Xiaomi teases new Mi TV is launching in India soon, Mi TV 4A expected

Xiaomi launched its first Mi TV 4 55-inch 4K HDR smart TV in India last month, which was sold out in 10 seconds in the first sale last week. Now the company has started teasing the launch of another Mi TV in the country. The teaser says "It’s time to switch to something smarter, slimmer & sleeker. Time to #SwitchToSmart TV. A new series coming soon!," hinting at another Mi TV in a new series. [HTML1] Xiaomi introduced its Mi TV 4A series of TVs that includes 43-inch and 49-inch TVs with 1080p displays and 55-inch and 65-inch TVs with 4K HDR displays last year. It introduced 50-inch Mi TV 4A in January this year. Since it has already introduced a 4K TV, it could introduce cheaper 1080p TV at less than Rs. 20,000 price point. Xiaomi Mi TV 4A specifications 43-inch (1920 x 1080 pixels) Full HD display with 178-degree viewing angle, 6 ms (LG) / 6.5 ms (AUO) dynamic response, 1200:1 (LG) / 3000: 1 (AUO) contrast ratio 49-inch (1920 x 1080 pixels) Full HD display with 178-degree viewing angle, 6 ms (LG) / 8 ms (Samsung)  / 6.5 ms (Huaxing Optoelectronics) dynamic response, 1200: 1 (LG) / 6000: 1 (Samsung) / 4000: 1 (Huaxing ...

Google now shows multifaceted featured snippets for multiple search queries

Google Search featured snippets are a great way to get information quickly, and today the company is introducing multifaceted featured snippets for search queries. In a way, Google is solving the nuanced queries with more actionable results. Google says that search queries can be broad and there could be several different interpretations of the question and now with multifaceted featured snippets, Google will now better understand the query and identify when there is a need for multiple interpretations of that query. Since there could be several nuanced type queries, Google will initially start with “multi-intent” queries, which are queries that have several potential intentions or purposes associated. In simple, a query could be interpreted in multiple ways and have different meaning and Google is taking all efforts to simply by providing multifaceted featured snippets results. It will now show snippets based on a couple of different ways the question could be interpreted. Google says that its main goal is to cover a broader set of nuanced queries beyond just “multi-intent” queries. Source

Google launches Hangouts Chat for businesses to take on Slack

Google just announced that it is introducing Hangouts Chat as a core service in the Gsuite. The Hangouts Chat service will launch by default on unless you’ve chosen to opt for new services manually. Gsuite users can have direct and group conversations to collaborate easily and efficiently. It was announced back in March last year and takes on Slack. Hangouts for businesses will have dedicated, virtual rooms to house projects over time, plus threaded conversations, join online meetings, use artificial intelligence to speed up workflows, collaborate with colleagues, offers an enterprise-grade solution for better security and reliable making it simple to track progress and follow up tasks. It also comes with 25 bots to speed up workflows, ranging from finance and human resources to CRM, project management and more. Hangouts Chat is compatible with the classic version of Hangouts, and you will be able to use classic Hangouts. On the other hand, all one-to-one direct messages will forward both ways between Hangouts Chat and classic Hangouts by default. If you currently have forced chat history off, you will need to enable Hangouts Chat in your Admin console regardless of your setting for opting for new services. Hangouts chat launching for both rapid release and scheduled release and will be available to all G Suite editions ...

Samsung Galaxy S9 has best-performing smartphone display: DisplayMate

Samsung is known for their best-in-class displays and like always DisplayMate has tested the Galaxy S9; the recently introduced Samsung Flagship and rated it an A+ unsurprisingly. The S9 indeed went on to beat the iPhone X bezel-less panel which was rated as the ‘most innovative and high-performance smartphone display ever tested.’ As with the previous Samsung flagships like the Galaxy S7, Note 7, Note 8, the S9 to bags the best smartphone display. In the test report, DisplayMate said: "Samsung continues systematically improving OLED displays." Though the S9 packs the similar resolution; 3K Quad HD+ OLED Infinity Display (2960 x 1440) as last year’s Galaxy S8, it outpaces in several measures including color accuracy, brightness, outdoor visibility, and reflectivity. DisplayMate talks about how perfectly Samsung optimizes the picture quality and color accuracy of its OLED display with factory display calibration. Furthermore, the S9 also has the lowest screen reflectance level of 4.4% which is the lowest on any smartphone it's ever measured and says that it has a "relatively small decrease" in brightness and color shift when viewing the screen at an angle. The display has a peak brightness of 1,130 nits and is approximately 10.7% brighter than that of the Galaxy S8. it features a native color ...

Android P said to have native support for Iris Scanner

Iris Scanner which first debuted on the most controversial Galaxy Note7 though failed to create an impact has opened up to a new biometric authentication. With Apple implementing the Face Unlock feature, Android OEMs have developed their own version of the facial unlocking system and made it a mainstream feature.  It now looks like Google is working on natively providing support for Iris scanner in Android according to the recent commits. HAL interface will standardize how the Android framework will communicate with Iris scanners. Which also means that AOSP ROMs will get the ability to generically work with Iris Scanners hardware. The Commits also include the base Iris feature in Android which will allow apps to detect if the device has an Iris scanner in place. The inclusion of the Iris framework will allow third-party apps to utilize the Iris scanner for authentication in the future if need be. In the Manifest Framework, the permission titled “android.permission.USE_IRIS” has a protection level of “normal,” so third-party apps would indeed be able to request the permission from users. There is another commit that adds support for iris identification in the keyguard which allows users to scan their Iris to dismiss the lock screen. According to the commit, iris authentication will become functional only ...

