Tech Update Archives - Exhibit Tech

Top 17 roaring unicorns in India

Intro

What is a unicorn startup? The term unicorn refers to privately held companies valued at over $1 billion. India’s startup ecosystem is home to a number of well-known and emerging unicorn startups, out of which Flipkart is the most notable and most successful unicorn startup. The success of Flipkart has been driven by the rapid adoption of online shopping in India and the company’s ability to adapt quickly to the changing market.

Besides Flipkart, there are about 108* unicorn startups in India, but here, we’re only focusing on the 17 unicorns, which are a mix of already emerged and a few emerging ones, as we’re focusing more on the behind-the-scenes stories. Over the last 10-15 years, India’s unicorn startups have not only made a significant impact in their respective sectors but also have become a symbol of the country’s rapidly growing technology and startup ecosystem.

Byju’s

Industry – EdTech

Founded in – 2011

Entered the Unicorn Club in – 2018

Tagline – Fall in love with learning

Valuation – $22 billion

Founders – Byju Raveendran and Divya Gokulnath

Parent Organization – Think and Learn Private Ltd

The Story –

Byju Raveendran, a B.Tech graduate from a small town in Kerala, was working in a multinational shipping firm as a service engineer. In 2023, he started helping his friends prepare for the CAT entrance exam, as he had a burning desire to make a difference in the field of learning and teaching. While preparing, out of curiosity, he decided to appear in the exam and scored 100%.

Later, he started conducting free mathematical workshops but realised there had to be a better way to teach and learn. Determined to make a change, Byju and his co-founder wife, Divya Gokulnath, started working on a new learning platform, where he offered interactive video lessons on a wide range of subjects, from mathematics and science to history and geography.

The platform they created was designed to make learning more fun and engaging and to help students easily understand complex concepts. Today we call that platform, Byju’s, and it has over 150 million registered students and is valued at $22 billion. With its strong focus on technology, innovation, and scalability, Byju’s is well-positioned for continued growth in the future.

A quote from the founder that can change your perspective

“Education is the single most powerful tool that can shape the way our youth thinks” – Byju Raveendran

CRED

Industry – FinTech

Founded in – 2018

Entered the Unicorn Club in – 2021

Tagline – Suraksha Aur Bharosa Dono

Valuation – $6.4 billion

Founders – Kunal Shah

Parent Organization – Dream plug Technologies Pvt. Ltd.

The Story –

When you’re determined to make your dreams come true, you work tirelessly to build them, and Kunal Shah is one such hard-working individual. He began his career as a software engineer before venturing into the world of entrepreneurship with PaisaBack and FreeCharge. After the acquisition of FreeCharge, he founded CRED in 2018, as he wanted to offer more privileges and benefits to people having good credit scores.

The company was started with a mission to make credit card payments simple and transparent for consumers as the industry was plagued by hidden charges and confusing terms and conditions. CRED was always focused on building a strong brand, and one of the key factors that contributed to the company’s success was its focus on customer experience, which helped the company earn over 7 million users.

What’s next?

To enable a good life for creditworthy individuals.

A quote from the founder that can change your perspective

‘If you look at history, nobody has been rewarded for paying back on time. We want to fix that.’ – Kunal Shah

Dream11

Industry – Fantasy Sports Platform

Founded in – 2008

Entered the Unicorn Club in – 2019

Tagline – Jab Dream bada ho, toh koi akela nahi hota. Dream Big, Dream11!

Valuation – $8 billion

Founders – Bhavit Sheth & Harsh Jain

Parent Organization – Sporta Technologies

The Story –

Every sports fan likes to spend a lot of time discussing their favourite teams and players, but not everyone ends up founding an app for fans to participate in fantasy sports. Harsh Jain and Bhavit Sheth are two such sport-packed souls who saw an opportunity to create a platform that would allow sports fans to create their own teams and compete against each other for prizes.

Without hesitation, Harsh and Bhavit quit their jobs and started their own company in 2008, Dream11. The company has always ensured that it complies with all laws and regulations related to fantasy sports in the countries it operates, which has helped to build trust with users and regulators. Along with cricket today, the platform allows users to play fantasy hockey, football, kabaddi, basketball, volleyball, etc.

To stay on the success path, Dream11 made strategic partnerships with major sports leagues and teams, such as the Indian Premier League and the Pro Kabaddi League. Currently, the company has a presence in many countries, including the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom, while the founders have inspired countless individuals to pursue their own dreams of entrepreneurship.

Swiggy

Industry – Online Food Ordering and Delivery Platform

Founded in – 2014

Entered the Unicorn Club in – 2018

Tagline – Swiggy karo, phir jo chahe karo!

Valuation – $10.7 billion

Founders – Sriharsha Majety, Nandan Reddy and Rahul Jaimini

Parent Organization – Bundl Technologies

The Story –

By the time you’ve reached here, you might have ordered something on Swiggy, which speaks volumes about its popularity. The start-up was founded in 2014 by Sriharsha Majety, Nandan Reddy, and Rahul Jaimini, who saw a gap in the market for an efficient and reliable food delivery service in India. On one hot summer day, Sriharsha and Nandan realised the need for better online food delivery options in India as the existing options were slow, unreliable, and the food often arrived cold.

They developed a food delivery app and named it ‘Bundl’ in 2013 but decided to shut it down within a year as they wanted to brainstorm more on the delivery process. While brainstorming, they met Rahul Jaimin and decided to start the Start-up with the name Swiggy. The user-friendly app gained a lot of engagement in a short period, made good returns and significantly changed the food delivery industry. Today, besides India, Swiggy is also operational in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

What’s next?

To elevate the quality of life of urban consumers by providing unparalleled convenience.

Fractal Analytics

Industry – AI

Founded in – 2000

Entered the Unicorn Club in – 2022

Valuation – $1 billion

Founders – Srikanth Velamakanni, Pranay Agrawal, Nirmal Palaparthi, Pradeep Suryanarayan and Ramakrishna Reddy

The Story –

Some start-ups take a couple of years to achieve what they’re looking for, while some take decades to achieve the same. Fractal Analytics is an AI company that provides consumer packaged goods, insurance, healthcare, life sciences, retail, and technology services. It was founded in 2000 by five graduates from IIM Ahmedabad in Mumbai when the word start-up was less mainstream than it is today. Due to internal conflict, it took Fractal over 20 years to earn a unicorn tag.

In 2005, the company decided to move the business to the US, as the country was home to a massive number of clients. However, in a couple of years, two of the co-founders took an exit from the company. Things took a turn when along with two co-founders, the company lost one of its key clients. The circumstances attempted to stop Fractal from getting a tag of a unicorn for over a decade, but the company continued to evolve over the years and improved its platform until it became a unicorn in 2022.

Tata 1mg

Industry – E-pharmacy Platform

Founded in – 2015

Entered the Unicorn Club in – 2022

Tagline – Bringing care to health

Valuation – $1.25 billion

Founders – Prashant Tandon, Gaurav Agarwal and Vikas Chauhan

Parent Organization – Tata Digital Limited

The Story –

Where there’s a will, there’s a TATA, but the backstory of Tata 1mg is something you should know and take notes on. The startup was initially launched as Healthkartplus in 2013, the time when people, especially Indians, started trying their hands at online shopping, be it for books, gadgets, etc. The journey of 1mg began as a consumer awareness platform, helping them learn about their medicines while also comparing prices of the various alternatives for the brand that they were prescribed.

Initially, there were just three employees (only the founders), Prashant Tandon, Gaurav Agarwal, and Vikas Chauhan, but today 1mg has over 200 members across multiple locations throughout India. Back then, there were very few trustworthy online pharmacies in India, which helped 1mg become the most trusted name in the industry in a short time. In June 2021, Tata Digital acquired a majority stake in 1mg, and the company got a new name – Tata 1 mg.

A quote from the founder that can change your perspective

“We must learn to survive, and then we will thrive – Prashant Tandon”

LivSpace

Industry – Home Renovation & Interior Designing

Founded in – 2014

Entered the Unicorn Club in – 2022

Tagline – Hassle-free dream home interiors for any budget

Valuation – $1.2 billion

Founders – Anuj Srivastava & Ramakant Sharma

The Story –

You might have seen the TVC of Livspace starring Virat Kohli (in a TURBAN) and Anushka Sharma. The story of Livspace began when the founders set out to design their dream homes and discovered the industry needed to be more integrated. The omnichannel home interior and renovation company was founded by a Google veteran, Anuj Srivastava & his IIT-Kanpur classmate Ramakant Sharma in 2014. Shagufta Anurag, the founder of Space Matrix, was also the company’s co-founder.

The start-up saves you from all the hustle and bustle you have to deal with, from carpenters to plumbers and confusing rates to unreliable schedules. The designers at Livspace create a mock-up for the customer using Livspace’s proprietary software, and once accepted by the client, they hire third-party contractors to get the job done. Livspace earned the title of a unicorn when it successfully raised $180 million in a round led by KKR, taking the value of the firm to over 1$ billion.

