How to start shopping on JioMart via WhatsApp?

Meta-owned instant messenger WhatsApp has today launched the first shopping experience on the app in partnership with Reliance Retail-owned JioMart. Users will now be able to browse and shop on JioMart from their WhatsApp chat itself.

This is the first end-to-end shopping feature on WhatsApp, with users being able to browse, shop and pay for their goods without ever leaving the app.

“A global first, JioMart on WhatsApp will enable users in India, including those who have never shopped online before, to seamlessly browse through JioMart’s entire grocery catalog, add items to cart, and make the payment to complete the purchase – all without leaving the WhatsApp chat,” states an official release by Reliance Retail.

“Today JioMart is LIVE on WhatsApp with our first end-to-end shopping experience. You can browse products, add your items to your cart, and make your payment — all within a WA chat! Excited about the opportunities this opens up for businesses to build experiences on WhatsApp!” said Will Cathcart, Head of WhatsApp at Meta.

Today @JioMart is LIVE on @WhatsApp with our first end-to-end shopping experience. You can browse products, add your items to your cart, and make your payment — all within a WA chat!
Excited about the opportunities this opens up for businesses to build experiences on WhatsApp! pic.twitter.com/VkpH6OQleO

— Will Cathcart (@wcathcart) August 29, 2022

Here’s how you can start shopping on JioMart using WhatsApp.

Step 1: Open WhatsApp and message “Hi” to the JioMart number (+917977079770).

Step 2: In the WhatsApp chat, you will receive a link for the JioMart catalogue.

Step 3: Click on the link to open a new screen within WhatsApp itself.

Step 4: The JioMart catalogue is opened, where you can go through different categories to shop for your desired items.

Step 5: After searching for your desired items, add them all to the shopping cart and click on ‘Buy’.

Step 6: If you are a new JioMart user then you will need to register yourself with your address details.

Step 7: Choose your desired payment gateway and then you can pay through UPI, cash on delivery and other payment options using WhatsApp pay.

Step 8: After successful payment, you’ll receive a confirmation message on the JioMart chat on WhatsApp. You will also receive further notifications about delivery on the chat itself.

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What are Twitter Circles and how do they work?

Twitter has finally rolled out its much-awaited ‘Circles’ feature to all users. The new feature allows users to tweet to a certain audience instead of all of their followers. The feature had been released to some users as part of the beta testing program in May.

The feature is now available to all Twitter users across the website, iOS and Android devices. The ‘Circles’ feature on the microblogging platform is similar to those seen on other social media platforms like the ‘Close Friends’ feature on the popular image-sharing platform Instagram.

giving you all Twitter Circle because sometimes your Tweets aren’t for everyone

add up to 150 people to yours and use it. please. pic.twitter.com/D6AE4OhRX5

— Twitter (@Twitter) August 30, 2022

“With Twitter Circle, people now have the flexibility to choose who can see and engage with their content on a Tweet-by-Tweet basis. This makes it easier to have more intimate conversations and build closer connections with select followers,” said Twitter about the new feature.

With the new feature, users will be able to add up to 150 other Twitter users to their circles, regardless of whether the other users are following them or not. Each user can only have one Twitter circle, however. Users can only see the full list of their own Twitter Circle and cannot see the list of users in another user’s circle. Additionally, tweets sent out to your circle cannot be retweeted. If users don’t want to see tweets from a user who has added them to their circle, Twitter suggests either using the unfollow, block or mute options.

You can use the Twitter Circle feature every time you tweet. Within the tweet composer, click on the dropdown menu at the top, and choose ‘Circle’ as your audience instead of everyone. You can change this option the next time you tweet. Everyone in your circle will see a note reading, “Only people in @[yourusername]’s Twitter Circle can see this tweet,” next to the tweet.

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Google’s Pixel Watch price leaked, will be launched with the Pixel 7 smartphone

The price of the Google Pixel Watch has leaked online. It is also being reported that the first, proper wearable devices from Google will be launched alongside the Pixel 7.

Google has conspicuously been absent from the smartwatch scene for all these years, with no device of their own. Well, they plan to change that this year, when they launch the Google Pixel Watch. Naturally then, tech enthusiasts are a bit excited to see what exactly Google will be bringing to the table with their smartwatch, after acquiring FitBit, the people who made smartwatches and fitness trackers what they are today.

Leaks about the smartwatch continue to pour in since Google made it official at this year’s I/O event in May. It was said that the upcoming Pixel Watch will be running on the latest version of Wear OS and will have a circular display., Now, it seems that details of the upcoming smartwatch have started appearing online. 

A report by 9to5Google says that the cellular version of the upcoming Google Pixel Watch will cost $399 or roughly Rs. 31,750 in the US. A Wi-Fi and Bluetooth model will also be available, as per the report, but the prices of those devices have not been leaked.

Samsung, Google’s main competitor in the wearable segment, has already launched the Galaxy Watch 5 at a starting price of $279 (Rs 22,100) in the US, and Rs 27,999 in India. The Galaxy Watch 5 Pro is priced at $449 (Rs 35,700) in the US and Rs 44,999 in India for the Bluetooth variant and $499 (or Rs 39,700) in the US or Rs 49,999 for the LTE variant.

Google may be looking for partnership deals with service providers and retailers to bring the price down, and may even be offering some seriously lucrative launch deals to get to as many potential customers as they can.

The Google Pixel Watch will be running on the latest version of WearOS. It will have a circular display with very thin bezels, curved glass protection, and a stainless-steel build. The wearable will also support Google Assistant, Google Maps, and Google Wallet. 

It will also feature heart rate tracking and sleep monitoring. The Pixel Watch will also work with the Find My Device app to help users locate their misplaced Pixel phone, earbuds, as well as other supported devices.

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iPhone 14 Pro and 14 Pro Max to get new ultrawide cameras with better sensors

Apple will be launching their upcoming iPhone 14 series in a week’s time from now. The iPhone 14, iPhone 14 Max, iPhone 14 Pro and the iPhone 14 Pro Max are some of the most anticipated mobile phones to be released this year. 

With the launch event drawing near, rumours and reports about the iPhone 14 series and the hardware that it will feature are more noise than ever before. One of the latest reports came to the world, with the courtesy of Ming-Chi Kuo one of the most reputable analysts and tipsters on all things Apple.

As per Kuo, the iPhone 14 Pro and 14 Pro Max will reportedly feature a new ultrawide camera sensor with a pixel size of 1.4µm. In comparison, the sensors used in the cameras for the iPhone 13 are about 1.0µm.

It has been long known that more than the pixel count, it is the size of the sensor and each individual pixel that has an effect on the quality of the photos and videos, especially in scenes when the lighting isn’t adequate. The smaller the pixel size, the more information a sensor will be able to capture. However, the trade-off with smaller pixel sizes is that it also adds a lot of noise and grain to a picture.

Apple’s move to use sensors with slightly larger pixels should result in detailed shots and possibly better low-light performance by giving the processor more data to work with.

Kuo reports that the new CMOS imaging sensor will be joined by a new voice coil motor (VCM) and a new compact camera module. All of these components will be up to 70% more expensive than the ones found in the outgoing iPhone 13 Pro models. Kuo also believes that Sony will supply the CMOS sensors while Minebea and Largan will take care of the VCM. The main compact camera module will be supplied by LG.

In addition to the new ultrawide sensor and camera module, the iPhone 14 Pro and the iPhone 14 Pro Max is is also expected to get a new 48MP primary camera that uses 4-in-1 pixel binning. This will be a massive upgrade from the current 12MP camera sensors that Apple has been using for its iPhone. 

The resulting images should offer more colour-accurate photos and a much better low-light performance. The front cameras on both, the 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro will receive a big update with autofocus and a much wider opening f/1.9 aperture.

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Next-generation of iPhone SE will have the same form factor as iPhone XR

This year’s Apple iPhone SE has the same design that it had for its last generation, which was based on the iPhone 8. However, it seems that the next iPhone SE will have a design similar to the iPhone XR.

The iPhone SE 4, as it is being now referred to, will ditch the old form factor of the iPhone 8 with huge bezels and a Home button in favour of a more modern design with reduced bezels, notch, and Face ID.

