Tag: CES 2018

LG V30 Raspberry Rose Colour Launched

LG announced the LG V30+ back in August during IFA 2017 in Berlin. While the device was slowly spread out to global markets after its initial launch in South Korea, the smartphone made its way to India in mid-December. In India, the V30+ is available in only two colours, Aurora Black and Cloud Silver while globally there are two more colour variants available, Moroccan Blue, and Lavender Violet.

However, right before CES 2018 went underway, the South Korean company announced a new colour variant of the LG V30, called Raspberry Rose. It is a shade of red which is different from other red coloured smartphones in the market and has a more violet-pink hue to it. Images of the new colour variant show that the colour of the smartphone shifts a bit when you when you move the phone around in your hand, similar to the HTC U11 Solar Red.

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In the ongoing trend of launching limited edition colour variants of popular smartphones a few weeks after its official launch, the LG V30+ in Raspberry Rose might not be a distant dream after all. Other smartphone makers like Xiaomi and OnePlus have already launched a limited edition red colour of their popular smartphones in India. Even Honor is gearing up to launch a red colour variant of the Honor 7X in India close to Valentines Day.

While a flashy new red colour exerts more impetus on consumers to buy a particular smartphone, it barely sways one person from a different device to that particular device. But, the Raspberry Rose appears to be a much better implementation of a “limited edition” colour than some of the other OEMs. In the same way that the Solar Red HTC U11 dazzled the consumers, the LG V30+ in the Raspberry Rose might convince a few consumers to opt for the LG flagship although, the Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9+ are on the horizon.

January 12, 2018
Motorola Wants To Keep Your Health In Check With The New Moto Mod

Th trend is of wearable technology like fitness bands and smartwatches have steadily increased over the years. There are plenty of inexpensive options that do the basic things like counting steps, control music, take/end calls pretty well. With the Apple Watch Series 3, Apple wants users to experience the standalone features of a wearable which in general, are rendered useless if you forget your smartphone at somewhere else.

Motorola however, wants your Moto device to do all the tracking of your health. During Lenovo’s event at CES 2018, the company announced the Lenovo Vital Moto Mod, a snap-on module extension for the Moto Z smartphone lineup. Vital is the “first connected, integrated, multi-vital sign monitoring platform you can operate through a single instrument”, according to Jim Thiede, Motorola’s Head of Product Marketing.

The Mod has an infrared temperature sensor, a finger clip for measuring oxygen, and an inflatable finger cuff. These three features combine to test your heart rate, respiratory rate, pulse oxygen (SpO2), body temp, and both systolic and diastolic blood pressure. Thiede claims no other mobile platform can deliver accurate blood pressure readings.

After each checkup, users can compare their current readings to past measurements and keep a check on their progress. Just like any other Mot Mod, it snaps on to the back of a Moto Z smartphone and the phone immediately prompts the indication of a Mod being connected.

At a price of US $395 (Rs. 25,000 approx.), the Mod surely comes at a hefty price. During the presentation, Thiede stressed how expensive and time-consuming it can be to track all of these different health statistics with five different biomonitors. So, the company is depending on consumers to look at the bigger picture and go for a “one-time investment” in an expensive Mod over regularly getting health checks done at a clinic. The device will go on sale in April in the western markets, there is no word on its availability in India as of now.

January 10, 2018
Vivo Shows Off The In-Display Fingerprint Sensor Technology A Day Before Launching The Smartphone

Vivo teased the official unveiling of the first-ever smartphone with an in-display fingerprint sensor on the 10th of January at CES 2018. Now, a day before the smartphone’s launch, Vivo has showcased the technology that will be responsible for putting a fingerprint sensory inside the display.

The in-display fingerprint sensor will sit between the mainboard and the OLED panel where it will illuminate the finger and then process the beams of light. Alex Feng, Senior VP at Vivo, said in a press release that this technology is the solution to the industry’s challenge of providing a more convenient authentication experience. The smartphone is ready for mass production and should be announced in “early 2018”.

Early reports of the Vivo smartphone with an in-display fingerprint sensor have been positive. Analyst Patrick Moorhead detailed his experience with a pre-production Vivo phone equipped with the in-display fingerprint sensor technology. Synaptics, the manufacturer of the fingerprint sensor had also claimed that this technology is three times more accurate and faster than Apple’s Face ID. This claim, however, will be thoroughly tested once the device is made available to consumers.

Apart from Vivo, Doogee, another Chinese smartphone maker is also working on a smartphone with an in-display fingerprint sensor. The name of the device will be Doogee V and according to the leaks, the smartphone’s design is heavily inspired by that of the iPhone X and Galaxy S9+ Leaks.