OYO Rooms

Industry – Hospitality

Founded in – 2013

Entered the Unicorn Club in – 2018

Tagline – #AurKyaChahiye

Valuation – $9 billion

Founders – Ritesh Agarwal

Parent Organization – Oravel Stays Limited

The Story –

How often have you stayed at the hotel while on vacation or outing? The chances are at least 10-15 times in your lifetime. Well, the founder of OYO rooms, Ritesh Agarwal, used to travel a lot from the age of 17 and every time he stayed at the hotels, he experienced the scarcity of quality hotels, especially in the budget segment. To help people from having such a horrible experience, he launched Oravel Stays, an online portal for vacation rentals.

The platform collapsed in a short time, but two fortunate things happened. First, the relationships Ritesh had formed with hotel owners helped him a lot and secondly, he got an opportunity of the Thiel Fellowship, a two-year program from PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel. During his stay fellowship in California, he relaunched Oravel Stays as OYO Hotels & Homes to create India’s largest chain of affordable, standardised hotels.

As soon as he arrived in India, he started reaching out to the hotel owners he had worked with earlier during his days at Oravel Stays. With all the hard work, he managed to acquire rooms in hotels across the country and transformed them into OYO, which boosted the hotel’s occupancy rates from 19% to 90% in the first month only. Today, Oyo rooms are widely distributed all over India, in more than 800 cities, with more than 23,000 hotels and 850,000 rooms.

A quote from the founder that can change your perspective

“Start small, nail it and then make it big – Ritesh Agarwal”

Meesho

Industry – Retail and E-commerce

Founded in – 2015

Entered the Unicorn Club in – 2021

Tagline – Not just a homemaker, a Meesho Entrepreneur

Valuation – $4.9 billion

Founders – Vidit Aatrey and Sanjeev Barnwal

Parent Organization – Meesho Inc

The Story –

Another startup co-founded by IITians. Now a unicorn, Meesho started as a reseller platform allowing users to resell products via their social channels such as WhatsApp, Instagram etc. The founders, Vidit Aatrey and Sanjeev Barnwal started the company with the goal of empowering the next generation of entrepreneurs in India. In the early days, the team focused on building a solid product and acquiring users through word-of-mouth and referral marketing.

Within a few months, they realised that their target market was primarily women in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities looking for flexible and low-cost ways to earn income and decided to tailor their product and marketing strategies to serve this demographic better. In 2017, the startup raised $3.4 million in a seed funding round, which allowed them to expand and invest in team, technology and infrastructure. Today, Meesho has over 15 million registered sellers and reaches over 200 million customers.

What’s next?

A quote from the founder that can change your perspective

“For growth, focus on your customers. Nothing else matters. – Vidit Aatrey and Sanjeev Barnwal”

upGrad

Industry – EdTech

Founded in – 2015

Entered the Unicorn Club in – 2021

Tagline – A journey as dynamic as us

Valuation – $2.25 billion

Founders – Ronnie Screwvala, Mayank Kumar, Phalgun Kompalli, and Ravijot Chugh

Parent Organization – UpGrad Education Pvt. Ltd

The Story –

We’ve various e-learning options for students, but what about professionals looking to upgrade their careers? Yes, the same thought was the base of upGrad, an EdTech startup founded in 2015 by Ronnie Screwvala, Phalgun Kompalli, Mayank Kumar, and Ravijot Chugh. The journey of upGrad began with the goal of providing quality education to working professionals and students in India looking to upskill and advance their careers.

Like the rest of the startups, upGrad faced several challenges, including a need for more awareness and understanding of online education in India but managed to conquer all the crises that came in way. The company started with just a single program, in digital marketing and within a short while but quickly expanded its offerings to include programs in data science, software engineering, and business management.

A quote from the founder that can change your perspective

“Failure never stopped anybody who didn’t want to be stopped – Ronnie Screwvala”

Zomato

Industry – Online Food Ordering and Delivery Platform

Founded in – 2008

Entered the Unicorn Club in – 2015

Tagline – Every meal matters

Valuation – $5.4 Billion

Founders – Deepinder Goyal, Gaurav Gupta, and Pankaj Chaddah

The Story –

Back in the 2000s, writing a food review was rare, as people only used to follow word of mouth instead of looking for the review on the internet. The founders of Zomato were working at Bain & Co in New Delhi when they came up with the idea of Foodiebay, now known as Zomato. At first, it started as a food blog, providing information about restaurants in the Delhi region and by providing restaurant information, including menus, prices, and user reviews, through its website and mobile app.

In only nine months, FoodieBay became Delhi’s most preferred restaurant directory, and the founders decided to start the services in Mumbai and Kolkata. In 2010, the name Foodiebay was officially changed to ‘Zomato’, and since then, the company has grown to become one of the most popular food delivery apps in India and across the globe. The company also faced major hurdles during their decade-long journey and always bounced back with a better solution to thrive the crises.

Info Edge (India) played a huge role in the formation of Zomato as they were the first to invest about US$ 1 million when the startup did not have enough funds to start the app. By 2013, Zomato expanded its business in foreign countries such as Sri Lanka, UAE, Qatar, South Africa, the UK, the Philippines, New Zealand, Turkey, and Brazil. Since 2014, Zomato has acquired Poland’s Gastronauci, Italy’s Cibando, and US-based online table reservation platform NexTable.

A quote from the founder that can change your perspective

“When you are still building an organization, don’t be defensive about your culture – Deepinder Goyal”

Ola Electric

Industry – Automotive

Founded in – 2017

Entered the Unicorn Club in – 2019

Tagline – Ready or not, a revolution is coming

Valuation – $5+ Billion

Founders – Bhavish Aggarwal

Parent Organization – Ola Cabs

The Story –

EVs are the key to a sustainable future, and Ola Electric wanted to take the lead. The company was founded by the electric vehicle arm of Indian ride-hailing giant Ola with an aim to make electric mobility accessible and affordable for all by deploying a fleet of electric vehicles (EVs) and building a network of charging infrastructure across the country.

The journey of Ola Electric began with the launch of a pilot project in Nagpur, Maharashtra, in 2017. Ola Electric, which started making two-wheelers in 2021, will introduce the sportiest car ever manufactured in India with an electric vehicle that has a range of more than 500 km and even accelerates from 0-100 in less than 4 seconds.

Ola Electric also entered into a partnership with leading automakers such as Mahindra and Tata Motors to develop and manufacture electric vehicles in India. Today, Ola Electric has a fleet of thousands of electric vehicles on the road and more than 100 charging stations in multiple cities across India and is valued at over $5 billion.

A quote from the founder that can change your perspective

“Don’t take shortcuts while building your company, keep trying for the best – Bhavish Aggarwal”

Vedantu

Industry – EdTech

Founded in – 2011

Entered the Unicorn Club in – 2021

Tagline – Live Online Tutoring

Valuation – $1 Billion

Founders: Vamsi Krishna, Pulkit Jain, Saurabh Saxena & Anand Prakash

Parent Organization – MTEducare

The Story –

Bangalore has been a fortress of EdTech platforms, and in the case of Vedantu, it all began with private lessons to a handful of students in their local community. The online tutoring platform was initially founded in 2011 but launched for the public in October 2014. The EdTech platform was founded by four friends from the IITs who were passionate about education and wanted to make a difference in the lives of students – Vamsi Krishna, Pulkit Jain, Saurabh Saxena, and Anand Prakash.

Vedantu provides services to students from grades 4th to 12th for the Indian Certificate of Secondary Education (ICSE) & Central Board of Secondary Education. The EdTec platform uses an innovative Whiteboard Audio Video Education (WAVE) program for their 1-1 student-teacher live sessions. The EdTech company provides education to students with both free and paid classes options and aims to provide test preparation courses for the JEE, NTSE, and PSA exams in the future.

PharmEasy

Industry – Pharmaceutical

Founded in – 2015

Entered the Unicorn Club in – 2021

Tagline – Take it easy, PharmEasy

Valuation – $5.6 Billion

Founders: Dharmil Sheth and Dr Dhaval Shah

Parent Organization – API Holdings Private Limited

The Story –

Back in 2014, when people were experiencing door-to-door delivery services from the brands like Zomato, Flipkart, Swiggy, and Amazon, the founders of PharmEasy thought, why not deliver health care items right at the door in the same way? The pharmaceutical industry in our country is one of the poorly organised industries, but no one was complaining about it until you’re travelling hundreds of kilometres to buy one tablet.

Dharmil Sheth and Dr Dhawal Shah co-founded PharmEasy in 2014 with the goal of making healthcare a lot more accessible in India. The duo created a healthcare delivery platform to simplify and modernise the healthcare setup in India. Thanks to the digitisation of the pharmaceutical industry, we can now order our medicines online from the comfort of our homes, without any hustle and with the most budget-friendly rates.

A quote from the founder that can change your perspective

“Your belief in yourself will drive everything around you. – Dharmil Sheth”

Razorpay

Industry – FinTech

Founded in – 2014

Entered the Unicorn Club in – 2020

Tagline – #Powering Disruptors

Valuation – $7.5 Billion

Founders: Dharmil Sheth and Dr Dhaval Shah

The Story –

Seeing an Indian company leading the pack is rare, but Razorpay has achieved it in the payment sector. It started as a project to solve the problem of online payments and has since grown into one of the prominent members of the coveted unicorn club. Before co-founding Razorpay, Harshil Mathur and Shashank Kumar decided to work on a crowdfunding platform, but soon, the duo realised that online payment was a problem for small & medium-sized (SME) businesses, particularly e-commerce platforms.

