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The gaming industry has evolved into a multi-billion dollar market. This is because they’re not just addictive games out there, but also because of the tactical money-earning plans, the vendors make. Among the two big players in the console video game market, Sony has set out two subscription plans for its users to experience the full extent of its power. And here’s how they differ;

PlayStation Plus

From the entire commercial collection of PlayStation games, having a PS Plus subscription will let you play 2 or 3 games for free every month. Sony will make a list of available games periodically, where you can choose 2 to 3 desired games and play until you have the subscription alive. Also, it gives you the ability to play online with your friends or with others from around the world.

Subscribers will also get 100GB worth of cloud storage, exclusive deals, and discounts on games, and access to betas and demos. And if you’re having a PS5 coupled with this subscription gets you PlayStation’s Classic Collection of games from the past. Share Play is yet another perk in PS Plus, where you can share a game with your non-PSPlus friend and let them play.

The PlayStation Plus has the following list of games in its collection:

Bloodborne

Days Gone

Detroit: Become Human

God of War

Infamous Second Son

Ratchet and Clank

The Last Guardian

The Last of Us Remastered

Until Dawn

Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End

Batman: Arkham Knight

Battlefield 1

Call of Duty: Black Ops III – Zombies Chronicles Edition

Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy

Fallout 4

Final Fantasy XV Royal Edition

Monster Hunter: World

Mortal Kombat X

Persona 5

Resident Evil 7 Biohazard

PlayStation Now

This too is a subscription service that gives access to over 800 games from PlayStation, which are playable both on your console and PC. Users can also get online multiplayer for supported games and have their games saved online, thus playable from there later. Also, you can download an unlimited number of games from its widest collection.

PlayStation Now can be used on PC, PlayStation 5, and PlayStation 4. Sony recommends a 5Mbps download speed to play games and suggests that the PlayStation Now can provide 4K streams. The PlayStation Now also supports online multiplayer action.

Following are the games in the PlayStation Now collection:

Call of Duty Black Ops III

Detroit: Become Human

Ratchet and Clank

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception

Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune

Darksiders Genesis

WWE 2K Battlegrounds

The Crew 2

Frostpunk

Surviving Mars

Little Nightmares

Horizon Zero Dawn

Darksiders III

The Surge 2

Wreckfest

Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain

Mafia III

Pricing

Regarding the pricing, both PS Plus and PS Now are on the same lines, with packs being offered on a monthly, quarterly, and annual basis. If you choose an annual plan, it will cost you $5/month, and this will go up as shorter the pack, with a quarterly pack costing you $8.33/month and a monthly plan costing $9.99/month.

Which one to choose?

That completely depends upon your nature of interest. If you want limited free games and want free storage, early access to deals, and have your friend play for free, take PS Plus. And if you’re interested in the widest library of PlayStation and want nothing else but to try it all, choose PS Now.

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Virtual Private Networks, or popularly the VPNs aren’t new anymore. Censorships and authorities snooping around the world has eventually made us try VPNs, and for many more reasons. So whatever your reason could be for setting it, you may once again think about choosing between free and paid services. And if you are, let us clear the air;

What is a VPN?

A Virtual Private Network or VPN is a series of virtual connections routed over the internet which encrypts your data as it travels back and forth between your client machine and the internet resources you’re using, such as web servers.

A VPN creates a private “tunnel” from your device to the internet and hides your vital data through something that is known as encryption.

Free VPNs vs Paid VPNs: Which one to choose?

Nowadays privacy are of important concerns which is why WhatsApp recently saw millions of users leaving its platform for the sake of privacy. Here comes the VPNs for those who put their privacy to the top.

VPNs are the tools that acts as an intermediary between your device and your ISP and thus, hides your device’s IP address – the string of numbers your ISP assigns your device.

Now let’s come to the bone of contention. Free VPNs or Paid VPNs ? We’ll delve deeper to find out the differences between Free VPNs and Paid VPNs. So let’s start with the Free thing first.

Free VPNs

Free VPNs are naturally free of cost, but they will cost in many ways that eventually push you buying into the paid version. Vendors offering free connectivity will often limit your data per day or a month. This is like setting a cap of 500MB a day or 10-15GB a month, after which you’re prevented from using their network. So this can trouble you if you’re in the middle of something important, and have your limit breached.

