Redmi K30 5G with 6.67-inch FHD+ 120Hz display, Snapdragon 765G, liquid cooling, 64MP quad rear cameras to go on sale in China starting from Jan 7

Xiaomi’s Redmi brand announced the Redmi K30 5G and 4G versions at an event in China earlier this month. Even though 4G version of the phone went on sale China from December 12th, the company said that the Redmi K30 5G will go on sale from January 2020. Today it has confirmed that the first sale of the phone will happen starting from January 7th. Even though this might be the first phone to be announced with Snapdragon 765G, the OPPO Reno3 Pro 5G which was introduced last week will be the first Snapdragon 765G-powered phone that will be available in China from tomorrow, December 31st. To remind you, the phone packs a 6.67-inch Full HD+ 120Hz LCD screen with 4.38mm, dual-punch-hole screen with 91% screen-to-body ratio, thanks to 4.25mm ultra-narrow bottom frame, has built-in 5G stand alone and non-stand alone (SA/NSA) sub-6GHz networks. It has 5mm copper tube liquid cooling to the temperature of the phone by up to 7 degrees, and the phone runs Android 10 with MIUI 11 on top. It packs Sony IMX686 64-megapixel 1/1.7″ sensor,  8-megapixel ultra-wide-angle lens, 5-megapixel 2cm super macro lens and a 2-megapixel camera for portrait shots. On the front there is a 20-megapixel ...

Xiaomi launches Mi Matte Hard Case for the Redmi Note 8 Pro in India for Rs. 499

After launching the Mi Protective Glass for the Redmi Note 8 Pro smartphone few weeks back, Xiaomi has launched Mi Matte Hard Case for the phone. As the name says, this offers matte finish on the back and the sides offering a battery grip and promises all round protection for the phone since it is made of shock absorbent material. Even the volume keys on the sides are protection so that it can protect the phone from scratches. Inner side of the phone is made of soft material. Similar to protective cases for the K20 series, the bottom part of this case is left open to access the ports easily, and there are holes on the top for the IR sensor and the secondary microphone. You have to remove the case only when you have to remove the SIM tray which is located on the left side of the phone. The Mi Matte Hard Case for the Note 8 Pro comes only in Black color, is priced at Rs. 499 and is available from mi.com.

Vivo patents quad punch-hole smartphone designs

Smartphone manufacturers have been experimenting with various designs for their smartphones and in recent times, a lot of smartphones came with pop-up cameras, various types of notch, punch-hole design, dual-punch hole design, and even rotating cameras. To take it a notch higher, now, Vivo has patented several quad punch-hole designs for smartphones. Vivo's patent for quad punch-hole design has been granted by the China National Intellectual Property Administration. The patent reveals multiple designs of the quad-punch hole on the display. The designs show off multiple punch holes at every corner of the display, a large dual-punch hole on top corners of the display, and lastly smaller dual punch-hole on the top corners as well. It is still not clear how Vivo is planning to implement the quad-punch hole design. Vivo could include four front-facing cameras or that portion could house the sensors as well, but the former seems likely compared to the latter. While Vivo has patented these designs, it is still not clear if the company would incorporate the same on its smartphones anytime soon. We should know more information in the coming months. Source | Via

Apple iPhone XR top selling phone globally every quarter from Q4 2018 till Q3 2019: Report

A report published by Counterpoint research has shown the iPhone XR to be the top selling phone for Q3 2019, accounting for almost 3.0% of all phones sold worldwide. The XR was took the position as Apple's most sold ever phone model till date, contributing to over one-quarter of the total Apple sales during the Q3 2019. The iPhone XR was definitely a winner in Apple's history of the iPhone, a phone that sacrificed little from the more premium iPhone Xs with a much lower price. Apple also boosted sales in key markets like China and other regions by adjusting its price accordingly. In the top 10 for Q3 2019, Samsung had 3 models but none of them were its flagship models. Instead, it turned out to be its budget A series, specifically the A10, A50 and the A20 that turned out to be Samsung's most sold phone this quarter. The sales were driven with the excellent value offered in these phones with its multiple camera setups and decent internal specs. OPPO also had 3 devices in the top 10 as its A9, A5s and A5 proved to be popular in China and other regions. Huawei P30 also made an appearance but will ...

Facebook Messenger option to sign up with mobile number removed, now requires Facebook account

Facebook has quietly removed the option to sign up with mobile number and has now made it a mandatory requirement to sign up with a Facebook Account. Earlier, users could sign up with their mobile numbers instead of a Facebook account for both Messenger and Messenger Lite. The change was confirmed in an article by Venturebeat. A spokesperson has reportedly told Venturebeat that new users of Messenger will require a Facebook account to chat with friend and close connections. They also noted that most current users already have signed into their Facebook account when using the app and that nothing will happen to those users who have been using Messenger without an account. However the change has not been completely smooth as some users on Reddit have reported that their account access has been restricted, suggesting that the app has some bugs with this change. The change is likely part of Facebook's strategy of unification of its three major messaging services, Messenger, WhatsApp and Instagram. Facebook has steadily been introducing its name throughout the app as recently it made an update to these three apps. Facebook is also reported working on integrating and unifying the background infrastructure that is running these apps. Via

Whatsapp beta testing disappearing messages in groups

Whatsapp is reportedly testing a feature that enables disappearing messages, that will automatically remove messages after a certain period of time. The feature has been in development in Whatsapp Beta's under different names and is part of Whatsapp's cleaning tools. The feature was initially called disappearing messages but is now renamed to just "Delete messages". Whatsapp probably changed this name as it released another feature called "delete for everyone" that basically unsent the message from the user's phone. Delete messages will directly delete messages after a period of time that can be specified by the user. The feature is currently only in testing for group chats and specifically can only be enabled by the administrators of the group. Users, for the time being, cannot utilize this feature with individual chats. As mentioned earlier, the feature is part of Whatsapp's cleaning tools as the amount of spam that gets accumulated in a users phone can usually be large. Using this feature, users can save their phone storage, deleting old messages automatically. The feature is currently unavailable and will reportedly be enabled for everyone soon. You can become a tester for Whatsapp Beta for Android here for iOS here. Fair warning though, the beta version ...

