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Fossil Carlyle HR Review: Most high tech Fossil yet?

By
Lalit Wadhwa
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fossil
Following the legacy of its predecessors, the gen 5 is a watch first, a smartwatch later.

Traditionally speaking, a watch has always been considered to primarily tell users what time is it. However, with the advent of modern affordable smartphones, watches have turned into nothing more than a fashion piece.

Companies are now trying to put in a lot of computing power right into our wristwatch. Smartwatches have been around a couple of years, and the biggest competitor is Fossil, the brand known for its great watches.

Also Read: Fossil Sport smartwatch review: Missing the Fossil DNA

Fossil Carlyle HR is the 5th generation of Fossil smartwatches. So let's find out how good is it really?

Fossil Carlyle HR Review: Design

Like its predecessors, the Carlyle HR comes in many variants including the metal variant, leather stapped one and silicone one. We had the silicone band variant for review, which shouldn't make much difference in the experience. Fossil smartwatches are watches with smart features.

Fossil Carlyle HR
The buttons on the side are stiff

The watch sports two customisable buttons on the right edge along with a rotating crown. The side buttons are fully customisable enabling you to launch anything and everything possible from the watch face. The crown doubles as a power button and a scroll wheel for navigating the UI.

The bands are interchangeable if you would like to try on some new colours or material. The heart rate sensor and the charging coils are located on the back. Unfortunately, the watch doesn't support Qi wireless charging like Samsung's lineup of watches, instead, it comes with a proprietary charging standard.

Also Read: WhatsApp Dark Mode: How to enable on Android, iOS; supported phones

The biggest design change compared to older generations is its 44mm dial, which makes the watch feel chunky especially on small hands. Overall, ṭhe design of the watch is subtle and functional. From a distance, it looks like a normal watch and attracts very little attention. Overall, the design is well balanced.

Fossil Carlyle HR Review: Display

Fossil Carlyle HR features a 1.28-inch circular AMOLED display with a resolution of 416x416 pixels. The AMOLED panel offers true blacks, good colour accuracy and saves battery when the watch face is not on or in the Always-on Display mode.

Fossil Carlyle HR
The 44mm casing provides space for a big display.

The bezel is not the smallest, with a considerable huge black border around the display. Bezel-less displays haven't yet hit smartwatches, but I am sure that we all will agree that it's not required.

The display panel on the watch is not one of the brightest. Even at full brightness, it is hard to properly read outside. You can forget about you even being able to comprehend anything that's showing up on the watch under direct sunlight. The always-on display is much duller.

Fossil Carlyle HR Review: Performance

Fossil Carlyle HR is powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon Wear 3100 processor, which greatly improves battery life and performance compared to the last generation Wear 2100 processor. It comes with 1GB of RAM and 8GB of storage.

Fossil Carlyle HR
Overall, the performance of the watch is snappy.

The new processor helps the watch feel a lot more snappy and responsive. It doesn't lag thanks to the 1GB of RAM in place. The 8GB of storage allows users to load up a lot of apps or even music and videos on to the watch if that's what you want.

While sporting a fairly basic Wear OS experience, thanks to the beefy hardware, it's smooth. It comes with NFC for Google Pay only, a GPS, speaker, and a heart rate sensor.

Also Read: Fossil Q Explorist HR Review: A Huge upgrade over its predecessor

Like any piece of electronic hardware with a battery, it should come as no surprise, that using NFC, GPS and the heart-rate sensor regularly decreases battery life.

The smartwatch is also 3ATM waterproof, means you can take it out in rain without it getting affected. It also sports a speaker which enables it to make phone calls that Fossil removed in some earlier iterations of their smartwatch. The speaker also enables users to talk on phone calls using the watch. If you are an iOS user, you still can't do that, but the company claims you will be able to do the same with an update sometime in the autumn.

Fossil Carlyle HR Review: Battery Life

AMOLED panels on smartwatches make a lot of sense. Things like the Always-on display on LCD panels drain out a lot of battery. On an AMOLED display, it can shut down most of the pixels for a true black experience and battery savings.

Fossil Carlyle HR
Qi wireless charging would be preferred.

With the device completely isolated with aeroplane mode turned on and all the features turned off, the device managed to last for an impressive 48 hours. However, keeping it that way takes out all the benefits of owning a smartwatch.

With the typical use settings, the smartwatch manages to take out a whole day of usage. This is due to the Snapdragon 3100 battery optimisation and Fossil's custom battery mode settings. Battery life issues have plagued Wear OS watches for generations, but it looks like the issue is somewhat overcome thanks to these optimisations.

Also Read: Top five reasons as to why I recommend a smartwatch over a normal one

Fossil Carlyle HR Review: Conclusion

Fossil Carlyle HR
Overall, it's a good Android Wear smartwatch suitable mainly for Android smartphone users

Fossil Carlyle HR starts at Rs. 22,999. At that price, Fossil Gen 5 is a solid and dependable smartwatch. For what it offers, the price is just right.

The customisations made by the company also deal with Wear OS's never-ending battery plague. The beefy hardware helps keep the watch lag-free which cannot be said for other Wear OS watches.

In the end, if you are looking to snag yourself a new smartwatch, then opting for the Fossil Carlyle HR is a good deal unless you are an iOS user. Then grabbing an Apple Watch would be a better option just due to the Apple ecosystem.

Facebook Down: Users across India facing issues

By
Tech Desk
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Facebook Messenger
Facebook is not working in some parts of the world.

Facebook Down: Facebook servers are facing issues currently as users are reporting problems. Not only in India, but users across the globe are either having troubles accessing the website or they are unable to log in to their accounts.

