WhatsApp Stickers finally starts rolling out

After testing back in July in preview, WhatsApp has finally started rolling out Stickers for its Android app in beta from today. You can click the Emoji button next to the text box, and choose the sticker option next to the GIF to select the sticker pack. You can also check out the sticker pack or add them to favorites when someone sends a sticker. WhatsApp currently offers 12 sticker packs that can be added by clicking the '+' from the sticker menu. These include Cuppy by Minseung Song Salty by Alisa Kryzhanovska Komo by Sanat Rath Bibimbap Friends by Pete Ellison Unchi & Rollie by nu1t Shiba Inu by Aiko Kuninoi The Maladroits by Cole Ott Koko by Hanasake Picture Inc. Fearless and Fabulous by Ann Shen Banana by Jayde Fish Biscuit by Ghostbot Hatch by Hatch WhatsApp is also said to be working on animated Stickers in the future and option to create your own sticker pack. Clicking "Get more stickers" takes you to Google Play where you can install third-party stickers, but these don't work as native WhatsApp stickers. WhatsApp stickers are available for WhatsApp for Android beta users v2.18.329 and later, while those who have v2.18.310 can view the ...

Infinix HOT S3X with 6.2-inch 19:9 display, dual rear cameras, 16MP AI front camera launched in India for Rs. 9999

Infinix has launched Hot S3X, the company’s latest mid-range smartphone and the successor of the Hot S3 in the ‘Hot S’ series in India. It has a 6.2-inch HD+ 19:9 display with a notch, has a 12-megapixel rear camera along with a secondary 2-megapixel camera for portait shots and a 16-megapixel front camera with selfie flash, 4-in-1 pixel technology merges 4 pixels into one pixel, which helps in capturing more light for better quality selfies, AI beauty algorithm that scans up to 255 facial points to create a more detailed and beautiful selfie. It also comes with AI Bokeh mode that blurs the background to make the subject stand out.  It is powered by Snapdragon 430 with up 3GB RAM, runs Android 8.1 Oreo with the company’s own XOS Hummingbird V3.3 on top. It has a glass back, rear-mounted fingerprint sensor, dedicated dual SIM and microSD slots and a 4000mAh battery. Infinix Hot S3X specifications 6.2-inch (720 x 1500 pixels) HD+ 2.5D curved glass display with 19:9 aspect ratio Octa-Core Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 ( 4 x 1.2 GHz Cortex A53 + 4 x 1.5 GHz Cortex A53) Mobile Platform with Adreno 505 GPU 3GB RAM, 32GB internal storage, expandable memory up to 128GB with microSD Android 8.1 (Oreo) with ...

Samsung Galaxy A6s with 6-inch FHD+ display, Snapdragon 660, 6GB RAM, dual rear cameras and Galaxy A9s with quad rear cameras announced

Samsung has introduced Galaxy A6s, a new mid-range smartphone as well as A9s with similar specifications as the recently-announced Galaxy A9 2018 (SM-A920F) in China. The A6s has a 6-inch FHD+ display, is powered by Snapdragon 660 with 6GB of RAM, runs Android 8.1 (Oreo), has a 12-megapixel rear camera with f/1.8 aperture, Dual Pixel technology along with a secondary 5-megapixel camera for AI portrait shots, and a 12-megapixel front camera. It has a rear-mounted fingerprint sensor and packs a 3300mAh battery with adaptive fast charging. Samsung Galaxy A6s specifications  6-inch FHD+ (1080×2220 pixels) FHD+ Infinity display Octa Core Snapdragon 660 14nm Mobile Platform (Quad 2.2GHz Kryo 260 + Quad 1.8GHz Kryo 260 CPUs) with Adreno 512 GPU 6GB LPDDR4x RAM with 64GB / 128GB internal storage, expandable memory up to 256GB with microSD Android 8.0 (Oreo) Dual SIM 12MP rear camera with LED Flash, f/1.8 aperture, 5MP secondary rear camera 12MP front-facing camera Fingerprint sensor, Face unlock 4G VoLTE, Wi-Fi 802.11ac (2.4/5GHz), Bluetooth 5 LE, GPS with GLONASS, NFC, USB Type-C 3300mAh battery with adaptive fast charging Samsung Galaxy A9s specifications 6.3-inch (1080×2220 pixels) Full HD+ Super AMOLED Infinity display Octa Core Snapdragon 660 14nm Mobile Platform (Quad 2.2GHz Kryo 260 + Quad 1.8GHz Kryo 260 CPUs) with ...