The founders of Razorpay, Shashank and Harshil, studied Mechanical Engineering at NIT Allahabad and IIT Bombay, respectively. They first met on a train journey, and while conversing, they both got stuck on one question – how to accept payments online. They offered lower fees than their counterparts as they wanted to revolutionise payment options and access to several online payment methods for business entities, including credit & debit cards, net banking, and UPI.

A quote from the founder that can change your perspective

“Throwing things around in the calendar does not help… maintain a to-do list – Harshil Mathur”

Groww

Industry – FinTech

Founded in – 2017

Entered the Unicorn Club in – 2021

Tagline – There’s just one right way

Valuation – $5 Billion

Founders: Lalit Keshre, Harsh Jain, Neeraj Singh, and Ishan Bansal

Parent Organization – Nextbillion Technology

The Story –

Spending time with the right people can take you to the right places. Earlier, when it came to investing, people had to do a lot of paperwork and bank visits and stand in long queues, but now we have various options. Today, with startups like Groww, to begin investing and managing your wealth, you need a few things – a bank account, some disposable income, and a smartphone. Groww is one of several startups that have aroused the curiosity of investors.

The startup was founded in 2016 by four former Flipkart workers, Lalit Keshre, Harsh Jain, Neeraj Singh, and Ishan Bansal. The platform was started to make investing more accessible to young people by simplifying the process, and it uses technology to reach the right audience, reducing its operational expense. Groww offers various services to consumers by providing investment offerings in mutual funds, stocks, IPO, and digital gold.

A quote from the founder that can change your perspective

“Always try to understand the business first and then the price of the stock – Ishan Bansal”

Urban Company

Industry – Household Services

Founded in – 2014

Entered the Unicorn Club in – 2021

Valuation – $2.1 Billion

Founders: Abhiraj Singh Bhal, Raghav Chandra and Varun Khaitan

Parent Organization – UrbanClap Technologies India Pvt. Ltd.

The Story –

Who empowered professionals from the industries like massage, cleaning and salon? A startup founded by three great minds, Abhiraj Singh Bhal, Raghav Chandra and Varun Khaitan, named Urban Company. Before founding Urban Company, Abhiraj and Varun launched Cinemabox, a service that allowed travellers to stream movies on their phones on planes, trains or buses, which lasted for only 6 months.

Later on, they met Raghav and during one of their intense conversations, they understood the country was lying behind the in-home services market, like finding the right plumber, electrician, or beautician. Right then, they decided to work on the idea and founded Urban Company, formerly UrbanClap, in 2014. Today, it has more than 40,000 service partners across 50+ cities in India, the UAE, Singapore, Australia and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

What’s next?

The company plans to expand and train and upskill 5 lakh service partners, of which 2 lakh will be women partners, by 2030.

2023 Android Flagship Battle – Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra vs OnePlus 11 vs Google Pixel 7Pro

2023 has begun with a bang. Most major android manufacturers have launched their top-tier flagships at the start of the year. Let’s look at three quintessential brands popular among android phone users. Starting off with the newest handheld machines on the block, the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra, a refined iteration of the beloved Galaxy S22 Ultra with a similar camera design for the entire line-up. OnePlus 11, the latest and greatest from OnePlus, adheres to all last year’s issues and updates hardware and software to match their potential buyers outside China. The Google Pixel 7Pro is also known as the smartest android phone money can buy, making its software reign over hardware.

Design & Specs

Samsung Galaxy S23 Series

Samsung Galaxy S23, S23+ and the S23 Ultra are iterative updates to their predecessors. We know these are flagship units from each manufacturer and hence are priced accordingly. Considering flagships from all the companies, let’s compare the top-tier Samsung S23 Ultra, arguably a better Note series from Samsung. Maybe the Note name is kindly reserved for something that matches the name? The Ultra now has a redesigned chassis with a more rounded rectangle design that fits the hands confidently and brings significant camera improvements. On the other hand, the Galaxy lower S23 series is more like a refreshed update bringing Ultra design to the Galaxy S23 and the S23+.

The design is clean overall, and the display is curved upfront while looking symmetrically beautiful at the rear. The camera housing for individual sensors is carried on with the entire line-up this year. The outer glass is now industry-leading Gorilla Glass Vitcus 2 on both ends, with armour-grade aluminium for the chassis for better fall protection. Overall the changes on the outside are minor, but there’s better hardware this time around. Newer to the device is the new Snapdragon 8 Gen2 processor, slightly overclocked for Samsung devices with a brighter 6.8-inch Dynamic SAMOLED 2K 120hz panel with HDR10+ supporting 1750nits of brightness in scenarios necessary. It still retains all the good parts like an IP68 rating, 45W charging with a 5000mAh battery, standard and reverse wireless charging, WiFi 6E, BT 5.3 and one of the fastest in-display fingerprint sensors. This is an apt design for someone who wants a sophisticated, premium, and functional flagship phone. The S-Pen is retained with all the necessary sensors. Pen hardware and software are still crisp and work as well as the earlier editions. Samsung One UI 5.1 brings goodies of Android 13, S-Pen features and updated apps like Samsung Pay with a multitude of features. Improved 200MP OIS primary wide with 10MP OIS (10X) periscopic zoom, 10MP OIS (3x) optical zoom, and 12MP EIS Ultrawide cameras complete the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra camera setup. The new 16MP front camera, as opposed to the 40MP earlier, has better AI algorithms (that may take some OTA updates to get better) for better colour tones and 4K capabilities. At the same time, the rear can shoot 8K 30FPS, but the file size would require Galaxy-level storage.

OnePlus 11

The OnePlus 11 was launched in China many months ago and has finally landed in India with Oxygen OS 13 based on Android 13. The most considerable improvements include a newer Hasselblad camera design with improved AI and hardware. Exterior design improvements bring back the alert slider and retain the matte finish sandstone rear glass. Like most phones on the market, this is a large phone with a nice balance, but it feels dense despite its slim circumference. Unlike the newer Samsung Galaxy S23 series glass, the OnePlus 11 features gen 1 Gorilla glass Victus upfront and Gorilla glass 5 at its rear.

Hasselblad computation has improved on the 50MP OIS primary camera sensor with 32MP (2x) telephoto lens, 48MP ultrawide sensor and an improved 16MP autofocus front camera. Despite the lower pixel counts upfront, the algorithm has improved. A new LTPO3 E4 2K AMOLED panel with 120Hz refresh rate and 1300nits max HDR 10+ brings software support for Dolby Vision, 8K 24FPS capabilities limiting FHD for the front camera, BT 5.3, WiFi 7 are welcome generational update.

Google Pixel 7Pro

The Pixel design by Google is exciting and flagship-grade, to say the least. It includes a similar glass setup to the OnePlus 11 and was launched last year, but it is safely the most intuitive android phone to use. This is authentic vanilla android as cooked by Google. The software is the main king compared to the hardware. Hardware is no slouch at 6.7-inch LTPO 2K AMOLED 1500nits max bright panel with excellent touch response. The Tensor SOC is no match to the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 of the others, but this time around is much more balanced for all the multitasking expected out of a flagship device.

It gets an IP68 rating for water and dust protection like Samsung and Apple devices with similar wireless and reverses wireless charging despite no charger in the retail box. This is the only phone among the lot with low UFS 3.1 storage compared to UFS 4.0 on others despite LDDR5 RAM on all of the contenders. The most impressive feature on Pixel devices, apart from the fantastic ML AI algorithms throughout the UI, must be the 50MP OIS primary camera, 48MP OIS (5x) telephoto and 12MP ultrawide camera with an autofocusing 4K recording 10.8MP front camera. The battery on the Pixel 7Pro is 5000mAh, and WiFi 6E makes it apt for heavy users.

Display

We consumed some media, and honestly, there is nothing as impressive as a Samsung display. No wonder iPhones get their displays from Samsung. Isolated, the OnePlus and Pixel 7Pro bring a large, crisp, colour-rich display viewing experience. Outdoor viewing was never an issue on any phone while being the best on the S23 Ultra. The colour balance in dim conditions showed some flaws on the OnePlus 11 and Pixel 7Pro. No such issues with the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra.

Camera

The camera setup on all the phones is interesting and different in their own hardware and algorithms. Here are some camera samples clicked in auto from the same distance as the other phones. 10X samples, ultrawide, front camera samples and more for your perusal. The Ultra wins hands down in the portrait department with a clean cut out on my hair. The Pixel algorithm has a mind of its own at times and selects colours it likes that are far from reality. Samsung and Pixel perform great at video stabilisation, while the OnePlus 11 struggles to maintain stability. Night photography is more than satisfactory on all the phones, with the Galaxy S23 Ultra and OnePlus 11 being marginally better than the Pixel 7Pro.

In night photography, the OnePlus Hasselblad setup works wonders, followed by S23 Ultra, and then the Pixel makes things appear as it wants. Pixel photos look great outdoors, but the OnePlus and Samsung somehow manage better details in photos and videos. Let us know in the comments which would be your phone of choice for capturing memorable moments.