Twitter introduces Bookmarks to let you save Tweets

Twitter today introduced key new features that make it easier to save Tweets for later. Twitter is calling this 'Bookmarks' an easy way to save Tweets for quick access later. Along with this, the company is also making it easier to share Tweets with its new 'Share.' [HTML1] The new 'Share' icon under every Tweet will let you bookmark a Tweet, share via Direct Message, or share off of Twitter any number of ways. In simple, it is put all sharing actions together in one place thus making it easier to save and share Tweets privately or publicly. To bookmark a Tweet, you just have to tap the share icon under the Tweet and select, “Add Tweet to Bookmarks” which you can access later from the “Bookmarks” section in your profile icon menu. Once you are doing check out the saved Tweets, you can remove Tweets from your Bookmarks at any time. Only you can see what you’ve saved. On the other hand, the company now lets you quickly share Tweets via email or text message and direct message Tweets to others. Bookmarks are now rolling out globally on Twitter for iOS and Android, Twitter Lite, and Twitter mobile website. Source

Aircel files for bankruptcy; cites intense competition, unsustainable debt and increased losses

Aircel has filed for bankruptcy protection under Section 10 of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 with the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) in Mumbai, after mounting losses and Malaysia's Maxis Communications who has 74% stake in the company decided not to infuse more funds. Aircel said that agreement could not be reached with respect to restructuring of its debt and funding after discussions with the financial lenders and shareholders. Aircel said that is is not proceeding for liquidation, and will find best possible resolution for the current situation. If NCLT accepts Aircel's request, it will be placed under a court-appointed insolvency resolution professional, who will get 180 days that can be extended by another 90 days to work out a plan to repay lenders. If that doesn't happen after the 270-day period, it will be declared bankrupt and sent into liquidation. Aircel users are facing network issues for the past few weeks in several areas across the country since some of the tower companies have switched off Aircel’s base stations due to pending dues. It had about 80 million subscribers as of January. Aircel already said that it is working to keep its network running and facilitate users who want to port out. Reliance Communications, Aircel merger was called off back ...

Huawei P20 Lite with 5.6-inch FHD+ full-screen display, dual rear Leica lens cameras, hybrid zoom surfaces

Huwei P20 smartphone surfaced  online earlier this week, now the P20 Lite, the cheaper version in the series has surfaced online, thanks to @evleaks. This has a similar notch-design as the P20, but the fingerprint sensor on the front has been moved to the back. This is said to feature dual rear cameras with Leica lenses and hybrid zoom. It also matches the design that appeared on the FCC certification earlier this month.  [HTML1] Huawei P20 Lite rumored specifications 5.6-inch (1080 x 2250 pixels) Full HD+ 18:9 2.5D curved glass display Octa-Core Kirin 659 processor (4 xA53 at 2.36GHz + 4 x A53 at 1.7GHz) with MaliT830-MP2 GPU 4GB RAM with 64GB storage, expandable memory up to 256GB with microSD Android 8.0 (Oreo) with EMUI 8.0 16MP dual rear cameras with LED flash, Leica Lens, Hybrid zoom 8MP front-facing camera Fingerprint sensor 4G VoLTE, WiFi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.2, GPS / GLONASS 3520mAh battery The Huawei P20 Lite along with the P20, both with dual rear cameras and the P20 Pro with triple rear cameras will be introduced at an event in Paris on March 27th. Price and the availability details of the phone are missing. Source

Xiaomi Mi 6 Android 8.0 Oreo MIUI 9.2 Global Stable update starts rolling out

Xiaomi announced Oreo based MIUI Global Beta program for Mi 6 back in December 2017 and Oreo based MIUI Global Beta ROM for the device was released in January. Now the company has released MIUI 9.2 Global Stable ROM for the smartphone which is based on Android 8.0 (Oreo), this is the first smartphone from Xiaomi receiving Oreo based MIUI Stable update. The new update comes as MIUI 9.2.3.0.OCAMIEK and also brings the January 2018 security patch to the device. As per users on MIUI Forum, New Notification Shade is missing in this update which is strange since Quick Reply and Bundled notifications were introduced in Android Nougat. You can download the Recovery ROM here and flash it using updater method or download the Fastboot ROM to flash it using fastboot method. We can expect Xiaomi to roll out Oreo based Stable update for Mi MIX 2 soon as company announced Oreo based MIUI Global Beta program back in January. Check out the changelog below, Highlights Optimization - Android 8.0 update (02-12) Optimization - Protection from unintentional tapping for Dial pad (02-12) System Optimization - Android 8.0 update (02-12) Fix - Apps changed Wi-Fi connection status without the user's permission (02-12) Fix - Apps stopped ...

Worldwide smartphone shipments decline 0.5% first-time in 2017, expected to return to growth in 2018: IDC

According to the International Data Corporation's Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, smartphone shipments worldwide have declined 0.5% in 2017 making it the first year-over-year decline in the market since the evolution of smartphones. A total of 1.46 billion devices were shipped in 2017 including both Android and iOS. Furthermore, IDC says that it is expecting shipments to fall to a lower single-digit growth in 2018 and the overall market to experience a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 2.8% over the 2017-2022 forecast period with volumes forecast to reach 1.68 billion units in 2022. Design changes and innovations are expected to be the impactful requirement of the industry. IDC says that technology advances are becoming less about tangible hardware aesthetics and more about components and software. This shift is making a huge difference as smartphones these days are marching towards bigger screens and smaller bezels. There is a chance in 2018 that phablets out-ship regular smartphones, essentially ending the race for bigger screens. With 5G becoming the next big thing, OEMs, component suppliers, telcos, and services companies are looking to capitalize. IDC expects commercial 5G smartphones to hit the market in 2019, ramping up to account for roughly 18% of worldwide shipments by 2022. In terms of OS ...