While the current iPhone SE has a 4.7-inch LCD display, the iPhone XR-based iPhone SE4 will have a larger 6.1-inch LCD display. It will also have some other advantages over the 2022 iPhone SE, such as a significantly larger battery.

Other details about the new iPhone SE remain unclear at this point. In the past, Apple has added its latest chip to the entry-level iPhone SE – the current model uses the same A15 Bionic chip as the iPhone 13. 

However, given that the non-Pro models in the upcoming iPhone 14 will keep using the A15 chipset from iPhone 13, we cannot say for sure what new chipset will the iPhone XR-based SE 4 will use.

As for the cameras, both the 2022 iPhone SE and the iPhone XR have very similar sensors with a single 12-megapixel rear camera with f/1.8 aperture and a 7-megapixel front camera with f/2.2 aperture. Of course, Apple could improve the camera sensors for the next iPhone SE, or at least add new software features like Night Mode, which, so far has been unavailable on entry-level iPhones.

The rationale behind the iPhone SE series is that it is meant for people looking for cheaper and smaller iPhones as opposed to the regular or Max options. However, demand for the 2022 iPhone SE has been quite low, which means that people are no longer interested in buying a phone designed almost a decade ago. Furthermore, this also means that a 4.7-inch is rather too small and that people would prefer something larger.

Given that Apple has been rather sporadic about the launch of the iPhone SE series, it cannot be said with certainty when the next iPhone SE will be launched. Last time, it took two years between the launch of the second-generation and the third-generation iPhone SE.

Having said that, with declining smartphone sales across the world and with a recession looming over the world, it would actually be a perfect time for Apple to launch the iPhone SE 4 just a few months after they launch the iPhone 14 series.

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AMD announces the new Ryzen 7000 series of CPUs with AM5 socket, will support DDR5 & PCI-E 5

AMD has revealed their upcoming Ryzen 7000 series of desktop CPUs. The new generation of AMD processors will be based on the new Zen 4 architecture and will come in a whole new socket platform called the AM5. AMD claims that the new Ryzen 7000 CPUs bring significant improvement in performance over the previous generation Ryzen 5000 series. 

The Ryzen 7000 will be also introducing cutting-edge features like DDR5 and PCIe Gen 5 on the AMD side. 

The four CPUs that will be available from September 27 are the 7950X, the 7900X, the 7700X, and the 7600X. These have similar core and thread counts as the initial wave of Ryzen 5000 releases with mostly similar prices as the Ryzen 5000, except in the case of Ryzen 9 7950X, where the price has dropped slightly compared to last year’s 5950X.

This is mainly due to the fact that going back a generation, AMD’s 5950X did not sell that well, mainly due to the price hike it came with over the 3950X. With the 5950X, AMD had the most expensive desktop CPU on the market before Intel came along with the i9-12900KS.

The top-of-the-line processor here is the Ryzen 9 7950X with its 16-core, 32-thread processor capable of boosting up to 5.7GHz and with a 4.2GHz base clock. It features 80MB of total cache capacity and has a TDP of 170W. 

Next up is the Ryzen 9 7900X with its 12-core, 24-threads, a boost clock of 5.6GHz and a base clock of 4.7GHz. It has 76MB of total cache and a TDP of 170W. It’s priced at $549, which is the same as the launch price of the 5900X.

The third CPU in the range is the Ryzen 7 7700X with its 8-core, 16-threads. It has a boost clock of 5.4GHz and a base clock of 4.5GHz. It has 40MB of total cache capacity and a TDP of 105W. It’s priced at $399, $50 less than the launch price of the 5800X.

Finally, the entry point into the Ryzen 7000 series, at least for now, is the Ryzen 5 7600X. It features 6-cores, 12-threads and has a boost clock of up to 5.3GHz and base clock of 4.7GHz. It has 38MB total cache capacity and 105W TDP. It’s priced at $299, same as the 5600X launch price.

All four processors also include an integrated Radeon Graphics with 2 graphics cores.

The new Ryzen 7000 processors are based on AMD’s new AM5 platform. This new platform starts off with a new socket design with a 1718 pin LGA socket, and will be compatible with CPU coolers designed for AM4.

We also have two new chipsets, the X670 and the B650, and an Extreme version of each of them, which offer more connectivity features.

The new platform will support both DDR5 memory as well as PCI Express 5.0. However, unlike Intel there will be no DDR4 memory support on the AM5 platform.

As for performance upgrades, the Ryzen 7000 series is based on the new Zen 4 architecture, which is based on TSMC’s latest 5nm process. Zen 4 promises 13 per cent average IPC improvement over the previous generation Zen 3, with clock speeds up to 5.7GHz and up to 29 per cent total single thread gain. 

This has also led to significant improvements in efficiency. AMD is promising 62% lower power consumption for the same performance and 49% more performance for the same power versus the Ryzen 5000 series. AMD also claims up to 47% more efficiency compared to Alder Lake.

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Scared about your privacy? Here's how to turn off precise location feature in iPhones

If you are a smartphone user, you must have noticed newly-installed apps requesting you to give access to your location. These apps require your permission to track your current location and provide better services.

However, too many apps with access to your personal location can also be a source of concern. If you are an iPhone user, you can protect your privacy by denying access to many of these apps. Apple’s iOS 15 allows you to switch off the precise location setting on your iPhone for different apps. So, if you are concerned about your privacy, you can follow this step-by-step process to turn off precise location setting for third-party apps on your iPhone:

Step 1: Go to the Settings app.
Step 2: Select Location Services and scroll down to find the app you want to deny location access to.
Step 3: Choose the app. You will get three options:
― “Never”: It prevents the app from accessing Location Information.
― “Ask Next Time”: It means the app will ask for permission to track your location the next time you open it.
― “While using the app”: This allows access to your location only if the app or any of its features is visible on screen.
― “Always”: The app will have access to your location data all the time.
Step 4: Choose the setting you want and tap on it.
Step 5: To turn off precise location on your iPhone, choose the “Precise Location” toggle and switch it off.

With this process, you can switch off the precise location for third-party apps like Twitter, Facebook and more. But do keep in mind that apps like Google Maps may not function properly if you withdraw consent to use your location.

For Android phones, a similar process can be followed to turn off access to your location.

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Asus ROG Strix Scar 15 (2022) review: A beast of a machine with unapologetic gamer aesthetics

Price: Rs 2,29,900/-

Rating: 4.5/5

Pros:
– Performance
– Display
– Generous and full-sized USB ports
– How the RGB has been implemented
– Solid build quality
– Keyboard and Trackpad

Cons:
– No integrated webcam or any other biometric system
– Speakers are dynamic but feel muted
– Interiors can get smudgy
– No SD Card slot

When you see a ROG laptop, know that you can play all AAA titles on the machine and have a great experience. However, when you see a ROG Strix laptop, know that what you have is a proper gaming machine, one that can not only run the most demanding of AAA titles but also give you a proper, wholesome gaming experience.

To a great distance, the Asus ROG Strix Scar 15 2022 carries the legacy that all ROG Strix machines have had. Most gaming laptops these days have a very undertone and simplistic aesthetic to themselves – minimal use of RGB, very subtle and frankly mundane styling, almost too civilised. It’s as if these machines are expected to be carried into a board meeting and therefore need to blend in with the black and grey tones suits that have besieged the corporate world. 

There’s nothing remotely wild with most modern gaming laptops. Asus’ ROG Strix 15, however, is unapologetically wild. It is flashy, extra, over the top, eccentric – all adjectives that we love absolutely.

Being a ROG machine, the Asus ROG Strix Scar 15 2022 G533ZW comes loaded with some of the best hardware and features that money can buy. With that being said, there are some glaring omissions as well. We take a look at Asus ROG Strix Scar 15 and see if is the gaming machine that you ought to be going for.

Specifications and features
The Asus ROG Strix Scar 15 that we tested came with the 12th Gen Intel Core i9-12900H which has 6 Performance cores and 8 Efficiency cores for a total of 14 cores. Our unit was paired with a healthy 32GB DDR5 RAM at 4800Mhz. For the GPU, we got an Nvidia RTX 3070 Ti with a total speed of 1460MHz at 150W.

For the display, we get a 15.6-inch WQHD 2560 x 1440 anti-glare display, with a refresh rate of 240Hz. It is an IPS panel which supports 100 per cent of the DCI-P3 colour range and has a response time of 3ms.