Performance and Processors

The Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 is finally catching up with Apple’s processing power. Both the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra and the OnePlus 11 eat up any task thrown at them. Gaming at the highest fidelity is no problem for both phones, but the Pixel 7Pro struggles on max settings. We noticed considerable frame drops, and while most games play flawlessly on all three devices, demanding titles will struggle on the Pixel 7Pro. We set a tie for the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra and the OnePlus 11 regarding sheer flagship performance. Regular tasks and straining downloads were not an issue on either device. Speaking of performance, the software cannot be ignored. While the Samsung and OnePlus devices make a strong case on paper, the Pixel 7Pro is a software king among the lot. The purest form of android with all permissions running flawlessly and ML AI built inside, like most iPhones, the Pixel 7Pro flies miles above any other android device when it comes to phone UI and app usage. This year, Samsung has a trick up its sleeve with social media platforms, especially Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok (where it’s still not banned). The collaboration allows these apps to use the Samsung camera algorithms inside their apps, allowing them to shoot at full fidelity offered by the improved Samsung Galaxy S23 series camera setup. Battery life on all these phones is more than adequate for a typical work day and then some with all sporting ultra battering saving modes.

Which one should you buy?

This is a tricky question, especially with such amazing products from all the brands. All the phones are amazing packages. The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra brings unique functionality to people who want the S-Pen along with hardware and software that surpass most spec sheets on any smartphone. The OnePlus 11 is a tough competition, but the hardware and software package cuts corners, acceptable for the price. Speaking of which, the Google flagship Pixel 7Pro still proves to be the best software package with amazing AI and ML capabilities on the hardware and HDR-rich images. One cannot go wrong with either phone, and all the phone manufacturers make the Android phone market better than ever. If the price was not a bar, there is nothing in a clamshell design that matches the sheer functionality, self-charging S-Pen, premium experience and a well-rounded flagship like the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra. If money does a concern, the S23 series, OnePlus 11 and, to some extent, even the Pixel 7Pro are great options. All offer ad-free user experience and flagship-grade performance in daily use. Our winner among these Android flagships is the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra. OnePlus 11 offers good functionality but misses out on some essential features that make flagship phones desirable, but the cameras are much better than predecessors. Google’s Pixel 7Pro is up for an update, but the overall Android UI with intelligent features like whispering “stop” to stop an alarm make it the smartest Android phone in the Indian market.

Living the Cyborg LIfe

Is blood glucose monitoring the newest craze among athletes? Customers can purchase intrusive sensors from Ultrahuman to be implanted into their arms, where they will use a smart app to continuously check their blood glucose levels. The ultimate result is real-time advice on how to improve one’s lifestyle, together with a vast ecosystem of knowledge relating to metabolic health. After testing the Ultrahuman M1 for two weeks, we’d like to talk about how our lives have changed.

Ultrahuman uses Abbott’s Freestyle Libre 2, which has been on the market since 2019, as its glucose sensor. Additionally, many diabetics use it to keep an eye on their blood glucose levels. There is nothing to worry about because the technology is tried and true, right? However, I find it unsettling to imagine a thin, flexible filament in my skin.

It goes without saying that I had mixed emotions before to the cyborg experiment, especially since I had already looked at too many images of the sensor. I’ll leave it up to you to decide if that’s fortunate or not.

So I worked up the confidence to insert the chip into my arm after putting the sensor in the applicator. Just how did I feel? Absolutely nothing! I was a little concerned about the needle being trapped somewhere during the first two days, especially at night. But in daily life, neither when exercising nor while sleeping, I was unaware of the 0.4-millimetre thin filament in my skin. I only ever got caught on the couch once, giving me a brief feeling of being bitten by an insect. Overall, my fears were unjustified, and Ultrahuman also provides strong plasters to protect the sensor.

By tapping my new sticker with the phone, the sensor and app were first paired. The app cautioned me that the readings could be erroneous for the first 24 hours, but it held me in suspense for another two hours while waiting for the sensor to be fully calibrated. I encountered zero connectivity issues with the sensor and smartphone throughout the review period.

Using a chocolate bar in between meals to circumvent the calorie counter app is more difficult with Ultrahuman. Any food with a significant amount of sugar, even a few grapes or two figs, will cause the Ultrahuman app to send a push notification: “Your blood sugar is currently increasing. What did you consume?”

Now, the software assigns a score to each food item depending on how it affects blood sugar levels. The software uses your personal top lists of the greatest and worst foods to create the best food lists for you. The intriguing aspect of this is how various foods cause varied reactions in various bodies. For one person, what is healthy may induce blood sugar spikes and crashes in another.

Score and Metabolic Vectors

The Ultrahuman app assigns a score between 1 and 100 to each day based on measured data, tracked activities, and diet. Of course, the crucial factor in this situation is the percentage of the day that you spend within the desirable blood glucose range of 70 to 110 mg/dL. However, it’s also crucial to prevent peaks and valleys in the level; a smooth uphill and downward gradient is optimal.

How can this be done? The software continuously explains everything while in use and offers fresh suggestions. For instance, if there is a surge, the app suggests taking a walk after eating or taking a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar first.

The programme also contains metabolic vectors in addition to the daily score. This depiction of your performance in the three categories of focus, longevity, and athleticism. The less your blood sugar fluctuates, the more focused you are. Your longevity increases with the number of peaks and the amount of time your blood sugar is at its ideal level. And it’s obvious that consistent exercise and healthy blood sugar levels are beneficial for your athletic score.

Additionally, you’ll receive an estimate of your daily HbA1c level, which can help determine if you have diabetes, prediabetes, or neither. The app provides daily tests as well as long-term averages and a summary of your metabolic fitness.

Conclusion

Two weeks spent living as a cyborg

The sensor stopped functioning as expected and stopped producing results exactly two weeks later. I feel like I’ve been robbed of a sense since this shelf life is restricted for hygiene reasons. My body served as a laboratory for two weeks, and the results motivated me more than wearing any other fitness tracker before to be disciplined about exercise and especially food.

I consider the Ultrahuman M1 to be one of the most exciting technological advancements of the last 15 years, and I’m really interested in how blood glucose monitors will become more widely used and advance our understanding of nutrition and fitness in the next years. The utility of fitness wearables will advance dramatically at the latest when blood glucose testing operates with adequate optical precision and hence becomes slightly more accessible to the general public.

Best smartphones of 2022 – A listicle of the best phones from INR 10k-100K

5000 mAhFast ChargingUSB Type-C Port

Under 20K

Redmi Note 11Pro+

Performance

Octa-core (2.2 GHz, Dual Core + 1.7 GHz, Hexa Core)

Snapdragon 695

6 GB RAM

Display

6.67 inches (16.94 cm)

395 PPI, AMOLED

120 Hz Refresh Rate

Camera

108 MP + 8 MP + 2 MP Triple Primary Cameras

LED Flash

16 MP Front Camera

Battery

5000 mAh

Turbo Charging

USB Type-C Port

Realme 9 Pro

Performance

Octa-core (2.2 GHz, Dual Core + 1.8 GHz, Hexa Core)Snapdragon 695 6 GB RAM

Display

6.6 inches (16.76 cm)400 PPI, IPS LCD120 Hz Refresh Rate

Camera

64 MP + 8 MP + 2 MP Triple Primary CamerasLED Flash16 MP Front Camera

Battery

5000 mAhDart ChargingUSB Type-C Port

OnePlus Nord CE 2 Lite

Performance

Octa-core (2.2 GHz, Dual Core + 1.7 GHz, Hexa Core)

Snapdragon 695

6 GB RAM

Display

6.59 inches (16.74 cm)

401 PPI, IPS LCD

120 Hz Refresh Rate

Camera

64 MP + 2 MP + 2 MP Triple Primary Cameras

LED Flash

16 MP Front Camera

Battery

5000 mAh

Super VOOC Charging

USB Type-C Port

Moto Edge 20 Fusion

Performance

Octa-core (2.4 GHz, Dual Core + 2 GHz, Hexa Core)MediaTek Dimensity 800U 6 GB RAM

Display

6.7 inches (17.02 cm)393 PPI, OLED90 Hz Refresh Rate

Camera

108 MP + 8 MP + 2 MP Triple Primary CamerasLED Flash32 MP Front Camera

Battery

5000 mAhTurbo Power ChargingUSB Type-C Port

Samsung Galaxy M53

Performance

Octa core (2.4 GHz, Dual Core + 2 GHz, Hexa Core)

MediaTek Dimensity 900

6 GB RAM

Display

6.7 inches (17.02 cm)

393 PPI, Super AMOLED Plus

120 Hz Refresh Rate

Camera

108 + 8 + 2 + 2 MP Quad Primary Cameras

LED Flash

32 MP Front Camera

Battery

5000 mAh

Fast Charging

USB Type-C Port

Camera

50 MP + 8 MP + 2 MP Triple Primary Cameras

Dual LED Flash

32 MP Front Camera

Battery

4500 mAh

Super VOOC Charging

USB Type-C Port

Moto Edge 30

Performance

Octa-core (2.5 GHz, Single Core + 2.2 GHz, Tri core + 1.9 GHz, Quad core)Snapdragon 778G Plus 6 GB RAM

Display

6.5 inches (16.51 cm)405 PPI, P-OLED144 Hz Refresh Rate

Camera

50 MP + 50 MP + 2 MP Triple Primary CamerasDual LED Flash32 MP Front Camera

Battery

4020 mAhTurbo Power ChargingUSB Type-C Port

Bonus (Sale prices)

