Author: Aamir Khollam

Epic Games says Google prevented competitors from building App stores

Fortnite’s parent company Epic Games Inc. is no stranger to controversies. It was not long ago when the company had made headlines when it slapped a lawsuit against Apple for anti-competitive behavior. Now, the company is going head to head against Google stating that the company paid off developers a hefty amount to prevent them from developing alternate app stores on the Android platform. Check out all the details about this new development below:

Epic Games sues Google

The charges root in Google’s Project Hug which was later renamed to ‘Apps and Games Velocity Program.’ To the unversed, Google has been alleged of spending millions of dollars to keep some Android developers on the Play Store. Epic Games filed a complaint last year, and the motion states that some of the agreements made by Google were intended to stop developers from launching competing app stores. By this, Epic Games has suggested that Google has violated the United States’ primary antitrust law known as the Sherman Act, which is a big allegation to slap on a company.

Google, on the other hand, has reportedly stated that it will be opposing the motion. A spokesperson from Google has stated that Epic is adding inaccurate claims to their failing lawsuits and that the company looks forward to setting the record straight in court. The spokesperson stated furthermore that the program Epic Games is fighting against is actually designed to give Android developers incentives and users early access whenever new content is launched. Google states that Android users already have access to alternate app stores thus Epic Games’ allegations have little merit.

The Epic-Google lawsuit has now been long-running. At its core, Epic is alleging that Google illegally forces app developers to use its payment processing system which charges a mandatory commission fee of up to 30%. Epic also sued Apple over a similar issue but ended up losing the first major round in court. The lawsuits certainly put light on anti-trust practices that possibly go around at big tech companies and how they can be tackled. However, Epic seems to be catching failures here with the tech giants coming up with strong opposing arguments about the same.

 

Google collaborates with Acer, ASUS, and Lenovo for cloud gaming laptops

Google recently issued a press release where it announced the release of three new Chromebooks. These new Chromebooks have been designed in partnership with Acer, Asus, and Lenovo. The newly released Chromebooks include the Acer Chromebook 516 GE, ASUS Chromebook Vibe CX55 flip, and Lenovo’s IdeaPad Gaming Chromebook. In the press release, Google shared that “new Chromebooks bring together gaming hardware features, access to the latest games with cutting edge graphics through the cloud, and software designed to make gaming fast and easy.” Check out all the details about the new Chromebooks below –

Google’s new Chromebooks

Acer’s Chromebook 516 GE comes with a high refresh 120Hz WQXGA display with an anti=ghosting RGB keyboard. It comes equipped with Wi-Fi 6E connectivity, force-canceling, and DTS speakers. It comes with a few configurations in the RAM department with up to 16GB LPDDR4X and up to 256 GB storage option of NVMe SSD. It also comes with two CPU options, Intel Core i5-1240P or i7-1260P.

Google’s second collab with the Asus Chromebook Vibe CX55 flip comes with an advanced 144Hz FHD display. It also features an anti-ghosting keyboard. Besides Wi-Fi 6 connectivity and a 720p camera, it also comes with Harmon Kardon-certified dual speakers. Asus has shared that the Chromebook can be configured up to the 11th Gen Core i7. It features 16GB LPDDR4X RAM and 512GB of SSD storage.

lenovo’s IdeaPad Chromebook comes with a 120Hz WQXGA display, 8GB of LPDDR4X RAM, Wi-Fi 6E Connectivity, a quad-speaker setup with Wave audio tuning, and an RGB anti-ghosting keyboard. The IdeaPad Chromebook comes with either the Intel Core i3 or i5 CPU both being 12th Gen. It also comes with multiple storage options of 128GB, 256GB, or 512GB. The Lenovo IdeaPad Gaming Chromebook is priced at $599.

Microsoft Surface Event: New Surface Products Launched

It’s the most wonderful time of the year for tech enthusiasts as giants in the tech industry introduce a slew of new products. After Apple, Google and Meta, Microsoft has now jumped the gun and launched a new lineup of products. The company unveiled a suite of new Surface products during an event held on Wednesday. Here is everything launched during the Microsoft event:

Surface Pro 9

It’s hard to believe that we have already had almost ten of the hybrid tablet devices from Microsoft to this date. The latest Surface Pro 9 comes with a 13-inch display sporting the trendy 120Hz refresh rate. On the processing side, users can either opt for the 12th Gen Intel Core processors or a Microsoft SQ3 processor which is 5G-enabled. The Microsoft chip is reportedly based on Qualcomm tech. While the 5G model is limited to either 8GB or 32GB RAM options, the WiFi model comes with 8, 16, and 32GB options.

