Vivo smartphones will launch online and offline simultaneously in India starting from 2020

The trend of online-exclusive smartphone models became popular in recent times and many smartphone brands launched online-only models. On similar lines, Vivo also launched its online-exclusive U series, Z series, S series, etc and now giving in to a long-standing demand of offline retailers, Vivo has announced that they will stop launching online-exclusive smartphones starting next year. In a letter to offline retailers and All India Mobile Retailers Association (AIMRA), Jerome Chen, CEO of vivo Mobiles India said that as a part of the company's 2020 strategy, they will simultaneously launch smartphones online and offline and there won't be any online-only models. So, there won't be any Vivo products that will be exclusive to Flipkart or Amazon starting next year. Also, the company said that its products will launch at the same price across both channels and the price and offers will be consistent across both online and offline channels. The company also urged offline retailers to offer a great buying experience for customers. Vivo's Z series and U series will continue to sell across both channels till "their end of life" and the company has also said that there won't be any new additions to both the series next year. Also, reports ...

Google Pixel 4a with flat puch-hole display, square camera module, 3.5mm audio jack surface

Google launched the Pixel 3a smartphone last year in India and brought back the 3.5mm headphone jack after removing it from Pixel 3. The company recently launched its flagship Pixel 4 recently and it did not launch in India. Now renders of the upcoming Pixel 4a have surfaced revealing the design and key details, and it could launch in India too if it does not come with Project Soli. According to the renders, Pixel 4a is said to sport a 5.7-inch or 5.8-inch flat display and thick bezels around the display. In comparison, Pixel 3a sports a 5.5-inch FULL HD+ OLED display. The renders also reveal an in-screen camera to the front, a square rear camera module that is said to house a single camera, and a 3.5mm audio jack. Pixel 4a is said to be smaller in comparison to Pixel 3a. Furthermore, the Pixel 4a is said to sport a rear-mounted physical fingerprint scanner, USB Type-C port, speaker grilles, similar to Pixel 3a. Although the rear square camera module is said to house only a single camera, it is said to be accompanied by "more sensors". Rest of the specifications are not known yet, but we can expect it to be powered ...

Redmi Note 8 Pro users report OTP issue in India; will be fixed in the next update

Xiaomi's Redmi brand launched the Redmi Note 8 Pro back in October this year and it got the company started rolling out MIUI 11.0.3.0.PGGINXM earlier this month. But after this update, several users have reported issues with receiving OTP and proximity sensor. Redmi Note 8 Pro users on MIUI 11.0.3.0.PGGINXM have reported issues with receiving OTP (One Time Password) messages. We tested the same on our unit too (8GB +128GB variant) with Airtel SIM and there was a delay in getting the OTPs delivered, and with Jio SIM, users have reported that they aren't receiving the OTPs at all. It is a widespread issue and moderators in Mi Community have said that the issue has been reported to the relevant team and an update will be released soon to address the same. The tentative release date for the update is January 10th according to users who contacted Xiaomi's customer support. Also, some users have reported issues with the proximity sensor after the update and it will also likely be fixed in the next update. Source 1, 2, 3

OPPO F15 with AMOLED display, quad rear cameras, in-display fingerprint sensor launching in India in January 2020

OPPO has started teasing the launch of F15, the company's next generation F series smartphone and the successor of this year's F11 in India soon. The company says that it will have sleek and fashionable design, and the teaser image shows the side profile of the phone. The teaser video confirms quad rear cameras and a waterdrop notch display. The design of the OPPO F15 in the teaser looks similar to the A91, which was introduced in China last week packing a 6.4-inch Full HD+ AMOLED screen with 90.7 screen-to-body ratio, MediaTek Helio P70 SoC with 8GB of RAM,  48-megapixel rear camera along with an 8-megapixel ultra-wide-angle lens and a 2-megapixel depth and 2-megapixel cameras, 16-megapixel front camera and a 4000mAh battery with VOOC 3.0 flash charge fast charging that can charge the phone up to 50% in 30 minutes. OPPO A91 specifications 6.4-inch (2340 × 1080 pixels) Full HD+ AMOLED display with Corning Gorilla Glass 5 protection Octa Core MediaTek Helio P70 12nm processor (Quad 2.1GHz Cortex A73 + Quad 2GHz Cortex A53 CPUs) with 900MHz ARM Mali-G72 MP3 GPU 8GB (LPPDDR4x) RAM, 128GB storage, expandable memory up to 256GB with microSD Dual SIM ColorOS 6.1 based on Android 9.0 (Pie) ...

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 ...