Samsung S20FE

Performance

Octa core (2.84 GHz, Single Core + 2.42 GHz, Tri core + 1.8 GHz, Quad core)

Snapdragon 865

8 GB RAM

Display

6.5 inches (16.51 cm)

405 PPI, Super AMOLED

120 Hz Refresh Rate

Camera

12 MP + 8 MP + 12 MP Triple Primary Cameras

LED Flash

32 MP Front Camera

Battery

4500 mAh

Fast Charging

USB Type-C Port

iQoo 9 SE

Performance

Octa-core (2.84 GHz, Single Core + 2.42 GHz, Tri core + 1.8 GHz, Quad core)Snapdragon 888 12 GB RAM

Display

6.62 inches (16.81 cm)398 PPI, AMOLED120 Hz Refresh Rate

Camera

48 MP + 13 MP + 2 MP Triple Primary CamerasDual-color LED Flash16 MP Front Camera

Battery

4500 mAhFlash ChargingUSB Type-C Port

Camera

12 MP + 12 MP + 8 MP Triple Primary Cameras

LED Flash

32 MP Front Camera

Battery

4500 mAh

Fast Charging

USB Type-C Port

108 + 12 + 10 + 10 MP Quad Primary Cameras

LED Flash

40 MP Front Camera

Battery

5000 mAh

Fast Charging

USB Type-C Port

Apple iPhone 12

Performance

Hexa Core (3.1 GHz, Dual Core + 1.8 GHz, Quad core)Apple A14 Bionic 4 GB RAM

Display

6.1 inches (15.49 cm)457 PPI, OLED60 Hz Refresh Rate

Camera

12 MP + 12 MP Dual Primary CamerasDual LED Flash12 MP Front Camera

Battery

2815 mAhFast ChargingLightning Port

Under 60K

Apple iPhone 13

Performance

Hexa Core (3.23 GHz, Dual Core + 1.82 GHz, Quad core)

Apple A15 Bionic

4 GB RAM

Display

6.1 inches (15.49 cm)

457 PPI, OLED

60 Hz Refresh Rate

Camera

12 MP + 12 MP Dual Primary Cameras

Dual LED Flash

12 MP Front Camera

Battery

3227 mAh

Fast Charging

Lightning Port

iQoo 9 Pro

Performance

Octa-core (3 GHz, Single Core + 2.5 GHz, Tri core + 1.8 GHz, Quad core)Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 12 GB RAM

Display

6.78 inches (17.22 cm)518 PPI, AMOLED120 Hz Refresh Rate

Camera

50 MP + 50 MP + 16 MP Triple Primary CamerasDual LED Flash16 MP Front Camera

Battery

4700 mAhFlash ChargingUSB Type-C Port

OnePlus 10 Pro

Performance

Octa-core (3 GHz, Single Core + 2.5 GHz, Tri core + 1.8 GHz, Quad core)Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 8 GB RAM

Display

6.7 inches (17.02 cm)526 PPI, Fluid AMOLED120 Hz Refresh Rate

Camera

48 MP + 50 MP + 8 MP Triple Primary CamerasDual LED Flash32 MP Front Camera

Battery

5000 mAhSuper VOOC ChargingUSB Type-C Port

Samsung S22+

Performance

Octa-core (3 GHz, Single Core + 2.4 GHz, Tri core + 1.7 GHz, Quad core)Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 8 GB RAM

Display

6.6 inches (16.76 cm)390 PPI, Dynamic AMOLED120 Hz Refresh Rate

Camera

50 MP + 12 MP + 10 MP Triple Primary CamerasLED Flash10 MP Front Camera

Battery

4500 mAhFast ChargingUSB Type-C Port

Vivo X80 Pro Plus

PerformanceOcta core (3.2 GHz, Single Core + 2.75 GHz, Tri core + 2 GHz, Quad core)Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 18 GB RAM

Display 6.8 inches (17.27 cm)516 PPI, AMOLED120 Hz Refresh Rate

Camera 50 + 48 + 12 + 8 MP Quad Primary CamerasLED Flash32 MP Front Camera

Battery 4700mah Flash ChargingUSB Type-C Port

Above 100K

Apple iPhone 14 Pro Max

Performance

Hexa Core (3.46 GHz, Dual Core + 2.02 GHz, Quad core)

Apple A16 Bionic

6 GB RAM

Display

6.7 inches (17.02 cm)

460 PPI, OLED

120 Hz Refresh Rate

Camera

48 MP + 12 MP + 12 MP Triple Primary Cameras

LED Flash

12 MP Front Camera

Battery

4323 mAh

Fast Charging

Lightning Port

Samsung Galaxy Fold 4

Performance

Octa-core (3.18 GHz, Single Core + 2.7 GHz, Tri core + 2 GHz, Quad core)Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 12 GB RAM

Display

7.6 inches (19.3 cm)373 PPI, Dynamic AMOLED120 Hz Refresh Rate

Camera

50 MP + 12 MP + 10 MP Triple Primary CamerasLED Flash10 MP + 4 MP Dual Front Cameras

Battery

4400 mAhFast ChargingUSB Type-C Port

Tech this week

What time is it? It’s time for some tech news. Did you know that Google, the name is actually a product of a hasty spelling mistake? Larry and Sean aimed to register Googol, a mathematical term for the number 1 followed by a hundred zeros. Sean accidentally registers the word Google, and it is what it is. Let’s get to the news.

Elon finally bought Twitter

On Thursday night, Elon Musk finally bought Twitter, and reports say many top management authorities at Twitter are now searching for new jobs. These include the CEO, CFO, people who mislead the number of bots on the platform and the one authorizing Donal Trump’s account ban. The hip entrepreneur entered the Twitter office with a bathroom sink, symbolizing the term “let that sink in” and also twitted “ the bird is freed”.

Global price increase

Apple is silently increasing its hardware and software solution prices. Subscription services have seen an inflation in their charges across Apple services, including Apple Music, Apple TV+ and Apple One. Some countries have also witnessed price increases on iPads and Macs. Nothing ear (1), the first product from Nothing, has also seen as much as a 50% price increase in some markets right before the launch of their Nothing ear stick, a relatively new and affordable variant with a different form factor. I hope they stick to the pricing in the future. Steam, a popular gaming service, has also increased its regional pricing in some parts of the world to almost 450% hike in game prices. As if PC gaming was not an expensive hobby with insane GPU prices! Global price increase needs to be combated with a global pay increase. Share this with your company heads. After blocking 4K content on Youtube to Premium users, Youtube has increased the prices of Youtube Premium subscriptions in some countries. What is happening to the world?

WTF? There’s a new Nvidia 3060

After the backlash on RTX 4080 and Nvidia pulling out in time, RTX 4090 has witnessed some insane claims. One of the only cards to enable high fidelity 4K and 8K gaming, the power connector cannot handle the amount of power required to juice tasty frame rates from the 4090, burning some connectors across the globe. Nvidia has addressed a couple of buyers who posted this on social media, but a 1.55 lakh rupee card with burnt connectors is not cool. In another news from Nvidia, some countries witnessed a soft launch of Nvidia’s popular 3060 variants with an 8GB VRAM 128-bit bus rate instead of the usual 12GB 192-bit bus rate. This move comes as competition to Intel’s newest ARC GPU releases earlier this month or maybe an offering to gamers on a budget. Whatever it is, thank you, Intel!

Shutterstock partners with OpenAI DallE 2

Did you know that Gettyimages recently banned the use of AI-generated images? Contrary to their move, Shutterstock has partnered with OpenAI DallE 2, and soon users will be able to generate images based on text commands. Shutterstock has also agreed to pay creators a certain sum of money for training the AI when creating newer images. Not too long ago, a similar AI won an award for the best image creation on a platform, and now it is time for Shutterstock to come up with crazy DallE2-created images. What is your take on AI-generated art? Is it still art if thousands of algorithms created it?

Gaming improves cognitive performance in kids

A recent study on the JAMA network performed by ABCD Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development on 2217 children has shown that kids who regularly play video games are better at problem-solving, memory management, impulse reactions and many other tasks, including academic achievements, as compared to kids who do not play video games. Allowing kids to play video games and other games profoundly impacts their brain development. Only if this study were done during childhood would we not be scolded as much over gaming. Kids watching this video, share this news with your parents.

Xbox Series S – Limiting frame rates for everyone

Some game developers are not happy developing games for the Xbox Series S. According to them; the limited capabilities are hindering them from providing more performance in games being developed for the Xbox Series S. Microsoft has made it mandatory for developers to make games compatible with both the Series X and S. Gotham Knights is a prime example of this shortcoming, as the developers clearly stated in a tweet that the game runs on 30FPS even on the more powerful Series X only to ensure compatibility with the Series S. What’s the point of upgrading to a having a massive 4K high refresh rate display when the games are being limited by one puny console?

Photonic chip – the fastest internet chip as of now

A single photonic chip has made a world record by transferring 1.84 petabytes of data per second over a 7.9Km fibre optic cable. That’s like moving all the files across the globe in less than 10 mins! I am still stuck with a few hundred megabytes per second here in India. Researchers from Japan, Denmark and Sweden, managed to split infrared signals into multiple light sources and then combine them together as one on the receiving end.