The Intel-based Surface Pro 9 comes with a removable SSD of up to 1TB, whereas, the 5G variant is limited to only 512GB. The company claims that the 5G Surface Pro 9 comes with 19 hours of device usage, but the Intel-powered version of the device only comes with 15.5 hours. The differences don’t end here as the port selection is also different here. The standard variant of the device comes with two USB-C ports with Thunderbolt 4 support, the 5G variant does not get the same as its ports do not support Thunderbolt 4.

Surface Laptop 5

Microsoft is not limiting itself to the hybrid PC-Tablet form factor and introduced a conventional Surface Laptop 5. Similar to the Surface Pro 9, it comes with a touchscreen display but the keyboard is not an external accessory as it is built-in. It comes in standard laptop sizes like 13.5-inch and 15-inch. There is no confusion here with the processing power either as both the variants come with 12th gen Intel Core processors. While the 13.5-inch model is versatile with the support of i5 and i7 processors, the 15-inch variant is locked to i7.

Surface Studio 2+

The final device launched at the Microsoft event was the biggest of them all! The 28-inch Surface Studio 2+ is a desktop PC primarily targeted to creatives who need a lot of computing power for 3D renders, 8K edits, digital art, and much more. Similar to previous Surface Studio devices, this one is also an all-in-one device which means that the Monitor and the PC are built directly into one another. The PC rests on a hinge so it can be used as a regular m monitor or can be lowered down to be used as an artist workstation. The touch display is clocked at a stunning 4500×3000 resolution that is coupled with the 11th Gen Intel Core i7 processor. It comes with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 which is capable of handling high-res gameplay. the RAM here is locked to 32GB and the storage to 1TB. The pricing for all new devices launched by Microsoft is yet under wraps.

 

MediaTek unveils the Dimensity 1080 chipset with up to 200MP camera support

If you’re in the market looking for a mid-range smartphone, it is hard to miss out on MediaTek chipset devices. The company has managed to capture the mid-range market by providing powerful performance at a cheaper price than other chipset manufacturers. Be it the likes of Xiaomi or OnePlus many smartphone manufacturers house MediaTek chipsets in their smartphones. It looks like Mediatek is not slowing down any time soon as it has launched its latest MediaTek Dimensity 1080 chipset which doubles down on its previous Dimensity 920 that was released last year. Check out all details about the MediaTek Dimensity 1080 below:

Dimensity 1080 details

The latest Dimensity 1080 5G chipset is fabricated on TSMC’s N6 6nm manufacturing node, it offers key improvements over the DImensity 920. It comes with an octa-core CPU featuring two ARM Cortex-A78 cores which are clocked up to 2.6Ghz and ARM Cortex-A55 cores clocked up to 2Ghz. It features an Arm Mali G68 GPU. One key feature of the latest chipset is that it comes with the support of LPDDR5 memory and UFS 3.1 storage. Another upgrade here is that its Image Signal Processor (ISP) can now support 4K HDR video encoding and image capturing prowess up to 200MP with zero shutter lag. There are no noted new gaming features in the chipset. It comes with HyperEngine 3.0 which is similar to the Dimensity 920. Mediatek has announced that smartphones powered by this chipset will be available in Q4 of 2022.

Leaks on the internet are now suggesting that the upcoming Redmi Note 12 series will be one of the first smartphones to be equipped with Dimensity 1080. The leak was shared by tipster Digital Chat Station who revealed that the internal testing of the chipset has shown a similar performance to the Snapdragon 778G SoC. It reportedly also scored over 520,000 on AnTuTu.  If true, this could make Dimensity 1080 one of the best chips in the mid-range segment.

 

 

 

Will face unlock come to Pixel 6 Pro?

Google recently launched its highly anticipated Pixel 7 lineup. The new Pixel 7 and 7 Pto devices come with the face unlock feature which was missing from Google phones up till now. Besides the usual PIN, password, or pattern screen lock methods, people using the Pixel 7 devices can simply unlock the device using their faces. As the Pixel 7 received this feature, several reports started surfacing around the internet that the last-gen Pixel 6 pro will also be receiving this feature via software update. So, will the face unlock feature come soon to the Pixel 6 Pro? The answer is no.