6.2-inch Doogee V with in-display fingerprint scanner pic.twitter.com/mqn9w3UjHc
— Evan Blass (@evleaks) January 6, 2018

The launch of the Vivo smartphone will usher in a new technology trend which will allow OEMs to provide a front-facing fingerprint sensor all the while decreasing the bezels around the display as well. However, a lot will depend on the responsiveness and reliability of the device from Vivo as this will set precedence for upcoming devices from other OEMs and how the consumers will respond to this technology as well.

January 9, 2018
Lenovo Unveils New Smart Display Powered By Google Assistant

It is hard to gauge which trend will catch on in a certain industry. Over the years, we’ve seen smartphones move in a similar direction for a period of time until a new aspect catches people’s attention. After the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus dropped the headphone jack, we saw more smartphone makers following suite so much so that Samsung, LG and OnePlus appear to be the only flag bearers of the beloved 3.5mm headphone jack. 2018 is expected to be the year of AI and machine learning, and not just in smartphones.

Amazon and Google have been dominating the smart home, especially smart speakers industry for a while now. Thanks to the affordable Google Home Mini and Amazon Acho Dot, it has become easier to enter the smart home ecosystem. Lenovo and Google unveiled a new smart home product, a smart display with built-in Google Assistant. Similar to the Amazon Echo Show, this new smart display from Lenovo does everything a smart speaker can do, with a display.

Also, unlike the Echo Show, it can playback YouTube videos. This smart display doesn’t run on Android or ChromeOS instead, it is running Android Things, a variant of Android that’s custom-designed for IoT. Apart from Lenovo, JBL, LG, and Sony will also be making smart displays with built-in Google Assistant running the same software.

JBL Link View With Google Assitant

Google showcased a small video revealing the capabilities of these smart displays. Google Assistant on smart displays can do a lot of tasks that the Echo Show does as well, like show you photos and calendar, give directions, recipes, and do video conferencing. This will all be handy if you are a Google Services user and part of the whole Google/Android ecosystem.

While third-party app support is on the way, the Lenovo smart displays won’t be available right away. The 10-inch Lenovo Smart Display starts at US $249.99 and the 8-inch model starts at US $199.99, and both are expected to be available early this summer.

January 9, 2018
Sony Launches Xperia L2, Xperia XA2 And XA2 Ultra At CES 2018

As CES 2018 goes underway in Las Vegas, USA, there will be a lot of smartphones that will be launched. Sony has wasted no time and launched three devices, the Xperia L2, Xperia XA2 and Xperia XA2 Ultra at CES 2018. All three of them are budget smartphones but, none of their pricing has been confirmed by the company yet.

Sony Xperia L2

Xperia L2

The Sony Xperia L2 branches out from the now defunct Xperia E series. The Xperia L2 will start shipping January and there is no word on the pricing yet.

The Xperia L2 has a 5.5-inch display with a 1280 x 720 px resolution.

Under the hood, the smartphone has the MediaTek MT6737T chipset, 3GB of RAM and 32GB of onboard storage which will be expandable via a microSD card. The fingerprint sensor has now been moved to the back of the phone and is placed centrally, right below the camera.

Powering the smartphone is a 3300 mAh battery but there is no word on fast-charging support yet. In a move similar to Samsung’s, the Xperia L2 will run Android 7.1 Nougat out of the box.

The Sony Xperia L2 has a 13MP camera on the back and an 8MP camera with a wide-angle lens on the front.

Sony Xperia XA2 and Xperia XA2 Ultra

Xperia XA2

The two mid-range offerings from Sony, the Xperia XA2 and Xperia XA2 Ultra will start shipping in February however, there is no word on which countries will be the first on its radar.

The Xperia XA2 has a 5.2-inch display while the XA2 Ultra has a 6-inch display but, both the devices have a 1920 x 1080 px resolution.

Under the hood, both the devices are powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 630 chipset and have the Adreno 508 GPU. The Xperia XA2 has 3GB of RAM and 32GB of storage, which is expandable via microSD (hybrid slot on the dual SIM XA2). The larger XA2 Ultra has 4GB of RAM and two storage options of 32GB and 64GB. Thanks to the big bezels and a massive footprint of the device, Sony has provided a dedicated SIM card slot for both the single SIM and dual SIM models.

The XA2 features a 3,300mAh battery as compared to the XA1’s 2,300mAh unit, while the XA2 Ultra is powered by a 3580mAh. Both of the devices will also support QuickCharge 3.0 via a USB Type-C port. Unlike a lot of Sony devices, the fingerprint sensor now sits on the back of the devices just below the camera module.

