the company was about to skip the U12 by directly launching the HTC U12+.

The leak confirms that the smartphone has a Quad-camera solution. Two cameras on the front and two on back. However, whether it’ll have a telephoto lens or some other implementation is yet to be known. Additionally, the HTC U12 will have an 18:9 aspect ratio display without a notch. Similar to the HTC U11+, the smartphone does not have a 3.5 mm headphone jack. Keeping in line with its similarities to the U11+, the fingerprint sensor is placed on the back.

HTC U12 Specs

The HTC U12 will have a 6 inch display with a 2880 x 1440 px resolution. Under the hood, it will be powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 chipset. Coupled with this chipset will be up to 6GB of RAM and 256GB of onboard storage. However, details about other variants have not been revealed. It will be IP68 rated for water and dust resistance, a staple for modern-day flagship phones.

Now, it is a known fact that Face Unlock is the new trend of the industry. However, it will be interesting to see how HTC implements this feature and how secure it’ll be. On the back of the smartphone will be a dual camera setup of a 12MP sensor coupled with a 16MP Sony IMX3xx sensor. No details about the nature of these sensors have been revealed so far.

April 3, 2018
Apple Will Make It Own Chipsets To Power Mac Devices By 2020

Most of the Notebook manufacturers use either Intel or AMD chipset. However, recently, companies like HP and Asus has started to launch notebook based on the Qualcomm chipsets. According to a report, Apple might replace the Intel processors on Macs to use its custom ARM chipsets. When Apple started making MacBooks and iMacs, the company initially used Motorola and IBM’s PowerPC chipsets. However, in 2005 Apple switched to Intel processor-based Macs.

The report suggests that the company is working on a new project named ‘Kalamata.’ The project is still in a nascent stage and this will help Apple to achieve seamless integration across its lineup including iPhone, iPad, iMac, and MacBook. This would also affect Intel, as 5% of its overall revenue generated comes from Apple. As soon as this news was out, Intel’s shares were down by 9.2%, which is the biggest intraday drop in the last two years.

However, Intel has not spoken a word about this development, and played safe:

We don’t comment on speculation about our customers

Apple Custom Chipset Specs

The processors will be manufactured by TSMC, which is the manufacturer of Apple A series chipsets for iPhones and iPads. These chipsets will use Arm’s technology. These processors are expected to offer better battery life and it will ease out the transition of unifying the iOS and macOS. The unification will be achieved using a new platform called ‘Marzipan’, which will be expected to go live in WWDC 2018 for developers.

Most of the notebook manufacturers like HP, Dell, and Asus wait for Intel or AMD to launch its latest chipset. If Apple develops its own chipset, then the company can be ahead of the competition. This will have a positive impact on Apple, as the company will have an all-around control over the components required for designing a device. This also means that the company will be able to launch newer Mac models with its own time frame. Additionally, this will help the company to integrate iOS and macOS on chipset level.

April 3, 2018
Xiao Ai Is Xiaomi’s Virtual Assistant And It Is Very Similar To The Google Assistant

When Google launched the Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL, it talked a lot about the tight integration of Google Assistant within the OS. Many believed that AI and machine learning would be the next big trend in the smartphone industry. However, that doesn’t seem to hold up so far in 2018. The iPhone X notch has taken over the smartphone industry in the first few months of 2018. However, Xiaomi has strayed away from the herd so far. It launched the Mi MIX 2s without a notch and has now introduced its own virtual assistant, Xiao Ai.

Now, there is a huge chance that Xiao AI will never make its way to India. But, recent launch activity by Xiaomi India suggests the company has identified the great potential Indian market possesses. So, it is not completely ludicrous to expect an India-friendly version of Xiao Ai making its debut with the Mi MIX 2s. Then again, don’t hold your breath for the launch of the Mi MIX 2s in India.

Xiaomi has released a video showcasing the skills of its new AI assistant, Xiao Ai. The video is mostly in Chinese but, there are English subtitles and we couldn’t help but notice similarities with Google Assistant. In the video, colourful bars pop up when the assistant is listening, similar to the Google Assistant. Also, it shows that Xiao Ai can set reminders, control smart lights, tell the weather and other tasks that Google Assistant and the likes of Alexa, Siri can do as well.