No face unlock for the Pixel 6 Pro

According to Caschys Blog, Google Germany has now confirmed that the face unlock feature will not be trickling down to the Pixel 6 Pro or any older Pixel devices. This will marl the first time Google has officially declined the possibility of this feature coming to previous Pixel devices. The blog further down states that the meaning behind Google’s answer remains unclear. While it is possible that the company is not planning to roll out the face unlock feature to the Pixel 6 Pro now, it might do so in the future. All Pixel 6 pro users can do is hope!

This is a surprising development as several reports in the past have noted that the feature was indeed going to make its way to the Pixel 6 Pro. Many leaks and pieces of code present in the deep corners of Android had previously mentioned the face unlock feature for the Pixel 6 Pro. Since the device did not come equipped with the hardware capabilities to enable 3D face unlock, it was expected that Google would implement the 2D face unlock which was less secure. Well, now it looks like the Pixel 6 Pro ultimately will not be receiving this detail.

 

Meta reveals next generation Quest Pro VR Headset

It is not a secret that in the past years, Meta’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been pushing VR technology to make it mainstream. Meta surely believes that its metaverse is the next big breakthrough in technology that can allow our virtual lives to easily integrate with our real lives. While many feel skeptical about how mainstream the metaverse could become, Zuckerberg is doubling down on his vision to make it a success. Recently, at an online event held for developers, Meta Connect 2022, Mark revealed a new VR headset, the Quest Pro.

Quest Pro VR Headset

Meta has launched its new Quest Pro VR Headset which comes at a whopping price of $1499. This is almost four times the price of the company’s current headset the Quest 2 which starts at $399. The VR headset boasts thinner lenses, a curved battery, and also controllers equipped with self-track. The ‘Pro’ part of Meta’s new VR Headset is that it can allow users to see their real environment around the periphery of the screen. It comes with mixed capabilities, which means that digital content can be viewed overlaid in the real world.

Do you remember Google Lens which also had a similar functionality? Makes you think…

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella also made an appearance at the event where he announced that the Office 365 platform will also be available on it. Meta has placed the mixed reality platform as not only a form of entertainment but also a work tool. Meta has also joined hands with Zoom to integrate its metaverse avatars into the video call platform. Meta Boss Mark Zuckerberg has touted the mixed reality approach to be the next major step for VR.  The push for VR and the metaverse by the company is surely aggressive, however, the adoption of this new virtual world has been at a slower rate. The future of the metaverse depends upon how advanced the virtual world can get to stimulate people’s imaginations. My only reference point to the metaverse is the film Ready Player One, and we are nowhere near how good the technology was in that Spielberg flick!

 

iPhone 5c to officially become outdated on November 1

Are you an iPhone fanatic who is still holding on to your beloved iPhone 5c? I can surely picture some Apple users holding back on the iPhone 5c to use it as an iPod replacement or straight up as their primary device even after nine years after its launch. Outlandish but possible! Well, it looks like now is the time to bid your iPhone 5c goodbye as Apple is all set to declare it as ‘obsolete’.

Goodbye iPhone 5c

Several reports suggest that the iPhone 5c will soon be declared obsolete by Apple. The device was previously declared ‘vintage’ by the company in 2020. By turning the device Apple obsolete, the company has basically concluded the iPhone 5c’s repairs and other services. This means, if your beloved 5c ends up with a cracked screen, Apple won’t fix it as it will no longer have hardware support for it. The budget iPhone 5c can now be put to rest!

The device was previously listed as vintage by Apple which meant that the company and its service providers could only provide certain repairs for the product, subject to availability. Apple’s official page about such products states, “Products are considered obsolete when Apple stopped distributing them for sale more than 7 years ago. Apple discontinues all hardware service for obsolete products, Service providers cannot order parts for obsolete products.” The iPhone 5c was the first offering from Apple to come in a colorful plastic form factor. It featured colors like blue, green, pink, and yellow which were new to iPhone back then! Besides this, the 2014 version of the 15-inch MacBook Pro is also reported to hit the vintage mark soon.

Is Google Pixel 7’s Tensor G2 a 4nm chip?

Google’s latest launches the Google Pixel 7 and 7 Pro have become the talk of the town. The devices promise the best Android experience as they come straight from Google; the house of Android. The Pixel 7 lineup is also going head-to-head against the iPhone 14 lineup as they have launched just under a month apart. As one would expect from flagship devices, the Pixel 7 was also said on the internet to come with 4nm chips, which is standard for Samsung and Apple’s flagship devices. However, the truth is something else!