For storage, you get a 1TB PCIe 4.0-based M.2 SSD. You also get a 90W 4-cell Li-ion battery. In terms of ports, you get 2 USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A ports, a USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C supporting DisplayPort and power delivery, an HDMI 2.1 port, a 2.5G LAN port, and a USB-C like Thunderbolt 4 support DisplayPort. The ROG Strix Scar 15 also gets Dolby Vision and Atmos certifications.

Design and Build Quality:
The Asus ROG Strix Scar 15 2022, for the most part, is built like a tank. It has a rather unique design, and clean aesthetics with plenty of RGB, which can be controlled using Asus’ software. It is on the heavier side when we consider some other 15-inch devices, but the upshot is that it offers some great cooling. 

The plastic deck of the keyboard gets very smudgy, so you’ll need to keep a cleaning cloth nearby. Otherwise, the translucent bits of the deck give it a very cool aesthetic. Asus also included two extra faceplates for the large “ROG” section of the hinge in the box and allows you to replace it with just a pull. This is purely decorative, but nevertheless, a nice touch.

The display lid opens up to 110 degrees, which can be a little restricting. With that being said, the hinges are solid, just like the rest of the chassis, which shows little to no flex, which is very reassuring. The lid itself can feel flimsy at times as it has some flex, but rest assured, it has been built really well. The hinges also allow a gap between the display and the main deck, allowing the speaker to be more clear.

You also get a healthy selection of ports at the rear, which also houses most of the air vents. On the left, you get 2 USB-A ports, a 3.5mm jack and another cooling vent. On the right, you get another vent and the KeyStone. What is conspicuously missing, is an SD card slot, and a webcam. More on that later, but first, let’s take a look at the KeyStone.

The KeyStone is a USB-like key that is bound to Asus’ Armoury Crate system. What this allows you to do, is carry out a variety of functions or a combination of functions, using just a stroke. For example, you can use the KeyStone to lock and unlock your device by removing or inserting it back in. Or, if you want to quickly start playing and streaming a game and don’t want to faff about launching different applications, you can use just this one key to get started. The KeyStone is quite interesting as a concept but is incredibly limited because it is bound to Armoury Crate.

For user expandability, the memory and storage are user-serviceable in the Asus ROG Strix Scar 15. So if you’re handy with a screwdriver and are confident enough to open up the laptop, there are two SODIMM slots and two M.2 slots to upgrade the machine down the line.

The Keyboard and Trackpad 
The keyboard on the  Asus ROG Strix Scar 15 2022 is a joy to use. Mind you this isn’t a mechanical keyboard but a membrane-based chiclet keyboard. However, it is a joy to use. During our thorough testing, not once did we feel that the typing experience on the keyboard was lacking in any way. Furthermore, the keyboard is backlit, and it has per-key RGB, which can all be adjusted using Asus’ Armoury Crate. You don’t get a separate num pad, but the touchpad does turn into a digital num pad of sorts.

All though this may be useful in certain situations, I doubt, anyone would actually let go of that amazing trackpad in exchange for a num pad.  

The trackpad itself is sublime to use. It is big, wide, and perfectly centred. It also has great tracking and sensitivity, which makes it a joy to use on a high-resolution display like the one that the Asus ROG Strix Scar 15 2022 gets. We also like the fact that Asus has decided to give users dedicated media control buttons on the side, and an array of buttons to control the fan speed, the Armoury Crate and the volume and mute buttons on the top.

The Webcam and Speakers
This is where the Asus ROG Strix Scar 15 2022 disappoints a little. The laptop does not have a webcam integrated into the chassis or the lid. This means you miss out on essential features such as Windows Hello. You also don’t get any other sort of biometric system on the device that would have helped you log in faster.

Asus does provide a ROG Eye Clip Webcam in the box that the Asus ROG Strix Scar 15 2022 can be attached to the top bezel and used. While some people may not like this, I personally think this is a neat way to keep yourself secure. Moreover, given that this laptop may be used by hardcore gamers for streaming, who would like to use a proper camera of their own, I think I can see what the engineers at Asus were thinking of. Still, given how a webcam has become essential in the post-COVID era, we don’t think we can justify the Strix Scar 15 not having one.

The biggest disappointment in this entire package would be the speakers. They are good speakers, don’t get me wrong. They have good depth, great bass, and are balanced. They have decent treble, as well as midrange.

However, the speakers just don’t get loud enough, which really is a shame. For some reason, it feels subdued. Maybe that has to do with the way the speakers have been placed, behind the display. I have used budget laptops with speakers that get louder than the Strix Scar 15, albeit with far less clarity and dynamics. Having said that, if you’re in a quiet room by yourself, you can watch a piece of content and still have a decently good time.

The Display
While the display is not as impressive as an OLED panel but, nevertheless, it is impressive. Our test unit had a 2560×1440 IPS panel with a refresh rate of 240Hz. If you’re willing to bump down the resolution to 1080p, you can even drive the display at 300Hz. Furthermore, the 4mm thin bezels around the display make it more immersive. 

The display is surprisingly bright for an IPS panel. Furthermore, it is vibrant enough and is very accurate in reproducing colours, all of which have been backed by a Dolby Vision certification. Naturally, content consumption and gaming on this display is a joy. But more importantly, I wouldn’t hesitate to colour grade videos or work on high res photos on this display for professional use, and that is high praise for a gaming display.

Performance
The Asus ROG Strix Scar 15 has a 12th Gen Intel Core i9-12900H Processor clocked at 2.5 GHz which boosts up to 5.0 GHz. The processor has 6 Performance cores and 8 Efficiency cores for a total of 14 cores and has 24M Cache.

For the graphics, we have an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti Laptop GPU, with 8GB of GDDR6 Memory. The 3070Ti Laptop GPU here has a 1410MHz Boost Clock plus a 50MHz overclock from Asus, which gives us a total speed of 1460MHz at 150W.

Keeping all that in mind, it shouldn’t be surprising that the Asus ROG Strix Scar 15 2022 is a beast when it comes to performance. The i9-12900H crushes all synthetic benchmarks and either match up or surpasses all other gaming laptops that I have tested this year. It does well in single-threaded tasks, but the real prowess that the processor has is shown in multi-threaded tasks.

Benchmark scores, as useful as they are, do not translate that well into real-life performance. However, I am happy to report that in gaming and productivity, the Asus ROG Strix Scar 15 G533ZW 2022 performs phenomenally well.

We tested games like the Shadow of The Tomb Raider, Far Cry 6, Battlefield V, and the extremely trying Metro Exodus. Here again, the performance was on par with our synthetic benchmarks. Note, all of the tests were done under the Turbo profile, at 1440p, RTX turned off, and at the highest quality settings that the title in question had to offer. 

In Shadow of The Tomb Raider, we were getting about 105 fps on average and more importantly, a minimum of 98 fps. In Far Cry 6, we were averaging about 90 fps with a minimum of 78 fps. In Battlefield V, we were seeing an average fps of 134 against a minimum of 75 at the really action-intense and texture-heavy scenes. Even in Metro Exodus, we got an average fps of 68 and a minimum of 49, which is saying something. 

Clearly, there are no AAA titles that this beast of a machine cannot run smoothly. If you’re willing to turn down the setting even by a little or go for 1080p gaming instead of 1440p you will be getting some amazing performance out of the Asus ROG Strix Scar 15. 

While these performance numbers may not be chart toppers, they are very close, in second place if you will. And mind you all other gaming laptops that surpass the Asus ROG Strix Scar 15 come with a 3080Ti. Most other laptops with the i9-12900H and the 3070Ti have a tough time beating the Asus ROG Strix Scar 15 mainly because their cooling systems aren’t as efficient, and because the CPU and the GPU have had their TDPs kneecapped. Thankfully, Asus gives both the CPU and the GPU plenty of room to breathe, and draw its power from.

Battery Life
While the Asus ROG Strix Scar 15 comes with a huge 90Wh battery, which comes with a 280W charging brick that literally is the size of a brick, being a hardcore gaming laptop, you really cannot expect to have a long battery life, especially if you have set it on Performance or Turbo mode. With that notwithstanding, in an average working day which involved a ton of writing, some photo editing, and quite a bit of content consumption on YouTube and Netflix, we got about 6-7 hours at about 65 per cent screen brightness. 