Also, free vendors offer you access to only a few server locations across their vast network, which could be slow and not necessarily suitable for your online needs. Above all, these free vendors may leak your connections due to improper setups, or in the worst case, sell them to others or authorities. There are cases where free vendors leaked their users’ connections.

And if you’re in need of some, here are our recommendations: ProtonVPN, TurboVPN, and SurfShark.

Paid VPNs

These commercial plans can cost from $2/month to $15/month, based on the type of provider and plan type you pick on. Aside from the cost, what paid versions offer you will definitely appeal to you to pick them over free versions. Paid versions will increase the data limit, or some keep no caps at all. A strict no-log policy, priority customer care over free versions are additional perks.

Besides, they offer access to their entire sever collection set up across the world. These could be from hundreds to thousands spanning in all countries, thus giving you the choice to choose your desired one, and have your need fulfilled. Besides this, some offer simultaneous connections to multiple devices. If you’re interested in some, here are our picks: ExpressVPN and NordVPN.

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With the success in the telecom market, Reliance Jio led by India’s richest man is driving towards making a cheap laptop. As reported by XDA Developers, the so-called JioBook will have a Snapdragon chip, 4GB RAM, LTE connectivity, and HD display. Geared towards first-time buyers, JioBook will run on its own Android fork OS, JioOS. Here’s everything about it;

Reliance JioBook budget Laptop soon to arrive

Hoping that native users will like the new venture as its telecom, Reliance Jio is reportedly making its own branded laptop targeted towards first-time buyers in India. As surfaced by XDA developers, the laptop is positioned in the budget segment and is named as JioBook. This is no wonder since Qualcomm’s CEO has earlier said to be working with Jio for making a laptop.

And it’s becoming true, with the so-called JioBook coming sometime later this year. Reliance Jio has partnered with Bluebank Communication Technology, a Chinese company for manufacturing its laptop, which is going to start in mid-May this year. Bluebank is the same Chinese company that made Jio’s first and second-generation phones.

Regarding the laptop, it’s said to be sporting a Snapdragon 665 SoC, which is an 11 nm-based processor launched in 2019 and coupled with a Snapdragon X12 LTE modem. This means the laptop will support 4G support and has other essential connectivities like dual-band Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.

Also with a three-axis accelerometer, and Qualcomm’s audio chip, the JioBook is will have an HD display with 1366 × 768p resolution, and come with 4GB LLPDDR4X RAM and 64GB eMMC 5.1 onboard storage. It’ll have a mini HDMI connector, and will be running on JioOS, which is an Android fork.

Undoubtedly, it will have all the Jio apps pre-installed for increasing their usage and presence, and may also have Microsoft apps like Teams, Edge browser, and Office apps by default.

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Continuing its rally of launching budget smartphones, Realme has just announced a new entry-level handset named Realme C21. This latest addition takes the C-series a bit farther and has competitive specs to price ratio. These include a triple-rear camera setup, a massive battery, and a large display. Here’s more about it;

Realme C21 Specifications

The all-new Realme C21 sports a 6.5″ HD+ display with 720 × 1600p resolution and a 20:9 aspect ratio. With a dewdrop notch style, it has thin bezels on all sides and runs on Android 10 based Relame UI 1.0 out-of-the-box. Inside, it has MediaTek’s Helio G35 SoC, which is an octa-core processor having clock speeds up to 2.3GHz.

Paired with PowerVR GE8320 GPU, it has 3GB RAM and 32GB onboard storage with an option to expand the storage up to 256GB via a microSD slot. It boasts a triple-rear camera setup led by a 13-megapixel (f/2.2) wide lens as the primary sensor, followed by a couple of 2-megapixel lenses (f/2.4) as macro and depth sensors.

Upfront, there’s a 5-megapixel (f/2.2) lens in the notch. With a rear-mounted fingerprint sensor, it has all the required connectivities like Bluetooth 5, WiFi, GPS, USB 2.0, and an audio jack. Finally, it has a 5,000mAh battery with 10W fast charging support and basic reverse wireless charging too. This handset comes in two color variants of Cross Black and Cross Blue.

