EMUI 10.1 with UI Improvements, MeeTime, Multi-Device Control Panel, Celia voice assistant coming to over 30 HUAWEI smartphones

At the HUAWEI P40 series global launch, HUAWEI also unveiled EMUI 10.1 with a lot of features and it demoed some features such as HUAWEI MeeTime and more Multi-screen Collaboration capabilities, Celia voice assistant, Multi-Screen Collaboration and lots more. UI Improvements Scrolling now reacts to user inputs with a new physics-inspired friction-slide effect. Similar to how objects in motion gradually decelerate as they lose their momentum to friction, the scrolling animations now also slow down before coming to a natural stop. The acceleration model is developed based on human factors research, ensuring that the animations behave just as users would expect. Swiping inwards from either side and pausing bring out the sidebar. Apps inside the sidebar can be dragged across the screen to initiate Multi-Window. Images, text and even files can be dragged from one app to another. Floating Window allows users to perform basic tasks such as responding to text messages without exiting the active full-screen app, so users can stay focused on their tasks at hand. All New Themes: This Moment Capture the beauty of light during the transition and fusion of ice and water. At the instant of movement and stillness, softness and rigidity, force and beauty, ...

Xiaomi releases Android 10 based Kernel Sources for Redmi K30 Pro 5G

Xiaomi's Redmi launched its latest smartphone in the flagship killer K series, Redmi K30 Pro 5G along with Zoom edition in China last week. Redmi K30 Pro 5G is the successor to Redmi K20 Pro which was quite popular and an easy recommendation in its price category in India. To recall, Redmi K30 Pro 5G features a 6.67-inch E3 Super AMOLED screen with Corning Gorilla Glass 5 protection, is powered by Snapdragon 865, 5G SA/NSA support with  Snapdragon X55 Modem, has 3435mm² VC liquid-cooled heat sink, Game Turbo 3.0, 4D vibration when playing games, comes with 3D glass back with AG technology, Corning Gorilla Glass 5 protection, NFC and Hi-Res audio support. It runs Android 10 with MIUI 11, and now the company has released Android 10 based kernel sources for Redmi K30 Pro 5G (codename 'lmi') within a week of launch. Even though the source code is not useful for normal users, it would be helpful for Android developers and tinkerers who would like to create custom software builds. You can download the kernel source from the GitHub source link below. We are yet to hear about Redmi K30 Pro India launch, but MIUI Camera app codes hinted that it might be ...

Microsoft 365 launches new Office features, Microsoft 365 Personal and Family subscriptions and more

Microsoft is pushing out a bunch of updates to its Microsoft 365 (earlier called Office 365) suite that includes new features for its apps, new Microsoft 365 Personal and Family subscriptions and has also renamed few of its enterprise tier subscription services. A new app that is introduced with this update is called Microsoft Editor. It works similar to Grammerly, with basic features like spell check and basic grammar that will be available across Word, Outlook.com, and the web for all users. Microsoft 365 Personal and Family subscribers will get better features like advanced grammar checking and style refinements. These include Rewrite Suggestions, similarity checker that leverages plagiarism-checking capabilities and additional style critiques. Powerpoint is updated with a feature called Presenter Coach. Users can practice their presentation skills where it will use AI to detect if the user is  talking too fast, saying “umm” too much, or just reading the text from their slides. Microsoft 365 subscribers will get two extra capabilities, the ability to check for monotone pitch and speech refinement. Microsoft Excel has a new feature called Money that lets Microsoft 365 subscribers easily manage, track, and analyse their money and spending. It is powered by Plaid, a service that lets users connect ...

