Nokia 7.1 Unboxing and First Impressions

HMD Global launched the Nokia 7.1, a mid-range smartphone in India last week. We already brought you the first impressions of the smartphone, here we have the unboxing. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_FNCgbREOI Box Contents Nokia 7.1 smartphone in Midnight Blue color 2-pin 18W charger (5V-3A/9V-2A/12V-1.5A) USB Type-C cable Headset Quick start guide SIM Ejector tool It has a 5.84-inch (2244 x 1080 pixels) Full HD+ 19:9 aspect ratio display with Corning Gorilla Glass 3 protection and also support HDR10, and the company calls it PureDisplay. Even though it uses on-screen buttons, there is a small bezel below the display with Nokia branding. It has a notch that houses an earpiece, 8-megapixel camera and the usual set of sensors. The HDR10 Display can be enabled or disabled from the Display settings. This enhances the contrast and sharpness for photos, games and videos, says the company. This is one of the few phones in the price range to come with this feature. Even though it runs Android Oreo out of the box, we got the Android 9.0 (Pie) update immediately after we booted the phone. Since this is an Android One smartphone, the phone will get regular security updates. It is powered by Snapdragon 636 with 4GB of RAM. Wish the company has ...

OnePlus opens its first R&D facility in India in Hyderabad

OnePlus has announced that it has opened its first R&D facility in India in Hyderabad. This will only play a critical role in development of Artificial Intelligence and Machine learning in OnePlus products but will also drive innovations that are centric and relevant to the company’s Indian community, said the company. The company will also leverage the experienced and ingenious talent from Hyderabad. OnePlus said that it weighed in several critical factors before zeroing in on Hyderabad for the R&D centre. Hyderabad, which is one of the fastest growing markets for OnePlus, so it will also be expanding its offline presence in the region, including new own OnePlus Experience Store in the city. The brand currently has an Exclusive Service Centre in the city and is also present in retail outlets through its exclusive partnership with Croma and Reliance Digital. OnePlus has already upgraded to local production of PCBs as well as other smartphone components and said that will continue to look at further plans as the government announces the next wave of localization. The R&D facility will play a crucial role as OnePlus charts its roadmap towards adopting the Indian market as its home ground. OnePlus said that it is committed to ...

Google denies Hangouts shutdown, will upgrade users to Hangouts Chat and Hangouts Meet

After reports of Google shutting down Hangouts to consumers in 2020, Google’s Scott Johnston who runs Hangouts and other related products has denied the reports, however, said that users of consumer Hangouts users will be “upgraded” to Hangouts Chat and Hangouts Meet which are enterprise-focused products.  2/ So while that will result in the eventual shut down of Hangouts classic (as we now call it), it doesn't imply we are ending support for the use case supported by the product: messaging and meetings. — Scott Johnston (@happyinwater) December 1, 2018 This indirectly for the first time confirms that Hangouts Classic will be shutting down “eventually.” Meaning, all the existing Hangouts classic users will be upgraded to Hangouts Chat and Hangouts Meet which are enterprise related products that fill a different need, and the legacy Hangouts which is now available for consumers will be shut down eventually. Google says that it is “fully committed to supporting classic Hangouts users” until a ‘successful’ migration to the new services. No timeline for the transition was provided yet. In a statement, Google said: In March 2017, we announced plans to evolve classic Hangouts to focus on two experiences that help bring teams together: Hangouts Chat and Hangouts Meet. Both Chat and Meet are available today for ...

San Diego federal court sets Apple and Qualcomm trial for April 15th as settlements are unlikely

With settlement between Apple and Qualcomm looking unlikely at this point, the trial for Qualcomm long legal war has been set to begin April 15 in San Diego federal court. U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel scheduled the trial at a hearing Friday. Though Qualcomm had sought to begin the trial in February, Curiel said the April date was needed to accommodate the court’s schedule. He also noted that the complexity of the litigation and the prominence to the Qualcomm and Apple require more time. Earlier this week, Qualcomm Chief Executive Steve Mollenkopf said that the San Diego cellular technology firm was “on the doorstep of finding a resolution” to the dispute with Apple. However, Apple attorney William Isaacson told Curiel on Friday that a settlement wasn’t in the cards. Since early 2017, Qualcomm and Apple have been waging a wide-ranging legal war over royalties that Qualcomm charges for use of its patented cellular technology. As for Apple, it no longer pays royalties to Qualcomm and has also ditched using Qualcomm chips from the latest iPhone models. Qualcomm has sought to ban iPhone imports in the U.S., Germany, and China. It also has accused Apple of stealing trade secrets and supplying them to rival Intel. According ...

Uber said to be in talks to acquire Bird or Lime scooter-sharing startups

According to latest report, Uber is said to be in talks with Bird on a possible “multibillion-dollar” acquisition and, as a fallback, Uber has also been talking to smaller competitor Lime as well. Uber already owns a minority stake in Lime. Partnership with Lime earlier this year brought electric scooters to Uber’s app. Both the sides are said to be focusing on getting the deal done as Uber is trying to lock up the market before it gets flooded. The report suggests that Uber is looking to secure a deal with either Bird or Lime before the end of the year, which suggests negotiations are already at an advanced stage. Bird CEO Travis VanderZanden, without denying the on-going speculation said that  “Bird is not for sale,” which may or may not be a negotiating tactic. There's also a possibility that no agreement is reached between any of the three parties, but what looks sure is that we will be heading to 2019 with Uber in a commendable position at the top in the scooter-sharing market. Source