It is not something to write home about. This is despite the fact that the Asus ROG Strix Scar 15 drops the refresh rate of the display down to 60Hz when on battery power, and that it goes into a hybrid mode that switches between Intel’s Iris graphics and the GPU, to strike a balance between performance and battery life.

During our thorough battery testing though, which basically is replaying a 4K video on the loop, again and again, the laptop conked out in about 3 hours or so, when it was on Performance mode. In Silent mode, it lasted for about four and a half hours. 

Conclusion
It is really difficult not to recommend the Asus ROG Strix Scar 15 to someone who is looking for a gaming machine and has the money to spend on it. Yes, there are several other gaming laptops which offer some marginally better specifications, and at a cheaper price; however, they compromise somewhere or the other.

As an overall package, the Asus ROG Strix Scar 15 is wholesome and strikes the right balance. For Rs 2,29,900, the ROG Strix SCAR 15 (2022) G533 is slightly more expensive than most of its peers, but it feels far more refined.

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Amazfit GTS 4 Mini Review: This compact fitness watch packs a punch

Pros:
– Classy and compact design 
– Lightweight and comfortable around the wrist
– Sharp AMOLED display
– Very good battery backup
– Built-in GPS, impressive feature set
– New Zepp OS is simple and snappy
– Reliable tracking, detailed companion app 

Cons:
– GPS lock takes longer than usual
– Auto-detection of workouts doesn’t work

Rating: 4.2/5

Price: Rs 7,999

We have grown fond of Amazfit products over the years, especially their GTR and GTS series. Though not perfect, we have seen a steady improvement in the hardware as well as software with every new generation of their watches. The Amazfit GTR 3 that we reviewed last year was a well-rounded product that debuted new sensors and newer UI for the watch as well as the Zepp app. 

While its latest iteration is expected shortly, the first member of the 4 series, Amazfit GTS 4 Mini is already here. It offers a lot of GTR 3 goodness in a more compact form factor for almost half the price. Sounds interesting? So let’s get to know it better. 

Classy and compact design, comfortable to wear
Given that this is a GTS series watch, you get a rectangular dial. The design is polished with absolutely no rough edges, and the watch is just 9.1 mm thick. A solitary physical button allows you to access different functions of this watch in conjunction with the touchscreen display. The aluminium alloy frame blends seamlessly into the display. The frame predominantly has a matte grey finish with just a shiny line where the frame meets the display. It makes the watch look elegant, especially the black variant that we got for review. 

The Amazfit GTS 4 Mini is available in multiple colour shades to appeal to a broader audience. The watch is incredibly light and weighs just 31.2 grams with the straps, and somehow feels even lighter. It is comfortable to wear for long hours as the silicone straps don’t cause sweating or skin irritation. Just that the locking mechanism is slightly different from the standard buckle and hoop option, and can take a couple of attempts to get used to. If you don’t like it, you can replace the default straps with any third-party 20 mm straps. 

Sharp display with provision for multiple watch faces
Despite the Mini suffix, the screen size of the GTS 4 Mini is the same as that of the GTS 2e and slightly bigger than the GTS 2 Mini. It has a lively 1.65-inch AMOLED display with a resolution of 336 x 384 pixels. Despite the reduction in resolution from the non-Mini GTS models, you still get a 308 ppi pixel density here, and the display is sharp enough. The screen is protected against scratches by a layer of tempered glass and also has an anti-fingerprint coating; both do their job well. 

The screen has auto as well as manual brightness controls and is perfectly legible outdoors even under bright sunlight. When not under bright sunlight, even 50% brightness is good enough. You need to flick your wrist to turn the screen on, and if that doesn’t work, you can always press the physical button. Double tap doesn’t wake the screen up, but the flick option works well most of the time. You can also turn off the flick gesture or schedule it to stay off during your sleep hours. 

Though not as many in the case of the main GTR and GTS series watches, you get close to fifty watch faces (at the time of writing) for the Amazfit GTS 4 Mini in the companion app. The transfer process is fairly brisk too, and you get a generous number of slots on the watch to store watch faces of your choosing. A couple of preloaded faces can be customised to display information of your choice ranging from steps count, calories burned, heart rate, battery and more. 

Upgraded user interface and a feature-rich app
Just like all other Amazfit watches, you need to download the Zepp app and sync your device with it over Bluetooth. The process is a lot smoother, and unlike earlier generation watches from the company, the overreliance on the app for configuring several watch settings is significantly lower now. You can access and control several features of the GTS 4 Mini from the watch. In fact, you can even see the breakup of workout or sleep data and a few other things on the watch screen itself. But things like fitness goals, reports and watch faces are understandably available only in the app. 

The UI is similar to the one you get on the Amazfit GTR 3. The Zepp OS interface feels more eye-catching now with lively colours and cooler animations. It is still clean and easy to use even for a novice. You need to swipe down on the home screen for quick settings, swipe up for notifications, and swipe left or right to browse through various widgets like daily goals progress, PAI, heart rate, sleep data and more. The physical button acts as a shortcut for all the watch functions and also doubles up as a home button from any screen. 

The app interface changed last year and it’s still the same; there was no need to tinker around with it so soon anyway. It feels uncluttered and intuitive. All the fitness cards are presented on the home screen, and they can be shuffled around as per your choice. They display your heart rate, stress and blood oxygen levels, sleep data, step count and more. The Health tab shows your workout data and lets you set goals. The Profile tab is mainly about managing the settings of the watch and personal information.

Reliable fitness tracking and faster measurements courtesy of newer sensors 
Though the word smartwatch is liberally used these days, the Amazfit GTS4 Mini is essentially a fitness tracker with a few smartwatch functions thrown in. You can mute or reject calls from the watch screen and can read your messages, though you cannot reply from the watch. Directly calling from the watch is not an option either. You can choose to receive notifications from the desired apps on the phone, along with event reminders and weather updates. You get Alexa support too, however basic.

And there’s a little more, or rather a beginning of something interesting. Zepp OS that this watch runs had opened up to app developers last year for having third-party apps on the platform. And you now have 10 mini apps to show for their initiative. Still early days, but something worth keeping an eye on. The Amazfit GTS 4 Mini also uses the newer sensors found on the more expensive GTR 3 and GTS 3 watches for faster and more accurate tracking.

The BioTracker PPG 3.0 biometric sensor can monitor heart rate, blood oxygen, stress levels and sleep, and some of them round the clock if you wish to. The speed of SpO2 measurements has also noticeably improved since the 2 series. You still need to keep your hand steady, but you can get an accurate score in 15 to 30 seconds on this watch. You also get one tap measurement for four health parameters in 45 seconds. It measures your heart rate, oxygen level, stress level and breath rate in one go. You again need to stay still for that.

The Amazfit GTS 4 Mini can track 126 different activities and sports that include your usual walking, running, cycling, swimming, strength training and their variations. It has a 5-satellite GNSS GPS module to track your outdoor activities. While the outdoor walks and jogs are tracked accurately, it takes a lot longer than usual to get a GPS lock. At times it even took as long as 5 minutes even when I was out in the open. The company claims that this watch can auto-detect seven workouts, but that didn’t work for me even once during the course of the review.

The indoor tracking isn’t bad either, but the pedometer is slightly on the conservative side, but the good part is it doesn’t report false steps. The watch is 5ATM water resistant and can be worn for a swim without a worry. Some of the fitness data can be checked on the watch screen and the rest is available in the Zepp app with a neat daily, weekly and monthly breakdown of various activities you indulged in. You also get a weekly PAI (Personal Activity Intelligence) score, that gives you an idea of how active you have been during the week. 

Sleep tracking works well here. The overall sleep duration from the time I fell asleep till I was up seemed spot on. It tracks the quantum of light sleep, deep sleep, REM periods and awake time. You get a sleep score and some insights based on the quality and quantity of sleep. All-day stress monitoring is also available on this watch. Stress is calculated on the basis of your heart rate variability. Menstrual tracking is supported and so are certain breathing exercises. You also get sedentary reminders if you are stationary for close to an hour. 