Realme C21 Pricing and availability

This Realme C21 is available in only one variant of 3GB + 32GB as of now, which is priced at $120 (€100 or RM499). It’s unveiled in Malaysia and is sold through its local online marketplace, Lazada. News about this handset’s availability in other markets isn’t available yet.

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Samsung Galaxy Xcover 5 specifications and images revealed in a leak

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While we all think Samsung just makes household smartphones, there’s a wing in it making rugged handsets for special professionals. These are made under the Xcover lineup, where the company is now gearing up to launch a new model as Galaxy Xcover 5. New leaks of this handset revealed its specifications and images. Here are they;

Samsung Galaxy Xcover 5 key specs and images leaked

Though it’s revealed that Samsung is making a new model in its Xcover lineup, we haven’t heard about it till now. But, new leaks from winfuture revealed the images of this upcoming phone, and also some specifications. These include the phone’s display to be of 5.3″ HD with thick bezels on both top and bottom.

The screen has no punch-holes or notches and will have a resolution of 1480 × 720p with 310ppi pixel density. With an IP68 rating for resisting dust and water, it’s protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 6 and has US military 810G certification, thus can take the accidental falls and bumps. Moving in, it runs on Exynos 850 SoC, which is an 8 nm-based octa-core processor having Cortex-A55 as all eight cores, running at 2GHz clock speed.

It comes in a 4GB + 64GB storage variant and has a MicroSD slot for expanding the storage. It has only one rear camera, which is 16-megapixel (f/1.8) with an LED flash. And in front, there’s a single 5-megapixel (f/2.2) lens in the forehead bezel. It has all the required connectivities like Bluetooth 5, NFC, WLAN, GPS, and VoLTE.

Running on Android 11 out-of-the-box, it will come with a 3,000mAh battery, that’s exchangeable. While we feel that’s too little, having an HD display and no other major functions may not consume much too, and since it’s exchangeable, having another may go good all day. Also, the pricing of this handset is revealed to be around €300.

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HIGHLIGHTS

Redmi Note 10 series is powered by Snapdragon 732G

Redmi Note 10 Pro Max features a 108MP primary camera

All three variant has Super AMOLED display under the hood

After a steady flow of leaks, Redmi has formally launched the Redmi Note 10 series with a bang. The Note series contains three handsets, namely a standard Note 10, a Pro variant, and a Pro Max variant. All these come with amazing cameras, batteries, and display specifications. Here’s all about them;

Redmi Note 10

Starting with the standard Redmi Note 10, it sports a 6.43″ FHD+ AMOLED display with a punch-hole design. With a 180Hz touch sampling rate, it has 1,100 nits of peak brightness and is protected by Gorilla Glass 3. Under the hood, there’s a Snapdragon 678 SoC coupled with Adreno 612 GPU and runs on MIUI 12 based on Android 11.

Available in two storage variants of 4GB + 64GB and 6GB + 128GB options, it has a dedicated microSD card slot to expand the onboard storage up to 512GB. Regarding imaging, it has a quad-rear camera led by a 48-megapixel (f/1.79) primary lens, an 8-megapixel ultra-wide lens with 118° coverage, and a couple of 2-megapixel (f/2.4) lenses as depth and macro sensors.

Also Read: Xiaomi Mi 10i launched in India with Snapdragon 750G

Upfront, there’s a single 13-megapixel (f/2.45) lens as the selfie camera. With a side-mounted fingerprint sensor, it’s powered by a 5,000mAh battery with 33W fast charging support. It’s available in Shadow Black, Aqua Green, and Frost White color options.

Redmi Note 10 Pro and Pro Max

While the standard variant amused the budget segment, the Pro and Pro Max variants share many features in common and are placed in the upper mid-range segment. They both have the same 6.67″ AMOLED display and have HDR10 support, 120Hz screen refresh rate, and 1,200 nits of peak brightness as additions to what the standard variant is having.

While they’re available up to 8GB + 128GB variants, both sport the same chipset of Snapdragon 732G, coupled with Adreno 618 GPU. Unfortunately, all these three handsets won’t support 5G connectivity, which is growing to be essential support in today’s smartphones.

In the imaging section, both these handsets bumped the primary lenses to 64-megapixel (for Pro variant) and 108-megapixel (for Pro Max variant), and also the tertiary sensors to 5-megapixel (f/2.4) lens. The rest of the sensors are kept as usual as the standard ones. Also, the front camera is bumped to 16-megapixel (f/2.45) lens.

