Vivo Freedom Carnival from August t to 9: NEX and V9 at Rs. 1947 via flash sale, discounts, no-cost EMI and cashback

Vivo today announced its Freedom Carnival,  Independence Day offers starting from 7th to 9th August exclusively on its e-commerce store, shop.vivo.com/in. During the sale, it offers discounts, coupon deals and cashback offers on select range of Vivo smartphones and accessories. It will also be offering NEX and V9 via flash sale for just Rs. 1947 and accessories such as earphones, and USB cable at Rs.  72 . The flash sale for both the smartphones and accessories will commence at 12 noon for all three days and will last till stocks last. During the sale, it offers Rs. 4000 cashback on select models on all credit and debit card transactions, 12-month no-cost EMI scheme on all Vivo smartphones, and free Bluetooth earphones worth Rs. 1200 on purchase of NEX, X21 and V9 smartphones. Coupon Deals Rs. 50 Coupon on purchase of  Vivo earphones and USB cable Rs. 200 Coupon on purchase of  Vivo Premium earphones Rs. 2000 Coupon on purchase of Vivo V7 Rs. 3000 Coupon on purchase of Vivo V7+ These coupons are redeemable on select smartphones and accessories. The Vivo Freedom Carnival sale starts at midnight of 6th August. Commenting on the sale, Jerome Chen, CMO, Vivo India, said: Vivo wanted to make the 72nd Independence Day special for all its customers. Our ...

Snapchat introduces its first lens that responds to voice commands

Snapchat today is launching a new lens that responds to voice commands. These series of lenses will animate when users speak simple English words like “hi,” “love,” “yes,” “no,” and “wow." When you say 'Hi' the new lens will launch an animation that surrounds you with a flock of chatty birds.  https://youtu.be/igfEJL9gAL4 This is the company's first Lens that actually recognize words, then use its understanding of what was said as a marker that kicks off the lens animation. Snapchat also said that it is working on five to six new lenses and these will be available to users within the next week. They’ll appear periodically in the Lens carousel along with the others, starting today. Back in May, Snapchat introduced its first lens that reacts to sound. It is a cute animal mask overlay for your face whose eyes move based on the sounds it hears. New lenses like this help to keep Snapchat users engaged. Source

WhatsApp launches Business API, will charge businesses for replies to messages sent after 24 hours

WhatsApp for Business app is getting a new update with a bunch of features that makes it easier and powerful for Businesses to communicate with their customers. The list includes requesting helpful information, start a conversation, get support. The new request helpful information feature is very useful when you need a shipping confirmation or boarding pass, you can give your mobile number to a business on their website, on their app, or in their store and have them send you the information on WhatsApp. You will see a new 'click-to-chat' button on a website or Facebook ad to quickly message a business. Finally, you can get support from businesses in real-time on WhatsApp to answer questions about their products or help you resolve an issue. These additions will full control over the messages you receive. Businesses will pay to send certain messages so they are selective and your chats don't get cluttered. In addition, messages will remain end-to-end encrypted and you can block any business with the tap of a button. WhatsApp Business APIs will now let businesses respond to messages from users for free only for up to 24 hours, after that they will be charged at a fixed rate by country per message. WhatsApp said that it ...

Lenovo said to launch world’s first 5G phone with Qualcomm Snapdragon 855

With 5G launch right around the corner, companies are moving at a fast pace to launch products with the latest technology and one among them is Lenovo. The company is now claiming to be the first one to launch a 5G smartphone, using a currently unannounced Qualcomm chip. Lenovo's  VP Chang Cheng on Weibo said that the company will offer the world’s first 5G mobile phone, based on a Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 chipset. However, the post is now deleted. The Snapdragon 855 chipset is said to enter mass production later this year, which would make it possible for the chip to make an appearance in early 2019 phones. Qualcomm earlier this year announced that it has signed 5G modem and Snapdragon chip agreements with smartphone makers. It also vaguely mentioned that it is working on with an unspecified customer to bring their first 5G devices to market as early as the end of this year. Though Qualcomm is expected to debut their 5G phones early next year, the company could announce the Snapdragon 855 at a planned Snapdragon event before this year. On the other hand, it is rumored that Lenovo-owned Motorola is working on a 5G moto Mod that will go along with ...

BlackBerry Evolve with 5.99-inch FHD+ display, dual rear cameras, EvolveX with Snapdragon 660 launched in India for Rs. 24990 and Rs. 34990

Optiemus just launched the BlackBerry Evolve and EvolveX smartphones in India, as expected. Both the phones have a 5.99-inch Full HD+ 18:9 aspect ratio display with 2.5D Corning Gorilla Glass 5 protection, run Android 8.1 (Oreo) with secured DTEK app and feature a 16-megapixel front camera. The Evolve is powered by Snapdragon 450 with 4GB of RAM and dual 13-megapixel rear cameras, while the EvolveX is powered by Snapdragon 660 with 6GB of RAM, and has a 12-megapixel rear camera along with a secondary 13-megapixel camera with real-time  depth of field effect for portrait shots. These pack a 4000mAh battery and the Blackberry EvolveX also comes with Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0 support and wireless charging. These come with soft touch back panel and grade 7 aluminium frame, and have a fingerprint sensor on the back. BlackBerry Evolve and EvolveX specifications 5.99-inch (2160×1080 pixels) Full HD+ 2.5D curved glass display with  Corning Gorilla Glass 5 protection Evolve - 1.8GHz Octa-Core Snapdragon 450 14nm Mobile Platform with Adreno 506 GPU EvolveX - Octa Core Snapdragon 660 14nm Mobile Platform (Quad 2.2GHz Kryo 260 + Quad 1.8GHz Kryo 260 CPUs) with Adreno 512 GPU 4GB (Evolve) / 6GB (EvolveX) RAM, 64GB internal storage, expandable memory up to 2TB with microSD ...