Amazon data centres in the UK and Ireland get new diesel generators.

Following an energy crisis in UK and Ireland, Amazon data centres in Dublin are installing 105 high-power diesel generators as backups. It is estimated that this data centre is responsible for over 14% power consumption of the entire Dublin.

Intel’s 13th generation i9 breaks an 8-year-old frequency world record

AMD FX 8370 set a world record back in 2014 by overclocking to an insane 8722.78Mhz. Intel’s latest i9-13900K managed to set a new world record by overclocking to a mind-bending 8812.85Mhz, nearly double the core clock speed offered in the retail packaging. Finally, after taking a beating from similar retail-priced AMD competition, Intel has managed to garner a win in some departments. Good job, Intel, on making something such powerful and power-hungry.

Samsung has started development on a smart ring.

Smart wearables come in all shapes and sizes. Samsung is currently developing a smart ring with all the necessary features of a fitness tracker snuggly packaged in a neat ring. Be careful to accept a proposal as a smart ring, as it could spike your heart rates and trigger an emergency service SOS. Would you wear a ring when the occasion calls for dressing neat, well time shall reveal.

Stadia’s service ended, but the gaming did not.

After Google announced that they were pulling the plug on Stadia streaming services, people playing games on the platform are backed by game developers. As a piece of good news, game developers are offering free copies with free save backups for everyone playing their games on Stadia as a platform. These free copies are provided to all the Stadia gamers based on their choice of gaming platform, and also cloud saves are offered as transferable entities to continue gaming on the platform of your choice. Do we even trust Google with anything with the rate at which they keep shutting down services?

These were all the happenings of the week. Let us know what you think about the tech happenings across the globe. Stay tuned as we bring more tech news next week.

Minimalist home audio nirvana |Your ears deserve quality music|

Audio is an essential part of our experience, apologies to those unable to listen to the beauties of art by humans and nature. Our home entertainment setup is complete with a set of good-quality audio solutions. As much as most of us desire the best of the best, with amplifiers, mixers, and optical audio cable mess to enjoy the creator’s audio source to the best of our human ability, most of us love the cleaner, simpler solutions. Would that be a compromise?

Thanks to development in technology over the years, the compromises are definitely reduced with better-quality audio solutions. Audio quality becomes a subject of desire the moment you listen to audio solutions like speakers, headphones or earphones better than anything you have ever experienced. Simple audio solutions keep the cable mess at bay and are great additions to many homes, available in multiple shades, shapes and sizes.

Desire a minimalist home theatre solution?

The craze for 5.1 and 7.1 audio speaker solutions seems immortal. Thanks to most of our OTT services and amazing television technology supporting the best of Dolby Atmos, DTS-X and more audio solutions, it makes sense to invest in a full-blown theatrics audio experience when consuming media on your comfortable sofa. Something like a sound bar with three audio channels, two wireless surround sound satellites and wireless sub-thumping lows add to the overall experience; audio solutions can be minimalistic. Add to the fact that most of these are nowadays available in white, and a soundbar and sub-based solutions amplify the audio experience a home needs.

What’s the best minimalistic audio solution?

Sometimes, you listen to and enjoy music, don’t you? We all do. While many speakers around the room offer a great movie and series-watching experience, music is best enjoyed on quality bookshelf speakers. It may sound weird that how can a pair of speakers be better than multiple speakers spread across the room? Powered bookshelf speakers have had a technological leap by the time you read this line. Not only are they relatively minor in size, defying their size versus audio quality and volume, but they also are great minimalistic audio solutions for every room in your house. They are not limited to the main entertainment area around your largest television. Stereo speakers with good audio quality are sometimes the most optimal, minimalistic audio nirvana required to uplift your home entertainment.

Invest in quality audio solutions. And remember, there is always the best in your budget, but sometimes, just like your television, audio solutions are once in many years investment. An investment in quality home audio entertainment with multiple audio source connectivity, wireless connectivity and, most importantly, excellent audio quality is a must-experience.

Pixel-perfect Android flagships?Google Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro

Google has finally launched the Pixel 7 and the Pixel 7 Pro in India. When was the last time we saw the flagship Pixel devices in India? We tested both these phones, and here are our impressions on the 60K Pixel 7 and the 89K Pixel 7 Pro.

Finessed design

As Indians, we did not get a chance to experience the immediate predecessor to these newer Pixel devices apart from the Pixel 6a, which is a brilliant smartphone for the price. The Pixel 7 is a more mature design than the 6a, with a brush metal finish on the uniform camera housing, albeit with a noticeable depth. Put these phones anyhow, and they will never wobble, infact they rest at a very comfortable glance for anyone who uses the Pixels. The Pixel 7 Pro takes a modern approach and brings curved edges on the relatively larger display with improved hardware.

The interesting parts include the symmetrical band design on the metal edges of the camera bands and a contrasting finish on the buttons. The glossy metal band of the Pixel 7 Pro has matte-finished buttons, and the matte-finished camera band on the Pixel 7 has shiny metal buttons. We still miss the accented buttons, but this is a nice touch nonetheless. Overall the design is very well thought out and brings a level of sophistication expected from a tech giant. We still are unaware of the abrupt cutout on the Pixel 7 Pro. Let us know if you know anything about it, as we cannot access the same.

Gorilla glass Victus and IP68 ratings protect both these phones, allowing flagship-grade protection. The OLED display differs on both these phones as the Pixel 7 has an FHD+ 90Hz panel, whereas the Pixel 7 Pro gets a QHD (1440P) LTPO display with a 120Hz refresh rate. Both these displays can get sufficiently bright with 1000+ nits brightness and, even more, viewing HDR content. Both felt super smooth in their leagues with the beauties of Android 13 optimisations and added features on the Pixel devices. For flat-screen lovers, the Pixel 7 makes a compelling choice. Still, a slightly curved larger display with additional camera hardware and software turns the Pixel 7 Pro into a flagship competitor from the house of Google. Surprisingly, the Pixel 7 packs a smaller battery than the Pixel 6a at 4355mAh, while the Pixel 7 Pro packs a 5000mAh battery. Both these phones support 20-23W charge speeds with wireless and reverse wireless charging capabilities. Battery life is decent and lasts through a day with ease. AI Adaptive battery optimisation increases battery life within a week of usage.

Balanced performance

Google has updated the Tensor SoC with a new processor named G2. Compared to the earlier 5nm chip, this new chip brings an updated privacy core T2 with slightly overclocked cores and a better GPU. We found that the Mali GPU upgrade from G-78 to G-710 brings stable performance even when gaming. Even when gaming, smooth animations and balanced performance make these genuinely feel like flagship contenders. The fingerprint sensor is quick to identify, and Google allows basic face unlock like most Android devices.

UI animations and memory management are on par with most flagship devices, with no performance hiccups. Overall, the performance is better than the older SoC and brings a balanced performance update. Camera sensor performance and clicks process faster, and the overall experience of using a Pixel is slightly overclocked. An additional rear light sensor makes the sensor count 35 compared to 34 sensors on the Pixel 6a.

Best camera algorithm on any phone

Apart from iPhones, Samsung and other flagships, the only series of phones that prove to be excellent camera-centric options is the Pixel series from Google. More than the hardware, the years of machine learning and AI algorithms make a Pixel phone appealing. Google has finally moved from the 12MP sensors to improved hardware with a 50MP primary sensor on both phones, a slightly better 12MP ultra-wide sensor, and an additional 48MP telephoto sensor on the Pro. Google hardware and software algorithms work in tandem to click some mind-blowing images in any lighting conditions. All the images and videos are top-notch, with improved post-processing and better hardware. These are one of the best camera-centric smartphones of the year. Pixel post-processing retains details and contrast, sometimes better than phones that cost almost twice as much. For photos, these are top-tier, but for videos, although better with additional Cinematic blur (portrait mode in videos) and OIS with EIS options, Google needs to bring a few OTA updates to improve video quality.

Verdict

At the prices for the Pixel series, these phones are definite contenders for your money. If you are someone who wants a no-nonsense, iPhone-like experience using an Android, the Pixel series brings the best of Google hardware and software experience. Additional features are built-in smaller packages across the UI of these Pixel phones. Software features like unblur a blurred photo, magic eraser, location tagging other Android devices and dozens of small but intuitive animations and unique Pixel features hard to find on a feature-loaded flagship are interesting, to say the least. The Pixel 7 Pro brings the best of all worlds in a stylish package. It’s an entire Pixel experience enhanced for Android users.

