OnePlus Snowbot Battle will let anyone control 5G-powered Snowbots in global snowball fight

OnePlus today announced world’s first 5G-powered interactive snowball fight, which will take place starting 9th March 2020 for more than 70 consecutive hours in Finland. The experience will allow anyone from around the world to control the OnePlus Snowbots in a live snowball fight. OnePlus says that this will demonstrate the true 5G potential and how this can change the way people interact with smartphones, OnePlus developed custom-made snowball-firing robots: Snowbots. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BlzzKny0TI The Snowbots will be operated through OnePlus devices with a 5G network, brought to the remote Lapland region by Finnish operator Elisa, allowing thousands of community members from across the globe to experience a seamless and lag-free offline-to-online gaming experience like never seen before. The OnePlus Snowbot Battle, hosted in Ruka-Kuusamo area, Lapland, Finland, will start on 9th March 2020 at 12:00pm GMT with a special Human vs. Robots event, that will see a selected number of people join in teams to play against the 5G-powered Snowbots operated by users from all across the world. From the evening 9 March to 12 March, the Snowbot Battle will run 24 hours a day, allowing everyone to join a team in the ultimate snowball fight. With the spirit of bringing its community together to experience ...

Apple to pay up $500 million to settle class action lawsuit for throttling older iPhones

Apple received a lot of backlash from the tech community and its users when they confirmed that they were throttling the performance of older iPhones with ageing batteries. Apple was since sued with a class-action lawsuit and has now finally decided to settle it, paying up to $500 million in fines. When initial reports of throttling surfaced broke out, Apple rejected any such claims. However as the number of throttling reports increased, Apple was forced to accept that they were throttling older iPhones, explaining that it was done in order to ensure system stability on the iPhones having older lithium-ion batteries. While settling the lawsuit, Apple still maintains that they did nothing wrong and it was not their intention to force Apple customers to upgrade to the newer devices. In their original statement back in December 2017, Apple did apologise for the miscommunication regarding the software throttling in their devices. They also said that in a future iOS updates, users can toggle this feature on/off and also have the ability to view detailed information of their batteries. The devices included in the class are former or current US owners of iPhone 6, 6 Plus, 6s, 6s Plus and SE running iOS 10.2.1 or ...

Redmi 8 MIUI Software Update Tracker [Update: MIUI 11.0.7.0 Update with stability and bug fixes]

Xiaomi launched the Redmi 8 smartphone in India running MIUI 10.3 Global Stable on top of Android 9.0 (Pie). Xiaomi doesn’t follow any fixed update frequency for the MIUI Global Stable ROM but on average, the Global Stable ROM is updated once in a month. This post will help our readers in keeping track of MIUI updates for Redmi 8 (codename ‘olivein’), also check out our Redmi 8 content, Redmi 8 Unboxing and First Impressions Redmi 8 Review [gallery link="file" columns="2" size="large" ids="306463,306462"] MIUI Updates rolled out for the smartphone: [Mar 3, 2020]: Xiaomi has started rolling out MIUI 11.0.7.0.PCNINXM that brings bug fixes, however it still has January security patch. The update weighs 256MB in size. [Download Link] [Feb 17, 2020]: Xiaomi has started rolling out MIUI 11.0.6.0.PCNINXM with January security patch. The update weighs 633 MBs in size and adds a new Music Card to Vault and EU privacy adjustments. [Download Link] [Jan 18, 2020]: Xiaomi has started rolling out MIUI 11.0.5.0.PCNINXM update, the update weighs 208 MBs in size. [Download Link] [Jan 11, 2020]: Xiaomi has started rolling out MIUI 11.0.4.0.PCNINXM with December security patch. [Download Link] [Nov 22, 2019]: Xiaomi has started rolling out MIUI 11.0.2.0.PCNINXM with November security patch. The update weighs ...

Paytm gets brokerage licence to offer insurance products

Paytm today announced that it has received insurance brokerage license from IRDAI and will soon offer insurance across four categories including two-wheeler, four-wheeler, health, and life. The company added that Paytm Insurance Broking Private Limited (PIBPL), wholly-owned subsidiary One97 Communications Ltd (OCL), has already tied up with 20 of the leading insurance firms in India and will be integrating with 30 more companies over the next few weeks. Other than online initiatives, the company will be leveraging on its 16 million-strong merchant partner base to sell these insurance products across India. Building a large network of Point of Sales Persons (PoSP), it plans to increase the reach of insurance products to a large customer base. "This will also help us to empower millions of merchants with alternate income sources which they will earn through commissions on selling insurance products", said the company. Paytm has already started the process of shortlisting merchant partners who will be trained to become PoSPs and plan to rope in 2 lakh such PoSPs this year. Amit Nayyar, President of Paytm, said: Our entry into Insurance Broking is in line with our commitment to broaden our footprint into financial services and offering numerous and customized choices to millions of our ...

Facebook Messenger gets faster, smaller and simpler with Project Lightspeed

Facebook's mobile application have always known to be extremely heavy on resources, causing many users to use the lite version of the Facebook and Messenger apps. Facebook has finally decided to update its Messenger app, rebuilding it from the ground up to make it faster, smaller and simpler. Over the years, Facebook has gradually been adding more and more features to its Messenger app, eventually making it very heavy and resource intensive. With the release of Messenger 4 iOS app, Facebook is redesigning the app from the ground up that was internally called Project Lightspeed. Facebook claims the app will now work twice as fast with an app size that is 4 times smaller. To achieve this, Facebook had to re-code all their existing features to work with the new infrastructure that is part of Project Lightspeed. The app will consistently open and re-open faster when compared to the older app and have a much smaller footprint in the phones storage. While there is a size reduction, Facebook still promises the app will be rich with features, while making it easier to add features in the future. The new Messenger based on Project Lightspeed is available today for iOS on the App Store ...

