Global VR headset shipments decline 33.7%, standalone VR headsets grew 417.7% YoY in Q2 2018: IDC

As per the recent report from IDC, the shipments of virtual reality (VR) headsets were down 33.7% year over year in the second quarter of 2018. However, the IDC expects this to be a temporary setback, since the arrival of new products like Oculus Go and HTC Vive Pro, and new brands will have a positive outlook for the quarters ahead. The standalone VR headsets grew 417.7% during the quarter, largely due to the global availability of the Oculus Go/Xiaomi Mi VR, which managed to ship 212,000 headsets. In addition to that the category leader, HTC, shipped close to 111,000 headsets. Furthermore, the screenless viewer category has declined substantially, shrinking from 1 million headsets in 2Q17 to 409,000 in 2Q18. On the other hand, the Tethered VR headsets declined 37.3% in 2Q18 largely because major brands like Oculus and Sony were unable to maintain the momentum established during a period of price reductions in 2Q17. As a result, the two brands managed to ship 102,000 and 93,000 headsets respectively in 2Q18. While the consumer side of the VR headset market remains the focus of attention, the commercial side has also seen pilots and large-scale deployments gaining traction. In 2Q18, roughly 20% of VR headsets ...

Palm’s upcoming Android smartphone with 3.3-inch HD display surfaces [Update: New render]

Update - September 6, 2018 - A new render of the smartphone has surfaced. There are no additional details, but this reveals the model number as PVG100. Earlier: Palm seems to be taking steps to enter back into the smartphone space as the company's first smartphone since the Pre 3 release in 2011 has surfaced. The Palm's upcoming Android smartphone is currently codenamed 'Pepito,' and might be headed to Verizon. The upcoming Palm's Android phone sports a 3.3-inches 720p LCD screen and it is easily the smallest smartphone to go on sale in 2018. It will have an 800mAh battery and is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 435 SoC Octa-Core processor. It packs 3GB of RAM and 32GB of storage and it is possible that the phone might pack more than one variants with more storage. It is expected to run on Android 8.1 Oreo, weirdly enough the phone doesn't seem to have a 3.5mm audio jack. It packs a single rear camera, LED flash, but the phone doesn't seem to have a fingerprint sensor. However, there are no details regarding the launch and the pricing details, so it needs to be seen when the company is expecting to launch the phone. Source 1, 2

Skype introduces call recording feature with options to save and share

Skype is on a roll right now, as it is undergoing a comprehensive overhaul be in terms of design or addition of features. A few days back, in a push towards simplicity and familiarity, Microsoft removed the Highlights and Capture features from the app. Right now, the company has introduced call recording in a Skype call, which as per the company claims is completely cloud-based. This feature is now available on the latest version of Skype and on most platforms, except Windows 10. The company promised to roll out this feature in Windows 10 in the upcoming weeks. When you start recording, everyone in the call is notified that the call is being recorded. Plus, users can save or share the recorded call for the next 30 days. To start call recording on the desktop, at the bottom of the screen click the '+' sign, then select Start recording. On the other hand, if you want to start call recording on mobile, tap the '+' sign and then tap on the circle to Start recording. To save the call on the desktop, go to your chat and click More -> Save to Downloads to save to your downloads folder. On mobile, just tap and ...

POCO F1: Now you can unlock bootloader within 3 days, Asphalt 9 issue fixed, low audio issue fix coming in next OTA update

Xiaomi devices are well-known for the awesome custom ROM support, thanks to the developer community. Unlocked bootloader is required to flash custom ROM on devices, and whether a user should unlock the bootloader of devices or not seems a never-ending debate. Resellers on global shopping portal used to take advantage of bootloader unlocking policies of some OEMs to install bloatware and modify software before shipping devices. As a resolution, Xiaomi introduced a wait time of 72 hours (3 days) to unlock the bootloader, which was recently increased to 360 hours (15 days). Xiaomi’s sub-brand POCO launched the POCO F1 recently, which went on sale for the first time on 29th August in the country resulting in a turnover of above 200 crores. Similar to other Xiaomi devices, POCO F1 also got the attention of developer community and custom recoveries and modules such as TWRP and Magisk were available within couple of days of the first sale but users were waiting for 15 days to get over so that they could unlock the bootloader of their devices. Some users took the issue to Mi Community and Twitter, and product head Jai Mani responded to the users saying that the company has updated ...