Good battery life
One striking feature of most Amazfit watches is a solid battery backup. The Amazfit GTS 4 Mini too does a commendable job in that department despite its smaller footprint. The company claims a battery life of 15 days on a single charge under a typical usage scenario. And if you do not use GPS much, it can even go on for 21 days; something I learned unintentionally as I couldn’t step out for many walks or jogs during the test period due to the Mumbai rains. 

However, an hour of GPS usage tends to drop the battery by 7 to 8 per cent. In a real-world usage scenario with heart rate monitoring set to 1 minute, stress monitoring at 5 minutes intervals, 3 hours of total GPS usage per week, 2 SpO2 readings daily, and sleep monitoring turned on for a week, the watch’s 270 mAh battery should last you for close to two weeks, which is impressive. It takes less than 2 hours to charge fully with the bundled magnetic pin charger. 

Price and verdict
The Amazfit GTS 4 Mini sells for Rs 7,999 in India with a one-year warranty. If you think about it objectively, it is even cheaper than the two years old GTS 2e, and with a feature set similar to the GTS 3. That spells great value for money right there. At that price, you get a slim and stylish fitness watch with a sharp AMOLED display, built-in GPS, reliable fitness tracking thanks to the newer sensors, detailed companion app, 5ATM water resistance and very good battery backup. 

It doesn’t support the calling feature from the watch, but we still don’t consider it a must-have feature, given the way it is implemented in budget watches. There are also a few minor shortcomings in the GTS 4 Mini, but the pros easily outweigh the cons, and it is very easy to recommend this product to those looking for a compact fitness watch. If you like a bigger or circular dial, this is not a watch for you. You would be better off looking for a good deal on one of the Amazfit GTR watches in the upcoming festive sales.

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Redmi 11 Prime 5G to launch in India on September 6, check expected specifications and price

After launching the Redmi Note 11SE barely a week, Redmi is preparing to launch another phone on September 6. Clearly, the smartphone brand is doubling down on its presence in India and going all out.

Redmi will be launching the Redmi 11 Prime 5G, which is likely going to be a rebranded version of the Redmi Note 11E 5G which was launched in China in March this year. This would be yet another addition to the line of budget smartphones in India.

The upcoming Redmi 11 Prime 5G smartphone is expected to be similar to the Redmi Note 11E 5G that exists in China. This suggests that the device could be powered by the MediaTek Dimensity 700 SoC — the same chipset that powers the Redmi Note 11E in China.

Some of the other key features of the smartphone’s Chinese version would be its 6.58-inch IPS LCD Full HD+ display, which supports a refresh rate of 90Hz. The Indian-bound Redmi 11 Prime is likely to have up to 6GB RAM and 128GB storage.

For the cameras, it is supposed to have a dual rear camera set up with each camera having a 50MP sensor, along with a 5MP front camera, 

We might also see a 5,000mAh battery with 18W fast charging. The overall specifications of the smartphone suggest that it could fall in the budget segment, and offer 5G connectivity as well.

Xiaomi recently announced that it has shipped over 7 million 5G smartphones in India as of now. A recent report cited market data to state that Xiaomi, which includes Redmi and POCO as its sub-brands, came in third in 5G phone shipments in India, which was led by Samsung and Vivo in the top two places.

The Redmi Note 11E 5G starts at around EUR 170, which translates to roughly Rs 13,500. If the company plans to put a price tag the same as the projected price, the Redmi 11 Prime 5G may be among the cheapest 5G phones.

Redmi has announced the launch date on its website. The company is preparing for the launch of 5G services in India with as many phones as it can launch by then to give more options to customers, and plans on announcing some offers around Diwali.

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Poco M5 and M5s set to be announced on September 5, specifications leaked ahead of launch

Poco is gearing up to launch the Poco M5 and the Poco M5s mobile phones globally, on September 5 in an online event. The mobile devices will be yet another addition to their already impressive mid-range devices. 

The event can be streamed at Poco’s YouTube channel and other social media platforms and will start at 5:30 PM IST.

Apparently, the Poco M5 is the same long-rumoured device from Poco that was previously teased to be running the MediaTek Helio G99 SoC. Some of the other specifications of both the devices have also leaked online. 

Poco M5: expected specifications
The Poco M5 is said to have a 6.58-inch Full HD+ LCD display. As stated, it is likely to be powered by a MediaTek Helio G99 SoC. The chip will be paired with up to 6GB RAM and 128GB storage.

The Poco M5 will reportedly be a 4G handset and will be running on Android 12 with MIUI 13 on top, out-of-the-box.

The handset is said to pack a 5,000mAh battery with at least 33W fast charging support. A Poco M5 model with 5G support could be reportedly launched in the future. The Poco M5s is likely to be specced very similarly. 

The handset is said to feature a “chic-leather-like” back panel design. The Poco M5 could also reportedly get a side-mounted fingerprint scanner for security. It could feature dual-band Wi-Fi and Bluetooth v5 connectivity support.

Poco M5: expected pricing
The pricing is still under wraps, but judging by the specifications of the devices, the Poco M5 is likely going to be priced under Rs 15,000 for the base 4GB + 64GB  variant, whereas the Poco M5s might be priced slightly lower than the M5.

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Pixel Notepad, Google’s first foldable phone will have an ultra micro hole camera and 7.58-inch main display

In a patent that Google had filed in June earlier this year with the World Intellectual Property Organization for their upcoming foldable phone, and which was published just recently, it has been observed that their foldable device’s horizontal inward folding design is comparable to that of the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4.

The foldable from Google has been named the Pixel Notepad although, leaks and rumours have referred to it as the Pixel Fold. Although the Google Pixel Notepad appears to have a bigger bezel in the patent illustration, the actual appearance ought to be better.

<blockquote class=”twitter-tweet”><p lang=”en” dir=”ltr”>Google foldable phone patent.<a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/Google?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#Google</a> <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/PixelFold?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#PixelFold</a> <a href=”https://t.co/5va7iOV0RO”>pic.twitter.com/5va7iOV0RO</a></p>&mdash; Ankush Vishwakarma (@ankushtechy) <a href=”https://twitter.com/ankushtechy/status/1563814846994345984?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>August 28, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src=”https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js” charset=”utf-8″></script>

Furthermore, unlike the Samsung Galaxy Fold 4’s under-the-screen camera implementation, Google Notepad’s patent shows that the folding screen of the phone houses the selfie camera in the top bezel. According to the patent, the flexible screen’s bezel will have a camera with a moving aperture, which, may be the first of its kind in a foldable device. 

On August 5, a leak surfaced which disclosed that the Google Pixel folding screen projector will resemble the OPPO Find N from the front and the Google Pixel 7 from the rear. 

The device will be relatively compact with a huge screen that folds inward horizontally and will have a complete screen without holes on the inner screen, along with a micro-perforated camera on the inner screen bezel. The outer screen will have a single hole in the middle. 

As per previous leaks, the Google Pixel Notepad foldable is supposed to have a short and broad body and a 5.8-inch external screen. The Pixel Notepad was reportedly going to have a 7.58-inch main display which would be manufactured by Samsung Display. The phone will have three cameras: a 12.2-megapixel primary IMX363 camera, a 12-megapixel secondary IMX386 camera, and two 8-megapixel IMX355 selfie cameras.

The phone is now scheduled for a launch next spring and is slated to be priced at around $1400 when it launches. Although this would make the Pixel Fold substantially more expensive than the cheapest Pixel 6, as well as Pixel 7, it would still be about $400 cheaper than the cheapest Galaxy Z Fold 3 & the Galaxy Z Flip 3.

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iPhone 14 will have satellite connectivity, Apple has completed hardware tests

Earlier in May, we reported that Apple may be working on a feature for upcoming iPhones that would allow the devices to connect directly to satellite and basically act like a satellite phone. Turns out, Apple will be adding this feature to the iPhone 14 series.

A satellite phone basically works by connecting to overhead satellites instead of a mobile tower. As a result, they can be used even in the remotest of places. This is particularly useful for adventurers and rescue operation workers.

Apple apparently has finished testing the hardware that would enable the iPhone 14 series to have this functionality. Apple has the hardware support for satellite connectivity, but whether the ‌iPhone 14‌ will support satellite communications depends on whether Apple and service providers and operators can settle on a business model. After all, both the tech companies don’t want people to just use the satellite connectivity feature only and not take a mobile connection.