Specs:

Pixel 7 – 6.1-inch 90Hz AMOLED FHD+ up to 1400nits

Pixel 7 Pro – 6.7-inch 120HZ LTPO AMOLED QHD up to 1500nits

Tensor G2 SoC

Android 13

Camera Pixel 7 – 50MP primary, 12MP Ultrawide, 10.8MP front camera

Camera Pixel 7 Pro – 50MP primary, enhanced AF 12MP Ultrawide/Macro, 48MP 5x Optical telephoto, 10.8MP front camera

Price – Pixel 7 – INR 59999

Pixel 7 Pro – INR 84999

Good – Best Pixel iteration, upgraded cameras

Bad – Limited memory options

Ugly – Tensor G2 falls short against SD 8+ Gen 1 and Apple Bionic SoC

Rating – 4.5/5

There’s Nothing to read here!Nothing is interesting

Nothing in tech is interesting anymore; these are the words of Carl Pei, the visionary behind many successful companies, products and now his own company, Nothing. Before we understand the company, we need to know about the journey of Carl Pei and how everything in his life leads to Nothing. Carl Pei is a master entrepreneur. He was one of the core members when OnePlus came into being. OnePlus as we all know, is a technology brand with many portfolios and SKUs catering to customer technology. The man and his missions Carl Pei and marketing strategies

Awareness of a problem

Carl Pei was the man behind the first “flagship killer” campaign. His modus operandi has been a three-stage approach. First is awareness of a problem – Technology is not fun anymore. His presentations with the OnePlus One, his involvement with the OnePlus Nord series and now his own company, Nothing, presented a similar problem. According to him, technology in consumer products is stagnant and lacks innovation to make things interesting.

The Nord series was the approach to meeting the expectations of the youth. The awareness created for the Nord series was the lack of colours, good affordable products and making tech interesting for the youth. Has that problem been solved? Maybe the teal colour was the solution? Despite not completely eliminating the problem, the Nord series was an absolute success.

Nothing ear (1) followed the same approach of creating awareness of a problem. ANC at an affordable price but also an innovative solution in the form of design. Something similar is being approached with the Phone (1). Carl Pei had a seventeen-minute video teasing the problem of smartphones becoming mundane and boring. He also approached the problem that nothing new is happening in the smartphone space. Earlier phone launches were exciting, but not anymore.

Opportunity – Solution to the problem

In a world filled with consumer products that all look alike, the OnePlus One was considered revolutionary. His strategy involved creating a comprehensive new phone that would challenge the best of its time. The product had to be affordable enough to wide-spread that flagship experience among people who were sceptical about buying a flagship product or just did not find value in most flagships. The phone delivered when it arrived, and almost every person looking for a phone to buy was considering the OnePlus One despite the lack of stores, service networks and enough units to call it a success.

Nord series did something similar but catered to a younger audience. The teal colour for the Nord series was an iconic hit. It was not the complete solution as it was offered in an iconic colour that stood as the brand image colour for a long time. Carl Pei insisted on affordable 5G solutions, keeping costs less and offering more at a given price increased the Nord value. A subsidiary of the brand OnePlus, Carl Pei’s Nord, was able to provide a solution to loyal OnePlus customers while keeping the core OnePlus One strategy. OnePlus was acquired by the giant parent company of many other brands like Realme, Oppo, Vivo, etc., BBK electronics. Thus, Carl Pei focused on Nord as his visionary project of the time.

Carl Pei moved on from OnePlus for reasons unknown, but his vision and mission were alive with Nothing, a new company under his leadership. The first product launched was the Nothing ear (1), promising to promote ANC and features much above its competitor’s market price. A solution for people who want to enjoy music whilst gaining a reality check on his dream to create a new fan base for his upcoming products from Nothing.

A prime example of the same was when he announced Nothing Phone (1), a phone supposedly making smartphone space enjoyable again. He presented the problem that most smartphones are not exciting; they have become mundane yearly. His solution is their first phone from Nothing. A phone teased about being interesting in design with a transparent back loaded with innovative notification LEDs, 40% less bloatware than the competition and a near-stock Android experience with dot-matrix-inspired Nothing UI.

Hype marketing

Carl Pei is a man of value offerings. He does not believe in flagship offerings at a flagship price. His years of experience and approach have always been to hype the launch of something that could be innovative through various popular means of marketing. Hype marketing seems to create a buzz around the social media audience, and potential buyers are raising expectations. Carl Pei is a master of creating hype with selective marketing tools strategically used to reach maximum reach.

OnePlus One

In 2014, Carl Pei announced the launch of the OnePlus One with a strategy similar to his 2022 product, Nothing Phone (1). It involved showcasing products of 2014 with brand names up front on the bezels of the phone, hardware and software that was lacklustre from most brands available in the market. Like the Nothing series on YouTube, the OnePlus One launched with several videos that involved research about the problems of that era, the making process of the OnePlus One and how exactly the product solved the issues presented with a viral tagline – Flagship killer. The phone was a massive internet sensation when it launched.

Influencer marketing was successful enough post the hype. Most YouTube channels with millions of subscribers were the first to unbox this flagship killing product. Numerous videos compared it to the flagships of that era, showcasing the prowess of a visionary and his hype marketing that resulted in positive success for the brand overall. With interchangeable backs, one in sandstone, one in wood finish and another in white matte, this phone was considered different in design and hardware. The most disruptive feature was the amount of value it promised at a given price. It was launched with Cyanogen Mod, a custom operating system that was a first at its time. It provided the enthusiast with custom firmware to tinker, something most enthusiasts do to date. No one had done this before.

OnePlus Nord series

Later in 2019, Carl Pei was also heading the Nord series and its marketing. This time, the problem served was something for youth and you in general. Carl was seen in multiple videos across the Nord series’ making process. The team researched and provided a teal-coloured solution for all the OnePlus loyalists lost due to OnePlus penetrative marketing strategies. Penetrative marketing is when something launches at a disruptive price, sells in quantity, and, upon successful market reach, increases the cost slowly but steadily to gain market share.

Nothing is similar

Carl Pei is all hype about Nothing with a track record of successful marketing campaigns. He has successfully marketed his reach and selective information to create a non-stop social media hype about his upcoming product, the Nothing Phone (1). This strategy does seem to work in this time and era of online marketing. People all around the world have easy access to online media. Like his earlier strategies, Carl Pei has strategized the online marketing hype for his newest offering, launching on 12th July 2022, Nothing Phone (1).

Capturing the best of social media engagement, endorsing along with the best channels with millions reach and strategically hyping one segment after the other of an innovative product. For example, with the OnePlus One to Nothing Phone (1), Carl has always provided production-ready units to YouTube celebrities like MKBHD, etc. They never reveal their genuine opinions as a part of an embargo designed to release after the product launch event. A hype train ridden with hours of teaser content for an actual product that isn’t ready is a new world strategy by Carl Pei. Similar to the OnePlus One, the Nothing Phone (1) will only be available through invites shared by owners of the device. This is a traditional marketing technique of word-to-mouth or barter since most people will be exchanging those invites for some temporary gratification.

Nothing Phone (1)

The Nothing Phone (1) hardware was leaked online despite the hype train. It may be the device’s growing popularity or the intuitive and innovative back of the phone. Thousands of people highly await the Nothing Phone (1). The strategy is tried and tested. The founder shared awareness of a problem that phones are boring while someone or their Phone (1) intends to change that scenario. As mentioned, Carl Pei, the founder of Nothing, is a man who loves to provide value to his end consumers.

Thanks to this era of technology booming amid a chip shortage and a global pandemic, providing something similar to the OnePlus One was impossible with the Nothing Phone (1). Carl and his team thus scouted the best solution and researched the market for a sweet spot among smartphone buyers. We already have a smartphone (or two), and the upgrade cycle is a constant spinning wheel. Rumour mill churns the Nothing Phone (1) to come powered with one of Qualcomm Snapdragon’s gems – Snapdragon 778+ SOC.

If you are unaware of the Snapdragon 778+ SOC, this is the same one used by Motorola in the Edge 30. The 778+ is not only powerful when it comes to gaming at high resolutions and high frames per second but also is one of the most efficient current generation SOCs. This 5G capable chip supports multiple 5G bands and most newer WiFi standards and performs excellent at camera post-processing. Couple that with the rumour of 8GB fast RAM and UFS 3.1 configured multiple internal storage options; this phone seems similar to most phones.

The phone might also get OIS on its primary 50MP camera and the ultra-wide sensor. There are innovative features like notification LEDs on the back that light up as alert combinations based on user preferences. There’s also a 4500mAh battery with wireless and reverse wireless charging with NFC capabilities. If the hardware sounds fine, the software promises to offer what they call human warmth. Innovate Nothing OS, and UI pledges to bring freshness to the evolving Android 12 software. This shall improvise with OTA updates in the future.

An ecosystem of Nothing

Nothing UI promises to integrate hardware and software level recognition for its ecosystem of devices alongside support for third-party accessories. The phone is the hub for all we know as of now, and with a disruptive price like the OnePlus One back in its time, the Nothing Phone (1) is nothing but hype waiting to come true. We wish nothing but the best to a visionary and Nothing. Invites only!

Nothing Phone (1) Price in India

8+128GB ₹32,999
8+256GB ₹35,999
12+256GB ₹38,999

Top Billionaires Who Prefer to Drive Affordable Cars Over Luxury Cars

What do people usually wish to have after they become a billionaire? A luxury car, a luxurious villa at a prime location- possibly with a helipad, tickets to outer space, private planes, private islands, luxurious superyachts, and the list goes on, but a vast majority of people definitely want to own a luxury car. However, if you look at the list of top billionaires of the world, most of these moguls prefer affordable cars over luxury cars, a strange choice isn’t it?