COVID-19: BSNL, Vodafone IDEA extend prepaid validity, gives Rs. 10 free talk time to users

Bharati Airtel and Reliance Jio recently announced a validity extension for prepaid users and free Rs. 10 talktime due to coronavirus crisis. On similar lines now, BSNL and Vodafone IDEA has also announced special measures to assist customers impacted by coronavirus crisis. All BSNL prepaid users' validity will be extended till April 20th, 2020, and they will be able to receive incoming calls. Vodafone IDEA users' prepaid pack validity will be extended until April 17th, 2020. To compare, Airtel and Reliance Jio have also extended validity till April 17th, 2020 and BSNL has extended till April 20th, 2020. Similar to Airtel and Jio, BSNL and Vodafone IDEA will also be crediting free Rs. 10 talk time to prepaid users whose accounts reach zero balance and are unable to recharge. Due to the lockdown, physical stores are impacted and operators are urging users who are recharging their accounts to use online recharge channels. This move comes after the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) requested mobile operators to extend the prepaid pack validity of users due to the ongoing COVID-19 crisis. In similar news, recently, Reliance Jio announced free 10 Mbps Jio Fiber connection in feasible areas, double data on Jio Fiber, and Bharti Enterprises and its ...

COVID-19: Jio extends validity for JioPhone users, offers free 100 minutes of calls and SMS till April 17

The whole world is fighting the coronavirus pandemic and the outbreak has impacted many. As many places in the world are under lockdown, many companies are introducing special measures to help people. Yesterday, Airtel announced prepaid pack validity extension and free Rs. 10 talk time to 80 million users. On similar lines, now, Reliance Jio has announced special measures to assist Jio users impacted by the COVID-19 crisis. Reliance Jio has announced that JioPhone users' validity has been extended, and they will be able to receive incoming calls post validity expiration. Apart from this, JioPhone users get free 100 minutes of calls and 100 SMS till April 17th, 2020. This move comes after the company recently announced a free 10Mbps JioFiber broadband connection in feasible areas and double data for JioFiber users. As users would find it difficult to recharge their Jio account from physical stores due to the lockdown, the company has also provided alternative channels to recharge, such as ATM, UPI, Call, SMS, etc. The online recharge partners include Google Pay, PhonePe, PayTM, Amazon Pay UPI, Mobikwik, FreeCharge. For recharge through SMS/Call, Jio has tied up with Axis Bank and ICICI Bank as banking partners wherein users can send an ...

Noise Shots Groove Review

Noise launched the Shots Groove, the company’s latest wireless budget earbuds earlier this month. It features Bluetooth 5.0, has touch controls, IPX5 water resistance, case has USB Type-C port and it promises 5 hours of standalone playback. After using it for a couple of weeks, here is the review of Noise Shots Groove. Box Contents Noise Shots Groove in Matte Black color Different set of ear tips (Small, Medium and Large) USB Type-C Cable User manual Design and Build Quality Starting with the design, the Noise Shots Groove has a familiar design that looks like circular box. Total weight of the case with the earbuds are about 55 grams, and the earbuds weigh about 5 grams. [gallery link="file" columns="2" size="medium" ids="308745,308748"] Even through the case is made of plastic, it offers a matte finish so it doesn’t attract fingerprints or scratches easily, but it attracts dust easily since it is black. Since it is compact, you can easily carry it in your pocket easily. The earbuds have LED lights that glow in blue and red colors. There are touch controls on both the earbuds that lets you play or pause music, go to previous or next song, launch voice assistant,  accept or reject calls and also control ...

COVID-19: Airtel extends prepaid pack validity till April 17, gives Rs. 10 talk time to 80 million users

The whole world is fighting the coronavirus pandemic and the outbreak has impacted many. As many places in the world are under lockdown, many companies are introducing special measures to help people. Recently, Reliance Jio announced free 10 Mbps Jio Fiber connection in feasible areas, double data on Jio Fiber, several apps are offering paid subscriptions for free and more. On similar lines, Airtel has now announced special measures to assist low-income group customers impacted by the COVID-19 crisis. Over 80 million prepaid Airtel users will get validity extension till April 17th, 2020 and even if their plan is exhausted, they will still continue to receive incoming calls without interruption. Apart from this, these users will get Rs. 10 talk time and Airtel says that these special measures will help migrant workers and daily wage earners who may have been impacted by the outbreak of coronavirus. The company says that this benefit will be available to over 80 million users in the next 48 hours. Furthermore, Bharti Enterprises and its companies Bharti Airtel, Bharti Infratel and others are contributing a sum of over Rs 100 crore for India’s fight against COVID-19. Commenting on this, Shashwat Sharma, Chief Marketing Officer, Bharti Airtel said: In this difficult ...