However, it is worth noting that Xiao Ai is programmed based on the Chinese language. This means that, in China, at least, this will be the most productive virtual assistant. This bodes well for the company’s other smart home offerings as well.

April 3, 2018
Xiaomi’s Gaming Smartphone Black Shark To Launch On April 13th

According to a latest Weibo post, Black Shark, the subsidiary smartphone brand of Xiaomi is all set to launch its first gaming smartphone on April 13th. In February and March of 2018, there were many leaks and rumours about the Xiaomi Black Shark. The latest teaser image officially confirms the launch date of the new device. However, the company has not used the word Xiaomi anywhere on its teaser image.

Xiaomi BlackShark is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 chipset, which also powers the recently launched the Xiaomi Mi MIX 2s. However, unlike the Mi MIX 2s, the Black Shark is expected to have a sturdier design with a metal unibody design, which will help the smartphone to dissipate the heat. The smartphone is most likely to be a China exclusive model, which is expected to retail at ~US$ 500.

Xiaomi Black Shark Specs

The Xiaomi BlackShark is expected to have a 6 inch display with 2160 x 1080p resolution. Under the hood, the smartphone will be powered by Snapdragon 845 chipset with 8 GB RAM and 32 GB storage. However, the company is expected to Xiaomi BlackShark with either 64GB or 128GB storage.

Mi MIX 2s

The BlackShark might offer a full metal unibody design with dual stereo speakers at the bottom. Out of the box, the smartphone will run on Android 8.0 Oreo. However, it might feature either MIUI or stock Android. As this is a gaming smartphone, it comes with one of a kind aviation class cooling system with additional tweaks. The smartphone scores an impressive 270680 points on Antutu, in fact, it is more than that of the Galaxy S9’s 265267 points.

April 3, 2018
OnePlus 5T Goes Out Of Stock As The OnePlus 6 Launch Looms Large

On the 16th of November, OnePlus launched its second flagship of 2017, the OnePlus 5T. Its surprisingly same pricing as the OnePlus 5 was met with a collective disapproval by OnePlus 5 owners, a smartphone that was launched in June 2017. The launch of the OnePlus 5T meant the OnePlus 5 became an old phone within six months of its launch. Now, the launch of the OnePlus 6 looms large as the OnePlus 5T goes out of stock in India.

One can no longer buy the OnePlus 5T from the official OnePlus India website. Amazon, the official OnePlus 5T seller has also removed the 128GB variant of the device. Only the 64GB storage variant is available to buy and that too, not for too long. This usually happens before a OnePlus launch event. Last year, the OnePlus 5 went out of stock in North America before the OnePlus 5T launch. This week, the OnePlus 5T went out of stock in North America.

Along with that, OnePlus has also started teasing the smartphone on social media. The company posted a small teaser video with the caption “6et Ready” suggesting the OnePlus 6 launch is imminent. We already know that the OnePlus 6 will sport an iPhone X-like notch but, the size of the notch will be much smaller. According to the image released by The Verge, it has the same size as the one found on the Huawei P20 Pro.

However, unlike the P20 Pro, the OnePlus 6 will have a non-functioning chin. Carl Pei recently clarified why all Android smartphones with a notch also have a chin, unlike the iPhone X. At the bottom of each display is a ribbon for connecting it to the device’s logic board, which means a thin chin becomes necessary. Apple decided to curb that with a flexible OLED, which, even though is a great solution, it is also an expensive one. At least, with the Huawei P20 Pro, you get a very good front-facing fingerprint sensor.

The OnePlus 6 will be powered by the Snapdragon 845 chipset. This time around, the OnePlus 6 will launch in a 256GB storage variant as well.

April 3, 2018
OnePlus 6 Launch Imminent As Company Releases Official Teaser

Up until now, there were many rumours and speculations about the OnePlus 6 and its existence. In the last few days, OnePlus CEO Pete Lau has confirmed that the OnePlus 6 is coming with a notch. And now, the company has released an official teaser which says ‘speed you need 6’, which hints towards the imminent launch of the smartphone.

