Beyerdynamic Aventho Review: Wireless Audio Never Sounded So Good

I've wanted to test out the Beyerdynamic Aventho ever since I first got a chance to check it out at IFA Berlin so when I was offered a chance to take them for a spin, I absolutely jumped on the opportunity. Beyerdynamic's foray into wireless audio sporting their much acclaimed Tesla drivers is without a doubt an obvious eye catcher. Priced in the same range as the Sony WH-1000XM2, Bowers & Wilkins PX and the Bose QC35, the headphone is one of the few high end on-ear offerings and has some tough competition to fend off. I've been testing out the Aventho extensively over the last two weeks or so and here's what I think about them. Design Building up on vintage / retro chic, the Beyerdynamic Aventho is a gorgeous piece of kit. The entire construction is a mix of metal, faux leather and matte plastic that comes together to create a design that will appeal to almost anyone and genuinely looks good. There's a certain German minimalism to the look but that's obvious given the company's heritage. The headband has a decent amount of padding and the same goes for the ear cups. Ample but not excess. The Aventhos like ...

LG Q7 with 4GB RAM, Android 8.1 surfaces in benchmarks

LG Q7, successor of last year’s Q6 was certified by the FCC  last month with the model number LM-Q710TS, now the the phone with the model number LGE LM-Q710.FG has surfaced in geekbench benchmarks that reveals some specifications of the smartphone including MediaTek Helio P10 SoC with 4GB RAM and Android 8.1 (Oreo). The LG Q6 has a Snapdragon 435 SoC, 3GB or 4GB (Q6+) RAM and runs Android 7.1 (Nougat). The company could have gone with the Snapdragon 450, instead it has opted for MediaTek Helio P10. The phone is expected to feature a FHD+ screen and will likely be MIL-STD 810G certified, similar to the predecessor. The phone scored 630 points in Single-Core and 2322 points in Multi-Core in Geekbench 4 benchmark, slightly better than the Snapdragon 435-powered Q6. We will have to wait for few more weeks to find out other specifications and image of the smartphone. Source | Via

Xiaomi Mi Selfie Stick Tripod and Mi Bluetooth Audio Receiver now available in India after successful crowdfunding

Xiaomi launched its Mi Crowdfunding in India last month with two products - Mi Selfie Stick Tripod and Mi Bluetooth Audio Receiver, to enable users support, buy and also help Xiaomi decide which products can be launched in India. At that time the company said that when 100% support is achieved within a stipulated timeline, a project will be considered successful for a specific product and it will be shipped to backers and will also be launched for others. [HTML1] Today the company has announced that crowdfunding for the products is successful and it has started selling them on its website. It has also started shipping it to the backers. Mi Selfie Stick Tripod A unique selfie stick and tripod stand combined into one unit, with a Bluetooth shutter remote Bluetooth 3.0 supports Android 4.3 and higher and iOS 5.0 and higher 360° rotating phone mount that can hold phones with width between 56 and 89mm that includes Xiaomi Mi Max that has a width of 88.3mm Selfie stick’s rod is made of aluminum alloy that is strong and the length can be expanded Mi Bluetooth Audio Receiver One key to control Bluetooth Audio Receiver like On/Off, connecting mobile or any other devices. Built-in professional AMP chip Supports Bluetooth ...

Snapchat for iOS gets redesigned interface

Snapchat back in November had rolled out a redesigned interface that separates Stories of friends from brands. However, the redesign received a lot of flake from loyal Snapchat users. Now, thanks to the 1.2 million signed petitions, the company acknowledged that the new Snapchat was not satisfactory enough, so it is now rolling out yet another designed interface to iOS. The new interface puts Snaps and Chats in chronological order again and has moved the Stories from your friends back to the right-hand side of the app. It launches the camera once you open the app so you can easily swipe left to access the right-hand screen where you’ll find your friends’ content. However, your friends’ Stories will remain separate from branded content like before. It also added a different Subscriptions feed so you can search more easily for Stories from popular creators and publishers. Though the company was able to improve the user count for the first quarter, it made less money per user. The update is currently rolling out to “the majority” of iOS users, but it didn't mention any time frame as to when the update will be available on Android. Source | Via