Vivo S1 Pro with 6.38-inch FHD+ AMOLED screen, in-display fingerprint scanner, quad rear cameras teased ahead of India launch

Vivo has started teasing the launch of S1 Pro smartphone in India soon on Amazon.in. It was introduced in Russia as V17 last month and packs a 6.38-inch FULL HD+ 19.5:9 aspect ratio Super AMOLED notch display with a resolution of 2340 x 1080 pixels and 90% screen-to-body ratio and minimal bezels. It is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 665 processor paired with 8GB RAM + 128GB internal storage and runs Funtouch OS 9.2 based on Android 9 (Pie). It has 48MP rear camera with f/1.8 aperture) + 8MP ultra-wide camera with f/2.2 aperture, 2MP macro and 2MP depth sensor with f/2.4 aperture and 32MP f/2.0 front camera. The camera supports various features including Gesture control, Voice control, Professional mode, Slow motion, HDR, Bokeh, Panorama, and more. As it is a Super AMOLED panel, it features an in-display fingerprint scanner. It packs a 4500mAh battery with 18W fast charging support through USB Type-C port. Vivo S1 Pro specifications 6.38-inch (2340 × 1080 pixels) Full HD+ 19.5:9 Super AMOLED display; 90% screen-to-body ratio Octa-Core Snapdragon 665 11nm Mobile Platform (Quad 2GHz Kryo 260 + Quad 1.8GHz Kryo 260 CPUs) with Adreno 610 GPU 8GB LPPDDR4x RAM with 128GB storage Dual SIM Funtouch OS 9.2 based ...

4K and 8K video recording to get easier as Android 11 to remove 4GB file size limit

Soon, you might be able to record larger video files for 4K recordings as code has been spotted in Android 11 AOSP code that removes the current 4GB file limitation. This will update a decision taken by Google back in 2014 to set the 4GB approximate file size limit as that was all that required at the time. Times have changed since then as 4K recording and video file sizes have increased massively and can easily hit the size limit. At the moment, when you record 4K videos, if you cross the 4GB limit, Android will automatically continue recording onto a new separate file seamlessly. However, it will not combine the files into a single one which can be cumbersome to the user when viewing. Based on the new code submitted by Google to Android AOSP code, Google is supposedly planning to remove this file size limitation. What Google is planning is to move from a 32-bit file size limit to a 64-bit limit file size limit. This basically allows a huge file size which can even fill up your whole phone with just one file. Though, Google is expected to set a more reasonable maximum file size once testing is completed. Android ...

Samsung Galaxy A30s gets a price cut again in India, now available for Rs. 14999

Samsung launched the Galaxy A30s smartphone back in September this year and it got a price cut last month alongside the Galaxy A50s. After a month of first price cut, now the Galaxy A30s has got another price cut here. After the price cut, Samsung Galaxy A30s is now available for Rs. 14,999, against its previous price of Rs. 15,999. The Galaxy A30s comes in a single variant i.e., 4GB RAM with 64GB of internal storage, but there are reports that Samsung will launch the 128GB storage variant soon. The revised prices are reflecting on Amazon.in and Samsung India eStore. Smartphone Launch Price Old Price New Price Price Cut Samsung Galaxy A30s Rs. 16,999 Rs. 15,999 Rs. 14,999 Rs. 1000 To recall, Samsung Galaxy A30s flaunts a 6.4-inch HD+ Infinity-V Super AMOLED screen, is powered by Exynos 7904 octa-core 14nm SoC with 4GB of RAM and runs Android 9 Pie. It sports a 25-megapixel rear camera with f/1.7 aperture along with an 8-megapixel 123° ultra-wide and 5-megapixel depth sensor and a 16-megapixel front camera with f/2.0 aperture. It packs a 4000mAh battery with 15W fast charging. Via

LG to showcase new soundbars at CES 2020 in partnership with Meridian Audio

LG Electronics is planning to introduce new models of their premium sound bars at CES 2020.  Partnering with a company called Meridian Audio, LG promises premium quality audio, easy connectivity, smart functionality and sleek designs that integrate perfectly with LG TVs. The soundbars will feature LG's finely-tuned technologies such as Bass and Space, which boosts low-frequency reproduction and widens the soundstage and Image Elevation that will highlight the vocals and instruments. The high end models will also support Dolby Atmos and DTS:X for dynamic and thoroughly immersive audio. A new technology that LG is adding to the soundbar lineup is AI Room Calibration that accurately assess the dimensions of the room it is placed in and automatically optimizes sound. The soundbars will also feature 4K Pass-Through and support for the optional SPK8 Wireless Rear Speaker Kit. Connectivity will be easier than ever with the addition of enhanced audio return channel (eARC) so owners can plug external devices directly into their eARC compatible TVs. Commenting on the announcement of the new soundbars, Park Hyung-woo, head of LG Home Entertainment Company’s audio and video business said: Our goal has always been to bring better sound to more people and by offering more great products that leverage ...