The OnePlus 6 will be the next flagship smartphone from the Chinese smartphone maker. OnePlus has been known to produce low-cost flagship smartphones with almost stock OxygenOS based on the latest Android version. However, according to a recent report, the OnePlus 6 could be the costliest OnePlus smartphone ever with a price of about Rs 34000 for the base variant. The OnePlus 6 is expected to have a glass back and a 19:9 display with a notch should explain the price hike of the device.

6et ready! pic.twitter.com/bmvI75xphm

— OnePlus (@oneplus) April 2, 2018

The OnePlus 6 will have a 6.28 inch Optic OLED display with 2280 x 1080 px resolution. The notch will house the earpiece, front camera, and other sensors. However, we cannot rule out the possibility of a much more advanced facial recognition technology which will require extra sensors. In such a case, not a lot of people should have an issue with the notch. Considering OnePlus’s previous devices, the OnePlus 6 will have Corning Gorilla Glass 5 for protection on both the sides.

Carl Pei tweeted this after The Verge published their story. However, that did not bode well with many OnePlus fans and he, later on, deleted the tweet. It appears that not everyone is ready to love the notch yet.

Under the hood, the device will have the Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 Octa-core chipset with 6GB RAM and 128GB storage. Going by the previous leak, there might be a model with 8GB RAM and 256GB storage as well. Additionally, there will be no support for SD card.

The device will have a dual camera setup with a 16MP sensor and a 20MP low light sensor with an f/1.7 aperture on both lenses. For the front-facing camera, the device will have a 20MP sensor with an f/2.0 aperture with support for Face Unlock.

The OnePlus 6 will run on Android 8.1 Oreo with custom OxygenOS on top. The device might also support gesture-based navigation similar to the iPhone X. Finally, the smartphone will have a 3450 mAh Li-ion battery with Dash Charging and possibly, wireless charging capabilities as well.

April 3, 2018
Top Three Puzzle Games For Android

Not everyone has a smartphone with plenty of storage and RAM. This means that PUBG and Fortnite is not everyone’s cup of tea and we still need good games to pass the time. These games will help you to kill the time by giving a bot of exercise to your brain. These three games can run on any device with minimal hardware specifications. Additionally, once you download they do not require active internet connections.

2048

Unlike most of the games, this does not have a learning curve. As soon as you download, you can start playing the game without any experience. The player will be presented with 4×4 square with different numbers. you can swipe up, down, sideways to bring those numbers together. When two identical number come together, they add up. The target is to make the number 2048 by adding different numbers. However, the game gets complicated if you are not careful about your moves. However, sometimes the in-app advertisements get unbearable.

Link to download

iSlide

iSlide is another fun puzzle game, where the user will be presented with a jumbled up picture. The player has to move those tiles around to complete the picture. The game comes with a large collection of photo library to choose from and this could be a fun group play game. There is a timer, which measures the time taken by you to solve the puzzle.

Link to download

Logo Quiz World

Logo Quiz World is a great game to test your memory. A user has to pass a level to go to the next level. The game begins by showing a semi logo of a famous brand and using the alphabet provided in the bottom one has to complete the name. Upon successful completion of a level, a user will be offered hints, which can be used to solve difficult puzzles. This not only tests your memory, but it will help you to recognise new brands by just looking at their logo.

Link to download

April 2, 2018
LG G7 Will Have A 3.5mm Headphone Jack

LG G7 will be the successor to the LG G6, which was launched in early 2017. Though there were rumours about the company rebranding its flagship smartphone, it is most likely to go ahead with the LG G7 moniker. A leak suggests that the LG G7 will have a 6.2 inch display based on M+ LCD technology. The smartphone is expected to launch by the end of April, initially in South Korea.

The M+ LCD display panel uses RGBW (Red, Green, Blue, and White) liquid crystals, to offers increased brightness. These panels consume 35% less powered compared to a typical IPS LCD panel. Using this technology, the company will be able to harvest brightness similar to an OLED panel without burn-in issues. The display will follow the iPhone X style notch with cutouts for a front-facing camera, ambient light sensor and an earpiece. Additionally, the company might also implement the Face Unlock feature using a front-facing camera.

A CAD-based 3D render also confirms that the LG G7 will retain 3.5mm headphone jack along with a USB type C port. Similarly, we can expect to see a hi-fi Quad DAC similar to the one seen on the LG V30+. Like the LG G6, the smartphone has an all-glass design, which is expected to offer wireless charging capability.