Airtel showcases 5G use cases and futuristic digital technologies including connected cars, Autonomous Drones and more

Bharti today, at the  India Mobile Congress (IMC) 2018 showcased a range of futuristic digital technologies as a part of the its Airtel 3.0 vision under which it aims to build networks and services that enrich lives of customers by enabling a world-class digital experiences. Airtel displayed 5G network experience (speed and latency comparison with 4G) and several exciting use cases for homes and enterprises. These use cases demonstrate the key benefits of 5G networks - massive capacity, ultra-low latency and the ability to serve a very large number of concurrent users. Airtel Connected Home: By leveraging advanced Home IoT (Internet of Things) technologies, Airtel showcased a life size replica of a modern connected home with intelligent devices and appliances. The Airtel Connected Home is powered by a ‘1Gbps V-Fiber’ link to enable a seamless digital experience. The connected home also showcased Airtel’s upcoming Android DTH STB that will act as the home IoT gateway. Airtel also demonstrated its in-house developed multi-screen video platform for seamless content play across devices. Airtel Connected Car: The Airtel Connected Car use case demonstrates how IoT can empower drivers through auto telemetry, which will capture and push data related to key parameters of the car ...

Nokia’s Chennai factory to start manufacturing first 5G radio equipment in India

Nokia has announced that its manufacturing unit in Chennai in South India has started manufacturing 5G New Radio (NR) based on the 3GPP 5G New Radio Release 15 standard. The Chennai plant is one of the largest telecom equipment manufacturing plant in the country. It has recently reached 4 million unit annual production milestone of 2G, 3G and 4G units. The Chennai plant serves both domestic as well as global customers, shipping to over 100 countries. Data usage has increased significantly especially in India and is set to increase significantly the in 5G era with billions of connected devices. 5G NR will support such data consumption by providing significantly more network capacity, higher user throughput and lower latency with increased network reliability. Nokia's Chennai factory produces a range of telecom equipment across technologies, and now will include 5G gear in its shipments as network deployments start. As part of an ongoing program, the Nokia Chennai plant recently implemented the first 'real-world' Smart Manufacturing application of Industry 4.0 in India leveraging solutions such as Augmented and Virtual Reality (AR/VR), connected Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Big Data Analytics, and Internet of Things to enhance operations and increase productivity. The plant is equipped with manufacturing technologies, such ...

Xiaomi Mi TV 4A Pro 49 inch Review

Xiaomi's second gen Mi TVs launched in India a few weeks back, and we've been putting the 49-inch 4A Pro through its paces. With some surprises and a bit more polish, the Mi TV 4A Pro 49-inch looks like it has perfected the winning formula. Follow along for our full review. Design While the 55-inch flagship television from Xiaomi opts for barely there bezels and a razor slim profile,  Mi TV 4A 49 Pro takes a more practical approach to design. The bezels are larger, so is the general thickness. Now, these things might matter to give context but do not make a difference in actual utility. The TV looks pretty damn good. The construction is all plastic and looks, feels robust. Close inspection reveals that the use of high-quality plastics instead of glass or aluminium is a way to reduce costs but that's a trade-off that will likely be acceptable to the entire target user base. We do wish that the feet stands were metal instead of plastic but once put up, they held up just fine and did not give any cause for concern. You can of course use a wall mount. The port selection continues to be pretty good on the Mi TV ...