With the same fingerprint sensor given aside, it has a 5,020mAh battery with 33W fast charging support and is available in Dark Night, Vintage Bronze, and Glacial Blue color variants.

Redmi Note 10 Series Pricing and Availability

Redmi Note 10:

4GB + 64GB: ₹11,999 ($165)

6GB + 128GB: ₹13,999 ($193)

Redmi Note 10 Pro:

6GB + 64GB: ₹15,999 ($220)

6GB + 128GB: ₹16,999 ($234)

8GB + 128GB: ₹18,999 ($261)

Redmi Note 10 Pro Max:

6GB + 64GB: ₹18,999 ($261)

6GB + 128GB: ₹19,999 ($275)

8GB + 128GB: ₹21,999 ($303)

With sales starting from March 16th onwards, these handsets will be sold via Xiaomi’s website, Amazon, and affiliated offline retailers. Early customers can get some exciting offers too on the purchase, as detailed on Xiaomi’s website.

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Finally, we’re in March. Though there are a lot of significant events scheduled this year, one important thing is the OnePlus’ event, which happens every year in March to announce its flagship series. This year, it will be all about the OnePlus 9 series, along with an OnePlus watch, making the device count to four. Here’s more about them;

Four OnePlus devices to launch in March

While it’s reported from various leaks that OnePlus will launch at least three handsets’ in the upcoming flagship 9 series, there’s also one more gadget coming along with them on March 8th, as the company has just announced. This could possibly be the OnePlus smartwatch, which has been on paper for a long time.

Stay tuned for March 8.https://t.co/We5g2pJ5PW pic.twitter.com/rKGPUFbPsb

— OnePlus India (@OnePlus_IN) March 1, 2021

OnePlus has already confirmed to be working on a smartwatch, and it’s been certified on the Indian certification website. Few leaks regarding the touted OnePlus watch are about the circular head and Wear OS software. Apart from these, nothing much about the smartwatch has been leaked yet.

Also Read: OnePlus 9 series: Everything we know about OnePlus next flagship

But on the other hand, leaks regarding the OnePlus 9 series are plenty, with three handsets being named as a standard OnePlus 9, a Pro variant, and a Lite variant named as OnePlus 9R. Regarding the possible specifications, the regular OnePlus 9 may come with a 6.5″ FHD+ display with punch-hole design, triple-rear camera, Snapdragon 888 SoC, and fair fast charging support.

The Pro variant may share most of the specifications but slightly bumps in few cases to show the premium feel. This will be in terms of display, which could be curved, support a 120Hz refresh rate on a QHD+ panel. It may have the same battery and processor, but be better in fast charging support and a higher rear primary sensor.

And OnePlus 9 Lite on the other hand may come with a Snapdragon 690 SoC, though earlier it was reported to have Snapdragon 865 and the name would be OnePlus 9E. All these three shall be launched sometime this month, along with the highly speculated OnePlus smartwatch.

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With just a couple of days away from the official unveiling, Redmi Note 10 is having plenty of leaks pouring out. The latest one showing the phone’s panel and packing box revealed the phone’s charging technology, display, and chipset information. Here’s everything about it;

Redmi Note 10 key specs leaked ahead of launch

Xiaomi’s spin-off brand, Redmi is no way lesser than its parent company. The Chinese OEM is now gearing up to launch the next Note series, Redmi Note 10 soon. While the official launch was scheduled for March 4th, several specifications about the phone have already been leaked. Here are they;

Starting with the display, the Redmi Note 10 is touted to sport a 6.42″ super AMOLED display with a punch-hole display design. While it’s earlier reported to be coming with a MediaTek’s Dimensity chip, it’s now leaked to come with a Snapdragon 678 SoC. This is a slightly tweaked version of Snapdragon 675, with clock speeds of up to 2.2GHz based on the 11nm process.

While it’s reported to have a 108-megapixel lens earlier, we don’t expect the mid-ranger to show up with such a huge sensor. While these will be confirmed on the date of launch, one more confirmed feature is the battery capacity and its fast charging technology. It’s said the phone to come with a 5,000mAh battery with a 33W fast charging support.

