Xiaomi is India’s largest exclusive offline brand: Channelplay Research

Xiaomi has emerged as India's biggest exclusive offline brand in India, according to a market research survey conducted by Channel Play, a Retail Execution & Measurement company in India. The survey evaluated 11 product based industries and concluded Xiaomi as the largest in the country, with Samsung in second place. The study was conducted across many industries including Apparel, Footwear, Jewellery & Watches, Electronics, Books & Stationery, Sports & Games, etc. Xiaomi, with all its single brand retail outlets-Mi Home, Mi Studio and Mi Stores emerged as the leader. Samsung followed in second place, Cafe Coffee Day (CCD) third and then Dominos India, and Bata. The study showed that Xiaomi held a significant lead over others, over 44% bigger than Samsung and over 48% bigger than CCD. Commenting on the results of the survey, Sundeep Holani, CEO of Channelplay said: The growth in offline retail is largely motivated by the increasing need of experiential buying by Indian consumers. A large proportion of consumers prefer a physical product experience before buying and another significant proportion is reluctant in making financial transactions online, especially for high value products. This has largely established the need for brand experience stores. Post studying 11 product-based retail industries and around 700 ...

Noise ColorFit Pro 2 Review

As we are nearing the end of 2019, it's time to retake new year resolutions! If it involves something like getting fit and more active, we have lots of tools in the market to recommend. One such tool to keep you going in terms of fitness is undoubtedly the fitness tracker or smartwatch. Currently, the market is rich in competition with a variety of wearables, which means users can get a good smartwatch that covers all the fundamentals for a reasonable price. A few weeks back, Noise, famous for its smart accessories, had launched the ColorFit Pro 2, the company's latest fitness smartwatch, and the successor of last year's ColorFit Pro. It comes with a slew of features including color touch screen, new user interface, improved pedometer, and much more. We had this device for more than a week, and here's our take on it. Design and Display The Noise ColorFit Pro 2 comes with a minimal design with a big square-shaped dial. Unlike its predecessors, the Pro 2 supports touch, and the settings/modes can be accessed by swiping it to the left. It is available in Jet Black, Teal Green, and Mist Grey colors. Our review unit is Jet Black. The straps ...

Microsoft Office beta for Android combines Word, Excel and PowerPoint into a single app

Microsoft already has separate Word, Excel and PowerPoint apps for Android, and it has been updating the app with new features. Last week it started testing a new Microsoft Office app that combines Word, Excel and PowerPoint into one. You can also scan to PDFs and also sign PDF files easily using the app. The new Microsoft Office Beta for Android is down on the  Google Play Store  (Cache), however you can download the APK from here and side-load it manually. Highlights of Microsoft Office Create, edit and work in groups on the same document in real time. Store and access documents on cloud storage or device memory. Easily access recent and frequently used Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files stored in the cloud or on your device. Search for documents stored on the cloud, on the phone or on the organization's network (if using a work account). Take a picture of a document and turn it into an editable Word file. Convert images of tables into Excel spreadsheets so you can work with data quickly. Quickly create PDFs from photos or documents of Word, Excel and PowerPoint. Sign PDF with your finger. Create quick notes with Sticky Notes. Easily move files between your ...

GoPro Hero 8 Black with HyperSmooth 2.0 video stabilization goes on sale in India for Rs. 36500

GoPro HERO8 Black Limited Launch Edition Action Camera is now available in India, after it was introduced last month. The Hero 8 Black has a 12MP sensor with frameless mounting and built-in folding mounting fingers, and a frameless design that now makes swapping battery and SD cards faster compared to the previous generation. It now features an upgraded HyperSmooth 2.0 video stabilization that works in all resolutions and frame rates and also features a new Boost mode that cranks up the stabilization when desired. The new GoPro now also supports four digital lenses -Narrow, distortion-free Linear, Wide and SuperView. The TimeWarp 2.0 automatically adjusts speed based on motion, scene detection and lighting and one can tap to slow down to real-time and again to speed back up. The HERO8 Black can capture 4K 60fps video + 1080p 240fps video with bit rate options of up to 100Mbps, and 8x slo-mo ultra-high frame rate 1080p240 video. Other features include RAW in all Photo modes, Night Lapse video, Live Streaming, and more. Highlights of GoPro HERO8 Black 12MP sensor Video: 4K at 60fps, 4K (4:3) at 30fps, 2.7K at 120fps, 2.7K (4:3) at 60fps, 1440p at 120fps, and 1080p at 240fps Framless design HyperSmooth ...

