INOX to bring 270-degree movie watching ScreenX technology to India

INOX Leisure which is India's popular multiplex operator has signed a deal with CJ 4DPLEX to bring 'ScreenX' technology to India. INOX will be the first multiplex in India to bring ScreenX. What is ScreenX Technology? ScreenX is the world's first multi-projection system designed to enhance the cinematic immersiveness of the theatre setting. ScreenX allows moviegoers to experience beyond the frame of the movie screen by utilizing a proprietary system that expands images of feature films and pre-show advertising to create an immersive, panoramic, 270-degree format that projects onto three walls of theaters. This also aims to enhance the entertainment value of the content. The agreement was signed at CinemaCon which is the world's largest event for the movie theatre industry taking place currently at Las Vegas. Commenting on this partnership, Alok Tandon, Chief Executive Officer — INOX Leisure Ltd said: Ensuring a great viewing experience for our patrons has always been our foremost priority, which inspires us to continuously reinvent & innovate and bring the best technology to them. Further to this endeavor, we are proud to announce our association with ScreenX, which will enable us to offer an unprecedented 270-degree cinema-viewing experience on three walls of the theatre. This new form of storytelling would deliver the narrative in a ...

Google India VP Rajan Anandan quits, will join Sequoia Capital

Rajan Anandan, Vice President of Google India and South East Asia quits Google today. Anandan confirmed the same via his tweet, and he will be joining Sequoia Capital soon. 8 amazing years. 850million internet users across India and SEA. Many billions of revenue and fastest growing region in the world. Incredible team that thinks big and executes superbly. Thank you @GoogleIndia #GoogleSEA. Loved every minute. — Rajan Anandan (@RajanAnandan) April 2, 2019 Rajan Anandan served at Google for 8 years and will be joining Silicon Valley's marquee venture fund Sequoia Capital. Anandan contributed a lot to Google and was responsible for driving growth at Google India. He will be staying at the company until the end of this month before joining Sequoia. Until Google India finds a new person for this position, Vikas Agnihotri who is Google's country director for sales will take on the interim responsibility. Commenting on this, Scott Beaumont, President, Google Asia Pacific said: We are grateful to Rajan for his huge contribution to Google over the past eight years. His entrepreneurial zeal and leadership have helped grow the overall internet ecosystem in India and Southeast Asia, and we wish him all the best in his new adventures. Commenting on the arrival of Anandan, ...

Airtel deploys LTE 900 technology to enhance indoor network coverage in Karnataka

After Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, Punjab and Mumbai, Airtel has deployed 900 Mhz (LTE 900) spectrum band in Karnataka to significantly enhance the network experience for smartphone customers. In addition to high speed data capacity and wider availability, 900 Mhz spectrum will offer improved 4G availability inside buildings — homes, offices and malls. In Karnataka, Airtel already uses 2300 Mhz (TD LTE) and 1800 Mhz (FD LTE) in addition to 900 Mhz (LTE 900) spectrum. Airtel has already deployed advanced network technologies and tools such as pre-5G Massive MIMO, 4G Advanced and Carrier Aggregation to step up high speed network capacity and coverage. Airtel recently announced that it will expand its network in the state by rolling out 13000 new sites and 4500 Km of optic fiber during FY 19 under its network transformation program — Project Leap. C. Surendran, CEO – Karnataka, Bharti Airtel said: Our endeavor is to deliver best-in-class network experience to our customers. The deployment of LTE 900 will further boost Airtel 4G coverage, particularly inside homes and buildings. Airtel smartphone customers will enjoy a seamless high speed data and HD quality calling experience on our upgraded network. We will continue to invest aggressively in deployment of latest network technologies to delight our customers.

