There have been rumours and alleged leaked images of an upcoming OnePlus device. If the rumours are to be believed, then the new OnePlus device will be called the OnePlus Z and is expected to break cover in July.
For those who might not be aware, OnePlus is all set to launch a budget version in their OnePlus portfolio which could bear the tag of the OnePlus Z. OnePlus had previously launched a budget ‘X’ variant which was not successful. However, this time around OnePlus is expected to hit the bullseye with the new entry-level gateway device into the OnePlus family.
What can be confirmed is the 5G ready nature of the phone, which OnePlus has been pushing for. The upcoming device could be powered by a Mediatek Dimensity 100 chip. If the speculation is right, we could look at very aggressive pricing for the device.
On the hardware front, the new OnePlus Z will feature a 6.4-inch OLED display with punch hole cutout for the front camera. It is expected to get 8GB of RAM and 128/265GB of internal UFS 3.0 storage. The device will run on Android 10 out of the box with OxygenOS. At the rear, it will feature a triple-camera setup with a 48-MP primary sensor, 16-MP wide-angle and a 2-MP depth sensor. The front camera is expected to be a 16-MP Sony IMX471 sensor. Additionally, the device will be backed by a 400mAh battery and support for 30W fast charging.
While the entire world is at home, not defying the lockdown and helping each other out in the best ways possible, we all know a lot of things which were scheduled to happen in 2020 have been cancelled or postponed. Many smartphones manufacturers have already postponed their upcoming launches or strictly sticking to online launches for the same.
But on a positive note, this is a good time to do the homework well and make no noise, like Samsung has been doing. The Korean smartphone giant is reportedly working on the next version of the Samsung Galaxy Fold and if rumours are to be believed, the upcoming fold will be cheaper and better in many ways.
Samsung Galaxy Fold
The upcoming Galaxy Fold is expected to be priced at $1780 to $1880 which is a significant dip compared to the Fold which retailed for $1980. The new Fold is expected to be unveiled alongside the new Galaxy Note series, somewhere around the month of August.
Additionally, if the reports are true, the upcoming Galaxy Fold will also carry support for the S-pen stylus. The main display is expected to measure 7.59-inch which is an increment from the previous 7.3-inch and is said to carry a 1689 X 2213 screen resolution. The display will also have an ultra-thin coating of glass, something that Samsung has been advertising a lot from the time it launched the Galaxy Z-Flip. The display could also support 120Hz refresh rate.
The secondary screen on the outer face of the Fold will see improvements as well and Samsung could go for a 6.23-inch panel with a resolution of 819 x 2267 and 60Hz refresh rate. The selfie camera could be placed under a punch-hole cutout.
In the camera department, the main sensor will be upgraded to a 64MP sensor and will be flanked by 12MP and a 16MP additional modules. This setup is quite close to Samsung’s triple camera setup on the Galaxy S20 and the S20+. Last but not least, the Galaxy Fold 2 or whatever Samsung decided to name it will also bring in support for 5G like Samsung’s latest flagship releases. However, a hit at lower onboard memory sounds right which will keep the manufacturing costs low and thus make it affordable?
In the first-quarter report for 2020, Google’s parent company Alphabet reported its earnings during which Google’s CEO Sundar Pichai shared that Google’s video conferencing app ‘Meet’ is reporting a heavy addition of users. The addition of users goes up to 3 million users on a daily basis which is a big jump from its 2 million a day users when it reported earlier in the month.
Google Meet is a video conferencing application
Google Meet is a video conferencing application like other that we know of and the platform has been seeing a steady rise in its user base, most of it triggered by the current stay at home situation. The current rise in users is basically a three-fold increase in users since the month of January taking the total to over 100 million now.
Google Meet has been experiencing a strong surge in its user base and Google has been putting constant efforts in its developments. The company recently rolled out several updates last week including tiled layouts. The current update allows the app to 16 people together as opposed to four previously. Google meet also allows users to share high-quality video with audio with the new feature ‘Present a Chrome tab’. other features include a low-light mode for better visibility and improved noise cancellation.
Not only this, but Google also rechristened its video conferencing app for G Suite customers from ‘Hangouts Meet’ to just being ‘Meet’ now. Moreover, the company has made all the premium features of meet absolutely free for people until the 30th of September. The following extension has been made owing to the current pandemic situation across the world.
A camera is one of the most used gadgets in the present time. We all have a small and capable camera with us at all times – our smartphones. Smartphones cameras have now evolved to be more capable than they were five years ago. Most of us love our smartphones which can carry out the day to day imaging needs very easily. However, if you are looking to upgrade to a different camera, it is a different ball game altogether.
