Xiaomi announces Android Pie Beta testing for Redmi Note 5 Pro, Redmi 6 Pro and more

Xiaomi has a good reputation when it comes to providing software (MIUI) support to devices, but the story changes when it comes to providing Android updates. Xiaomi hadn't updated their 2016 bestseller Redmi Note 3 (codename Kenzo) to Android Nougat which was released by tech-giant Google 5-6 months after the launch of the Redmi Note 3 and the similar story goes for 2017 bestseller Redmi Note 4 (codename Mido), but now Xiaomi seems to be changing their strategy regarding Android updates.  Xiaomi had already updated their entire lineup of devices (launched in 2018 in India) to Android Oreo including Redmi Note 5 Pro, Redmi Note 5 and Redmi 5. Back in October 2018, the company had released a list of smartphone eligible for Android 9.0 (Pie) update and now the company has updated the list. As per the updated list on MIUI China forum, Xiaomi is aiming to roll out Android Pie based MIUI China Beta ROM for Redmi Note 5 (called Redmi Note 5 Pro in India), Redmi 6 Pro, Redmi S2 (called Redmi Y2 in India) and Mi 6X in Q1 2019. The company hasn't shared any information regarding MIUI Global ROM but now there are good chances that the company will also ...

Xiaomi begins MIUI 11 development, says it will be new and unique

Xiaomi introduced MIUI 10 at its Mi 8 launch event back in May last year in China. Yesterday, at its Annual Meeting for MIUI division to discuss the past year and future development, the company said that it has started the development of MIUI 11. This was confirmed by Liu Ming, head of the product planning department. At the event he said that the MIUI 11 will be a 'new and unique OS'. MIUI 10 brought full-screen hand gestures and improved recent menu to take advantage of the full-screen bezel-less displays. MIUI 10 started rolling out back in June last year and is available for all the eligible devices, as promised at the announcement. Revealing the Q3 2018 earnings in November Xiaomi said that monthly active users of MIUI increased 43.4% from 156.5 million in September 2017 to 224.4 million in September 2018. As confirmed earlier, MIUI 11 will not be available for some older devices  like Mi 5 and Redmi Note 3 Pro since Xiaomi has stopped the development for these after MIUI 10. Since the development of MIUI 11 is still in early stages, new features and design changes are still in concept stage, so we will only know when the company decides to reveal some details ...

Honor Play, Honor 10 and Honor View 10 Android 9.0 Pie EMUI 9.0 update starts rolling out in India

Huawei introduced EMUI 9.0 based on Android 9.0 (Pie) at the IFA 2018 last year. This week its online-brand Honor has started rolling out the EMUI 9.0 update for the  Honor 10, Honor Play and Honor View 10 smartphone in India, as it had promised. Honor already said that the update will improve the user experience in security, AI-driven smart life features, device management and usability.   The new EMUI 9.0 update brings gestures, GPU Turbo 2.0, Translation, AI Shopping, HiVision visual search, Password Vault, Wireless Sharing (Projecting), Digital Balance dashboard, and more to Honor smartphones.  "Honor smartphones with EMUI 9.0 update will react to smoother operations backed by fast App startup and thus increasing the system operations by 12.9%, said the company. GPU Turbo 2.0 is designed to optimize intensive workloads and give an on-demand performance boost to the devices while reducing power consumption. Password Vault feature will help users store their encrypted password with face or fingerprint for various services. Uninterrupted Gaming Mode will help the needs of mobile gamers. Digital Balance dashboard allows users to track device usage metrics and let them set the usage quota for each app. Using onboard AI capabilities, EMUI 9.0 brings HiVision that enables the camera app ...

Apple said to be planning three iPhones for 2019, including high-end model with triple-rear cameras

Apple is apparently planning on launching three new iPhones for 2019 and this will include a high-end model with triple rear cameras in a move to compete with Android counterparts. The company will also introduce a successor to the iPhone XR with an LCD display, alongside two other handsets.  The renders of the new 2019 iPhone with triple rear camera surfaced on the internet last-week indicating that Apple is seriously looking into the idea. However, it is not clear what the extra-camera on the rear will enable on the iPhone. Rumors have emerged that Sony is boosting its 3D camera output for chips that will power rear-facing 3D cameras on smartphones in 2019. Additionally, Apple is reportedly considering OLED-only for its 2020 iPhone models, completely leaving LCD, according to the WSJ report. However, such a move would increase the overall selling price of Apple's iPhones next-year and this would only raise more concern about sales. Apple warned it could miss $9 billion in iPhone sales in the recent quarter due to weaker demand. Source

OPPO joins Wireless Power Consortium, future phones could support Qi wireless charging

The Wireless Power Consortium is a group of companies for developing and promoting the Qi wireless charging standard. OPPO has now joined the organization, indicating that future Oppo and OnePlus phones will have Qi wireless charging. OPPO is now listed on the WPC's member list, however, it is not clear when they joined. Joining the consortium is a requirement for creating devices that use Qi wireless charging, none of OPPO's current or past phones have Qi support. The company filed a patent last year for a 15W wireless charging technology, but that hasn't appeared in any products so far. Apart from OPPO, OnePlus is another company that never included wireless charging. Since OPPO and OnePlus operate under the same parent company and frequently share technology and resources with each other, it is possible that future OnePlus and OPPO products could come with wireless charging. We'll just have to wait and see. Source| Via

Apple considered Samsung, MediaTek 5G modems for 2019 iPhones

Apple said to have held talks with Samsung Electronics and MediaTek Inc. along with existing vendor Intel Corp to supply 5G modem chips for 2019 iPhones, according to an Apple executive’s testimony at a trial between Qualcomm Inc and the U.S. Federal Trade Commission.  Apple, between 2011 and 2016, relied on Qualcomm as the sole supplier of chips which helped iPhones connect to wireless networks. However, in 2016 the company split its business Intel and Qualcomm, and in 2018, it completely moved to Intel for its newest iPhones. Apple supply chain executive Tony Blevins testified to the court that Apple has also considered MediaTek and Samsung to supply the chips for 5G. The FTC is suing Qualcomm alleging the company engaged in anti-competitive patent licensing practices to preserve a dominant position in the premium modem chip market. On the stand at a federal courthouse in San Jose, California, Blevins testified that Apple has long sought multiple suppliers for modem chips but signed an agreement with Qualcomm to exclusively supply the chips as the chip supplier offered deep rebates on patent license costs in exchange for exclusivity. The company in 2013 has stopped its work with Intel to start supplying modems for iPad Mini 2 ...