Video conferencing apps witness increased demand due to coronavirus lock down globally

The whole world is fighting the coronavirus pandemic and the outbreak has impacted many. As many places in the world are under lockdown, people are working from home and resorting to apps and tools to stay in touch with colleagues, attend virtual meetings, and more. While video conferencing apps like Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Skype for Business, etc are already popular among users, the impact of coronavirus has witnessed a surge in downloads of these apps and the report indicates a record growth in demand. According to the report, business apps crossed 62 million downloads during March 14-21 across Google Play Store and App Store and is 45% up from the week before March 14th. Furthermore, apps like Zoom Cloud Meetings witness a surge in downloads in the UK, US, and Europe and during the week of March 15-21 in the US, it was downloaded 14 times more than the weekly average during Q4 2019, 22 times more in France, 20 times more in the UK, 17 times more in Germany, 27 times more in Spain and 55 times more in Italy. Similarly, Microsoft Teams during the week of March 15-21 saw a surge in downloads at 13x in the UK, 11x in ...

Telegram v6.0.1 update brings Chat folders, channel stats, Archives and more

Telegram has released a new update to its chat app across all its supported platforms, bringing new features like chat folders with desktop sync, swipe to archive, new animated emoji and more. This update brings the app version up to v6.0.1. [gallery link="file" columns="2" size="large" ids="308769,308770"] The biggest feature in this update is the ability to organise your chats into folders. With more people using instant messaging apps, it can get quite cluttered in the chat list screen. To help with this, Telegram has introduced Folders that will automatically show in the interface if the chat list gets long enough. Users can also manually create folders by going to Settings→ Folders→add custom folders. Recommended preset folders will be present if Telegram decides to show Folders in the UI automatically. Each of the folders can have as many pinned chats as needed too and Telegram will sync your folders with the desktop app. Telegram always had the option to Archive chats, similar to the feature present in WhatsApp. They have finally added the shortcut option to swipe left of a chat to archive it quickly. Archived chats will stay hidden until a notification pops up from it. A pretty cool feature in this update is the ...

HONOR Play 9A with 6.3-inch 20:9 display, dual rear cameras, 5000mAh battery announced

At an event today, HUAWEI's HONOR brand along with the HONOR 30S and the Kirin 820 5G SoC also announced a budget smartphone - HONOR Play 9A, the successor of last year's HONOR Play 8A. The HONOR Play 9A flaunts a 6.3-inch HD+ display with a 20:9 aspect ratio and 1600 x 720 pixels. It is powered by the Octa-Core MediaTek Helio P35 SoC paired with 4GB RAM plus up to 128GB of internal storage. The storage can be expanded up to 512GB through microSD. The rear design is a step up from the HONOR Play 8A and this time the camera module has seen a refresh too. It also now sports a physical fingerprint scanner to the back which was lacking on the HONOR Play 8A. Coming to the optics, the Play 8A sports dual rear cameras which is a combination of 13MP f/1.8 (primary) + 2MP f/2.4 (depth sensor) and the front-facing camera is an f/2.0 8MP shooter. It runs on Android 10 on top of Magic UI 3.0.1 but does not ship with Google Mobile Services (GMS). Lastly, it packs a 5000mAh battery with support for 10W charging through a micro USB port. Honor Play 9A specifications 6.3-inch (1600 × ...