Tips to Buying a New Camera
Buying a new camera is much simpler now. You have a lot of brands and types of cameras that are available within a wide price range. What becomes difficult is the process of choosing which camera to buy. There are many choices which usually confuse buyers. Megapixels, zoom, battery life etc, a lot to consider before putting your money on one.
Buying a camera is basically identifying what you would be doing with your camera. Are you shooting your regular life or doing something which required more control? In this guide, we have narrowed down the types of cameras according to their capabilities and uses.
The first thing you do is set a budget range. Your budget will depend on what you want to get. Needless to say, the higher your budget, the better equipment you can buy. So, set a budget which will enable you to narrow down the options available in the same range.
Now that your budget has been finalized, you can choose what type of camera to buy. For someone who would use the camera for his day to day photos, vacations etc, you can go for a small but powerful digital camera. Digital cameras have now become extremely capable and pack very powerful sensors and processors inside. Digital cameras are easier to operate and you do not need to be a pro to actually take pictures. Simply setting up it in auto mode will allow you to take pictures very easily. While portability and image quality is the advantage, the downside of digital cameras is basically the small sensor and limited flexibility that could be an issue for someone who likes more control.
Interchangeable lens cameras are making most of the noise. The name suggests, allows you to change the lens of the camera. An interchangeable lens camera could have various sizes of sensors. Micro four-thirds, APS-C or 35mm sensor which is commonly known as Full-Frame cameras. Interchangeable lens cameras have a major division now which is the DSLRs and the Mirrorless camera. While DSLRs are traditional cameras with big bulky bodies and a pentaprism mirror for their optical viewfinders, mirrorless cameras have ditched all the extra flab and become smaller and lighter which eases the handling.
The choice of the sensor size is an important factor when buying an interchangeable camera. While DSLRs will leave with the choice of either an APS-C or a Full-Frame sensor, mirrorless cameras can come with a micro four-third sensor which is smaller than the traditional crop (APS-C) sensor. In digital photography, the size of the sensor plays an important role, especially with image quality. Megapixels do count, but honestly, the megapixel roar is just gimmick. Any camera with a megapixel count above 20 is just good enough for the images that you would take. With a full-frame sensor, you will have more data which can be later processed if you are shooting for commercial purposes or need to make very large prints.
What about those who do not want the normal conventional cameras? Well for those who like to capture their adventures, an action camera is the way to go. Action cameras, do not get it wrong, are quite powerful when compared to their tiny size. Most of the top of the line action cameras can record 4K footage as well as large images. Action cameras are built very rough and tough and come with weather sealing, allowing you to take it anywhere in any weather condition. Images taken on action cameras are usually warped as the angle of view is very wide. However, you can choose different options of crop like the narrow-angle of view or the superwide.
Remember, you will use the camera to its best abilities if it actually suffices all the requirements you have. Buying a very expensive camera without the technical know-how makes it just as obsolete as buying a sports car for driving on the country roads. You know it is going to scrape its belly. Why not get an SUV and take advantage of the higher ground clearance instead?
Chipset manufacturing giant Qualcomm Technologies have announced the arrival of Quick Charge 3+ technology. This is their latest addition to their Quick Charge family. Quick Charge is the biggest fast charging ecosystem in the world with more than 1000 devices facilitating Quick Charge. With Quick Charge 3+, Qualcomm aims to bring faster charging across a range of affordable devices and providing convenience.
Until now, Quick Charge was only seen on high-end and premium devices which might not have been accessible to all. However, with Quick Charge 3+ devices with Qualcomm Snapdragon 765 and Qualcomm Snapdragon 765+ processors will be enabled with wilt the Quick Charge 3+ which will be followed by other new Snapdragon platforms across tiers in 2020. Xiaomi’s Mi Lite Zoom which is powered by Snapdragon 765G is the world’s first smartphone with both Quick Charge 4+ and Quick Charge 3+ charging technology.
Some features of the Quick Charge 3+ :
Fast Charging with better efficiency: 0%-50% in 15 minutes, 35% faster and 9 degrees Celsius cooler comparing to previous generations.
Quick Charge 3+ will support industry-standard USB type A-to-type C cables and accessories that support scalable voltage with 20mV steps from Quick Charge 4, which are more affordable for OEMs and consumers
Quick Charge 3+ is backwards compatible with previous-generation Quick Charge devices and newer devices can work with Quick Charge 3+ accessories thereby always providing the most flexible charging experiences
Other key features include: Integrated cable power capability/identification, various safety mechanisms
Additionally, Quick Charge 3+ will bring in the following benefits to the table for smartphone manufacturers
Scalable architecture to allow OEMs to a move to higher charge power with the same software implementation and address different system requirement in terms of PCB design, charger IC location, etc.