Honor Band 4 with 0.95-inch AMOLED color display, 50-meter water resistance and Honor Band 4 Running Edition announced

Huawei's Honor brand along with the Honor 8X and Honor 8X Max, also introduced Honor Band 4, successor of Honor Band 3. It has a 0.95-inch AMOLED color 2.5D curved glass touch screen display in addition to Home button, comes with continuous heart rate tracking and is also water resistant up to 50 meters with Swim stroke recognition. It has Huawei Huawei TruSleep 2.0 uses cardiopulmonary coupled dynamics spectrum (CPC) to monitor complete sleep structure including deep sleep (REM) to analyse sleep and offer personalized sleep recommendations. The Huawei TruSeen 2.0 heart rate technology offers 24-hour continuous heart monitoring when running, walking, cycling and more. The company has also introduced Honor Band 4 Running Edition with POLED black and white screen, without the heart rate sensor and a smaller 77mAh battery with up to 20 days of standby. The 6-axis sensor offers improved running detection by measuring cadence, step length, ground contact time, foot strike pattern, landing impact, eversion excursion and swing angle. It is also water resistant up to 50 meters. Honor Band 4 specifications 0.95 inch AMOLED touch display Bluetooth 4.2 LE, Compatible with Android 4.4 (or later) or iOS 9.0 (or later) Pedometer, Sleep tracker, Exercise tracker, Sedentary reminder 6-axis sensors; infrared wearing ...

Apple files patent for Watch with larger OLED display, anti-burn-in solution

In a recent development, Cupertino giant Apple has filed two patent for bigger Apple Watch displays with curved edges and anti-burn-in solution for OLED displays. As per the patent application, "The display may include full-strength pixels and may have a band of antialiasing pixels having selectively reduced strengths relative to the full-strength pixels." Having said that, the pixels may be OLED pixels, LCD pixels, or other display pixels. With this Apple Watch, one can expect an all-new edge-to-edge display with 15% bigger displays for both sizes of Apple Watch. Apple's patent application 20180246363 titled "Pixel Array Antialiasing to Accommodate Curved Display Edges," was filed back in Q2 2018. It's worth mentioning that, the Apple was granted a patent in April 2018 covering both round and curved display advancements for a future Apple Watch interface. The Cupertino giant also comes up with a patent that will help to solve the burn-in issue. A few days back, Apple had officially scheduled the event on September 12 at Steve Jobs Theater located at the company Apple Park campus. At this event, Apple is expected to announce three iPhone – 6.5-inch OLED iPhone X Plus, 5.8-inch OLED iPhone X successor and a cheaper 6.1-inch LCD model all with ...

Snap’s Spectacles 2 gets two new fashionable styles

After over four months of the introduction of its second-generation Spectacles with water-resistant design and smaller profile, Snap Inc. has introduced two new styles of Spectacles: Nico and Veronica. These come in black-on-black with polarized lenses. The company also said that it will be rolling out a new Snapchat feature that automatically curates Spectacles Snaps into a single Highlight Story. This will make it faster and easier to find your favorite moments and share them with friends after a full day of Snapping, said the company. Since the introduction of Spectacles 2, users have been posting, on average, 40% more photos and videos captured with the glasses, says Snap. The new Nico and Veronica Snap Spectacles are priced at $199.99 (Rs. 14,300 approx.) each, in the U.S. which is $50 more compared to the original version. It is available for purchase from spectacles.com in select countries worldwide.