Being an Indian, the majority of times, we assume a person’s status or their richness on the basis of what car they drive? We have a very straightforward and lame way of thinking on this one. A person driving or travelling in a Lamborghini or Mercedes car can’t be an ordinary fellow, and a person driving or travelling in a Honda or Ford car can’t be a billionaire. However, the reality is way too different from your predictions, and we’re here to disclose the reality.

Jeff Bezos

The Amazon founder, chairman, and CEO, Jeff Bezos has no less status than a celebrity, but when we talk about celebrities, we usually assume either they’re travelling in luxury cars or flying from one place to another by their private jets and choppers, but in the case of Jeff Bezos the results are contradictory. You’ll not believe it, but the man who’s currently on the list of top 5 richest persons in the world surprisingly drives the Honda Accord, which is one of the decent but affordable cars in the market.

Jeff Bezos used to work at Wall Street before he founded the largest online retailer in the world. Before you give it a second thought that he’s driving a newly launched Honda Accord, then hold your horses, it’s not a recent one. He’s been driving the Honda Accord, which he bought in the year 1999, which gives us clarity that Amazon only spends money on things that matter to the customer. Also, in one of his interviews, when asked about the reason behind this unobvious choice of ride, the man who has a wealth of close to $200 billion smiled and answered, “it’s quite a good ride”.

Mark Zuckerberg

The second billionaire who prefers an affordable car over a luxury car is quite an obvious name to guess, and everyone knows why? The next person on the list is the man behind the glorious success of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg and if you don’t know why it is an obvious name, have you ever noticed the Facebook founder and CEO in a different outfit than his regular plain grey Hanes t-shirt and blue jeans? Obviously not! Now think, if a man who owns several top social media platforms prefers simple outfits for his everyday outing, then why would he invest a hell of a lot more money for a regular ride?

The millennial software mogul was often spotted driving a black Acura TSX (approx. priced at 25 lacs) and Honda Fit, which is marketed as Jazz in India. Along with these two cars, he was even spotted driving an Italian-made car, Pagani Huayra, on some occasions. When asked why he prefers Acura TSX, he said, “it’s safe, comfortable and not ostentatious.” About Mark Zuckerberg, the millennial software mogul, almost everyone knows he prefers to live below his means, and he never misses to show it to the world.

Alice Walton

Alice Walton is not a very common name when it comes to billionaires, but you can always guess about someone’s family background by taking a look at their last name. The co-heir to the fortunes of Wal-Mart and daughter of Sam Walton, founder of Wal-Mart, is the second wealthiest woman in the world, after L’Oréal heiress Françoise Bettencourt Meyers. Alice, the current board member of Amon Carter Museum, owns over US$13 billion in Walmart shares, but when it comes to spending some, she’s a pretty economical person.

Alice drives a newer but still considerably older 2006 Ford F-150 King Ranch, but her reason for driving the car is a bit more sentimental. Her father, Sam Walton, used to drive a 1979 Ford F-150 before his passing, and that’s why she has an emotional attachment with the Ford F-150 cars. Another angle behind preferring the Ford F-150 might be her involvement in multiple automobile accidents. In one of them, she lost control of a rented Jeep during 1983, shattering her leg, and in the later years, she once overspeeded and killed 50-year-old Oleta Hardin, and in 1998, she hit a gas meter while driving under the influence of alcohol.

Warren Buffet

Warren Buffet is an American business tycoon, investor, and philanthropist who likes steaks, Coco cola and candies from See’s that Berkshire owns. Mr Buffet serves as the chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway and is famous for making billions on Wall Street with some serious investments. Warren Buffet is known for spending a minimal amount on almost everything; for example, he never spends more than $3.17 on breakfast, and he lives in the same house he bought for $31,500 in 1958.

Warren Buffet is not the guy who will waste a dollar on materialistic items, and he proved it by driving domestic cars. He drove a 2006 Cadillac DTS for nearly a decade, and recently he purchased, a new 2014 Cadillac XTS when his daughter convinced him it was embarrassing. When it comes to the share market Warren Buffet has a keen eye for when and when not to spend cash, but about cars, he’s not much interested in having luxury models. When asked for the justification, he said, “I only drive about 3,500 miles a year so I will buy a new car very infrequently.”

Steve Ballmer

Steve Ballmer is a former CEO of Microsoft and owner of the Los Angeles Clippers. He served as the CEO of Microsoft from 2000 to 2014, and just like several other billionaire Microsoft executives, he prefers to drive a cheap car. The American business tycoon and investor is a loyal Ford customer and has proudly driven Ford cars for most of his life because his father was a manager at Ford Motor Company. In 2009, Ford CEO at the time, Alan Mulally, personally delivered a new Ford Fusion Hybrid car in celebration of their one-millionth vehicle equipped with SYNC, an in-vehicle communications and entertainment system.

Larry Page & Sergey Brin

Larry Page and Sergey Brin together founded Google in 1998 and Alphabet in 2015. Since their Stanford University days, these two have been working together and have achieved massive success in their profession. Larry Page and Sergey Brin have a net worth of over $50 billion each, but their similarities don’t end there, as they both opt to drive Toyota Prius for a while now. Speaking about individuality, Larry Page is the 8th richest person in the world and only takes an annual salary of $1, and he’s very unconcerned about the low pay while Sergey Brin, the president of Google’s parent company, Alphabet and the brother-in-law of Susan Wojcicki, CEO of YouTube, shares his partner’s fondness for the eco-friendly hybrid vehicle.

Dustin Moskovitz

If you’ve seen David Fincher’s 2010 release movie, The Social Network, closely, then you might have an idea of who’s Dustin Moskovitz. He is one of the young wizards associated with founding the world’s biggest social media site, Facebook. After his exit from Facebook in 2008, he cofounded Asana, a web and mobile application designed to help teams organize, track, and manage their work. In March 2011, Forbes reported Moskovitz to be the youngest self-made billionaire in history, and he only holds a 2.34% share in Facebook. Despite having a net worth of over $25 billion, Dustin Moskovitz prefers to live like an ordinary guy and drives a Volkswagen R32.

Twitter Tests Upvote And Downvote Feature On Tweets

Twitter’s Chief Product Officer Kayvon Keykpour, last year confirmed that Twitter is ‘exploring’ the idea of adding a dislike button to the app. The social media app is now working on adding a new upvote and downvote reactions to tweets.

The company confirmed that it is testing the feature for a small group of iOS users through a tweet. Twitter said that the new feature might be available to the users in several different styles(up and down arrows, a heart icon, and thumbs up and thumbs down icons). The app is testing the feature to ‘understand the types of replies you find relevant in a convo, so we can work on ways to show more of them.’

However, downvotes will not be shown publicly, and the upvotes will be displayed as likes since the feature is intended only for internal metrics.

Twitter has clarified that the feature is just for research purposes and hasn’t finalised rolling it out yet. The company hasn’t yet defined how voting will affect what you see in your feed since the feature can draw parallels to Reddit. Upvoting or downvoting on Reddit is a way of surfacing a Redditor’s favourite replies, responses or posts.

Many users have noticed this similarity, including Reddit itself, who tweeted this in response:

Twitter has also recently announced that it is testing a new set of features for TweetDeck. The company is revamping its often-ignored dashboard with updates such as a full tweet composer, new advanced search features, new column types, and a new way to group columns into new workspaces.

This feature is being tested with a few US, Canada, and Australia users. The social media giant is consistently working upon bringing new and desirable changes to its app so more and more users can connect conveniently.

Of course, the application of these features will depend upon the reviews that Twitter gets during the research process.

Intro

Byju’s

CRED

Dream11

Swiggy

Fractal Analytics

Tata 1mg

LivSpace

OYO Rooms

Meesho

upGrad

Zomato

Ola Electric

Vedantu

PharmEasy

Razorpay

Groww

Urban Company

Design & Specs

Samsung Galaxy S23 Series

OnePlus 11

Google Pixel 7Pro

Display

Camera

Performance and Processors

Which one should you buy?

Score and Metabolic Vectors

Conclusion

Under INR 10K

Redmi A1

Realme C33

Infinix Note 12

Moto G32

Samsung F13

Poco M5

Under 20K

Redmi Note 11Pro+

Realme 9 Pro

OnePlus Nord CE 2 Lite

Moto Edge 20 Fusion

Samsung Galaxy M53

Under 30K

Poco F4

Redmi K50i

iQoo Neo 6

Samsung A52S

OnePlus Nord 2T

Moto Edge 30

Bonus (Sale prices)

Samsung S20FE

iQoo 9 SE

Under 40K

Xiaomi 11T Pro

Realme GT Neo 3

Nothing Phone (1)

iQoo 9 series

Moto Edge 30 Fusion

Samsung S21 FE

Under 50K

Vivo X80

Xiaomi 12 Pro

Google Pixel 7

Samsung S22

Apple iPhone 12

Under 60K

Apple iPhone 13

iQoo 9 Pro

OnePlus 10 Pro

Samsung S22+

Under 80K

Apple iPhone 14

Apple iPhone 13 Pro

Samsung Galaxy Flip 3

Samsung S21 Ultra

Vivo X80 Pro Plus

Under 100K

Apple iPhone 14 Pro

Apple iPhone 13 Pro Max

Samsung Galaxy Flip 4

Samsung S22 Ultra

8+128GB ₹32,999
8+256GB ₹35,999
12+256GB ₹38,999