Support of ultra-fast charging with lower-cost, variable voltage charging accessories such as Quick Charge 3+
Eliminating the need for external components such as OVP (Over Voltage Protection) chip, sense resistor and others
Support of two input, wireless and wired (SMB1396)
DJI’s Mavic Air drone was announced more than two years ago and it was about time when the drone manufacturing giant gave the Mavic Air some necessary upgrades. The DJI Mavic Air has been one of the most popular models for both casual and professional users alike.
DJI has now announced the successor to its Mavic Air and it is called Mavic Air 2. Keeping the naming as simple as it could be, the company has showered many updates on the new iteration of drone and drone lovers could not have been happier about it.
The DJI Mavic Air 2 now comes with a bigger image sensor and loses the Wi-Fi to adapt to DJI’s own OccuSync transmission tech. Not only this, but the Air 2 also has an extended flight time of 34 minutes and comes with a completely new redesigned controller. The Mavic Air 2 is currently available for pre-order for $799 and will ship to the US initially. The Fly More bundle which DJI makes usually for its drones will include ND filters, carrying bag, propellor guards, a charging hub and three batteries for a total price of $988.
The Mavic Air 2 is being touted as the smartest and safest drone yet by DJI.
Moving on, the Mavic Air 2 now get preprogrammed scene detection modes for images including snow, trees, grass, blue skies, sunsets and sunrises. The autonomous flying modes for the drones have also been updated.
Interestingly, the new sensor on the Mavic Air 2 is a ‘half-inch’ ‘Quad-Bayer’ array sensor and quite similar to the 48-Megapixel sensors which can be found on the smartphones these days. So technically, it takes 12-megapixel images and merges the images for resolution and sharpness. One can also opt to take 12-Megapixel snapshots. The lens on the Mavic Air 2 is a 28mm (35mm equivalent) fixed focus lens.
In the video department, the Mavic Air 2 can now shoot 4K up to 60fps. Not only this, but it also has support for HDR video at 4K up to 30fps and HDR panorama images. Users can now export 8K timelapse videos. Later updates have been planned to enable 8K imaging in different modes.
DJI has equipped the Mavic Air 2 will Airsense, also a first. This technology is an effective solution for detecting nearby aircraft and warning the operator immediately. However, it will be a limited functionality and will depend on which region the drone is being sold at. Other safety features include obstacle sensors to avoid collisions and bottom sensors with aux lights for an easy and safe landing in dark conditions.
With the new features and technology, the Mavic Air 2 has gained some weight and is now slightly bigger and heftier than the outgoing model. The Mavic family now look very similar to each other and can be differentiated by trained eyes only. The controller too has some design changes and features spring-loaded phone mounts for the ease of use.
Facebook has been learning and consistently improving its experience for the users. The social media company is creating quite a few experiences fo it’s users right from the time it was launched for the world. In recent times, the popularity of Facebook has dipped slightly because of TikTok which is a short video creation platform, not very much alike to its other platforms like Instagram and Whatsapp.
In the recent pandemic situation, Facebook has already announced ‘Messenger Rooms’ and also announced the increase of user limit to eight on WhatsApp video calling. Now the Facebook-owned company Whatsapp will soon start showing advertisements to its users.
The move could follow soon after Facebook is done with the merging of the platforms Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. Since the time in 2014, when Facebook acquired the instant messaging platform WhatsApp, Facebook has been trying to draw monetary profits from one of the most popular messaging platforms in the world, WhatsApp. However, there have been internal discussions and disagreements for the same. But now, there are on and off reports of Facebook’s intention to bring ads on this messaging application.
This could soon follow after Facebook is done with integrating all of its platforms – Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. You could soon start seeing ads and it is only to be seen how people all over the world would receive it. WhatsApp uses end-to-end encryption for its chats and hence is very secure, The major issue of user targetted ads would be the security and how much of it will be compromised when the ads would be able to access user data.
While WhatsApp could be showing ads to those who have a Facebook account, the company fears that users could delete their Facebook accounts if they find out what is drawing the ads towards their WhatsApp. This could have a severe negative effect and at least Facebook, which has been seriously threatened by the identities of other popular social media applications should repeatedly think about.
While this appears to be a very distant thought got Facebook, for now, there could be changes in the way we see and use its other popular platforms like Instagram and WhatsApp. Merging or putting too many changes into these platforms could see a negative effect and dip in users, especially when there are other social media/short-video applications which are way more engaging and rewarding to the users. This could end up being a major threatening to Facebook’s very existence.