Xperia XA2 Ultra

Both the smartphones have a 23MP camera with an f/2.0 aperture. To the front of the Xperia XA2 is an 8MP camera with a wide-angle lens. The Xperia XA2 Ultra has a dual-camera setup on the front, as it has a 16MP camera with OIS along with the 8MP wide-angle lens.

With the Snapdragon 630 chipset in the mid-range devices, pricing in India will be key for Sony as the mid-range segment continues to get congested. The Xperia L2 will compete with the likes of the Xiaomi Redmi 5A and Nokia 2 in the India market.

January 8, 2018
DJI Unveils Ronin-S At CES 2018

The International Consumer Electronics Show, famously known as CES kicks off in the US on January 8th. Brands use CES as a global platform to launch or unveil its latest and greatest pieces of technology and DJI has done something similar this year. DJI has unveiled its new gimbal, called the DJI Ronin-S.

The Ronis-S is compatible with DSLRs and mirror-less cameras. According to DJI:

The Ronin-S combinesadvanced stabilization, precision control, and manual focus control capabilities in a compact, single-handed form factor.

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Ideal for vloggers and content creators in general, a gimbal helps take smooth footage while in motion and adds an extra layer of stabilisation to the already stabilised footage from a high-end camera. Not just stabilisation, a gimbal, like the Ronin-S helps videographers take better shots since it increases handleability of a camera.

The Ronin-S’s framework elevates camera payload above the Roll Axis, which makes the camera’s built-in display in the line of the shooter’s sight and obstruction free. To give the user even more control over the smoothness of the gimbal, the Ronin-S has two customisable parameter groups to store your favourite settings. While recording, the user can switch between those two settings with a single click.

The Ronin-S will be available in the second quarter of 2018 from dji.com, DJI Flagship Stores, DJI Authorized Retail Stores, and DJI Resellers worldwide. Pricing will be announced prior to availability.

January 8, 2018
Intel Launches 8th Gen Core Processors with Radeon RX Vega M Graphics At CES 2018

Intel has launched its 8th generation of Core processors integrated with Radeon Vega graphics. After months of speculations, Intel announced its partnership with AMD in late-December. Dell and HP will be the first in line to launch new laptops using these processors, but, specifics of such laptops will be available once the companies unveil their own laptops. Other OEMs are expected to announce new products using these processors in early-2018.

Aimed at the ever-growing target audience of “gamers,” Intel has also launched a new line of its own compact NUC PCs featuring the new processors. Of the five new CPUs unveiled, two have 100W thermal ratings and are designed for desktop systems, while three have 65W ratings and are made for high-end laptops. Interestingly, all the five CPUs will have Radeon Vega graphics built on the same physical package, while the Intel HD 630 graphics will take over the reins when a less graphics intensive task will be in hands.

The most advanced and powerful processor of the lot is the i7-8809G which was leaked before its official unveiling. It is worth noting that the i7-8809G is fully overclockable. It has a base and boost clocks of 3.1GHz and 4.2GHz respectively. Similar to this is the non-overclockable Core i7-8709G with the same base clock but a marginally lower 4.1GHz boost clock. Both have four CPU cores with Hyper-Threading, and 8MB of cache. Both also feature the Radeon RX Vega M GH GPU which has 24 compute units comprised of 1536 stream processors, running at between 1063MHz and 1190MHz.

Next up are the Intel i7-8705 and i7-8305G processors designed for laptops. While the 8705G has a base and boost clocks of 3.1GH and 4.1GHz with 8MB of cache, the 8305G has a base and boost clocks of 2.8GHz and 3.8GHz with 6MB of cache. Both feature the Radeon RX Vega M GL GPU on package, which has 1280 stream processors clubbed into 20 compute units, running at between 931MHz and 1011MHz.

The last of the lot is the i7-8706G, which is identical to the 8705G but, is the only one out of the fice which supports Intel’s vPro technology for business-class remote management and security features.

As far as the Radeon Vega graphics are concerned, both the variants have up to 4GB of high-speed HBM2 of memory connected via a 1024-bit bus. Both GPUs will be able to support six independent 4K displays through the Radeon GPU and three additional displays through the Intel GPU.

January 8, 2018
Samsung Hints At A Possible Galaxy X Launch At CES 2018

The Samsung Galaxy X has long been rumoured to be launched in 2018 and before the Galaxy S9 devices. That doesn’t leave a lot of room for the foldable smartphone apart from either CES or MWC. Now, Samsung appears to have dropped a hint at the possible launch of the Samsung Galaxy X during CES in January of 2018.

The Samsung UK Newsroom has this banner to promote that Samsung will be present with its various products at CES, However, the Samsung X CES could be a deliberate decision to hint at the launch of Samsung’s much-awaited foldable smartphone. While this might sound great for enthusiasts, it is worth noting that multiple reports claim that the device will be manufactured in extremely limited quantities and might not see a global launch at all.