Microsoft Surface roadmap reveals refreshed Surface Pro, disc-less Xbox, foldable Andromeda and more for 2019

Microsoft watcher Brad Sams latest revelations suggest that 2019 is going to be a busy year for Microsoft as it lays out a potential roadmap of hardware releases for the company over the next couple of years. It includes refreshes and some new versions of products like Surface Pro, Xbox, and also an update to the mysterious “Andromeda." While Microsoft's push towards smartphone business was never fruitful, the Surface division is a different story altogether and it was quite as successful as it could rival Apple in the high-end market. Microsoft’s most recent quarter, Surface revenue jumped 14% over the previous year, to $1.18 billion. A possible roadmap includes the newest version of the Surface Pro tablet, with a USB-C port, smaller bezels, rounded corners, and several new color options. This could come in the fourth quarter of 2019. Up next is a Surface Laptop that could be powered by an AMD processor rather than usual Intel processor and this could also launch towards the end of 2019. Sometime in Spring of 2019, Microsoft said to hold an event to unveil an “ambient computing” device that can sense and respond to user presence. The product is designed to help deal with some common frustrations of using a smartphone, ...

Apple Music beta update for Android brings tablet support, new bottom navigation bar and more

Apple Music for Android is getting a new beta update which brings a new bottom navigation bar, instead of the hamburger menu for navigation. The update also finally brings support for tablets and the app adapts to bigger screens.  The update brings performance related improvements for images and audio playback and various bug fixes. Despite being an Apple product, Apple Music for Android is quickly gaining new features, it started partial Google Assistant integration and previously made it work with Android Auto. This new update brings the version number to 2.7.o. You can either sign up for beta testing on Play Store or download the APK and side-load it. Apple Music beta update Changelog: Tablet Support: Enjoy Apple Music with an experience designed for a wider range of Android devices. Performance improvements for images and audio playback. Various bug fixes. Source

Apple AirPods 2 with wireless charging case said to be announced in Q1 2019; All new model in 2020: Kuo

Apple AirPods second-gen was initially expected to be announced at the new iPhones event back in September, however, it didn't go through. Later it was anticipated that the company would make them official at the October 30th special event, but nothing. In a new brief research note, noted analyst Ming-Cho Kuo predicts that the new AirPods with wireless charging case will debut in Q1 2019. Kuo highlights that "all-new design model" will be following in Q1 2020 and these new refreshed models are expected to drive strong sales growth for AirPods. Kuo notes that fewer than 5% of iPhone users currently own AirPods, and with over 1 billion iPhone users worldwide, there are "great potential growth opportunities" for the accessory. To remind you, Kuo, a year back predicted that Apple would launch upgraded AirPods in the second half of 2018, but Apple's difficulties in bringing its AirPower charging mat to market have undoubtedly impacted its AirPods plans as well. Ahead of the October 30th, Kuo predicted that he was uncertain about the timing for an AirPods update, suggesting that there is a delay and AirPods could come late in Q4 or Q1 of 2019. In the latest research note, Kuo said: We attribute AirPods' dramatic growth ...

Supercell to release Brawl Stars for Android and iOS globally on December 12

Update: Supercell has confirmed that Brawl Stars will be released globally on December 12th. Brawl Stars Will Release Globally on December 12th! If you have not pre-registered yet go to https://t.co/CNiU5xJW3U! pic.twitter.com/63lxp2Rv1V — Brawl Stars (@BrawlStars) December 1, 2018 Earlier: Supercell, creators of popular Clash of Clans and Clash Royale games announced Brawl Stars, a new 3v3 multiplayer shooter game back in June last year, and it soft launched the game in select countries back in June this year. Today the company has announced that the game will launch globally in December on both Android and iOS. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=geBtyZP2qIM In this game you unlock a variety of rough and tumble characters with different play styles and punishing SUPER abilities. There are five different game modes – Showdown, Gem Grab, Bounty and Heist. You also need to collect power points and get Gold to upgrade and unlock your Brawlers. Brawl Stars – Android pre-registration  Team up for real-time 3v3 battles against players from across the world A fast-paced multiplayer battle royale mode made for mobile Unlock and collect new, powerful Brawlers - each with a signature attack and SUPER ability New events and game modes daily Battle solo or co-op Climb to the top of the leaderboards in global and local ...

Vivo NEX 2 with dual displays, triple rear cameras, in-display fingerprint sensor teased, to be announced this December

Vivo introduced its NEX smartphone back in June, now after rumors, the company has started teasing the sucessor in three new videos in China. These teasers confirm dual displays for the smartphone, triple rear cameras, and a ring light around the camera. Dual displays will be similar to the Nubia X without a notch since it doesn’t have a front camera. The earpiece is present on the edge, as seen in the images. Since there is a display on the back, you can use rear cameras to take selfies. It will feature an in-display fingerprint sensor. Check out the teaser videos below. [embed]https://1253128055.vod2.myqcloud.com/db0c6f87vodtransgzp1253128055/bc6e4b395285890783294498162/v.f40.mp4[/embed] [embed]https://1253128055.vod2.myqcloud.com/db0c6f87vodtransgzp1253128055/c0d0c6535285890783294659121/v.f40.mp4[/embed] The phone is expected to be powered by Snapdragon 845 SoC with up to 8GB of RAM, similar to the predecessor. The Vivo NEX 2 will go official sometime later this month. Even though it is rumored to be announced on December 11th, we should know the exact date in the coming days. We should also know the complete specifications of the phone once it gets certified. Source 1, 2