Huawei to launch BTC bitcoin wallet on its App Store

Huawei is teaming up with BTC.com to roll out bitcoin wallet to its app store. The AppGallery will be pre-installed on all new Huawei and Honor phones and rolled out to other devices in the second quarter. This app will allow consumers to hold virtual currencies.  Since China is cracking down on trading in the cryptocurrency market, the app won't be available in the mainland China. Huawei and BTC.com which is an online platform for cryptocurrency investors, miners and developers partnered to add BTC.com's crypto wallet to Huawei's new AppGallery. As Google app store is banned in China, it is difficult for consumers in China to have access to bitcoin wallet, and BTC.com's app only supports bitcoin and an offshoot of the world's largest cryptocurrency called bitcoin cash. There are tons of mobile payments in China including the ones from Alibaba's Ant Financial and JD.com's JD Finance providing digital payments and lending services. It is also reported that Huawei is considering to develop a mobile phone targeting blockchain-based applications. Jaime Gonzalo, vice president of Huawei Mobile Services in a statement said: Cryptocurrencies have recently expanded the human understanding of digital economy at a large scale. From our leadership position in China, the tip of the spear of mobile payments, we expect to ...

YouTube for Android now lets you set a reminder to take a break

At the Google I/O event, the company announced its digital well-being initiative to help people better understand their digital habits. One inclusion to this initiative is 'Take a break’ self-set timer within YouTube to refrain users from spending too much time watching videos. Today, the feature is rolling out to YouTube for Android.  Take a break’ on YouTube for Android started appearing once it is updated to version 13.18.54. With the new feature “Remind me to take a break” option you can set yourself reminders to have YouTube remind you to stop watching for every 15, 30, 60, 90, or 180 minutes. These options are found in the setting by tapping on your profile icon and then going to Settings > General > Remind me to take a break. Once the timer is reached, YouTube will pause the video, and show you a friendly monkey face asking if you want to take a break. You can either dismiss the reminder and continue watching videos or come out of the app. YouTube won’t actually stop you from continuing to watch videos. This feature gives us an idea of a big picture that Google is planning with well-being initiative by including an entire break down of the time you spent in the app. You can ...

Facebook said to be planning to launch its own cryptocurrency

Facebook is planning on creating its own cryptocurrency and this would allow users around the world to make electronic payments, according to a latest report from Cheddar. Furthermore, the company is also said to have started its research on blockchain almost a year ago and its corporate development team, lead by Morgan Beller began looking at how the social platform could use the emerging technology. Facebook announced that the Messenger app Vice President, David Marcus, would lead a new team to and explore options on how best the company can leverage blockchain across the platform from scratch. Marcus before Facebook worked as president of PayPal and will now lead a team of less than a dozen Facebook employees working on the blockchain. He also joined the board of Coinbase who are responsible in running one of the most popular cryptocurrency exchanges. The company is not disclosing any plans relating to cryptocurrency just yet and the top executives have been tight-lipped about any plans for crypto, said sources. Since the work on crypto just started, it might take years before the company materializes on things. However, sources claim that Facebook doesn’t have any plans to hold an initial coin offering (ICO). Facebook might make acquisitions in the blockchain and cryptocurrency space to develop its own virtual currency. ...

