Worldwide tablet shipments grow by 1.9% in Q3 2019, Apple leads with 31.4% share: IDC

The International Data Corporation (IDC) has reported that tablet shipments for Q3 2019 worldwide have seen growth with 37.6 million units shipped globally, resulting in a year-on-year growth of 1.9%. The top five companies that shipped tablets are Apple, Amazon.com, Samsung, Huawei and Lenovo. Apple extended its lead in the tablet market share with a 21.8% growth compared to Q3 2018. The introduction of a new base level iPad and the inclusion of smart connector for detachable keyboards has contributed to strong sales for the iPad. The introduction of iPadOS has also helped Apple boost the sales of the iPad as it slowly encroaches on the PC market space. Amazon.com grabbed the second place in the market, a place usually held by Samsung. The introduction of the new Fire 7 tablet along with a lot of Prime Day Sales has helped the company's tablet shipment to grow by 25.6% YoY. Samsung settled in the third spot with 4.6 million units shipped this year, helped by the popular Tab A series and the premium Tab S series. HUAWEI came in 4th place with 3.6 million units sold and Lenovo came in 5th with 2.5 million units sold. Source

Realme 3 Pro ColorOS Software Update Tracker [Update: A.20 update with Dark mode, new charging animation, realme lab and October Android security patch]

realme launched the realme 3 Pro in the country back in April running ColorOS 6.0 based on Android 9.0 (Pie). realme doesn’t follow a fixed update frequency but the company rolls out updates frequently. This post will help our readers in keeping track of ColorOS updates for realme 3 Pro. ColorOS updates rolled out for the realme X so far, [Oct 31, 2019]: realme has started rolling out RMX1851EX_11.A.20 with October security patch. This update brings new charging animation, system-wide dark mode, realme laboratory and more. [Download Link] [Sep 30, 2019]: realme has started rolling out RMX1851EX_11_A.19 with September 2019 security patch. The update weighs about 276 MBs in size and brings digital wellbeing, redesigned notification center interface, clone app support for more third-party apps including PayTM, Google Pay, PhonePe, Amazon, Flipkart and ability to display screen on time. [Sep 13, 2019]: realme 3 Pro will be upgraded to Android 10 in Q1 2020, confirms realme. [June 5, 2019]: realme releases Android Pie based kernel source codes for realme 3 Pro. Check out our realme 3 Pro review in case you’re considering buying it. RMX1851EX_11.A.20 changelogs , Security ● Android security patch: October, 2019 System ● Added Dark Mode ● Updated charging animation ● Added fast switch toggles between SIM in notification ...

WhatsApp for Android fingerprint lock feature now rolling out for all globally

Earlier this year, WhatsApp rolled out Touch ID and Face ID for iPhone to provide an extra layer of security for WhatsApp users. After introducing the feature in WhatsApp for Android beta back in August, the company today announced the roll out for all the users globally that allows you to unlock the app with your fingerprint, on supported Android phones. How to enable fingerprint lock on WhatsApp for Android? Open WhatsApp Settings(can be accessed by clicking the three dots present on top right corner) > Account > Privacy. You will find a new option called ‘Fingerprint lock’ under ‘Privacy’. Turn on ‘Unlock with fingerprint’ option to enable the feature. Confirm the selection by touching the fingerprint sensor. WhatsApp is providing three options to users on when they can authenticate their identity to open and access the app. The options are visible under ‘Automatically lock’ and includes options like ‘Immediately’, ‘After 1 minute’ and ‘After 30 minutes’. With the fingerprint lock turned on, the widget content is hidden by default. But users can still answer WhatsApp calls and reply to messages from notifications since the authentication of the fingerprint is only required when the user wants to open the app and access it. Users also ...