Google rolls out next Pixel Feature drop with updated music controls, AR emoji effects and more

Google has been steadily pushing out new features to its Pixel devices via its Feature drop, with the last one being rolled out in December, 2019. In the new Feature drop that's rolling out today, Google is adding automatic car crash detection, new Motion Sense functionalities, more AR emoji effects for Google Duo and more. When Google launched the Pixel 4, one of the main uses of its Motion Sense was the ability to skip tracks forward or backward with a wave of your hand over the phone. Now, Google is adding the ability to pause and resume music with a tapping gesture above the phone. The second feature that the Pixel will receive is the automatic car crash detection. It will use the phone sensors to detect if the user has been in a severe car crash and will offer to call emergency services quickly. The feature will work for the USA (911), Australia (000) and the UK (999). Now for a feature that is more creative, Google is adding more AR effects when making Duo video calls that will change based on the user's facial expressions, and move around the screen with the user. Other selfie camera improvements include the ability to ...

Realme XT realme UI Software Update Tracker [Update: C.02 with February Android security patch, Airtel and Jio VoWiFi]

realme launched the realme XT smartphone running ColorOS 6.0 realme edition on top of 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 realme UI updates for realme XT, also check out our realme XT content, realme XT Pearl Blue Unboxing and First Impressions realme XT Pearl White Unboxing and Photo Gallery realme XT Review: Between Midrange and a Flagship realme UI updates rolled out for the realme XT so far, [gallery size="large" ids="302721,302722,302723"] [Feb 29, 2020]: realme has started rolling out RMX1921EX_11_C.02 with February Android security patch. The update brings Airtel and Jio VoWiFi to the device along with a couple of bug fixes. [Download Link] [Feb 2, 2020]: Download link for Android 10 based realme UI 1.0 RMX1921EX_11.C.01 is now available on the realme official website, refer to this post to flash it manually on your device. [Download Link] [Feb 1, 2020]: A couple of users have reported that their devices got bricked during manual update, the company has removed the download page for realme XT from the website. We have removed download link for the update from this post and would advise our readers to ...

Infinix S5 Pro with 6.53-inch FHD+ display, 16MP pop-up front camera, 48MP triple rear cameras launching on Flipkart on March 6

Infinix has confirmed that it will launch its S5 Pro smartphone with a 16-megapixel pop-up front camera in India on March 6th on Flipkart. It was supposed to be launched in India in February, but it was postponed. The image also shows gradient back, camera bump and a rear-mounted fingerprint scanner. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8R93CEfjPOw Coming to the specifications, the company has confirmed 6.53-inch Full HD+ LCD screen, 48-megapixel primary rear camera along with two more cameras, probably an ultra-wide and depth sensors. The image also shows dual LED flash. The phone will run XOS 6.0 Dolphin based on Android 10. It is not clear if the company will still stick to MediaTek Helio P22 SoC. In addition to green, the phone will also come in Red color variant, and according to reports, it should also come in the Blue color variant. We should know more details in the coming days, and the price of the phone when it is launched this Friday.

PUBG MOBILE 0.17.0 update with Royale Pass Season 12: 2gether We Play, DBS Shotgun and more released

Tencent games has released new PUBG Mobile update which brings the version number to 0.17.0. This brings Royale Pass Season 12: 2gether We Play, which will be available from March 9th, Amusement Park Mode in Classic Erangel as a part of 2nd Anniversary, DBS, a double-barreled shotgun that can be obtained through AirDrops, New Arcade Mode: Return of Hardcore Mode, Death Replay, and Brand New Survival Experience Arctic Mode is coming soon. The PUBG Mobile 0.17.0 update is already available for iOS  and Android from today and requires 1.69 GB of storage space on Android, and 1.95 GB of storage space on iOS. If you update before March 6th, you get: 50 Silver, 2,888 BP and 3 Day Anniversary Pan Skin. PUBG Mobile 0.17.0 update include: New Content in Classic Mode: 1.Erangel - Amusement Park Mode (available from March 12th) Post image Players have a chance to enter an Amusement Park Mode during Erangel matchmaking in Classic Mode, which includes: Amusement Parks: In this mode, old school amusement parks will appear randomly in three locations on the Classic Erangel map. Arcade Machines: Interactive Arcade Machines will be placed in the amusement parks and major towns, which can be activated with Tokens. Post image Games and Attractions: Hunt Game, Space War, What's ...

realme announces Android 10-based realme UI Early Access for realme X2 and realme X2 Pro

realme announced Android 10 based realme UI a couple of months ago and started rolling out the update for eligible devices as per the schedule shared by the company. realme UI brings tons of new features such as dual earphone connection, animated wallpapers, screen-off display, customizable icon shape, new charging animation, realme Share (cross-brand file-sharing technology) and more. As per the schedule, realme X2 and realme X2 Pro are supposed to receive Android 10 based realme UI update this month, and now the company has announced realme UI Early Access program for both the devices. As per the community post, realme UI update will be rolled out to the first 3000 users of realme X2 and realme X2 Pro respectively. Interested users can fill respective Google forms for either of the device by providing the realme Community username and IMEI of their devices.  The deadline for applying for the above-mentioned devices is 5th March on a first-come, first-serve basis. A few weeks ago, realme official Francis Wang had confirmed that realme X and Pro series devices will receive two major Android updates, so we can expect realme X2 and X2 Pro to receive Android 11 in the future. realme UI is being rolled out to all ...