This marks the Redmi Note 10 to be the first non-Pro Redmi variant to have such big fast charging rates. Also, it’s reported to have two speakers, one of which is a grilled one placed at the bottom beside the charging dock, and the other to be the microphone above acting as a secondary speaker.

All these would be confirmed officially on March 4th, when Redmi announces this handset and talks about the possible Pro variant.

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After launching in Vietnam last month, Samsung is preparing to announce the Galaxy M12 handset in India next week. The date was confirmed by Samsung earlier today to be on March 11th and will be sold via Amazon. The phone features a 90Hz display, a large battery, and a quad-rear setup. Here’s everything about it;

Samsung Galaxy M12 to launch on March 11th

Samsung has a lot of smartphones in the mid-range segment, but it doesn’t the company from launching more. The South Korean OEM has announced the Galaxy M12 handset in Vietnam last month and is now gearing up to launch the same in India now. It has been teased several times and confirmed the date of launch to be on March 11th.

The phone features a 6.5″ IPS LCD panel with HD+ (720 × 1600p resolution) display. With a teardrop notch, it supports a 90Hz screen refresh rate, which is typical on an HD+ display. Well, under the hood, it has an Exynos 850 SoC, which is an 8nm processor coming with a Mali-G52 GPU. With Android 11 based One UI 3.0, it was launched in 4GB + 64GB variant in Vietnam last month.

Samsung may launch more storage variants of this model in India like up to 6GB of RAM. Regarding imaging, it has a quad-rear setup led by a 48-megapixel (f/2.0) ISOCELL Plus sensor, followed by a 5-megapixel (f/2.2) ultra-wide lens with 123° coverage and a couple of 2-megapixel (f/2.4) sensors as macro and depth lens.

Upfront, there’s a single 8-megapixel (f/2.2) lens as the front camera. With USB Type-C 2.0, it has WiFi, GPS, Bluetooth 5.0, an audio jack, and a side-mounted fingerprint sensor. Finally, it comes with a massive 6,000mAh battery with 15W fast charging support and could be available in Blue, Green, and Black colors. This handset will be sold through Amazon India’s website.

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If you’ve realized the flexibility of Android already, you wish that to be available for every device we use in our daily lives. One such device is the smart TV, which we often stick onto when we aren’t with our phones or friends. Thus, customizing it accordingly is important too for a good experience.

So if you’re having an Android TV, be glad since you’re able to organize all your apps and handle them from one place – Google Play Store. Yes, every Android TV comes with Playstore inbuilt, and it’s you who have to surface it and use it appropriately to see the goodness of it. And if you wanted to, here you go;

How to access the Play Store on Chromecast

Find the voice command button on your remote, and say Play Store by pressing it. (This will be a dedicated button with four dots of different colors, available in most smart TV remotes.)

This will take you to the Google Play Store, where you can see the sections of apps, games, your profile, and a search button. You can download and install any compatible Android app into your TV, or sideload it.

Also, you can browse through the categories of apps, or check all the installed apps on your device. You may wish to remove some or update any that are having updates.

Accessing your apps through Playstore is easy since the UI is familiar as we use it on our phones very often. Also, if your remote is not having the voice command button or failed to fetch results on voice commands, try manually bringing it up. For this;

Download the Button Mapper app first.

Now, open it to remap a button’s function, so that you can set a shortcut to open the Playstore app quickly.

For example, we are remapping the Home button to get up Playstore when it’s double-clicked. For this, Select the Home Button.

Then select the Customize > Double Tap > Applications and select Playstore. That’s it.

Though you’re given more flexibility than just the stock Android experience with the Chromecast, you may always be wanting more. And if you’re, tweaking everything from your Playstore is the way. So, go ahead and try.

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Reports from trusted leakers confirm that Google is making its own foldable smartphone under pixel branding, which is scheduled to launch sometime this year. Also, it’s reported that the display for its touted foldable will be provided by Samsung, who’s already been a market leader in this foldable industry. Alongside Google, other major Chinese players may launch their own foldable this year.