For quite some time, Motorola has been just vibrating in the smartphone business. Their smartphones did capture the eyes but left people wanting for more in terms of what you would say firepower. For the techies at heart, Motorola devices are the perfect ones until one decides to flip the page over and check what’s inside.
Motorola announced their Edge+
But all of this was put to the sidewalk when Motorola announced their Edge+ smartphones recently. The Motorola Edge+ is set to launch in India, most probably in a few weeks when we would see the current lockdown situation ease. Ease in smartphone shipping and other factors could affect the launch of the device, however, the launch is imminent. The entire smartphone industry is in a very difficult position owing to the restrictions on manufacturing and shipping of smartphones and smartphone-related components.
The Motorola Edge+ and the Motorola Edge smartphones were announced last week and after many rumours and leaks, the devices have finally seen the surface. Motorola was expected to showcase the devices at MWC 2020. However, the cancellation of the event due to the COVID-19 scare left manufacturers with no choice other than online display and launches in a phased manner.
The confirmation of the India launch was indeed given by Mr Prashant Mani, Country Head of Motorola India who tweeted an official video of the Edge+ sharing some amazing details like Snapdragon 865, 5G support, 108 MP camera and a waterfall-like display which ends over the edges. Other specifications include a 6.7-inch Full HD+ OLED panel with 2340 x 1080 resolution, a punch-hole cutout for the selfie camera and 90Hz of refresh rate for the screen. The display has the support for HDR10+ playback. The Snapdragon 865 will be paired with 12GB of RAM and 256 GB of internal storage.
The rear camera setup on the Edge+ brings three cameras with a 108-MP primary sensor with OIS, a TOF 3D depth sensor, an 8-MP secondary telephoto camera with OIS and a 16 MP wide-angle camera. The rear camera can record 6K video at 30p and 4k video at up to 60fps.
Additionally. Motorola has included stereo speakers, Type-C charging with 5000mAh battery and 18W fast charging and 15W fast wireless charging. The Motorola Edge+ has been announced for $999. However, the Indian pricing will be revealed at the time of the launch.
Life in the time of lockdown has been depressing, especially for those who step out, go to work or even enjoy the air daily. Most people stuck/working from home are relying on a multiple number of applications to feed their necessity of chatting/calling and video conferencing.
Among all the apps that are making the roar, Zoom and Houseparty are the ones which gained quick popularity and racked up a significant number of users. But as it would be, several flaws, security loopholes and privacy issues raised alarming concerns and people soon started to look for alternatives.
Until now, WhatsApp was lagging in the game. WhatsApp only allows four persons for video calls and is a major bummer for the social bees who have a flamboyant group of friends. But worry no more, WhatsApp is adding the ability to add up to eight persons on a single video call. While this might seem less when it comes to a big group of friends, but for some of us, this just might be right enough.
What would please the people is the sheer popularity of WhatsApp and the level of security of personal data that WhatApp promises to secure. WhatsApp has been assuring security and end to end encryption for its chat and video calling services.
Google has made significant improvements to Google Meet and Google Duo which include a new layout, feature and an increased limit on group calls. This might seem less but it is enough to gain traction at a time when web traffic all around the world is just phenomenally high.
The new WhatsApp feature is expected to roll out soon, as soon as the end of April is what the info from the tweet WhatsApp head Will Cathcart put forward. This update will be available for both Android and iPhone users. Not only this, but Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerburg also announced the soon to launch ‘Messenger Rooms’ which will allow 50 people to join together for a video call. As in the time of COVID-19 people have moved to WhatsApp and Messenger for call and video chat.
While things might not be moving for most of the people in the world right now, things at Samsung have been definitely. Samsung has launched its mid-range smartphone the A21 earlier this month. And now if the rumours are to be believed, Samsung is expected to launch the A21s soon.
The Samsung A21 will also be a mid-range budget smartphone offering and the company is known to offer good features and hardware in the budget category and the A21s will also be an interesting device to look at.
According to tipster Sudhanshu Ambore who share the details on this official Twitter account. His tweet mentions that the upcoming mid-ranger will come with a 6.44-inch HD+ IPS display with 720×1600 pixels. It will sport 3GB of RAM and will be coupled with 64 gigs of internal storage space with further expansion on the cards with a microSD memory card.
The camera on the A21s is expected to be a triple-camera setup and will have a 48-megapixel primary sensor, an 8-megapixel sensor and a 2-megapixel sensor. Expect one of them to be a wide-angle sensor and another one for telephoto purposes. The front camera is expected to be a 13-megapixel snapper. The phone will suck its juice from a 5000mAh battery. The rest could be the usual; micro-USB port, Bluetooth and NFC, support for 3.5mm jack.
The details shared here are very speculative and cannot be confirmed until Samsung makes an official announcement for the A21s.
