Vodafone India teams up with Nokia to deploy cloud packet core in Bengaluru to meet mobile network data demand

Vodafone India today has announced that it has deployed Nokia's field-proven cloud packet core to cost-effectively provide faster mobile broadband and enhance the scale and agility of its network to ensure the timely launch of new services. The technology leverages all the benefits of a cloud packet core architecture for maximizing resource utilization and rapidly deploying services when needed. The Cloud Pocket core which is Nokia CloudBand software will now reach out the data demands to about 7.8 million subscribers in Bengaluru. This new deployment falls in line with Vodafone's competitive operations, substantially accelerating time-to-market for differentiated services and expanding business productivity. With mobile data growth in India is taking a substantial turn, a cloud packet core is essential for service providers like Vodafone India to connect to a higher number and variety of devices and to deliver a wider range of services across different access technologies. It will also allow Vodafone India to introduce a range of digital services for consumers and enterprise customers. By deploying the CMG closer to the edge, customer content can be downloaded locally, with reduced network latency.  Vishant Vora, Director Technology, Vodafone India, said: We are thrilled to partner with Nokia and are certain this technology will enable us to scale faster by ...

Facebook confirms data-sharing partnerships with Chinese firms

Facebook has confirmed a data-sharing partnership with Chinese firms, according to a report from WSJ. The company said to have struck deals with at least four Chinese electronics firms, including Huawei Technologies Co which according to the US intelligence authorities poses a potential national security threat. With China banning Facebook since 2009, these whole data-sharing partnerships sound a tad ironic and is also concerning for US authorities. The social media giant has said that Lenovo Group, OPPO, and TCL were among about 60 companies worldwide that received access to some user data under this partnership. The main aim is to re-create a Facebook-like experience for users. Facebook said the data access was to allow company users to access account features on mobile devices. It also mentioned that half of the partnerships have already been wound down and will end the partnership with Huawei later this week. A Facebook executive said the company had carefully managed the access it gave to the Chinese companies. Earlier on Tuesday, Senate Commerce Committee demanded a statement from Facebook's chief executive officer, Mark Zuckerberg, and respond to the reports of user data being shared with at least 60 device manufacturers. Francisco Varela, vice president of mobile partnerships for Facebook, in a statement, said: Facebook along with many other U.S. tech companies have worked with ...

Chrome Beta 68 for Android shrinks install banners, brings new payment handler API and more

A new version of chrome has been rolled out slightly after the rollout of the Chrome 67 public release. This update brings the version to Chrome 68 and adds features like new payment handler API, adblocker Chrome redirections, changes to web app install banners, and more. Initially, the Chrome's adblocker was supposed to go live in Chrome 64 but has halted in the last minute, the same has happened with Chrome 65 as well, and now with V68 beta, the feature looks to have been enabled by default. However, the blocker is listed active but the discussion on the bug page hasn't had a comment since May. So it creates more confusion if the feature would actually go live in Chrome 68. There's another form of page hijacking called 'tab-under redirects.' This form of hijacking results in when you tap a link that opens in a new tab, the original tab can redirect to another page. The blocker for this has been under development for quite some time and starting with Chrome 68, this will be enabled by default. If you are an avid Chrome user, you will know that Chrome occasionally asks to add websites to the home screen as shortcuts, while they are handy, they take up ...

Vivo NEX S with 6.59-inch FHD+ display, Snapdragon 845, 8GB RAM, in-display fingerprint sensor and NEX with Snapdragon 710, 6GB RAM surface