The iPhone 13 also had some satellite hardware, but connectivity was never implemented because a suitable business model could not be negotiated.

Mark Gurman, who’s an expert on all things Apple and has often revealed rumours that have turned out to be true, has said that ‌iPhone‌ users will be able to use satellite connectivity to report emergencies to authorities in areas with no cellular service, and send short messages to contacts in the event of an emergency when it gets implemented eventually.

Rumours have suggested that Apple is working with Globalstar, and indeed the operator that Apple is most likely to partner with. Satellite communications consultant Tim Ferrar said on Friday that he expects Apple and Globalstar to launch a satellite communications feature for the ‌iPhone 14‌. Also, there is a very good chance that the feature will be enabled just for the iPhone 14 Pro and the iPhone 14 Pro Max.

American service provider T-Mobile and SpaceX last week announced a plan to provide smartphone connectivity anywhere in the United States using a “satellite-to-cellular” service, and the timing of the announcement may have been planned to preempt Apple’s own satellite-related announcement. SpaceX and T-Mobile plan to launch a beta of the service in 2023, and it likely will not require an ‌iPhone 14‌.

There is a very good chance that whether one uses either Tesla or Apple’s “satellite-to-cellular,” users won’t be able to make regular calls, and neither will they be able to use the internet. Instead, the users will most likely be limited to SMS.

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Apple has already started working on the iPhone 15 series, before the iPhone 14 launch

Apple hasn’t even released the iPhone 14 series, and rumours of them working on the iPhone 15 have started doing the rounds. The iPhone 14 series does bring in some major changes, but most of them are rather incremental and reserved for the much more expensive, and therefore limited iPhone 14 Pro and the iPhone 14 Pro Max.

Naturally, people would assume that the next big set of changes will be coming to the series following the iPhone 14.

The iPhone 15 is more than a year away, so nothing is set in stone yet. However, a few of the rumours not only seem plausible, but actually logical. For example, we do know for a fact that the iPhone 15 series will have to have a USB-C port instead of a Lightning Port, the devices in the iPhone 15 series will be getting the periscope camera technology, and there will be an Apple-designed modem chip for the pro models.

We take a look at some of the rumours surrounding the iPhone 15 series, and just how plausible they actually are.

USB-C Port instead of Lightning Port
Of all the rumours around the iPhone 15, this one is the most plausible one, mainly because of the fact that the EU and a number of other countries in the world have basically forced Apple and other manufacturers to standardise their charging ports. Even India is contemplating putting up a legislation that would require device manufacturers to use the same port. 

However, there is also a very strong possibility that Apple may go completely portless with the iPhone 15 series, and only let users charge their devices using a MagSafe connector through wireless charging. Apple has had a long vision of making the iPhone completely portless and only use wireless technology for all its functions. It started with the headphone jack, and if Apple has its way, will continue with the Lightning Port.

Design of the iPhone 15 series
There are several rumours around this so we will only focus on the two important ones. The first rumour suggests that the iPhone 15 will have a standard display layout across all models, meaning that the regular iPhone 15 as well as the Pro models will come with a pill and a hole punch cutout. This year, only the iPhone 14 Pro and the iPhone 14 Pro Max are getting the new cutouts, the regular iPhone 14 and the iPhone 14 Max will have a redesigned notch.

The second rumour suggests that the Pro models in the iPhone 15 series will have an under-the-display camera, as well as an under-the-display fingerprint sensor to bring back a form of the TouchID, and that the regular models will get the pill and a hole punch cutout. 

Periscope Lens technology
A new camera system could be used on the “iPhone 15” to enable more optical zoom. The iPhone could have a much longer zoom by utilizing a folding camera system within the device to put more space between the lens and the sensor. It isn’t clear if this would replace Apple’s existing Telephoto lens or add a fourth lens with this capability.

According to supply chain reports released in April 2022, multiple manufacturers have been tapped to produce components needed for a periscope camera system. The components are allegedly on order for use in the “iPhone 15.”

3nm chips
Just like they have done with their notebooks, Apple plans on designing and manufacturing their own chips for the iPhones eventually. However, their attempts to design and make modem chips for their SoCs on the iPhones haven’t been successful. That is why, they will be relying on Qualcomm for them. Furthermore, there is a very strong possibility that the next A-series chip will be built on TSMC’s next-generation 3-nanometer node. 3nm chip technology is expected to increase processing performance by 10 to 15 per cent, while also reducing power consumption by up to 30 per cent.

A foldable iPhone?
Foldable takes years to develop and Apple hasn’t been developing the technology in a way to implement it any time soon. Usually, whenever a major tech company like Apple starts with a new direction for their devices, leaks and rumours do get out. Although there have been some rumours about a foldable iPhone, they just haven’t been reliable enough to be taken seriously. Apple may be working on a foldable display and a hinge for a foldable iPhone, but it is highly unlikely that they would be revealing a foldable iPhone in the next two or three years.

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Instagram Update: Users can now cross-post Reels from Instagram to Facebook with one click

Instagram has announced that it is rolling out new features and updates to Reels, including cross-posting from Instagram to Facebook.

Taking to Twitter, Adam Mosseri, the head of Instagram announced the new updates for Instagram Reels.

“We are launching a few new Reels features to make it fun and easy for people to find + share more entertaining content — ‘Add Yours’ Sticker, IG-to-FB Crossposting, FB Reels Insights,” Mosseri captioned the video on Twitter.

<blockquote class=”twitter-tweet”><p lang=”en” dir=”ltr”>📣 Reels Updates 📣<br><br>We’re launching a few new Reels features to make it fun and easy for people to find + share more entertaining content: <br><br>- ‘Add Yours’ Sticker <br>- IG-to-FB Crossposting <br>- FB Reels Insights <br><br>Have a favorite? Let me know 👇🏼 <a href=”https://t.co/RwjnRu5om2″>pic.twitter.com/RwjnRu5om2</a></p>&mdash; Adam Mosseri (@mosseri) <a href=”https://twitter.com/mosseri/status/1559589130304118784?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>August 16, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src=”https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js” charset=”utf-8″></script>

With the tap of a button, the new update allows users to cross-post Reels from Instagram to Facebook.

Mosseri also mentioned that the Add Yours sticker that became popular in Stories is now coming to Reels on Instagram and Facebook.

All qualifying creators on the platform will soon have access to the Facebook Stars tipping function. They will also have access to more Reels insights via Creator Studio.

Meanwhile, recently, the Meta-owned platform confirmed that it will soon begin testing new ‘ultra-tall photos’.

The company said it will introduce support for slimmer, taller 9:16 screen ratio photos to help them fill the entire screen as users scroll through the app’s feed.

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Samsung releases a video of their rigorous method for testing the durability of the Fold 4 & Flip 4

With foldable smartphones becoming more and more popular, and somewhat affordable these days, one of the biggest fears that people have is how long the hinge and the folded area of the screen going to last before it gives up.

Over the years, smartphone manufacturers like Samsung have redesigned and refined the design of their hinges to the point where they are extremely durable. Even the foldable screens that most smartphone brands source from Samsung have gone up exponentially in quality and endurance.

To showcase just how durable their latest foldable devices, The Galaxy Flip 4 and the Galaxy Fold 4 are, Samsung shared a video showing some of the tests they have undergone before being deemed fit for release.

The short 100-second clip reveals all the rigorous tests that the foldable go through, including multiple button pressing, folding and unfolding, and testing their water resistance:

Reliability is key for Samsung, as the company revealed in a press release, and it does all the testing to ensure the phones “can withstand everyday wear-and-tear” and meet the need of users. All the processes are automated, which is hardly a surprise, but the engineering that went behind developing these rigs is a marvel to watch.

The back panel of the phone is applied by one set of machines and then pressed firmly by another. Then the device is onto the functional testing to make sure the screen works with S Pen, the Samsung Pay service is okay, touch and proximity sensors, as well as the wireless coil also need to go through the process.

We also get to see the water resistance test that has multiple valves, spraying water on the foldable from all angles.

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Vivo Y35 to launch in India: Check out the expected price, specifications and features

Vivo launched the Y35 in Malaysia a couple of weeks ago. At the launch event, it was also announced that the device would be launched in other Asian countries as well, including India.

