Acer Swift 5 with 14-inch display, 8th gen Intel core processor, fingerprint reader launched in India starting at Rs. 79999

Acer India today launched the Acer Swift 5 laptop which weighs just 970gms. It is powered by the 8th Generation Intel Core with support for Windows Hello. The laptop sports a 14-inch full HD display with narrow bezels on all corners with an overall footprint of the notebook similar to that of a 13” notebook. The Acer Swift 5 is just 14.9 mm thin allowing for splendid portability and it is built of ultra-light magnesium-lithium alloys for the top and bottom cover, and magnesium-aluminum alloys for extra sturdiness on the palm rest area. It comes with Acer Color Intelligence technology that optimizes screen color, brightness, and saturation resulting in much vivid and brilliant colors letting you enjoy movies and video content. The Swift 5 packs Acer's TrueHarmony technology with Dolby Audio Premium technology that provides powerful and clear audio. It runs on Windows 10 and has support for Cortana. It packs 8GB DDR4 RAM and 512GB SDD storage. The company is promising an 8hrs battery back-up. Connectivity features include 2x2 802.11ac WiFi provides, Dual USB 3.1 Type-C ports and also includes a fingerprint reader. The Acer Swift 5 starts at Rs. 79,999 and will be available from Acer Exclusive stores and other leading retailers. Commenting on the launch, Chandrahas Panigrahi, CMO and Consumer Business Head, ...

Vivo V9 with FHD+ FullView display, dual rear cameras teased in videos; specifications, price surface

Last week a report said that the Vivo V9, successor of Vivo V7 will launch in India later this month. Now Vivo India has started teasing the smartphone. But the Vivo Indonesia has posted a one-minute teaser video highlighting the specifications and features of the smartphone including a FHD+ FullView Display, 24-megapixel front camera, dual rear cameras and face unlock. [HTML2] [HTML1] Vivo Thailand has also posted a shot teaser. Images of the retail box has also surfaced in Thailand revealing similar details. In Indonesia, the specifications of the smartphone has been listed by a retailer, but we are not sure about the authenticity. Vivo V9 rumored specifications 6-inch (2160 x 1080 pixels) Full HD+ AMOLED display with Corning Gorilla Glass 5 protection Octa Core Snapdragon 660 14nm Mobile Platform (Quad 2.2GHz Kryo 260 + Quad 1.8GHz Kryo 260 CPUs) with Adreno 512 GPU 4GB RAM, 64GB internal memory, expandable memory up to 256GB with microSD Dual SIM Funtouch OS 4.0 based on Android 8.0 (Oreo) 12MP rear camera with dual-tone LED flash, secondary 8MP camera 24MP front-facing camera with soft LED flash Fingerprint sensor Dimensions: 155.9 x 75.2 x 7.2mm ; Weight: 159g 4G VoLTE, WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n, Bluetooth 5, GPS 3250mAh battery It is ...

Essential Phone gets Android 8.1 Oreo update with better multitasking, improved notifications and more

Essential today announced that it is rolling out the Android 8.1 Oreo update to its Essential PH-1. Back in January, the company announced that it will skip the 8.0 update for 8.1 and just as it promised it is now rolling to users. The update brings increased performance, better battery life, stronger security, and more, and Oreo features.  The Oreo 8.1 update brings picture-in-picture mode, so now you can watch videos while using Maps navigation. The notification shade now gets a new look, and it will now take either light or dark look depending on your wallpaper. The phone also gets 60 new rounder, more detailed, more expressive emojis. Android 8.1 for PH-1 brings notification dots, and they appear on an app when you have a new or missed notification. [HTML1] Furthermore, persistent notifications are now bigger or smaller depending on the app, and now you can snooze a notification for up to two hours and adjust its priority. Since the icons are now adaptive, you can change the shape of your app icons without having to download a launcher and various icon packs. Smart text selection brings intelligent to your copy and paste. Other feature lists include instant Apps, dynamic calendar and clock icons, and an apparent ...

Google search results on mobile will now show captions for images

Google has rolled out an update to the search results on mobile which now will display captions for images. The move is to give images better visual discovery and more context on the image results page. Google last year had started showing badges like recipe or product. In addition to the badges, Google also added website’s URL for each result to show you where the image is coming from. Starting this week, the company will display captions to image results. It will show the title of the web page where each image is published. Google believes that this extra piece of information gives you more context for you to find out more about the images and easily find relevant information. This update is an ongoing process of making Google images more useful tool to discover and explore more information from the web. Google image captions are starting to roll out globally this week on the Google app for iOS, Android and on mobile search results. Source

YouTube for iOS gets Dark Theme, coming to Android soon

YouTube for Desktop got dark theme back in 2017 and since then it is the most requested feature for mobile as well. However, before the Android app, YouTube for iOS today has got the dark theme. There is no app update for the dark theme as it is a soft roll out. You can enable the dark theme from a toggle directly from app settings. Once enabled, the interface completely turns into the dark which is quite a refreshment from the routine white design. However, it is only available for the main app, and not for YouTube studio app. [HTML1] YouTube app will show a pop-up about the dark theme at the bottom of the main home screen, if you are running the latest version of YouTube. As for Android, YouTube has mentioned that this feature will be rolling out very soon but hasn't given any time frame.