Xiaomi Mi CC9 Pro: Snapdragon 730G, ultra-thin in-display fingerprint scanner, NFC, Infrared sensor and more confirmed

Xiaomi Mi CC9 Pro smartphone with 108MP penta rear cameras will be announced on November 5th. The company already revealed details about the camera sensors, dual OIS, shared samples, and the specifications were revealed through TENAA listing, and it also confirmed the 5260mAh battery with 30W fast charging. Few days back it has confirmed Snapdragon 730G, details about the in-display fingerprint scanner and more. The Redmi K20 was powered by Snapdragon 730, and the Mi CC9 Pro will be the first Xiaomi phone to be powered by Snapdragon 730G. It also said that this is the world's first smartphone to feature ultra-thin screen in-display fingerprint scanner with improved sensitivity for better unlock success rate. It is easier to unlock even in low temperatures and if the fingers are dry, said the company. The phone is equipped with bottom ported speaker with a 1CC large sound chamber, and the overall loudness is doubled compared with the previous generation, said the company. It also has a 3.5mm audio jack with support for Hi-Res audio. The CC9 Pro features NFC support and comes with infrared sensor on the top to control home appliances using Mi Remote app. Xiaomi Mi CC9 Pro rumored specifications 6.47-inch (2340 × 1080 ...

OnePlus 7T Pro Review: Is it a worthy upgrade from OnePlus 7 Pro?

The smartphone market is crazy right now (2019) with back to back launches every week. The lifecycle of a smartphone (in case of upgrades) has drastically reduced from one year to mere months at present. Started with the OnePlus 3T series, OnePlus had made a tradition of launching two smartphones a year - a standard version and a "T" version till last year.  However, this year, the company has launched four new devices, and the renders of purported OnePlus 8 is already floating on the Internet. This year OnePlus launched OnePlus 7 and OnePlus 7 Pro earlier this year. Keeping up with the tradition, the company launched the mid-cycle refresh dubbed as OnePlus 7T and OnePlus 7T Pro. Talking about the upgrade, the company has made some noteworthy changes to the OnePlus 7T by implementing a 90Hz Fluid AMOLED display, triple camera setup, processor bump, slight battery bump, and of course, the much talked Warp Charger 30T. If you are planning to buy OnePlus 7T, head on here to read our review.  What are the changes? Coming to the OnePlus 7T Pro, it honestly looks like an unnecessary launch rather than saying upgrade. The difference between the OnePlus 7 Pro and 7T Pro is ...

JioPhone Diwali 2019 offer: Get JioPhone at Rs. 699 with additional data worth Rs. 700 [Update: Extended for one more month]

Update: November 2, 2019 - JioPhone Diwali Offer has been extended for 1 additional month (November). The company also said that this witnessed an unprecedented record demand during the past 3 weeks. Earlier: Reliance Jio launched the JioPhone back in 2017 for Rs. 1500. Last year it launched the 'Monsoon Hungama' that allowed feature phone users exchange their phone for a new JioPhone at an effective price of Rs. 501 instead of paying the full amount of Rs. 1500. Today the company has launched new JioPhone Diwali 2019 offer that lets users get the phone at a special price of  Rs. 699, which is Rs. 800 less, without any special conditions like having to exchange your old phone. For JioPhone customers who join Jio through the DIWALI 2019 OFFER, Jio will offer data benefits valued at Rs. 700. For first 7 recharges that the customer does, Jio will additionally add Rs. 99 worth of data. The savings of Rs. 800 on the JioPhone and the Rs 700 worth of data, totals to a benefit of Rs 1,500 on every JioPhone. This JioPhone offer will be available only for a limited period, during the festive season of Dussehra and Diwali. Commenting on the same, Mukesh ...