Possible Samsung Galaxy X Patent

A report from the South Korea Herald suggested that the production of the Galaxy X would be on 100,000 orders, making it an extremely limited edition device. If this happens, the Galaxy X would be the most difficult Galaxy phone to get your hands on. The rumours all began back at the time of IFA 2017 when Dongjin Koh, President of mobile business at Samsung told some reporters at a news conference in South Korea that a foldable smartphone is in the works and the company is aiming for a 2018 release. He also said that there are still hurdles to overcome and a possible release would be pushed back if the issues are not resolved in time.

When we can overcome some problems for sure, we will launch the product. We are digging thoroughly into several issues we must overcome, as we don’t want to just make a few, sell a few and be done. We want to hear that Samsung made a very good product. We have a plan to adopt a foldable display in our roadmap.

Samsung Foldable Phone Patent

Since then, we have seen multiple patent leaks from Samsung which give us an idea as to how the Galaxy X might look like. While the rumours and patents are fun to study and analyse, there is no certainty that a foldable smartphone will see the light of day in the coming weeks or even months. Stay tuned for all the news and big launches from CES 2018.

December 26, 2017
Another Flagship To Launch Along With The Galaxy S9

As we approach the end of 2017, the focus has already shifted to what we can expect from the 2018 flagship phones. A new report suggests that along with the Samsung Galaxy S9, the LG G7 will also be unveiled at CES 2018.

2017 has seen the Samsung Galaxy S8, Galaxy Note8 and the iPhone X steal the limelight from the likes of the LG V30. That, however, has been the case for a few years now. The LG flagship phones make the list of every tech critics’ ‘Top’ list but, never seem to capture the consumer’s imagination like its rivals.

LG G6

2018 by the looks of it, won’t be any different. The LG G7 is expected to be launched with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 since Samsung will most probably have exclusive access to the Snapdragon 845 chipset for the first few months of 2017. Something similar happened in 2017 when LG G6 launched close to the Samsung Galaxy S8 and had to make do with the Snapdragon 821 chipset.

Samsung Galaxy S9 Renders

The LG G7 is also rumoured to feature an OLED display, with the fingerprint sensor to be placed under the screen rather than the back. The Samsung Galaxy S9, meanwhile, will have a regular rear-facing fingerprint sensor but, reports suggest that it will be positioned in a better location.

November 27, 2017
Samsung Galaxy S9 And Galaxy S9+ Could Debut At CES 2018

If you like tech and follow the news consistently, you must have a read a few Galaxy S9 leaks here and there. Most of them point towards a CES launch for the Galaxy S9 and its bigger sibling. A new report has also claimed that the Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+ will be unveiled during CES in February 2018 which will be held in Barcelona, Spain.

It further claims that even though the two flagship phones will make their debut at CES, 2018, there will be a launch event in March where the two phones will be officially launched and all the details of the two phones will be made official. Big tech companies like Samsung, LG and more, use CES to showcase its new products and innovative technologies that companies are currently working on, however, the marquee showcases are usually of the next big flagship phone of the year since CES is held fairly early on in the year.

The Galaxy S9 and S9+ To Have Similar All-Glass Design

The Galaxy S9 series will be nearly identical to their predecessors and will only include some hardware upgrades. The Galaxy S9 is reportedly codenamed Star 1 and will bear the model number SM-G960, while the Galaxy S9+ will be codenamed Star 2 and will have the model number SM-G965.

The display size of both the phones will be identical to their 2017 counterparts with the Galaxy S9 sporting a 5.8-inch Super AMOLED display while the Galaxy S9+ will have a 6.2-inch display. The bezels will be thinner than the previous generation devices with the infamous curved edges and “Infinity Display.”

Galaxy S8’s infinity Display

Under the hood, both the devices are expected to have the Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 chipset for the US variant and Exynos 9810 for the rest of countries. While the Galaxy S9 will have 4GB of RAM, the bigger variant will have 6GB of RAM. The 2018 flagship phones will also have AKG stereo speakers and will come bundled with AKG earphones as well, similar to the Galaxy S8/S8+.

You may also like – Samsung Galaxy S9 To Take On iPhone X’s Face ID

Unlike 2017, where there were barely any differentiating factors between the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+, Samsung is planning something different for 2018. It appears that the Galaxy S9 will have a single camera at the back while the Galaxy S9+ will have a dual camera setup at the back. This will give consumers extra incentive to spend more money on the Galaxy S9+.

In terms of pricing, it won’t be a surprise if the Galaxy S9+ surpasses the Galaxy Note8 price and touch the thousand dollar mark, similar to the iPhone X.

November 23, 2017