Google Pixel Foldable in process

Google entering the smartphone OEM space with its Pixel series has yielded fair results as of now. While maintaining its position in the market, it’s now reported that Google will also be jumping into the foldable phone space under the same Pixel branding. This has been confirmed by industry leakers having a good track record of reporting succesful leaks.

the google pixel “fold” is a real thing

— Jon Prosser (@jon_prosser) February 25, 2021

Jon Prosser, who ideally reports about Apple and iOS leaks has earlier hinted about a Google Pixel Foldable handset in the pipeline. Though he didn’t mention anything else about it, Ross Young, a display expert has aided his statement with more information about this idea. He revealed that “At least 3 models from Samsung, 4 models from Oppo, Vivo and Xiaomi and 1 model from Google,” will be coming this year.

These claims are supported by a report from Korean media that Samsung made agreements to supply its folding displays to Chinese vendors like Oppo, Xiaomi, and others. Also, as we heard that Google is making a special OS to run foldable smartphones makes speculation of the company making its own branded foldable.

After all, what’s a better way than displaying new features first through their own foldable than others. As Google’s doing now with Pixel handsets, it may do later with Pixel foldable if launched. Also, Google is making Fuchsia OS support all types of devices alike, making it easy for all OEMs to adopt and update simultaneously.

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Redmi India’s CEO, Manu Kumar Jain has confirmed that the upcoming Redmi Note 10 series will be having a 108-megapixel primary sensor. Though it’s unclear which handset in the series will sport this sensor, reports hint it to be the high-end Note 10 Pro Max handset. Further, several specifications of this series have been leaked earlier too. Here’s all;

Redmi Note 10 series soon to in India

Though the Redmi Note 9 series didn’t pick up well in India as the Note 8 series, it still had a good time. Now, Xiaomi’s spinoff is gearing up for the launch of its next iteration, the Redmi Note 10 series. The launch is scheduled on March 4th and is speculated to have three handsets in it, viz the standard Note 10, a Pro variant, and a Pro Max variant.

Just recently, Redmi India’s CEO, Manu Kumar Jain has confirmed that the upcoming series will have a 108-megapixel lens in the imaging section. Though it’s unclear which phone it could be, it’s safe to assume that high-end handset – Redmi Note 10 Pro Max to have this as a primary sensor.

Other specifications leaked to date include the chipset, display, storage, and color variants of these smartphones. It’s reported that all three handsets would have Snapdragon 732G SoC, a punch-hole display design, and a Hi-Res audio certification. Further, the Note 10 Pro will support a 120Hz screen refresh rate on its LCD display, which could also be the case for its bigger brother, Note 10 Pro Max.

The Note 10 Pro Max is reported to come in 6GB + 128GB and 8GB + 128GB storage options, with Blue, Black and Bronze colors options. Whereas the standard Note 10 may come in 4GB +64GB and 6GB + 64GB, and the Pro variant in 6GB + 64GB, 6GB + 128GB, 8GB + 128GB storage configurations.

With grey color being common for all, the standard Note 10 may come in White and Green, and the Pro variant in Bronze and Blue color options. Also, all these devices shall come with Android 11 based MIUI 12 out of the box. The entire series is expected to have a fair 5,000mAh battery with 33W fast charging support.

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HIGHLIGHTS

The Redmi K40 series has presently launched just in China.

The Redmi K40 Pro also sports a 6.67-inch full-HD+ E4 AMOLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate and a 360Hz touch sampling rate.

The Redmi K40 Pro and Redmi K40 Pro+ are powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 888 chipset.

After a series of leaks and twists, Xiaomi’s spinoff, Redmi has officially launched the K40 series. The new flagship batch contains three handsets, viz the standard K40, a Pro, and Pro+ editions. Besides these, Redmi has also announced a new Max 86″ TV, Airdots 3, and a laptop, RedmiBook Pro. But with reference to flagship handsets, here’s everything about them;

Redmi K40 series Specifications

All three handsets share most of the specifications and vary only by chipset and rear cameras. Starting with the display, all three in the K40 series sport a 6.64″ E4 AMOLED display made by Samsung, with 2400 × 1080p resolution and a 120Hz screen refresh rate. Also, it has a peak brightness of 1300 nits, 360Hz touch sampling rate, HDR10+, and is protected by Gorilla Glass 5.

Running on Android 11 MIUI 12, all three are eligible to get MIUI 12.5 over-the-air updates soon. Regarding the internal chipset, the standard K40 handset runs on Snapdragon 870 SoC, which is a 7 nm-based processor supporting 5G. Whereas the rest two, K40 Pro and K40 Pro+ have Snapdragon 888 SoC, which the Qualcomm’s high-end 5G chipset based on a 5nm process.