Microsoft reports $29.1 billion revenue with 19% YoY growth in Q3 2018, Office products grow 16%

Microsoft has announced third-quarter results ended on 30th September 2018. When compared to the last fiscal year, the revenue is increased by 19% resulting in $29.1 billion, operating income is $10.0 billion with an increase of 29%, the net income was $8.8 billion with 34% increase, and the diluted earnings per share was $1.14 and increased 36%. Microsoft returned $6.1 billion to shareholders in the form of dividends and share repurchases in the first quarter of the fiscal year 2019, an increase of 27% compared to the first quarter of the fiscal year 2018. The revenue in Productivity and Business Processes was $9.8 billion with an increase of 19%. The Office commercial products and cloud services revenue increased 17% driven by Office 365 commercial revenue growth of 36%. Office consumer products and cloud services revenue increased 16% with continued growth in Office 365 consumer subscribers to 32.5 million. LinkedIn revenue increased 33% with record levels of engagement with 34% session growth. Dynamics products and cloud services revenue increased by 20% driven by Dynamics 365 revenue growth of 51%. Revenue in Intelligent Cloud was $8.6 billion and increased by 24%. Windows OEM revenue increased 3% driven by OEM Pro revenue growth of 8%. The Windows commercial ...

Amazon opens up ‘Alexa for Business’ to third-party devices

Amazon Web Services (AWS) back in 2017 announced Alexa for Business, giving companies the ability to build custom and scalable voice experiences with Alexa. The company now announced that device makers building with the Alexa Voice Service can now create fully integrated solutions, so their products can be registered with Alexa for Business and managed as shared devices in organizations. Alexa for Business customers will soon be able to centrally manage and deploy supported products with Alexa built-in — whether it’s built by Amazon or third-party device makers. Thanks to a simple extension to the AVS Device SDK, device makers can leverage Alexa for Business to bring the power of voice to enterprises. This solutions allow for deployment of third-party devices to shared spaces such as conference rooms, hotel and dorm rooms, lobbies, kitchens, break rooms, and copy rooms, device management as part of the device makers' existing management flow, such as room designation, device health monitoring, and location setting and skill management, such as public and private skill assignment for shared devices without publishing to the public Alexa Skills Store. The Alexa for Business capabilities is provided as an extension to the AVS Device SDK, starting with version 1.10 that is available to download from ...

Google Maps gets ‘Follow’ button to get store updates, deal in the ‘For You’ tab

Google had added a new 'Follow' button to Maps that allows users to follow places right from the app. Once you’ve followed places, news from them—like events, offers, and other updates will appear in the For you tab. Users who want to know about all the new places opening around town, you’ll start seeing profiles for places before they even open on Google Maps for Android and mobile search and look for the opening date in orange. Places that are opening soon can create a free Business Profile that will appear to people up to 3 months in advance of opening letting users know ahead of time to mark their calendars. The feature is rolling out over the next few weeks and places interested in making sure their coming soon locations are shown on Maps. Source

Xiaomi Mi MIX 3 with 6.39-inch FHD+ AMOLED display, up to 10GB RAM, slide-out design, dual front and rear cameras announced

Xiaomi just announced Mi MIX 3, the company’s latest flagship smartphone in the Mi MIX series at an event in China, as it had promised. It has a 6.39-inch Full HD+ AMOLED display 93.4% screen-to-body ratio, thanks to narrow bottom bezels which is reduced by 4.46mm compared to the Mi MIX 2S. It also has a customized antenna design so the antenna space is reduced by 72%. It is powered by Snapdragon 845 with up to 10GB of RAM, has support for Google ARCore and runs Android 8.1 (Oreo) with support for AI voice assistant as well as a dedicated AI button to launch it. It has a magnetic slider design with neodymium permanent magnets, making the sliding screen more reliable and functional. You can answer a call, take a selfie, open the shortcuts drawer and do more just by sliding up. You can also personalize the sound of the screen sliding with five different sounds. The company says that the slider will last for 300,000 cycles. It has a 12-megapixel rear camera with Sony IMX363 sensor, 1.4µm pixel size, OIS, Dual Pixel auto focus and a secondary 12-megapixel telephoto lens with Samsung S5K3M3+ sensor for AI portraits, has AI scene recognition and loss-less zoom. It has a 24-megapixel front ...