Nokia 8110 4G finally gets WhatsApp support

After the JioPhone got WhatsApp support back in September last year, Nokia 8110 4G  which was launched in October has finally received WhatsApp support in India. The app can be downloaded from the app store under social tab. The app has been built specially for Jio KaiOS, a web based operating system designed for smart feature phones, so that its users get the best experience, so it took time to build. Nokia 8110 4G was launched at Rs. 5,999, and currently retails for Rs. 4,999 on Nokia India online store. Speaking about this update, Ajey Mehta, Vice President and Country Head — India, HMD Global, said: We’re so happy that our fans in India will get WhatsApp on Nokia 8110 first anywhere in the world. The Nokia 8110 is a phone for ‘the originals’ and I hope along with adding to the style quotient, this new addition of WhatsApp to the already existing bouquet of apps on Nokia 8110 will make it the ideal choice for our fans.

WhatsApp launches ‘Checkpoint Tipline’ in India to report fake news

Facebook-owned WhatsApp has been making changes and adding features to its messaging platform recently. Today, WhatsApp has introduced a nifty feature for India called 'Checkpoint Tipline' to tackle fake news. This feature has been launched to understand and respond to misinformation during elections in India. Fake news has been circulating all over the internet and stirring tension among people. People forward messages that they receive in WhatsApp without verifying its authenticity. In order to curb this, WhatsApp has launched a new feature called 'Checkpoint Tipline' which allows users to report the suspicious messages that they receive. This initiative has been launched by PROTO, an India-based media skilling startup and technically assisted by WhatsApp. How 'Checkpoint TipLine' works? People in India can submit uncertain information or rumors they have received to the Checkpoint Tipline on WhatsApp +91-9643000888. When the user shares the suspicious message with the tipline, PROTO’s verification center will seek to respond and inform the user if the claim made in a message shared is verified or not. The response will indicate if the information is classified as true, false, misleading, disputed or out of scope and include any other related information that is available. 'Checkpoint Tipline' will cover four regional languages including Hindi, Telugu, ...

Nokia X71 with 6.3-inch FHD+ PureDisplay, triple rear cameras, 16MP in-screen front camera announced

HMD Global just announced Nokia X71, the company's latest mid-range smartphone in Taiwan, as it had promised. It has a 6.3-inch Full HD+ PureDisplay with 16-megapixel in-screen camera and 93% screen-to-body ratio. It is powered by Snapdragon 660 with 6GB of RAM, runs Android 9.0 (Pie) and has triple rear cameras that includes a 48-megapixel primary camera with ZEISS Optics, AI scene recognition, 5-megapixel camera for capturing depth information in portrait shots and an 8-megapixel 120-degree ultra-wide lens. Even though it has an 48-megapixel sensor, it offers 12-megapixel output by default using 4-in-1 pixel binning, but it comes with 48MP shooting option. It has a glass back, metal frame, rear-mounted fingerprint scanner and packs a 3500mAh battery with support for 18W fast charging. Nokia X71 specifications 6.3-inch (2316 × 1080 pixels) Full HD+ 19.3:9 2.5D curved glass display, 1:1400 contrast ratio, 500 nits brightness, 96% 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 6GB RAM, 128GB internal storage, expandable memory up to 256GB with microSD Hybrid Dual SIM (nano + nano / microSD) Android 9.0 (Pie) 48MP rear camera with f/1.8 aperture, 0.8µm pixel size, 6P lens, ZEISS optics, 8MP 120° ultra-wide ...

Apple starts assembling iPhone 7 in India

Apple launched the iPhone 7 in October 2016 and after 2 and half years since launch, Apple has finally decided to manufacture the iPhone 7 in India. With this, Apple is expanding its portfolio of smartphones under the 'Made in India' scheme. Apple iPhone 7 will be assembled at the Wistron facility in Bengaluru. Wistron is a Taiwanese contract manufacturer and has been assembling iPhone 6s and iPhone SE models in India already. The iPhone 7 assembling was started at the beginning of March itself at the same facility. Wistron received the approval for its 5000 crore proposal to expands its manufacturing capabilities. According to analysts, Apple will invest the margin made from these devices and convert them into more sales and marketing. With the assembling of iPhone 7 in India, it is unlikely for Apple to reduce the prices of the smartphones, according to reports. Current Pricing iPhone 7 32GB - Rs. 39,900 (MRP) iPhone 7 128GB - Rs. 49,900 (MRP) Commenting on this, Apple said, We are proud to be producing iPhone 7 in Bengaluru for our local customers furthering our long-term commitment in India.