This week, the device will be officially launched in India. However, a seller in Mumbai has already listed the device on his website and has posted on Twitter that the device is readily available to them. Apparently, the Vivo Y35 will only be available in a single variant in India.

We take a look at the specifications, features and Indian pricing of the Vivo Y35.

Vivo Y35: Features and Specifications:
The Vivo Y35 will feature a 6.58-inch FHD+ screen with a resolution of 1080×2408 pixels. The display will have a water-drop notch and support a refresh rate of 90Hz. Powering the device will be a Qualcomm Snapdragon 680 SoC which will be paired to 8GB of RAM and 128GB of internal storage. Users can expand the RAM by another 8GB if they choose to, using the device’s internal storage. Users will also be able to expand the internal storage using a microSD card slot. The smartphone is expected to run Android 12 OS topped with the company’s own layer of FuntouchOS 12.

For the cameras, the Vivo Y35 gets a triple camera system, which consists of a 50MP main camera, which has been paired with a 2MP secondary sensor and another 2MP sensor, probably as a depth sensor. On the front, we get a a 16MP camera for selfies.

The smartphone will have a 5,000mAh battery with 44W fast charging support. For connectivity, the device will feature dual-band WI-Fi, dual-SIM 4G, Bluetooth 5.0, and GPS. The Vivo Y35 will also feature a 3.5mm headphone jack and will have a USB Type-C port for charging.

Vivo Y35: Pricing and availability
In India, the Vivo Y35 will only be offered in the 8GB + 128GB variant. The smartphone is expected to come with a price tag of Rs 18,499 and could be available for purchase in two colour variants, namely black and gold.

Although some popular brick-and-mortar store chains have already started selling the Vivo Y35, the device will be available online on most e-commerce sites and on Vivo’s website soon.

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Xiaomi launches the Redmi Note 11 SE in India; Check out the specs, pricing, and launch offers

Xiaomi has launched the Redmi Note 11 SE in India. This is not a brand-new phone, though. Redmi Note 11 SE is a repurposed Redmi Note 10S with the same exact design and specs.

The newly launched device isn’t exactly new. The Redmi Note 11 SE is essentially a repackaged Redmi Note 10S which was launched last year. This means that the Redmi Note 11 SE has the same hardware and basically the same design. 

The handset has a centre-positioned punch-hole cutout for the selfie snapper, a rectangular layout that has quad-camera sensors, a side-mounted fingerprint sensor for security and multiple colour options.

Although it may be confusing as to why Xiaomi decided to rebrand and relaunch an already existing model with a different name, it actually is a brilliant move to refresh an existing product and make more money.

We take a look at the specifications of the Redmi Note 11 SE, the pricing and the launch offers.

Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 SE specifications
Like the Redmi Note 10S, Redmi Note 11 SE comes with a 6.43-inch 1080p Super AMOLED display with Corning Gorilla Glass 3 protection and a hole-punch cut-out at the centre. The display is an AMOLED unit that supports a 60Hz refresh rate, 1100 nits peak brightness, DCI-P3 colour gamut, and Low blue light certified by SGS.

Under the hood, we find a MediaTek Helio G95 SoC paired with ARM Mali-G76 MC4. The phone gets up to 6GB LPDDR4x RAM and up to 64 GB of UFS 2.2 storage. It runs on Android 11-based MIUI 12.5 custom skin out of the box, which, let’s face it, is a shame. It could have at least had been updated to MIUI 13.

The Redmi Note 11 SE has a quad-camera setup on the back, with a 64MP primary camera, an 8MP ultrawide camera, a 2MP macro sensor, and a 2MP depth sensor. There is also a 13MP camera at the front for selfies.

There is a 5,000mAh battery with 33W fast-charging support, although, you do not get a charging brick with the device. For connectivity, we get 4G LTE, dual-band Wi-Fi ac, Bluetooth v5.0, NFC, an infrared sensor, a 3.5mm audio jack, and a USB Type-C port.

Rounding off the device is an IP53 rating and dual speakers. Biometrics are taken care of by a side-mounted physical fingerprint reader. 

Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 SE Price in India and launch offers
The Redmi Note 11 SE will cost Rs 13,499 for the sole variant which comes with 6GB RAM and 64GB internal storage. The phone will be available in White, Black, Thunder Purple, and Blue colour options. The Redmi Note 11 SE will be available from August 31,  12:00 PM IST on mi.com and Flipkart.

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Jio’s 5G smartphone to Jio Laptop: All the tech announcements we can expect from Reliance’s 2022 AGM

eliance Industries Limited will be holding its 45th Annual General Meeting or AGM today. While this is a big event for India Inc. in general, this time around, the Indian tech industry is also going to keep track of the developments at the event, with bated breath.

Ever since RIL’s Jio announced that they would be getting into mobile device hardware a few years back, people have been anticipating a major move from the telecommunications giant, that would disrupt the handset market just as it did with the service market.

We take a look at a few things that most tech enthusiasts and industry analysts expect that RIL will be announcing at this year’s RIL AGM

Jio 5G Services
This one is kind of obvious. After emerging as the highest bidder in the recently concluded 5G spectrum auction and having bought the highest number of bandwidth and circles across the country, Reliance Jio Infocomm will be announcing their 5G services, and possibly the pricing of their 5G services as well. The services are expected to go live in October when India officially launches its own 5G networks.

Jio 5G Smartphone
This was a long time coming. Right after Jio had the JioPhone Next, their 4G ready smartphones, experts had claimed that it wouldn’t be long before they forrayed into 5G smartphones. Now that Jio is ready to launch their 5G services as well, they are also going to launch their first 5G smartphone. The device is likely to come with a 6.5-inch HD+ IPS LCD display. The Jio 5G Smartphone will be running on Pragati OS, a custom operating system that Jio has developed in partnership with Google, and will cost around Rs 12,000.

JioBook Laptop
Rumours around the Jiobook laptop started going around in 2018. Like most Jio offerings from Jio, the Jiobook is going to be an affordable thin and light notebook. A few months back, it got the BIS certification and even appeared on Geekbench. It will be powered by an ARM processor, have its own OS, and will come preloaded with apps like JioStore, JioMeet, JioPages, Microsoft Teams, Microsoft Edge and Office. The pricing should be around Rs 30,000.

Giga Factory for clean energy
RIL has planned to invest heavily in clean and green energy in the next decade. In 2020, RIL had had announced a 15-year commitment to become net carbon zero by 2035. Last year, Reliance announced that they would build 4 Giga Factories for Rs 60,000 crore and invest another Rs 15,000 crore in clean energy. This year, we might get to see an update on one of the Giga Factories.

JioTag
Although we have seen some pieces of this in the wild, the Jio Tag was never officially launched for the masses. This year Jio might just change that. The JioTag is India’s answer to the Apple AirTag. The Jio Tag will basically be a tracking device that will work similarly to how the AirTag works but will be substantially cheaper. While a singly AirTag cost about Rs 3,200, the JioTag is expected to cost about Rs 7,00 or even less.

(Disclosure – Reliance Industries Ltd. is the sole beneficiary of Independent Media Trust which controls Network18 Media & Investments Ltd.)

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Everything to know about TOI1452 B, the 'Water World' exoplanet that astronomers found

Astronomers at the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) are always on the search for new planets and stars across the universe. One of the main objectives is to find proof of liquid water in extraterrestrial sources.

Now, astronomers may have identified a potential planet covered in water. The team of researchers used NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) along with ground-based telescopic instruments to identify an exoplanet, a planet outside our solar system that may be potentially rocky like Earth but might be covered in massive oceans.

Planet TOI-1452 b was identified by a team of researchers from the University of Montreal using TESS and the Observatoire du Mont-Mégantic (OMM) observatory, as a ‘super-Earth’ class of planet. The planet is orbiting a binary system of red dwarfs, the end of the line for one of the smallest classes of stars. The planet is at a short distance away from the main star, its ‘year’ only lasting 11 days but is still in the habitable zone where liquid water could exist because the star’s luminosity and heat are quite low.

This classification means that the planet is much more massive than Earth but still a rocky territorial planet and significantly less massive than ice giants (like Uranus and Neptune) and gas giants (like Saturn and Jupiter).