With no SD card option for expanding the onboard storage, the standard K40 has RAM of either 6GB, 8GB, or 12GB coupled with 128GB or 256GB UFS 3.1 storage. And the Pro variant, it comes in a 6GB RAM +128GB, 6GB+128GB and an 8GB+256GB versions. Finally, the Pro+ comes with a high-end 12GB + 256GB variant only.

In terms of imaging, the standard K40 has a 48-megapixel (f/1.8) primary sensor followed by an 8-megapixel (f/2.2) ultra-wide and a 5-megapixel lens. And for Pro and Pro+, the secondary and tertiary sensors remain the same for all three with the primary ones bumped to 64-megapixel (f/1.9) for Pro and 108-megapixel (f/1.8) for the Pro+ variants.

Upfront, there’s a 20-megapixel (f/1.34) lens for all three handsets. With required connectivities, all three phones have a fair 4250mAh battery with 33W fast charging support that can juice up the complete 100% in just 52 minutes.

Redmi K40 series Pricing and Availability

All the three handsets are available in Dreamland, Icy White, and Glossy Black color variants, and are priced as follows;

Redmi K40 6GB+128GB for CNY 1,999 8GB+128GB for CNY 2,199 8GB+256GB for CNY 2,699 12GB+256GB for CNY 2,699

Redmi K40 Pro 6GB+128GB for CNY 2,799 8GB+128GB for CNY 2,999 8GB+256GB for CNY 3,299

Redmi K40 Pro+ 12GB+256GB for CNY 3,699

The standard and Pro variants of K40 are available for pre-order now through the official Xiaomi channels and will be sold from March 4th onwards. And the Pro+ variant will be available from the end of March.

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After teasing its upcoming flagship Axon 30 handset, ZTE has now given another glimpse of its second-generation under-display camera technology. Touted to be launched in this year’s MWC event, the UDC technology of Axon 30 Pro has improvements in pixel density, refresh rate, and a new 3D structured light module. Here more;

ZTE teases its 2nd-gen Under Display Camera technology

ZTE already holds the record of making the world’s first smartphone with under-display camera technology. Though it received the appreciation for making so, the consequences are harsh since the technology has a lot of room to improve. The Axon 20 5G (with the first under-display camera) has fair reviews too.

Thus, it’s now gearing up to launch a new smartphone with its updated (second generation) under-display camera technology. This could most probably be the ZTE Axon 30 Pro, which has been teased earlier and is touted to launch in this year’s Mobile World Congress event.

Also Read: OnePlus 9 series: Everything we know about OnePlus next flagship

The latest information on the second generation under-display camera technology of ZTE has a new setting made – 3D structured light module, which is used for 3D modeling apps and AR. This makes the security tighter since its biometric authentication is more secure than the other regular ones in the market. This is because the 3D structured light module can scan for 3D objects (like in face authentication) rather than just the 2D image.

Also, the second generation under-display camera technology will have a more pixel density of 400ppi, which has been doubled from its predecessor Axon 20 5G. Also, the screen refresh rate has been bumped to 120Hz from 90Hz.

More regarding this handset is yet to be revealed since all we know about the upcoming Axon 30 Pro is just a glimpse of its updated under-display camera technology and few hardware specifications as running on Snapdragon 888 processor and Android 11 with up to 12GB of RAM.

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After Apple, Samsung is planning to fit its own branded laptops with an in-house made chip, touted as the Exynos 2200 SoC. Also, reports reveal that the South Korean OEM has partnered with AMD to make its own graphics, and move away from the reliance on Qualcomm. This reported Windows 10 laptop is scheduled to launch later this year.

Samsung Windows 10 laptops powered by Exynos chips coming soon

Application processors (AP) are very crucial to the functioning of any device. Players like Intel and Qualcomm have dominated the markets of laptops and smartphones for quite a long time and having new competitors now. After Apple turning away from Intel for its MacBook series, Samsung is now following the same suite.