Google Pixel 7’s chip size

There were many articles floating around on the internet claiming that Google’s Tensor G2 chip is a 4nm chip. However, Android Authority has now jumped on and cleared out any doubts by reaching out to Google. A spokesperson from Google has told Android Authority that the chip is indeed based on 5nm. This might come as a shocker to tech enthusiasts who were expecting Google to keep up with all the latest hardware trends in the smartphone arena. Be it Apple’s latest A16 Bionic chipset or Samsung’s Exynos 2200 processor, both are based on 4nm form factors. Is this a big deal? for some yes, for others, not so much! The average user may not even care about the size of their mobile processor chip as long as the device provides good performance.

 

 

Even before Google’s confirmation about the Pixel 7 chipset size, there were a lot of hints that it was based on 5nm. There was a lack of a major clock-speed increase as the Tensor G2 runs at 2.85Ghz Arm Cortex-X1 cores. This is only a 50Hz increase from the original Tensor’s 2.80Ghz. One would expect a bigger bump in power from a new processor but that was not the case here.

WhatsApp debuts paid plan for business users

WhatsApp has released a subscription service titled WhatsApp Premium and is currently available for beta business users. The instant messaging app has also been an effective way for businesses to communicate with its customers and the premium subscription is targetted only for business users. WhatsApp has not made an official statement about it yet so the pricing and the launch date of the same remains under the wraps. However, users who have enrolled in the beta program can take advantage of all the new features present in the new Premium model. The new plan was long under speculations and has only now been made available as a beta tester in some countries. A wider rollout is expected in some time. Check out the new features with WhatsApp Preimum service below:

WhatsApp Premium custom business links

The first feature in the WhatsApp Premium service is the business links. It is a short custom business link which is unique to a certain business. This link can be shared with customers to find the business’ landing page on WhatsApp thus making it easier to initiate a conversation. The link name is customizable and can be changed every 90 days. It expires once the subscription is cancelled. It is to be noted that once a custom link is expired, it may be claimed by another company. Any business having a custom link can make it easier for customers to reach out to them.

Multi-device connectivity

Another new feature under the WhatsApp Premium service is improved multi-device connectivity. Any business under WhatsApp Premium can use the same account on up to 10 devices simultaneously. This can prove helpful for businesses to form a chain of communication amongst multiple employees and the customer base. This feature can also allow Premium users to initiate video calls with max 32 participants.

The availability of WhatsApp Premium is currently scarce. It is currently available to only a certain business accounts under beta testing only. Details regarding its roll out in India have not yet surfaced on the internet. Users can unsubscribe from the service anytime they wish.

iPhone 14’s crash detection feature triggered by roller coasters?

During its ‘Far Out’ event last month, Apple unveiled a number of new devices and features. zone of the key feature coming to the latest iPhone 14 series was the ‘Crash Detection’. This new feature is designed by Apple to detect severe car crashes like front impact, side-impact, rear-end collisions and rollovers in vehicles like sedans, minivans, SUVs, pickup trucks, and other passenger cars. However, the crash detection feature had a little accident of its own when it detected a crash when the iPhone user was enjoying his ride on a roller coaster!

iPhone 14 Pro detects roller coaster ride as car crash

As reported in Wall Street Journal, a 39-year-old dentist safely placed her iPhone 14 Pro in her fanny pack before hopping on a roller coaster. She went on the ride getting whipped around in the roller coaster at over 50 mph. However, once she got down from the ride and looked at her phone, she was surprised to see a number of missed calls and voice mails form an emergency dispatcher eager to know if she was safe.

The crash detection feature triggered on the roller coaster and automatically dialled 911 to drop in an automated message. The message read “The owner of this iPhone was in a severe car crash and is not responding to their phone”. According to the 911 report, a dispatch team was sent to the ride but did not notice any emergency situation.

The crash detection feature is quickly becoming an issue for amusement rides. Theme park specialist Coaster101 also reported this same issue sharing that Dollywood amusement park has now put up signboards outside their roller coasters warning riders that Apple watches and similar products may trigger the crash detection feature. Whether this issue will be persistent or will be resolved via an update is to be seen. Apple has not officially issued a statement about the same yet.

 

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