Last week Vivo confirmed that it will introduce its flagship NEX series smartphone in China on June 12. Now the NEX S and NEX smartphones have been listed on the official Vivo site that reveals the design and the complete specifications of both the smartphones. Both the smartphones have a 6.59-inch Full HD+ display without a notch, but there is a small bezel below the display. The phone will likely use ultrasonic technology for proximity sensor and  piezoelectric ceramic acoustic system instead of a standard earpiece similar to the Mi MIX. These run Android 8.1 (Oreo) with  Funtouch OS 4.0 on top and feature a 12-megapixel rear camera along with a secondary 5-megapixel camera for portrait shots and AI features. There is also an 8-megapixel camera on the front, which pops up from the top. The top-end NEX S will be powered by Snapdragon 845 with 8GB of RAM and the NEX will be powered by Snapdragon 710 with 6GB of RAM. Latest Geekbench leak confirms that the version with Snapdragon 845 and 8GB of RAM will be called the NEX S. Vivo NEX S and NEX rumored specifications 6.59-inch (2316×1080 pixels) Full HD+ 19:9 IPS display 2.8GHz Octa-Core Snapdragon 845 64-bit 10nm Mobile ...

Apple rebrands iTunes Connect to App Store Connect

Apple today has officially rebranded the iTunes Connect to App Store Connect and it confirmed the same in developer blog. There will no change in terms of functionality and it offers the same thing as iTunes Connect. It also includes a brand new iOS app to make the process of uploading, submitting, and managing applications easier. App Store Connect allows developers to manage their applicants, view sales reports, access app analytics, invite users to test apps with TestFlight, get performance insights, and much more. Developers can also create 'Product Page' to help customers find and engage with their apps on the App Store. You can enter your app name, subtitle, keywords, description, and more, in up to 28 languages. It also lets developers upload up to ten screenshots and three optional app previews for each supported language. Apple in the blog said: For app developers and their teams, iTunes Connect is now called App Store Connect. And with the new App Store Connect app, it’s even easier to manage your apps, view trends, respond to reviews, and reply to active Resolution Center issues, all on your iOS device. You can also receive push notifications for changes in your app status and new customer reviews. Source

Airtel TV app for Android clocks 50 million downloads; free subscription for all customers extended till December 2018

Back in December last year Airtel updated its Airtel TV app that offers Live TV channels as well as Regional & International content. It also announced that the entire content catalogue of Airtel TV will be available for its users on a free subscription basis till June 2018. Today the company has announced that the Airtel TV Android app has crossed 50 million downloads with 40 million download in just 9 months, since it hit 10 million in August 2017. To celebrate  the milestone, the company is extending free subscription for all Airtel postpaid and prepaid mobile customers till December 30, 2018. As per App Annie data, Airtel TV app was the amongst the most downloaded video OTT apps in India between January and May 2018. Airtel TV app currently offers over 375+ live TV channels as well as 10,000 + movies and popular shows. Airtel TV has forged content partnerships with the likes of Eros Now, SonyLIV, HOOQ, Hotstar, Amazon, AltBalaji with several more on the anvil. Commenting on the latest milestone, Sameer Batra, CEO - Content and Apps, Bharti Airtel said: We are thrilled at achieving this milestone and being able to scale up the app so rapidly. This is a strong endorsement from ...

Essential Phone Android P Beta with bug fixes and June security patch rolling out

Google rolled out the Android P Beta 2 (DP3) update to Pixel series smartphones with final APIs, SDK, and Play Store publishing today. Now Essential Phone is getting the Android P Beta 1 update (DP2) with bug fixes & June security patch.  Android P is moving from Dev Preview to Beta on Essential Phone! This update, rolling out now, includes the latest Android P code integration, improved adaptive brightness range, various stability fixes and June Security Patches. Learn more here: https://t.co/LWeH1iWrKq pic.twitter.com/PPnRD3YpIy — Essential (@essential) June 7, 2018 The update includes Android P-code integration, improved adaptive brightness range, various stability fixes and June Security Patches. Google at the I/O 2018 event has opened up the beta update beyond Pixel phones and a handful of phones have got the developers beta update of Android P to test. The update to Essential Phone also brings improved adaptive brightness range and increased stability. Interestingly, the update moves Android P from Developer Preview to a Beta, while it doesn't mean it is ready as a daily driver, it does offer improved performance with better stability.  The company has mentioned a list of known issues that includes Outgoing SMS over IP not working, Wi-Fi Hotspot does not stay on, Cannot receive VT (Video ...