Motorola razr foldable smartphone surfaces in live image

Motorola has scheduled an event on November 13th where it is expected to launch the Razr foldable smartphone. Earlier this year, the foldable smartphone surfaced in live images and similarly, now, a new live image of Motorola razr foldable smartphone has surfaced again. The image posted by Evan Blass (@evleaks) on Twitter reveals the live image of Motorola razr smartphone and the design looks almost identical to Motorola RAZR V3 that was launched in 2004. The leaked image shows that the displays will flip into place and it also shows a button to the front which could possibly be a fingerprint scanner. Furthermore, the leaked image also shows the rear camera on the very top. In a follow-up tweet, Evan Blass also revealed the logo of the smartphone which is in small letters (razr) instead of all caps (RAZR). The images of Motorola razr smartphone that surfaced previously suggested that it will have the display on the top and the bottom half expands to reveal a large screen along with a visible hinge. The latest image that has surfaced doesn't reveal much information, and we should know more information in the coming days. Source 1, 2

Facebook Q3 2019 earnings report released, Mark Zuckerberg confirms political ads will continue

Facebook has released their quarterly earnings report for Q3 2019. The company has posted a 29% year-on-year growth in total revenue, split between 28% from advertising and 42% from Payments and other fees. Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook's CEO, also explained in a post how they will not ban political advertising on the platform while the company believes in defending free expression.                   In the earnings report, Facebook reports that its Daily Active Users (DAU) has seen an increase of 9% year on year with an average of 1.62 billion users. Its Monthly active users (MAUs) on the other hand, averaged 2.45 billion as of September 30, 2019, an increase of 8% compared to Q3 2018. Mobile advertising revenue contributed to 94% of its revenue, which is up from the 92% contribution for Q3 2018 revenue. In Mark's post, he explained that Facebook, Instagram and Whatsapp have a total combined user count of about 2.8 billion people, with 2.2 billion people using at least one of our services daily. Facebook also estimates that more than 140 million businesses, mostly small businesses, are using our services each month to grow, create jobs and become social hubs in their ...

macOS Catalina 10.15.1 confirms existence of 16-inch MacBook Pro with updated Touch Bar and Touch ID layout

Earlier this year, there was a report that suggested Apple will launch 16-inch MacBook Pro this year and there were rumours about it for months now. Now, macOS Catalina 10.5.1 update that was released recently with support for AirPods Pro, new emoji, etc confirms the existence of 16-inch MacBook Pro with updated Touch Bar and Touch ID layout. The images found in macOS 10.15.1 update confirm that the 16-inch MacBook Pro will feature Touch ID power button that is separate from the Touch Bar and it is different from the 15-inch MacBook Pro which has Touch ID positioned along with the Touch Bar. There is also a possibility of Apple including a dedicated ESC key in the 16-inch MacBook Pro. The reference images of 16-inch MacBook Pro that were found in macOS Catalina 10.15.1 beta update is not present in the final update now. There are chances that Apple might not launch the new MacBook Pro anytime soon according to previous rumours. In related news, according to a report from Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, 2020 MacBook models will come with the Scissor mechanism instead of the Butterfly mechanism. The adoption of the Scissor mechanism is said to result in increased keyboard durability as ...

Airtel Xstream Fibre home broadband plans launched starting at Rs. 799/month

Airtel rebranded its TV app to Airtel Xstream back in August this year and the company launched 1Gbps Ultra broadband plan under Xstream Fibre branding last month. Following that, Airtel has now updated all home broadband plans under XStream Fibre branding and the plans now start at Rs. 799/month. There are 4 new plans under Airtel Xstream Fibre - Basic, Entertainment, Premium, and VIP. Airtel Xstream Fibre Basic is priced at Rs. 799/month, offers up to 100Mbps speed with 150GB data along with Unlimited Airtel Xstream content and Unlimited Local/STD calls. The Entertainment plan is priced at Rs. 999/month, offers up to 200Mbps speed with 300GB data along with 3 months Netflix subscription, 12 months Amazon Prime subscription, Unlimited Zee5 and Airtel Xstream content. The Premium plan is priced at Rs. 1499/month, offers up to 300Mbps speed with 500GB data along with 3 months Netflix subscription, 12 months Amazon Prime subscription, Unlimited Zee5 and Airtel Xstream content. The flagship VIP plan is priced at Rs. 3999/month, offers up to 1Gbps speed with Unlimited data (but the speed might be reduced if you hit a particular limit every month, which could be 3.3TB) along with 3 months Netflix subscription, 12 months Amazon Prime subscription, Unlimited Zee5 and ...