LG G7 Specs

The LG G7 will have a 6.2 inch QHD+ 2880 x 1440 px M+ LCD display with 19:9 aspect ratio. Under the hood, the device will be powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 Octa-core chipset with 4/6GB RAM. The device will have 64/128GB internal storage with a dedicated micro SD card.

The device will have a dual primary camera setup with a 16MP RGB sensor and a 16MP wide angle sensor with f/1.5 aperture. However, the literature does not have a word about the variable aperture, similar to the Galaxy S9/S9+.

April 2, 2018
LG G7 ThinQ

LG G7 was expected to be launched at the Mobile World Congress 2018 in Barcelona. However, a few days before the event, reports surfaced that LG CEO had asked his team of engineers to work on the LG G7 from the ground up. He also conceded that LG will no longer follow a fixed launch pattern and introduce its flagship smartphones if and when necessary.

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Latest News

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April 2, 2018
Google Home, Home Mini To Launch In India On April 10th

Google has sent out an invite to a new product launch on the 10th Of April in New Delhi. The official press invites says ‘join us as we bring you a sweet little something that’s bound to keep you talking for a long, long while.’ The company will launch the Google Home and Home Mini.

The Google Home and Home Mini are the first set of smart speakers from Google, powered by the Google Assistant. These smart speakers need to be connected to a Wi-Fi network, where they can be used to control different smart home accessories like a smart bulb. Additionally, these speakers can also be used to schedule a task, set an alarm, ask for trivia or the latest news.

As of now, the only competition the Google Home has is the Amazon Echo series of smart speakers. Amazon had launched the Echo Plus, Echo, and Echo Dot in India for a price of Rs 14,990, 9,999, and 4,499 respectively. Considering these prices, the Home and Home Mini are likely to be priced at Rs 9,999 and Rs 4,499 respectively.

Google Home Specs

The Google Home comes in White and Slate fabric finish. The smart speaker has a 2 inch driver with dual 2 inch passive radiators. The speaker requires 16.5 Volts and 2A current, which is needed to be connected to a power source all the time. One can connect to these speakers using an iOS or Android smartphone. The speaker supports both 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz Wi-Fi Bands for high-performance streaming. Additionally, these speakers can be connected to the same device to have group playback.

Google Home Mini Specs

The Google Home Mini has a similar functionality in a compact form factor. The speaker comes in three different finish, which includes Chalk, Charcoal, and Coral. Due to smaller form factor, it requires 5 Volts and 1.8 Amps power. However, it packs in a smaller speaker, which might not be able to fill out even a small room.

April 2, 2018
Honor 7A Powered By The Snapdragon 430 Officially Launched

Honor has yet again launched a new entry-level Honor 7A smartphone in China. The smartphone comes in either 2/3GB RAM with 32GB onboard storage, priced at 799 Yuan (Rs 7,999) and 999 Yuan (Rs 9,999). These phones will be available in Aurora Blue, Black, and Platinum Gold and will go on sale in China from the 3rd of April 2018.

This is the latest entry-level smartphone from Honor, under the Honor 7 series. The company recently launched the Honor 7C with similar specifications. The smartphone has a full metal unibody design with a dual camera setup at the back. Unlike Honor 7x, the device has a flushed camera bump, which prevents the device from rocking. Additionally, the smartphone has a triple SIM and micro SD card slot, which can accept two nano SIM cards and a micro SD card altogether.

There is no word from the company regarding the smartphone’s global launch. Looking at Honor’s launch pattern, there is a high probability that the company will skip a global launch.

Honor 7A Specs

Honor 7A has a 5.7 inch HD+ 1440 x 720 px IPS LCD display with a 2.5 D curved glass protection. Under the hood, the device has the Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 Octa-core chipset with 2/3GB RAM and 32GB onboard storage. Additionally, the smartphone supports memory expansion up to 256GB.