As reported by ZDNet Korea, Samsung Electronics is making a Windows 10 laptop powered by its in-house chip – Exynos 2200. While the name of this reported SoC is yet to be confirmed, Samsung is most likely to put an updated chip of Exynos 2100. To date, the OEM has launched three Windows 10 laptops – all powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8cx chips.

While the process the applications as desired, moving away from market leaders since having potential for self-reliance, gives you the freedom to tune your devices much better. And this is what Samsung is planning to do.

Besides the Exynos chip, it’s also reported that Samsung is using AMD’s help for aiding the graphics forces into their Exynos-powered laptops. This in combination with Microsoft’s work on closing the app gap can result in better yield to Samsung.

Microsoft is already working on x86 emulation of apps, and its Windows 10 supports running apps on ARM-based chips like the Exynos. Thus, Samsung is having a bright future of making its own branded laptops with in-house components as Apple did with Apple M1 chips.

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Motorola has ultimately launched Moto E7 Power in India and this launch comes days after the company had teased online. This budget smartphone from Motorola comes in two RAM variants. The phone is powered by an octa-core MediaTek Helio G25 SoC. The Moto E7 Power has modest specifications to lure a large segment of Indian users. So let us deep-dive into the detailed specifications and features of the newly launched smartphone from Motorola.

Moto E7 Power Specifications

The Moto E7 features a 6.50-inch HD+ display with a 20:9 aspect ratio. The display comes with a waterdrop notch to house a 5MP selfie camera. As earlier stated, this smartphone is powered by MediaTek Helio G25 processor.

MediaTek describes this chipset as “The G25 provides fast and fun gaming experiences from its combination of octa-core Arm Cortex-A53 CPU operating up to 2GHz plus IMG PowerVR GE8320 GPU with speeds of up to 650MHz. All-screen smartphone designs up to 20:9 ratio with HD+ resolution displays offer a great balance between performance and power-efficiency.”

The Moto E7 comes with two RAM that includes a 4GB variant and a 2GB variant. The smartphone packs a 5,000 mAh battery with 10W charging support to power these hardware. For the storage part, it comes with an internal storage of 64GB that is expandable up to 1TB using the microSD card slot.

The smartphone features a 13 MP primary camera with PDAF(Phase Detection Auto-Focus) and a secondary 2 MP Macro Vision lens that zooms 4x. Upfront, there’s a selfie shooter with a 5-megapixel camera sensor with an f/2.2 lens.

The Moto E7 Power runs on Android 10 and has 2×2 MIMO support, IP52 rating, 3.5mm headphone jack, and USB-C port.

Moto E7 Power Price

The smartphone comes in Tahiti Blue and Coral Red colors and will be available in two different variants in India including the 4GB variant and the 2GB variant. The higher-end 4GB/64GB variant is priced at Rs. 8,299 ($115) whereas the 2GB/32GB variant is priced at Rs. 7,499 ($105). The Moto E7 Power will be up for first sale on 26 February.

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A report from Bloomberg says that SoftBank is intervening in the issue of TikTok India, and help monetize its assets by selling it to a local wing called Glance for balanced opportunities. The assets left by TikTok in India were left useless, which could be profitable if acquired InMobi’s Glance, a local unicorn backed by SoftBank, just as for ByteDance.

TikTok in India may relive under different ownership

The border tensions and trade conflicts between India and China don’t seem to settle anytime soon. Crushed among these tensions are the Chinese software companies, which have produced popular apps in both productivity and entertainment segments.

The Indian government ban on Chinese apps led many to shut down their services in the country. Out of all, TikTok has made a significant impact on leaving the market, which gave the opportunity to several local businesses to replicate their service. This led TikTok to believe that there would be little chance to re-acquire the market even after making a reentrance.

Thus, it has sacked the Indian wing and is now looking for a partner to share its assets. And there comes the Japanese giant, SoftBank, which backs both TikTok’s parent ByteDance and an Indian unicorn called InMobi. As per reports, SoftBank is trying to negotiate a deal between the ByteDance and InMobi to sell TikTok’s assets to later’s subsidiary, Glance Digital Experience.

This may lead to the invention of another TikTok but in a clean Indian way. Also, launching a pure Indian variant of TikTok using its old infrastructure can surely be helpful, and retain the core loyal fans still in the country. Besides, it also satisfies the Indian government’s rule of keeping the user data within the nation’s border to avoid exploitation.

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