Vivo S1 and Vivo V15 Pro get a price cut in India, now available starting at Rs. 15990

Vivo launched the Vivo V15 Pro with a pop-up front camera earlier this year and recently the company launched the Vivo S1 smartphone in India. The V15 Pro got a price cut back in August this year and now, both the V15 Pro and Vivo S1 have got a price cut in India. Vivo S1 (4+128GB) variant is now available for Rs. 15,990, against its launch price of Rs. 17,990 and the 6+128GB variant is now available for Rs. 17,990, against its launch price of Rs. 19,990. Vivo V15 Pro (6+128GB) is now available for Rs. 19,990, against its previous selling price of Rs. 23,990. The revised prices are reflecting on Flipkart, Amazon.in, and are also available at offline stores. Smartphone Old Price New Price Price Cut Vivo S1 (4+128GB) Vivo S1 (6+128 GB) Rs. 17,990 Rs. 15,990   Rs. 2000 Rs. 19,990 Rs. 17,990 Vivo V15 Pro (6+128GB) Rs. 23,990 Rs. 19,990 Rs. 4000 To recall, Vivo S1 packs a 6.39-inch Full HD+ Super AMOLED display with about 90% screen-to-body ratio, is powered by the latest MediaTek Helio P65 12nm SoC with up to 6GB of RAM, sports a 16MP primary sensor with f/1.78 aperture, 8MP ultrawide sensor and an 2MP depth sensor, as well as a 32MP front-facing camera. It has an in-display fingerprint scanner and packs ...

Facebook testing data transfer tools directly to other services starting with Google Photos

Facebook has announced that they are testing a new tool that will streamline the process of transferring data from one service to another. The tool will allow users to transfer their Facebook photos and videos directly to other services, starting with Google Photos. Facebook has been looking into data transferring tools for quite a while, taking feedback from stakeholders in UK, Germany, Brazil, Singapore and more. The photo transfer tool that is being developed and tested now is based on code that was developed during the open source Data-Transfer Project. The tool will first be available in Ireland from today and Facebook plans to have a global rollout sometime in the first half of 2020. Facebook promises that the tool will have security and privacy features built in such as encrypted data transfer, password verification and more. Facebook is encouraging other companies to also participate in making tools that will allow users to seamlessly transfer data between services. If you are in Ireland, you can test out the tool here today. Source

Intel India opens new design and engineering centre in Hyderabad to explore next-gen computing and communication tech

Hyderabad is seeing yet another boost in its technology prowess as Intel India has decided to set up its new design and engineering centre in the city. The centre is part of Intel's expansion plan that will further strengthen collaborations with governments, industry, academia. The large 3 lakh sq. feet facility is built over six LEED Platinum certified floors with modern amenities and 40,000 sq. ft of labs. The centre houses an incubation center for hardware and systems startups in the IT corridor of the city as part of the Intel India Maker Lab. It also has collaboration areas, clinic, fitness center and recreation zones. Intel India plans to use this facility to make significant contributions to global products and technologies across next generation SoCs, graphics, hardware platforms and software. With Intel performing poorly in the its latest offering in the consumer and enterprise processor market compared to its competitor, AMD, it is looking hard into getting itself back on its feet. The Hyderabad facility will hopefully fuel that growth. Commenting on the opening of the new design and engineering centre in Hyderabad, Sri K. T. Rama Rao, Hon’ble Minister for IT, Industries, MA & UD, Govt. of Telangana said: Hyderabad has emerged as a key destination ...

China mandates face scans for new mobile connection

Fingerprint authentication, Identity proof, etc are being used by many countries to verify user identity for new mobile connections. Now face scanning method is being adopted by many countries to verify users identify and on similar lines, China has mandated face scans when users register for a new mobile connection. According to a report from the BBC, users in China when signing up for a new mobile or mobile data contract must have their faces scanned as a part of verification. The usual national identity card and photos as proof of verification still exist, and now face scanning is also a compulsory process. The regulation was due to come into effect on Sunday after it was announced in September and it is framed by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. The Chinese government says that it wants to "protect the legitimate rights and interest of citizens in cyberspace". Although there has been increasing criticism on China for enforcing face scanning for user identity verification, the regulation is framed to ensure that the Chinese government can identify all mobile phone users and strengthen the system. China already uses facial recognition to survey its population and the new regulation aims to strengthen this system. Source ...

Vivo Y9s with 6.38-inch FHD+ AMOLED display, 48MP quad rear cameras, in-display fingerprint scanner announced

Vivo has announced Y9s, the company's latest mid-range smartphone in the Y series in China, after it got certified by TENAA few weeks back.  It packs a 6.38-inch Full HD+ Super AMOLED display with 90% screen-to-body ratio, is powered by Snapdragon 665 with 8GB of RAM, 48MP primary sensor, 8MP ultrawide sensor, 2MP depth and a  2MP macro sensor, as well as a 32MP front-facing camera. It also packs an in-display fingerprint scanner, 3D glass back and a 4500mAh battery with support for fast charging. Vivo Y9s specifications 6.38-inch (2340 × 1080 pixels) Full HD+ Super AMOLED display Octa Core Snapdragon 665 11nm Mobile Platform (Quad 2GHz Kryo 260 + Quad 1.8GHz Kryo 260 CPUs) with Adreno 610 GPU 8GB RAM, 128GB storage Android 9.0 (Pie) with Funtouch OS 9 Dual SIM 48MP rear camera with f/1.8 aperture, LED flash, 8MP wide-angle camera with f/2.2 aperture, 2MP depth sensor and 2MP for macro with f/2.4 aperture 32MP front-facing camera with f/2.0 aperture In-display fingerprint sensor 3.5 mm audio jack, FM Radio Dimensions: 159.25×75.19×8.68mm; Weight: 186.7g Dual 4G VoLTE, WiFi 802.11 ac (2.4GHz + 5GHz), Bluetooth 5, GPS + GLONASS, USB Type-C 4500mAh (typical) / 4390mAh (minimum) battery with 18W fast charging The Vivo ...