LG V30S ThinQ Camera Samples

Usually, LG unveils a new flagship every year at the MWC 2018 event, but this time the company has opted for a new strategy, by introducing the mid-cycle upgrade of the V30 with Artificial Intelligence (A.I) added in it as an interim device to sell till its next flagship releases. LG does this in the form of 'V30S ThinQ' with a very little difference from a hardware perspective. Except for the newly added A.I features, 6GB RAM and 128GB/256GB on-board storages, it has similar specifications of the V30. With this upgrades, the camera is trained to recognize eight specific categories including portrait, food, pet, landscape, city, flower, sunrise, and sunset, then adjusts the settings based on what it’s shooting. It has another option called QLens, that Scans QR codes to offer information as to where to buy the product online at the lowest price as well as recommendations for similar items. As of now, it supports Food, fashion, and celebrities or detailed information about landmarks such as buildings and statues. Another noteworthy feature that needs to be mentioned here is the 'Bright Mode'. This very feature uses specific algorithms to brighten images by a factor of two for better-looking photos thereby reducing the ...

AMD investigating report on critical security vulnerabilities in Ryzen and EPYC chips

Meltdown and Spectre are two most major security flaws that affected most of the modern computing chipsets, and today CTS-Labs, a security company based in Israel researchers says that it has found 13 security flaws in AMD's Ryzen and EPYC chipsets. These security flaws could allow attackers install malware on highly guarded parts of the processor. It could also let intruders access sensitive data across millions of affected devices. Whats more alarming is that these vulnerabilities lie in what's designed to be the secure part of the processors where passwords and encryption keys are present. For these vulnerabilities to work, they first need to gain administrative access. Despite the need for access, these malware present on the key section of processors creates a higher potential for damage than a normal attack would. AMD's Ryzen chips power desktop and laptop computers, while EPYC processors are found in servers. Whatsmore worrisome is that researchers gave just 24 hours for AMD to look at the vulnerabilities and respond before publishing the report. Standard vulnerability disclosure requires at least 90 days for the company to address flaws properly as it gives the attackers a chance to exploit. Back when Intel and ARM chips were affected by the Meltdown and Spectre, AMD ...

Google Assistant now available on iPads

Google bought the Assistant for iPhones last year and today iPads are joining the suite. Assistant on iPads will do things exactly how it does on iPhones. It supports both portrait and landscape modes.  Because of the API restrictions on iOS, the functionality of Assistant won't be the same as Android, but it manages to get things done. Assistant on iPads can do things like dimming the lights to setting reminders, cast to your TV by asking the Assistant to “watch the latest news on the living room TV,” make video calls, send text messages, and many more. Thanks to the multitasking capabilities of iOS, you can use Assistant while playing a game or watching videos. Since it is an Apple product, holding the home button doesn't revoke Assistant like it does on Android. Google Assistant on iPad is rolling out from today and will be available in English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese (Brazil) and Spanish languages through Apple Store. Source

Apple schedules WWDC 2018 for June 4

Apple just announced that its 29th annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) for this year happens from June 4th till June 8th. This time it is holding the event at McEnery Convention Center in San Jose, California, which is the same venue as last year. The company would reveal about the future of iOS and OS X at the event, including iOS 12, macOS 10.14, watchOS 5, and tvOS 12 updates. A recent reports said that Apple will integrate Animojis into FaceTime, bring tabs for iPad apps with iOS 12. Earlier report said that Apple will delay some of the major features to 2019 and mainly focus on performance and stability in iOS 12. Apple is also rumored to introduce cheaper Retina MacBook and updated entry-level iPad models at the event. Tickets for WWDC 2018 go on sale in late March and will cost US$ 1599, same price as previous years. Tickets will be issued to attendees through a random selection process as demand is so high. For those who cannot attend the event, Apple will also offer live stream on Apple Developer website and on the WWDC app for iPhone, iPad and Apple TV starting from the keynote on June 5th and would probably start at 10.00 AM PDT (10:30 PM IST).

Fitbit Versa Fitness Smartwatch announced in India for Rs. 19999

After the leak, Fitbit has officially introduced Versa, its latest Fitness smartwatch with a  modern, intuitive design. It is one of the lightest metal smartwatches and comes with a new dashboard with easy access to health and fitness data with Fitbit OS 2.0. It has 24/7 heart rate tracking, onscreen workouts, and automatic sleep stages tracking and also offers wallet-free payments on Fitbit Versa Special Edition. It promises 4+ days battery life. Fitbit OS 2.0 offers Stats at a glance: See your daily and weekly health and fitness stats, historical activity, heart rate, and exercise summaries, action-oriented motivational messages, tips and tricks, and daily guidance – all on your wrist. More personalized over time: Reminders, celebrations, logging, insights, sleep summaries and social challenges, with prompts to take actions based on your data, coming later in 2018. It has also announced new female health tracking to help women track their menstrual cycle, view holistic health data in one place. It will be available for Fitbit Versa and Fitbit Ionic, and to Fitbit app users starting in Spring 2018. Fitbit Versa features and specifications 1.34-inch Touchscreen Color LCD display with up to 1,000 nits brightness Supports iPhone (4S and later) and Android (4.3 and later) Water resistant to 50 ...