OnePlus 6 and OnePlus 6T OxygenOS 10.0 Android 10 stable update starts rolling out

After Oxygen OS Open Beta updates based Android 10 last month, OnePlus just announced that it has started rolling out OxygenOS 10.0 stable update for the OnePlus 6 and OnePlus 6T smartphones. This comes after the OnePlus 7 and OnePlus 7 Pro got the update recently. OnePlus already confirmed that OnePlus 5 and OnePlus 5T users will have to wait till Q2 2020 for the Android 10 update. The update is around 1.8GB in size, As usual, OnePlus said that the OTA will have a staged roll out over the next few days, and using VPN to download the build might not work as the roll out is not based on regions and is randomly pushed out to a limited number of devices. However, you can download the OnePlus 6T update here, if you can't wait. Changelog System Upgraded to Android 10 Brand new UI design Enhanced location permissions for privacy New customization feature in Settings allowing you to choose icon shapes to be displayed in the Quick Settings General bug fixes and improvements Full Screen Gestures Added inward swipes from the left or right edge of the screen to go back Added a bottom navigation bar to allow switching left or ...

TikTok creator ByteDance introduces Smartisan Jianguo Pro 3 with 6.39-inch FHD+ AMOLED display, Snapdragon 855 Plus, up to 12GB RAM, quad rear cameras

TikTok creator ByteDance acquired set of patents and some empoyees from the smartphone maker Smartisan earlier this year, and the company this week introduced Jianguo Pro 3, the first smartphone after the deal. The phone packs a 6.39 FHD+ AMOLED screen with DC Dimming, is powered by Snapdragon 855 Plus with up to 12GB of RAM, runs Android Pie-based Smartisan OS 3.0, features a 48MP (IMX586) main, 13MP 123-degrees ultra-wide, 8MP telephoto for 2x zoom and a 5MP 2cm macro lens. There is also a 20MP camera on the front with 4-in-1 pixel binning. It has an in-display fingerprint scanner, doesn't have a 3.5mm audio jack, and packs a 4,000mAh battery with 18W fast charging, and is just 7.8mm thick. Smartisan Jianguo Pro 3 specifications 6.39-inch (1080 × 2280 pixels) Full HD+ Super AMOLED display with 100% NTSC Color Gamut, DCI-P3 / sRGB color gamut Octa-Core Snapdragon 855 Plus 7nm Mobile Platform (1 x 2.96GHz  Kryo 485 + 3 x 2.42GHz Kryo 485 + 4x 1.80GHz Kryo 485) with Adreno 640 GPU 8GB LPDDR4x RAM with 128GB / 256GB (UFS 3.0) storage, 12GB LPDDR4x RAM with 256GB (UFS 3.0) storage Dual SIM Android 9.0 (Pie) with Smartisan OS 3.0 48MP rear camera ...

Noise Shots X-Buds true wireless Bluetooth 5.0 earbuds launched for Rs. 3999 [Update: Teal Green and Peach Orange colors]

Update: November 2, 2019: Noise Shots X-Buds are now available in new Teal Green and Peach Orange Colors from gonoise.com and Amazon.in. You can check out the review here. Earlier: Noise, popular for its wearables has launched Noise Shots X-Buds, the company's latest true wireless earbuds with full touch control. This lets you play or pause music, change tracks, control volume and answer calls as well, without having to take your phone out of your pocket. It has custom drivers that promises clear sound and deeper bass. It has Bluetooth v5.0 and voice assistant support on Android and iOS. This has IPX5 rating for water resistance from sweat and rain. The earbuds promise 4+ hours of battery life in the earphones and another 3 full recharges from the included charging case, so X-Buds can go for over 16 hours without being plugged in. Noise Shots X-Buds specifications Bluetooth 5.0 to connect to devices Smart touch controls on the earbuds give you full control, letting you pause or play music, control volume, skip tracks and answer or rejects calls. Water-resistant (IPX5), making them resistant to sweat from the toughest workouts and light rain Supports voice assistants such as Google Assistant and Siri Offers 4 ...