Xiaomi Mi Note 10 108MP Penta camera phone to be announced on November 14

Xiaomi will introduce the Mi CC9 Pro smartphone in China on November 5th, now the company has confirmed that the Mi Note 10 108MP penta camera phone on November 14th in Poland, which should be the global version of the Mi CC9 Pro. It has also shared a camera sample with zoomed shot. Xiaomi Mi Note 10 / CC9 Pro rumored specifications 6.47-inch (2340 × 1080 pixels) Full HD+ AMOLED display Octa Core (2.2GHz Dual + 1.8GHz Hexa) Snapdragon 730G Mobile Platform with Adreno 618 GPU 6GB / 8GB / 12GB LPPDDR4x RAM with 64GB /128GB / 256GB UFS 2.1 storage Dual SIM (nano + nano) MIUI based on Android 9.0 (Pie) 108MP rear camera with 1/ 1.33″ Samsung HMX sensor, 0.8μm pixel size, f/1.69 aperture, LED flash, 12MP 1/2.6-inch 2PD sensor with 1.4um for 2x zoom and portrait, telephoto lens for 10x hybrid zoom and 50x digital zoom, 5x optical zoom,  20MP  117° ultra-wide angle lens, super macro lens for 1.5cm macro shots 32MP front-facing camera In-display fingerprint sensor Dimensions: 157.8×74.2×9.67mm; Weight: 208g Dual 4G VoLTE, WiFi 802.11 ac (2.4GHz + 5GHz), Bluetooth 5, GPS + GLONASS, USB Type-C 5260mAh (Typical) / 5160mAh (minimum) battery with 30W fast charging We should ...

Xiaomi Mi CC9 Pro 108MP Penta camera samples teased, 5260mAh battery with 30W fast charging confirmed

We already know that Xiaomi's Mi CC9 Pro smartphone with 108MP rear camera and penta rear cameras will be announced on November 5th. The company already revealed details about the camera sensors and the specifications were revealed through TENAA listing. Now it has shared more samples and confirmed the battery details of the phone. The phone will feature 108MP main camera with 1/ 1.33″ Samsung HMX sensor, 0.8μm pixel size, f/1.7 aperture 12MP 1/2.6-inch 2PD Samsung SAK2L3 sensor with 1.4um pixel size for 2x zoom and portrait with 50mm focal length 20MP  117° ultra-wide angle camera Telephoto lens for 5x optical zoom, 10x hybrid zoom and 50x digital zoom Super macro lens for 1.5cm macro shots It has also shared camera samples that shows normal 2x, 5x optical and 10x hybrid zoom. Here are the 1.5cm macro shots and Portrait shots using the 12MP camera that also offers 2x zoom. [gallery link="file" columns="2" size="medium" ids="296879,296878,296877,296874,296873,296872"] Here are the night mode shots that offers 14-bit night mode based on RAW's loss-less algorithm. [gallery link="file" columns="1" size="large" ids="296875,296876"] In addition, the company has also confirmed that the phone will pack a 5260mAh (5160mAh minimum) battery with support for 30W fast charging that can charge the phone to 58% in ...

Twitter announces ban on all political ads on its platform starting November

Twitter's CEO, Jack Dorsey has announced in a tweet that Twitter will no longer allow political advertising globally on the platform. In his tweet, he explains that the reason for this is that Twitter believes that "political message reach should be earned, not bought". We’ve made the decision to stop all political advertising on Twitter globally. We believe political message reach should be earned, not bought. Why? A few reasons…🧵 — jack 🌍🌏🌎 (@jack) October 30, 2019 With a lot of anti-trust movements around social media role in political campaigns, Twitter has decided to completely ban political advertising on the platform globally. In Jack's tweet, he continues to explain his reasoning for the ban. He starts of by explaining how a political message must earn its reach when people decide for themselves to follow it and how paying for the reach completely negates that decision-making capability. With the rise in machine learning-based optimization of messaging and micro-targeting, unchecked misleading information, and deep fakes, political advertising can prove to be a powerful and dangerous tool to influence millions of people. Jack goes on to explain how these challenges are present on internet advertising on a whole and that they are trying to make changes beginning with ...