YouTube said to be testing Instagram-like Stories

Snapchat's Stories now feels like one great feature as everyone now wants to jump on it. It was Instagram who directly ripped off the feature and later was added to Facebook and Messenger, now it is YouTube who wants in. The feature on YouTube was first spotted a while ago and it looks exactly like the one we are using on Instagram.  The U.I displays a red ring around new Stories, and when you tap on it, stories will be opened much like how it is on Instagram. If you'd think Google might tweak the switch the UI up a bit, then you are in for a big disappointment. Another difference compared to the stories of Instagram is the presence of the Subscribe button and the inability to comment or reply to the story. As mentioned, the company is still testing the feature, so it might be limited to a section of creators or users as it is a server-side roll out for selected users. Source | Via

Netflix original series Baahubali: Before the Beginning, prequel to Baahubali movies announced

A year after Amazon Prime Video released Baahubali: The Lost Legends animated series in India, Netflix today announced a new Netflix original series -  Baahubali: Before the Beginning, a prequel to  Baahubali: the Beginning and Baahubali: the Conclusion movies. This will be based on Anand Neelakantan’s book, The Rise of Sivagami, and the first season will have 9 episodes, and Netflix has ordered two seasons. Netflix has partnered with the team behind the Baahubali universe, including Arka Media Works and SS Rajamouli. Deva Katta and Praveen Sataru will together direct the series. Netflix did not say when the new series will be released, but we should know more details in the coming months. Regarding the series, Netflix said: The series captures Queen Sivagami’s journey from a rebellious and vengeful girl to a wise and unequalled queen. Power, politics and intrigue find themselves juxtaposed against the rise of Mahishmati - from being a city-state to an empire. This is the rich backdrop and drama where the Baahubali franchise is set. The series promises to build on the incredible narrative style of the franchise - including its high production values, spectacular visuals and connective-epic story-telling. Erik Barmack, VP, International Originals, Netflix, said: Baahubali is a world-class franchise that epitomizes the ...

Facebook and Instagram activity dashboard time management tool announced

Facebook today announced new tools to help users of Instagram and Facebook manage their time; an activity dashboard. It is a daily reminder using which you can limit notifications and keep your usage in check. Facebook says that it developed these tools based on collaboration and inspiration from leading mental health experts and organizations, academics.  The company with these tools is aiming to give users more control over the time they spend on the platforms and also foster conversations between parents and teens about the online habits that are right for them. To access these tools, on Facebook go to settings page on either app or website. On Instagram, tap “Your Activity,” and on Facebook, tap “Your Time on Facebook.” At the top, you’ll see a dashboard showing your average time for that app on that device. Tap any bar to see your total time for that day and below the dashboard, you can set a daily reminder to give yourself an alert when you’ve reached the amount of time you want to spend on that app for that day. You can change or cancel the reminder at any time. You can also tap on “Notification Settings” to quickly access the new “Mute Push ...

Apple iOS 12 beta hints at 2018 iPad Pro with Slim bezels, FaceID and no Home button

Apple is rumored to launch the updated iPad Pro at its hardware event and this new iPad Pro is expected to feature a brand new designed, along with with the TrueDepth sensor, FaceID, no 3.5mm headphone jack. Thanks to iOS 12 beta 5 update many interesting things are being revealed about many upcoming Apple products, freshly the new finding more or less confirms a new bezel-less design. The new Accessibility settings as a part of the battery usage UI shows that the upcoming iPad Pad might not come with a home button, this means that it will rely on Apple's FaceID technology. Furthermore, it will have thinner bezels, thanks to a tiny glyph found in an OS. However, notably, the only thing that is missing from the glyph is a notch. This method in AccessibilitySettings confirms Face ID on the new iPad Pro (J3xx) pic.twitter.com/oeJQ0GxOoM — Guilherme Rambo (@_inside) August 1, 2018 This means that the 2018 iPad Pro will not pack a notch like the three upcoming iPhones. The name of the asset specifies “iPad”, it’s new to iOS 12 beta 5 and there are no references in the system yet. So, it is clear that this model we are seeing is the upcoming iPad Pro slated to ...

Qin AI Phone 4G VoLTE feature phone with real-time voice translation available for order through Xiaomi’s crowdfunding platform

Qin AI Phone, a new 4G VoLTE feature phone is now available for order from Xiaomi's crowd funding platform in China. It has a 2.8-inch QVGA color display with T9 keyboard and runs Android-based Mocor 5 OS. The main highlight of the smartphone its AI voice features that promises real-time voice translation in 17 languages. The AI can also tell a story or poetry to children, in addition to answering questions. It doesn't have rear or front camera, but it features infrared sensor that lets you control home appliances like AC, TV and others. The 1480mAh battery promises up to 15 hours of talk time and 420 hours standby, and it charges via USB Type-C port. There is also a 2G version of the phone with Nucleus OS, MediaTek MT6260A ARM Cortex A7 SoC, 8MB RAM and 16MB internal storage. Qin AI Phone specifications 2.8-inch (320 x 240 pixels) QVGA display 1.3GHz dual-core SC9820E ARM Cortex A53 processor with  ARM Mali T82 GPU 256MB RAM, 512MB internal storage, expandable memory with microSD Android-based Mocor 5 OS Hybrid Dual SIM (nano + nano / microSD) 3.5mm audio jack, AAC 1511 box speakers IR sensor Dimensions: 132x53.8x8.5mm 4G VoLTE, WiFi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.2 LE, GPS, USB Type-C 1480mAh battery The Qin ...