Google officially discontinues Chromecast Audio

Google for a while now has stopped making its Chromecast Audio streaming adapter and going forward, it will instead focus on smart speakers. The company's spokesperson has confirmed that Chromecast Audio is being discontinued.  Google's Chromecast Audio is introduced to bring music streaming to existing stereo systems and speakers with line-in connectivity in 2015. It worked very much like the regular Chromecast, but didn't offer an HDMI port, and only worked with audio apps. The company in 2016 introduced the original Google Home speaker, a cheaper Home Mini later, and a better-sounding Google Home Max, and recently, it launched smart display devices like the Google Home Hub. The decision to discontinue Chromecast Audio isn't a surprise and is not something completely unexpected: The device had been on sale across a variety of retailers for $15 since last month, down from its original price of $35. Google's Spokesperson said: Our product portfolio continues to evolve, and now we have a variety of products for users to enjoy audio. We have therefore stopped manufacturing our Chromecast Audio products. We will continue to offer assistance for Chromecast Audio devices, so users can continue to enjoy their music, podcasts and more. Source

Amazon Great Indian Sale scheduled from Jan 20 to 23 – up to 60% off on electronics, No cost EMI, exchange offers and more

Amazon has announced Great Indian Sale, its first sale for the year from January 20th to 23rd. It will offer 10% instant discount for HDFC card users, No cost EMI for purchases over Rs. 3000, exchange offers and more. It will offer additional exchange discount on OnePlus 6T and Honor 8X, and discounts on iPhone X, Redmi Y2, Huawei Nova 3i, Vivo Y9 Pro and more. The sale will offer up to 60% off on hard drives, headphones and gaming accessories, up to Rs. 35,000 off on laptops, minimum Rs. 5000 off on Canon, Nikon and Sony cameras, up to 50% off on activity trackers, smartwatches smart TVs and large-screen LED TVs, up to 40% off on printers, speakers and tablets, up to 30% off on Soundbars and lots more. As usual, it will offer deals on its Echo and Kindle products, as well as its Fire TV Stick during the sale. There will be app-only deals from 8PM till midnight that will offer up to 60% discount on products. Amazon Prime members get access to the deals at 12 noon on January 19th before others. You can check out more details about the sale on Great Indian Sale page on Amazon.in.

Samsung Galaxy A9 (2018), Galaxy A7 (2018) and Galaxy J6 get a price cut in India

Three new Samsung smartphones - Galaxy A9 (2018), Galaxy A7 (2018) and Galaxy J6 that were launched last year have received a price cut in India. The quad-ccamera Galaxy A9 and triple-camera Galaxy A7 have received Rs. 3000 price cut from that current MOP, while the Galaxy J6 has received Rs. 1000 price cut from current MOP. That Galaxy A7 was launched starting at Rs. 23990, so the price has gone down by Rs. 5000 since the launch in September. The Galaxy J6 was launched starting at Rs. 13990, so it has received Rs. 3500 price cut for the 3GB + 32GB and Rs. 4500 for the 4GB + 64GB version since the launch in May last year. Samsug Galaxy A9 (2018) 8GB  + 128GB - Rs. 36,990 (Rs. 3000 price cut) Samsung Galaxy A9 (2018) 6GB  + 128GB - Rs. 33,990 (Rs. 3000 price cut) Samsung Galaxy A7 (2018) 6GB  + 128GB - Rs. 22,990 (Rs. 3000 price cut) Samsung Galaxy A7 (2018) 4GB  + 64GB - Rs. 18,990 ( Rs. 3000 price cut) Samsung Galaxy J6 4GB + 64GB - Rs.  11,990 ( Rs. 1000 price cut) Samsung Galaxy J6 3GB + 32GB - Rs.  10,490 ( Rs. 1000 price cut) All the phones are available at new rates ...

Portronics Yogg Plus water-resistant fitness tracker launched

Portronics has launched the “Yogg Plus” fitness tracker. It is capable of measuring your progress on the path to fitness. This fitness tracker can take the guess-work out of your daily activities, it measures the distance walked or jogged, the number of calories burnt in a day and also keeps a track on your sleep cycle. It also works as a daily assistant for reminders, fitness goals, social media and phone call alerts. It also reminds you to move for a better blood circulation when you have been idle for long. The company claims that Yogg Plus can be easily charged by using any 5V/500mA USB wall adaptor by inserting the detachable Yogg Plus dial into the USB adaptor. The fitness tracker is also dust and water resistant with IP67 standards and the VeryFit Pro mobile app can be used to check your daily activities and sleep cycles. The Yogg Plus allows you to set up to six daily 'Reminders' and lets you view various notifications including Social Media messages, SMS, emails, missed calls, reminders. When you enable the Sleep Mode the In-built sensor monitors your sleep pattern and displays it the next day. It connects to a smartphone via Bluetooth 4.0, packs 45mAh battery and weighs just ...