BlackBerry KEY2 with 4.5-inch 3:2 display, QWERTY keyboard, dual-rear cameras to be announced on June 7

BlackBerry today announced that it will introduce its new smartphone codenamed ‘Athena’ as KEY2 at an event in New York on June 7th. This is the successor to last year's KEYone  that was introduced at the MWC 2017. Recent TENAA certification revealed that this will have the same display and physical QWERTY keyboard, but most other specs will get an upgrade. [HTML1] This includes Snapdragon 660 SoC, 6GB RAM and dual rear cameras, but it is said to pack a 3360mAh, slightly smaller than the 3505mAh battery on the KEYOne. BlackBerry KEY2 (BBF100) rumored specifications 4.5-inch (1620 x 1080 pixels) 3:2 display with 433 PPI, scratch-resistant glass protection Octa Core Snapdragon 660 14nm Mobile Platform (Quad 2.2GHz Kryo 260 + Quad 1.8GHz Kryo 260 CPUs) with Adreno 512 GPU 6GB RAM, 64GB internal storage, expandable memory up to 2TB with microSD 4-row Physical QWERTY backlit keyboard with capacitive touch Android 8.1 (Oreo) Hybrid dual SIM (nano + nano / microSD) 12MP rear camera with dual-tone LED Flash,secondary rear camrea 8MP front-facing camera Fingerprint sensor 3.5mm audio jack, FM Radio Dimensions: 151.4×71.8×8.5mm; Weight: 168g 4G VoLTE, Wi-Fi 802.11 ac (2.4 & 5 GHz), Bluetooth 4.2, GPS / GLONASS, NFC, USB 3.1 Type-C 3360mAh battery with Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0 We should ...

Asus Zenfone Max Pro M1 Review

The ZenFone series of devices have had a rollercoaster-like existence in India. From the soaring success of the first generation ZenFone to the hit or miss attempt at making it a high end product, the company hasn't shied away from experiments either. The ZenFone series became a catch all of sorts with interesting devices like the ZenFone Zoom and ZenFone AR also falling under the same branding. As it goes though, it is the value segment that rules the roost in India. Asus went back to the drawing board and has created a brand new device specifically for India and our initial impressions put it as rather impressive. Let's dive in for a closer review of the Asus ZenFone Max Pro M1.  ASUS Zenfone Max Pro (M1) specifications 5.99-inch (2160×1080 pixels) Full HD+ 18:9 2.5D curved glass display with 1500:1 contrast ratio, 85% NTSC color gamut, 450 nits brightness 1.8GHz Octa-Core Snapdragon 636 14nm Mobile Platform with Adreno 509 GPU 3GB RAM with 32GB storage, 4GB /6GB RAM with 64GB storage, expandable memory up to 2TB with microSD Android 8.1 (Oreo) Dual SIM (nano + nano) 13MP rear camera with LED Flash, PDAF, 1.12μm pixel size, f/2.2 aperture, secondary 5MP camera 8MP ...

Nokia X6 (TA-1099) receives Bluetooth certification, three new unknown models get certified

HMD Global recently confirmed  that the Nokia X will be announced on May 16th in China and also showcased the phone at the Sanlitun experience store. Nokia TA-1099 got certified by  TENAA in China that confirmed the complete specifications of the phone. Now the phone has received Bluetooth certification that confirms the name as Nokia X6 and Bluetooth 5.0 support for Snapdragon 636. In addition three new models -  TA-1075, TA-1105 & TA-1116  have been certified in Russia but the name has not been revealed yet. Nokia X6 rumored specifications 5.8-inch (2280 × 1080 pixels) Full HD+ display with 19:9 aspect ratio 1.8GHz Octa-Core Snapdragon 636 14nm Mobile Platform with Adreno 509 GPU 3GB LPDDR4 RAM with 32GB internal storage / 4GB / 6GB LPDDR4 RAM with 64GB internal storage, expandable memory up to 128GB with microSD Hybrid Dual SIM (nano + nano / microSD) Android 8.1 (Oreo) 16MP rear camera with LED flash, secondary rear camera 16MP front-facing camera Fingerprint sensor 3.5 mm headphone jack Dimensions:  147.2×70.98×7.99; Weight: 151g 4G VoLTE, WiFi 802.11 ac (2.4GHz + 5GHz), Bluetooth 5, GPS + GLONASS 3000mAh battery with fast charging We should know all the details when the phone goes official next Wednesday. Source | Via 1, 2