Canon EOS R its first full frame mirror-less camera announced

Canon has announced EOS R system featuring the newly designed RF mount. The Canon’s new RF mount features the same size diameter as the EF mount (54mm) and shorter back focus distance. Furthermore, the Canon RF mount features a high-speed 12-pin communication system that provides faster and more in-depth communication between the camera and lens over existing Canon mount systems. The EOS R system is designed in a way where it will be compatible with all existing EF, EF-S, TS-E and MP-E lenses through the use of mount adapters. The new Canon EOS R full-frame mirrorless camera features a 30.3MP CMOS sensor that is powered by the latest image processor, DIGIC 8, enabling shooting at up to 8.0 frames per second. It can capture stunning 4K UHD video up to 30fps and record in 10-bit 4:2:2 (with an external recorder). This EOS R full-frame mirrorless camera is compatible with all EF and EF-S lens. The new Canon EOS R camera features Dual Pixel CMOS Auto Focus with 5,655 manually selectable AF points, supporting AF at up to f/11 with a 384 zone (24x16) real-time metering system. In addition to it, the EOS R features a silent shutter setting when shooting in single-shot mode. The Canon ...

Honor 8X with 6.5-inch FHD+ display, Kirin 710, 6GB RAM, AI dual rear cameras announced

Huawei's Honor brand just announced the Honor 8X, the company's latest mid-range smartphone in China. It has a 6.5-inch Full HD+ display with a 4.25mm narrow chin and 91% screen-to-body ratio, is powered by Kirin 710 SoC with 6GB of RAM, has a 20-megapixel rear camera with LED flash, AI scene recognition that can identify up to 500 scenes, and a 2-megapixel secondary camera to capture depth information in portrait shots. It has a 16-megapixel front camera with 4-in-1 pixel binning technology and AI beautify. It also has 4D gaming experience with real-time recognition of the game scene that vibrates the phone to intelligent match up to 30 different senses promising more realistic game scene experience. It has a fingerprint sensor on the back, comes with dedicated dual SIM and microSD card slots and packs a 3750mAh battery with support for fast charging. Honor 8X specifications 6.5-inch (2340 × 1080 pixels) Full HD+ 19:5:9 2.5D curved glass display Octa-Core Kirin 710 12nm (4 x 2.2GHz Cortex-A73 +4 x 1.7GHz Cortex-A53) with ARM Mali-G51 MP4 GPU 4GB RAM with 64GB storage, 6GB RAM with 64GB / 128GB internal storage, expandable memory up to 400GB with microSD Android 8.1 (Oreo) with EMUI 8.2 Dual SIM (nano ...

Honor 8X Max with 7.12-inch FHD+ display, Snapdragon 660/636, AI dual rear cameras, 5000mAh battery announced

Huawei's Honor brand along with the Honor 8X also announced the Honor 8X Max in China. It has a 7.12-inch Full HD+ display with narrow bezels and 90.5% screen-to-body ratio, is powered by Snapdragon 660 or 636 with up to 6GB of RAM, has a 16-megapixel rear camera with LED flash, AI scene recognition, and a 2-megapixel secondary camera to capture depth information in portrait shots. It has an 8-megapixel front camera. It has a fingerprint sensor on the back, packs a 5000mAh battery with support for reverse charging to charge other phones, as well as 9V/2A fast charging. Honor 8X Max specifications 7.12-inch (2244×1080 pixels) Full HD+ 18.7:9 2.5D curved glass display, 72% NTSC Color Gamut Octa-Core Snapdragon 660 14nm Mobile Platform (Quad 2.2GHz Kryo 260 + Quad 1.8GHz Kryo 260 CPUs) with Adreno 512 GPU / 1.8GHz Octa-Core Snapdragon 636 14nm Mobile Platform with Adreno 509 GPU 4GB RAM, 64GB / 128GB internal storage / 6GB RAM with 64GB storage, expandable memory up to 256GB with microSD Android 8.1 (Oreo) with EMUI 8.2 Hybrid Dual SIM (nano + nano / microSD) 16MP rear camera with LED flash, f/2.0 aperture, 2MP secondary camera, f/2.4 aperture 8MP front-facing camera, f/2.0 aperture Fingerprint sensor Dimensions: 177.57×86.24×8.13mm; Weight: ...