On the camera front, the smartphone has a dual setup with a 13MP RGB sensor and a 2MP depth sensor. The main sensor will help the smartphone to capture the picture and the secondary sensor will add the depth effect. The device has an 8MP front-facing camera with support for Face Unlock and 1080p video recording capability. The Honor 7A has a 3000 mAh sealed battery with a micro USB port for charging and data syncing. The phone runs on the latest Android 8 Oreo OS with custom EMUI 8.0 skin on the top.

April 2, 2018
Samsung Notebook 3, Notebook 5 Officially Launched

Samsung has officially launched the Samsung Notebook 3 and Notebook 5. These notebooks will be available in South Korea from April 2018, which will be followed by a global launch in Q2 2018. The newest series of Samsung Notebooks boasts the latest 8th generation Intel chipset with 14 inch and 15.6 inch display. However, the company has not revealed the pricing of these devices. Additionally, the Notebook 3 will be available in Misty Gray, Night Charcoal, Deep Peach, and Pure White. Similarly, the Notebook 5 will available in Light Titan colour a metal body.

Samsung Notebook 5

The Samsung Notebook 5 has a 15 and 15.6 inch FHD 1920 x 1080 px IPS LCD display. This notebook comes in two variants, one with 7th Gen Dual-core chipset or an 8th Gen Quad-core chipset. These processors will be paired with NVIDIA GeForce MX150 2GB GPU with up to 16GB LPDDR4 RAM and SSD+HDD storage. The Notebook weights at 1.97 Kilogram, which includes a 43Wh battery.

Samsung Notebook 3

The Samsung Notebook 3 comes in three display sizes. One can choose between 14/15/15.6 inch display. However, unlike the Notebook 5, the display resolution has been reduced to 1280 x 720 on 14 and 15 inch models and the 15.6 inch model has FHD 1920 x 1080p panel. These notebooks come with a 7th or 8th Generation Intel Core i5/i7 chipsets with NVIDIA GeForce MX110 GPU and 16GB LPDDR4 RAM. All three variants have a 43Wh battery. Due to different screen sizes, the 15.6 inch model weighs 1.97 Kilogram and the 14 inch model weighs at 1.68 Kilogram. However, unlike the Notebook 5 model, these come in a plastic design.

April 2, 2018
Moto G6 Plus

Moto G6 Plus is an upcoming mid-tier smartphone from Motorola. This is one of the first Moto G series devices to have a glass back, glass front and a metal mid-frame. Similarly, this is also one of the first Moto phone to have an 18:9 aspect ratio display. The device has a Moto X4 like design with a dual rear camera setup and a side-way placed fingerprint sensor.

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April 2, 2018
Mid-Range Google Pixel To Launch In India Soon

Google Pixel series of smartphones are known for their unprecedented camera capabilities. However, unlike Moto or Xiaomi smartphones, the Pixel devices retail at a higher price tag. Google is now targeting markets like India, which has a huge demand for smartphones priced between Rs 10,000 to Rs 20,000. According to a report, Google is planning to launch an Indian market specific device in July-August, which includes an affordable Pixel smartphone, Pixelbook and Nest devices. Additionally, the company will launch the Pixel 3 series of smartphones by Diwali.

If we look at the numbers, Google sold 3.9 million Pixel smartphones globally in 2017 while Apple sold 214.9 million devices. The existence of offline stores and affordable iPhone models like the iPhone SE has helped Apple to achieve these sale figures. Additionally, Google is still new to the hardware game and Apple has already established itself as a premium brand.

Pixel 2

Mid Range Google Pixel Specs

According to a report, Google will launch the mid-range Google Pixel smartphone and a Pixelbook in India by August 2018. However, the report does not specify the pricing or specifications of these devices. Along with these, the company might also launch the Nest series of smart home accessories. The Nest series of accessories comprises a thermostat and other smart home accessories.

Get ready to #MakeGoogleDoIt, at home too. Coming soon. pic.twitter.com/JuNvt3cpFE

— Google India (@GoogleIndia) April 2, 2018

Google will begin this launch by announcing the Google Home products. The company will launch the Google Home and Home Mini to take on the competition like the Amazon Echo speakers. The Home mini will retail for Rs 4,499 and the Home will retail at Rs 9,999. This time around, the company will focus on the offline market through brick and mortar stores. This means Google is most likely to set up stores in crowded places like malls and electronics stores.

April 2, 2018