Realme X2 gets a new Avocado Green color variant

Realme announced the realme X2 smartphone in China and Europe back in September in Pearl White and Pearl Blue colors, now it has introduced the Avocado Green color version of the phone in China. It has also started selling the Red Brick version of the realme X2 Pro phone in China. To remind you, the X2 packs a 6.4-inch Full HD+ AMOLED display with 91.9% screen-to-body ratio and Corning Gorilla Glass 5 protection. It is powered by Snapdragon 730G with up to 8GB of RAM, runs Android 9.0 (Pie) with ColorOS 6.0 and packs a 64-megapixel primary rear camera with 1/1.72″ Samsung GW1 sensor and f/1.8 aperture. It has a 8MP 118° ultra-wide angle lens with 1.12μm pixel size, f/2.25 aperture, 2MP depth sensor and 2MP camera for 4cm macro with 1.75μm pixel size, f/2.4 aperture. The phone also has AI scene recognition, Chrome boost, Super nightscape and Expert mode. There is also EIS support for video. It has a 32-megapixel camera on the front. It has a 3D Corning Gorilla Glass 5 protection on the back, and the back offers hyperbola light effect. The phone has an in-display fingerprint sensor and packs a 4000mAh battery with 30W VOOC 4.0 fast charging ...

China introduces new regulations to control spread of Deepfake news and videos

Deepfake technology has already caused a huge amount of worry among governments around the world, giving rise to many investigations into the dangers of deepfake tech. Governments are introducing regulations or outright banning the tech with now, China being the latest country to regulate deepfake technologies that can be used to create and broadcast fake news. The ban comes about a month and half after US state California introduced legislature that made political deepfakes illegal. The EU is also reported to be investigating online disinformation methods that includes deepfake tech. Deepfake technology is an implementation of AI where people in videos can be manipulated to produce fabricated messages and sounds that appear to be real. It can be used to overlay images of celebrity faces on other peoples’ bodies, fooling viewers with very convincing results. The technology can be incredibly effective and dangerous tool in creating and spreading misinformation among the public via apps and social media. With concerns rising on how fake advertisements influenced elections in the past, governments have become cautious with use of Deepfake technology by the public. The new China regulation published by the Cyberspace Administration of China, is effective from January 1, 2020 and will require providers and users ...

Alphabet’s Google under EU investigation for data collection: Report

Google has yet again fallen into the scrutiny of the European Union (EU) for its collection of data. The EU antitrust regulators, despite having fined the search engine giant billions of dollars is now seeking an investigation into how and why Google is collecting data. Reuters' report says that the EU's focus is on data collected by Google in its local search services, online advertising, online ad targeting services, login services and others. The European Competition Commissioner had already ordered Google to change its business practices and in the past 2 years alone, fines totaling over 8 billion euros have been slapped onto Google. Both the American Congress and the EU are intensely looking into the practices of tech giants such as Amazon, Google and Facebook. Lots of investigations have led to these companies being fined for malpractice but tech companies don't seem to be slowing down with their data collection. Source

Realme C2 update brings November Security Patch, fixes touch response issue

realme launched the realme C2 along with realme 3 Pro in the country back in April running ColorOS 6.0 based on Android 9.0 (Pie). To recall, It has a 6.1-inch HD+ Dewdrop display and, is powered by MediaTek Helio P22 SoC with up to 3GB of RAM. It has a 13-megapixel rear camera along with a secondary 2-megapixel camera for portrait shots and a 5-megapixel front camera. The company has already announced Android 10 update roadmap for its smartphones, but realme C2 wasn't included in the list. [Dec 2, 2019]: realme has started rolling out RMX1941EX_11_A.20 with an updated November security patch. The update fixes touch response issues. [Download Link] [Oct 25, 2019]: realme has started rolling out RMX1941EX_11_A.18 with an updated October security patch. The update brings system-wide Dark Mode, updated charging animation, realme laboratory along with swipe down on the home screen to expand notification center feature. [Download Link] [Sep 30, 2019]: realme has started rolling out Android Pie based RMX1941EX_11_A.17 with September 2019 security patch. The update brings digital wellbeing, and redesigned notification center interface to realme C2. [Download Link] realme says it is a staged rollout and will be randomly pushed to a limited number of users and will have a ...

Redmi Note 8 Series sales cross 10 million units globally in 3 months

Xiaomi’s Redmi brand introduced  Redmi Note 8 and Note 8 Pro smartphones in China back in August, and the phones were launched in India in October. Today the company has announced that the combined sales of Redmi Note 8 and Note 8 Pro have hit 10 million units globally in just 3 months, which is 1 month less time compared to the Redmi Note 7 series. It said that it sold 110,000 units per day for 3 consecutive months. Last week the company announced that it has sold 1 million or 10 lakh units of Redmi Note 8 series in India in 1 month. To celebrate this the company is offering 100 yuan discount on the Redmi Note 8 6GB + 128GB version, which is available for 1299 yuan (US$ 184 / Rs. 13,250 approx.) for limited period, but it is still cheaper in India at Rs. 12,999. The company has also announced that it will reveal more details about the Redmi K30 phones tomorrow, ahead of launch on December 10th. The company recently denied rumors about the existence of new version of Redmi Note 8 Pro with Snapdragon 730G processor and 27W fast charging, which was said to compete with the realme ...