Samsung Galaxy Note9 with Infinity display screen protector surfaces

Samsung's Galaxy Note 9 has been in the news for quite some time for many obvious reasons. The flagship is back to it again today and this time the source is ever famous Ice Universe who has been the force behind the Galaxy Note 8, Galaxy S8 real-life photos, and S9 leaks as well. The new leak offers a flagship with increased size, second camera upgrade, but the surprising thing is its design. On the left is the real Note9 Screen Protector pic.twitter.com/BS8rydeqnS — Ice universe (@UniverseIce) June 5, 2018 While there were many rumors about the Galaxy S9 design changes, the new leak from the ever-reliable leakster shows that the Galaxy Note9 doesn't seem to have taken any huge step forward from the Galaxy Note8. In fact, it remains very identical except for the aforementioned enlarged front camera. Despite very well-established resources at hand, Samsung stuck to basics in what can be seen as a move to save manufacturing costs. It is already reported that Samsung has made some last minute changes with directions from Vice president and this change has caused a delay of two-weeks. with Samsung's 10th-anniversary flagships coming out next year, the company might be saving the best for next year. ...

Google releases Android P Beta 2 with final APIs, brings 157 new emojis

Google released Android developer preview for Android ‘P’ back in March and the first Beta (DP2) was released a the Google I/O last month. Today the company has released Beta 2 (DP 3) for the Pixel smartphones, as it had promised. Android P Beta 2 includes the final APIs (API level 28) as well as the official SDK that lets developers start building with the Android P features and APIs. Android P includes Adaptive Battery that uses machine learning to prioritize system resources for the apps, App Actions that helps you raise the visibility of your app and help drive engagement using machine learning, and Slices are a new way to surface rich, templated content in places like Google Search and Assistant. You can check our latest Android P features here. Android P DP1 brought several features such as Indoor Positioning with Wi-Fi RTT, Display cutout or notch support, Enhanced messaging experience, Multi-camera support, HDR VP9 Video, HEIF image compression and more. The Android P DP3 also brings 157 new emoji that was introduced back in February as a part of Unicode 11.0. This includes cold face, hot face, mango, redheads, curly hair, superheroes, softball, infinity, kangaroo and more. If you have already enrolled in the beta program, you will automatically get Android P Beta 2 ...

Moto Z3 Play with 6-inch Full HD+ Super AMOLED display, Snapdragon 636, AI dual rear cameras announced

Motorola just announced the Moto Z3 Play, the company's latest mid-range smartphone in the Moto Z series with support for Moto Mods, as expected. It has a 6-inch Full HD+ Super AMOLED display, is powered by Snapdragon 636 SoC with 4GB of RAM, has 12-megapixel rear camera along with a secondary 5-megapixel camera for depth-sensing AI photo features, including Cinemagraphs and support for Google Lens. It has Corning Gorilla Glass protection on the front and back and lightweight, aircraft-grade 6000 series aluminum frame. It has a side-mounted fingerprint sensor for the first time. It gesture-based One Button Nav bar at the bottom, even though it doesn't have a fingerprint sensor below the screen. It has Moto Display, Moto Actions and packs a 3000mAh battery with support for Turbo charging. Moto Z3 Play specifications 6-inch (1080 x 2160 pixels) Full HD+ Super AMOLED display with Corning Gorilla Glass  protection 1.8GHz Octa-Core Snapdragon 636 14nm Mobile Platform with Adreno 509 GPU 4GB RAM with 32GB / 64GB storage, expandable memory up to 2TB with microSD Android 8.1 (Oreo) Dual SIM 12MP rear camera with dual-tone LED flash, f/1.7 aperture, 1.4um pixel size, secondary 5MP rear camera with f/2.2 aperture 8MP front-facing camera with f/2.0 aperture Water ...