TOI-1452 b, in particular, is 70 percent larger than Earth but roughly 5 times more massive. This disproportionate density means that TOI-1452 b may have incredibly deep oceans, much like those suspected to be hidden on Europa, Titan and Ganymede, the Jovian and Saturnian moons.

Interestingly, Planet TOI-1452 b is relatively nearby in our cosmic neighbourhood. The planet is ‘only’ 100 light years away, which means that it would ‘only’ take us a century while travelling at the speed of light (which is physically impossible) to reach the planet.

While further studies of Planet TOI-1452 b are needed to confirm the presence of water on its surface along with other details, the planet is perfectly positioned to be studied by the James Webb Space Telescope. The planet is not the closest ‘super-Earth’ that we know of, Proxima Centauri b is just over 4 light years away and technically in the habitable zone. But Planet TOI-1452 b is an exoplanet that is both close enough and may be full of water. Though the JWST will need to study the planet to confirm the presence of H20.

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Best phones under Rs 40,000 (Aug 2022): iQOO 9 5G, Poco F4 5G to OnePlus 10R

While a lot of new phones made it to our list of phones under Rs 30,000 this month, the picture is a little different in the sub-40K price bracket. The phones from our previous list put up a much stronger fight to hold on to their place. Of course, we have a couple of new options this time and the price of some of the older ones has changed this month. All factors considered, we have selected eight phones for you to choose from this month under Rs 40,000. We know the choice is not that simple, but we have tried to simplify it for you.

Best phones to buy under Rs 40,000 in India

iQOO 9 SE 5G/ iQOO 9 5G
The iQOO 9 SE 5G from the Vivo sub-brand retains its place in the list and remains a great option. It is powered by Qualcomm’s previous flagship Snapdragon 888 chip, which is still extremely powerful for any task you throw at it. You can get its top variant with 12 GB RAM and 256 GB storage easily in this budget. It has a 6.62-inch HDR10+ compliant Full HD+ AMOLED display with a peak brightness of 1300 nits and 120 Hz refresh rate.

iQOO 9 SE 5G

The rear camera department consists of a 48MP primary camera with OIS, along with a 13MP ultra-wide camera and a 2MP depth sensor. The 16MP front camera does a good job with selfies and video calls. The iQOO 9 SE 5G has a 4500 mAh battery that lasts over a day of moderate use, and the bundled 66W fast charger claims to charge it fully in under 40 minutes. The phone runs Android 12 with FunTouch OS 12.

But that’s not the only iQOO phone you can get your hands on this month under 40K. At the time of writing, the generally more expensive iQOO 9 5G was also spotted at just under Rs 40,000, but its 8 GB RAM and 128 GB storage variant. It offers several enhancements over the SE in various departments, but those in camera and charging being the most prominent. This phone too has three cameras at the back but the primary camera offers Gimbal stabilisation and the 2MP depth sensor is replaced by a more useful 13MP 50 mm professional portrait camera. The bundled 120W fast charger claims to charge it fully in just 18 minutes!

iQOO 9 5G price in India: Rs 39,990 for 8 GB RAM/ 128 GB storage

iQOO 9 SE 5G price in India: Rs 37,990 for 12 GB RAM/ 256 GB storage

Realme GT 2/ Realme GT Neo 3/ OnePlus 10R
Just like iQOO, we have two Realme phones too with a lot of similarities and just two key differences. The Realme GT 2 is powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 888 SoC, while the newer Realme GT Neo 3 is powered by Mediatek’s flagship Dimensity 8100 chip, which is comparable in performance. While the former has a 6.62-inch AMOLED display, the latter has a slightly larger 6.7-inch AMOLED screen that supports 10-bit colour depth. Both screens are HDR10+ compliant, have 120 Hz refresh rate and Gorilla Glass 5 protection.

Realme GT 2

You get 256 GB internal storage variants of both phones in this budget, the GT 2 flaunts 12 GB RAM as opposed to 8 GB on the Neo 3. The camera department is identical for both with a 50MP primary camera with OIS that captures some impressive shots in different modes and lighting. It is accompanied by an 8MP ultra-wide snapper and a 2MP macro camera. The 16MP front camera handles selfies and video calls quite well. 

OnePlus 10R

Both phones have 5000 mAh batteries that keep them going for over a day and a half of moderate use, and the bundled fast chargers can juice them up fully in a little over half an hour. Realme GT 2 as well as Realme GT Neo 3 run Android 12 with Realme UI 3.0. If you prefer the Realme GT Neo 3, then there is another phone with exact specifications that you should strongly consider before putting your money down. We are talking about the OnePlus 10R that is now available for a similar price and offers more RAM. 

Realme GT 2 price in India: Rs 38,999 for 12 GB RAM/ 256 GB storage

Realme GT Neo 3 price in India: Rs 38,999 for 8 GB RAM/ 256 GB storage

OnePlus 10R price in India: Rs 38,999 for 12 GB RAM/ 256 GB storage

Poco F4 5G
The top variant of the recently launched Poco F4 5G is also a solid option in this budget given its sub-35K price tag. It is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 870 SoC, and you get 12 GB RAM and 256 GB internal storage. You get an impressive 6.67-inch AMOLED Full HD+ screen with 120 Hz refresh rate, HDR10+ and Dolby Vision compliance and 1300 nits peak brightness. The display is protected against scratches by a layer of Corning Gorilla Glass 5. 

Poco F4 5G

In addition to an impressive display, it has a stylish design with a glass back, and measures just 7.7 mm in thickness. Photography department is handled by a 64MP primary camera with OIS, an 8MP ultra-wide shooter and a 2MP macro camera. The 20MP front camera is good enough for selfies and video calls. Its 4500 mAh battery lasts over a day of moderate use, and the bundled 67W fast charger promises to juice it up fully in under 40 minutes. The Poco F4 5G runs Android 12 with MIUI 13. It is one of the rare phones that offers a 2-year warranty.

Poco F4 5G price in India: Rs 34,999 for 12 GB RAM/ 256 GB storage

Motorola Edge 20 Pro
The Motorola Edge 20 Pro comfortably holds on to its spot in this list courtesy of some solid features. This phone is powered by a Snapdragon 870 chip and comes with 8 GB RAM and 128 GB internal storage. Its large 6.7-inch Full HD+ OLED display is quite impressive and flaunts a 144 Hz refresh rate along with HDR10+ compliance and capability to display over a billion colour shades. There is Corning Gorilla Glass 5 protection against scratches at the front and back.

Motorola Edge 20 Pro

The photography department on the Motorola Edge 20 Pro is quite versatile. It is helmed by a 108MP primary camera and with an impressive support cast. You get a 16MP ultra-wide camera and an 8MP telephoto camera with OIS that facilitates 5X optical zoom. The 32MP front camera is bound to impress the selfie crowd. Its 4500 mAh battery lasts over a day of moderate use and supports 30W fast charging. This phone launched with Android 11, and like most Motorola phones, you get a clean and near-stock user interface. The Android 12 update has started rolling out.

Motorola Edge 20 Pro price in India: Rs 34,999 for 8 GB RAM/ 128 GB storage

Samsung Galaxy S20 FE 5G
Samsung Galaxy S20 FE 5G remains a good option in this budget for brand conscious buyers, and is now even more affordable. It has a 6.5-inch Super AMOLED HDR10+ compliant display with a 120 Hz refresh rate. It also has an IP68 rated ingress protection. It is powered by Qualcomm’s previous generation flagship chip, Snapdragon 865. You get 8 GB RAM and 128 GB internal storage that can be expanded further with a microSD card; a rare feature in premium phones. Android 12 update with Samsung’s One UI 4.0 is available for this device. 

Samsung Galaxy S20 FE | Image Credit: Tech2

Photography department consists of a 12MP primary camera with dual-pixel PDAF and OIS, a 12MP ultra-wide camera and an 8MP telephoto camera with OIS for up to 3X optical zoom. The camera quality is excellent across different modes as one expects from a Samsung S series phone. You also have a 32MP camera up front to cater to the selfie enthusiasts. Its 4500 mAh battery lasts for well over a day of moderate use. It supports regular fast charging as well as fast wireless charging.

Samsung Galaxy S20 FE price in India: Rs 33,090 for 8 GB RAM/ 128 GB storage

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