Google no longer selling Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL smartphones

Google launched the original Pixel in October 2016 and it discontinued the sales exactly 1 and half years later in April 2018. In the same lines, Pixel 2 series were launched in October 2017, and Google is now officially stopping the sales of Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL. Today, Google has officially removed the listing of the Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL smartphones from its store. However, both the Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL will continue to receive Android version updates and monthly security patches. Although the original Pixel and Pixel XL was discontinued last year, Google is still pushing out updates and security patches to it. To recall, Google Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL came with Snapdragon 835 Mobile Platform, 4GB RAM, 64GB storage respectively. The Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL had a single 12.2 MP rear camera and an 8 MP front camera. With the launch of Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL, nothing much has changed in terms of the rear camera and in fact, the hardware was pretty much the same. Google is also gearing up to launch a cheaper Pixel 3a and Pixel 3a XL before the end of Q2 2019. However, we might ...

Realme U1 gets another permanent price cut, now starts at Rs.9999

Realme launched a new U series lineup of smartphone last year in India. Realme U1 was the first smartphone in the world to be powered by MediaTek Helio P70 SoC. Since launch, the smartphone had received price cut, and today, again Realme U1 has got a price cut in India. Realme U1 was launched in India last year in two storage variants. The 3GB RAM + 32GB storage variant was selling for Rs. 11,999 and 4GB RAM + 64GB storage variant was selling for Rs.14,499 on Amazon India. It received a price cut of Rs.1000 in February this year. Now, the base model i.e., 3GB RAM + 32GB storage variant of Realme U1 will be sold for Rs. 10,999, after a  Rs.1000 price cut again and the 4GB RAM + 64GB storage variant will be sold for Rs. 11,999 after a price cut of Rs.2,500. The Realme U1 is now available at new rates from Amazon.in as well as Realme India website online, as well as offline stores. Realme U1 3GB RAM + 32GB Storage 4GB RAM + 64GB Storage Launch price (INR) 11999 14499 Old price (INR) 10999 13499 New Price (INR) 9999 11999 Price cut since launch (INR) 2000 3500 Source

Google rolls out April 2019 Android security update, Improves Google Assistant Voice-Unlocking, fixes screen flash issues on Pixel 3 series

Google has started rolling out new over-the-air (OTA) update for Pixel devices and also posted factory images as part of monthly Android Security release. The update for this month also includes several functional improvements for Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL that includes improvements to Voice-Unlocking performance for Google Assistant and fixes screen flash issues on some devices. It also brings Bluetooth connectivity improvements for original Pixel series. References Category Improvements Devices A-119823747 A-120135659 Assistant Improves Voice-Unlocking performance for Google Assistant Pixel 3, Pixel 3 XL A-122883482 Setup Adjust Wi-Fi connectivity during eSIM activation on certain carriers Pixel 3, Pixel 3 XL A-119109648 Bluetooth Improves Bluetooth connectivity on Pixel devices Pixel, Pixel XL A-119327025 Display Removes screen flash when ambient display wakes for some Pixel 3 devices Pixel 3, Pixel 3 XL New builds for the Pixel and Nexus devices with April 2019 Android Security update: Pixel 3, Pixel 3 XL, Pixel 2, Pixel 2 XL, Pixel, Pixel XL (PQ2A.190405.003) Pixel C (OPM8.190405.001) Check out the complete set of issues that are fixed in the latest update in the Android Security Bulletin here, Security and download full factory images or OTA images for these Pixel devices from the Google Developers website, if you don’t have the over-the-air (OTA) update yet. We were going to say "no update" today but you all are quicker to the download than our April Fools joke. This month includes adjustments to brightness and volume ...