According to DownDetector, Facebook is down in India, Turkey, Poland, Bangladesh and a few other parts of the world. As of now, the website claims that over 58 percent users are unable to access Facebook on their PCs or smartphones. While 33 percent users are able to access the app or website, they are not able to login to their accounts.

Reportedly, 7 percent users across the globe are having troubles while loading pictures or other media content. Alongside Facebook, users are also reporting problems with Facebook Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp.

Facebook has been facing issues since 5:07 PM today and till now more than 400 people have reported on the DownDetector website. As for WhatsApp and Instagram, the apps have been facing issues since around 5:30 PM today.

Also Read: WhatsApp Down: Not working for users across India

This has created a panic at the time when people are making use of these social media platforms to stay updated with the news of coronavirus pandemic. However, the company is working towards a fix and people should be able to start using these platforms in some time.

Currently, all three platforms are working just fine for some users but there are a lot of users across the country not being able to access them properly.

WhatsApp Down: Android, iOS app not able to send or receive messages in India

By
Tech Desk
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whatsapp down
Many users have taken to Twitter, complaining about the issue. This issue when it began was only prevalent for select regions.

WhatsApp Down: WhatsApp is currently not working for many users in India. People are unable to send texts, stickers or media files to their contacts. And many are unable to access the service completely.

Reports started coming in at around 5:15 PM IST according to downdetector.in.

Many users have taken to Twitter, complaining about the issue. This issue when it began was only prevalent for select regions. However, since then it has spread and almost all of India along with Europe, US, UK and more are suffering outages.

According to DownDetector, people are reporting that they are unable to send media files, Gifs, voice notes and more. This has happened for the second time in India during 2020, with the first major outage happening in January.

This usually happens when a particular server for the service is not responding or down due to hardware issues. The company seems to be working on the issue as in between sometimes, some images or files to tend to pass through and go to the receiver.

Also Read: WhatsApp tips and tricks: How to use Advanced Search feature

The Facebook-owned instant messaging service is yet to provide a statement regarding this outage. Facebook and Instagram are also facing outages but not as widespread as WhatsApp.

According to DownDetector, as of now, there are over 2,000 complaints regarding the platform being down have been reported by the users. 53 percent people have complained that they are unable to connect to the platform, 43 percent state that they are unable to send or receive messages and 2 percent state that they are unable to login to the platform.

COVID 19: YouTube takes steps to curb misinformation about coronavirus

By
Tech Desk
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YouTube, coronavirus, COVID 19, YouTube Coronavirus, YouTube COVID-19
If you click on the disclaimer you will be taken to the WHO website, which provides users with all the necessary information about coronavirus.

Coronavirus (COVID-19) is spreading like wildfire throughout the globe. With hundreds of new cases being discovered daily across the globe, tech companies like Facebook and Google are taking steps to educate people about the virus and how its spread can be stopped. They are also taking steps to curb the spread of misinformation, which is causing mass hysteria.

YouTube is also taking part in this initiative, by doing two things. The first is that it shows a COVID-19 disclaimer when you open the site. If you click on the disclaimer you will be taken to the WHO (World Health Organisation) website, which provides users with all the necessary information about coronavirus.

The second step is that it is promoting "authoritative content" regarding coronavirus with a "news shelf" on its homepage. In the box, it shows informative videos regarding the coronavirus outbreak to users.

To recall, Facebook has also announced a similar action this week to curb the sharing of rumours and hoaxes about the pandemic.

YouTube earlier this week along with its parent company joined major US internet companies in a joint effort to root out misinformation about coronavirus. This move was taken after increased claims of the virus being a hoax.

In related news, Twitter has now expanded its safety rules, according to which it will remove tweets that could put more people at risk. In a statement, Twitter's safety team said that it will ban all "content that increases the chance that someone contracts or transmits the virus." This includes denial of expert guidance or encouragement of the use of fake or ineffective treatments.

Also Read: Google announces Incognito mode for Maps, auto-delete for YouTube and more

Facebook hs also taken steps to place authoritative information regarding the virus on the top of all its users feeds. The company is calling the box, where all of this information will appear, the Facebook information hub. This was developed by the company in collaboration with various health organisations and is currently available in the US and Europe. The company has stated that it plans to expand this platform to other markets soon.

Xiaomi reveals Redmi K30 Pro to launch on March 24 along with K30 Pro Zoom Edition

By
Tech Desk
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Redmi K30 Pro specifications, Redmi K30 Pro, Redmi K30 Pro Zoom Edition, Redmi, Xiaomi
The Redmi Weibo account also has listed another teaser image, which shows the back of the phone.

Xiaomi has announced via a Weibo post has announced that it will be launching its Redmi K30 Pro smartphone will be launching on March 24. Another phone that is likely to launch alongside the Redmi K30 Pro, is the Redmi K30 Pro Zoom Edition, which Redmi General Manager and Xiaomi President of China Region Lu Weibing confirmed the existence of.

The company via its official Weibo account posted a teaser image revealing the release date of the Redmi K30 Pro. In the image, it is mentioned that the K30 Pro will launch in China on March 24.

The Redmi Weibo account also has listed another teaser image, which shows the back of the phone. In the photo, we can see that the device sports a quad camera setup on the back inside of a circular module. The back panel features a gradient finish. Additionally, a glimpse of the pop-up selfie camera module, 3.5mm headphone jack and IR blaster are visible.

Redmi chief Lu Weibing in a Weibo post stated that he had started using a new smartphone. The device details of the post shows that the device is the Redmi K30 Pro Zoom Edition.

Also Read: Poco X2 launched in India: A rebranded Xiaomi Redmi K30?

The Redmi K30 Pro Zoom Edition according to reports will offer extended zoom capabilities with up to 50x zoom support. However, it is not known if the zoom will be hybrid, optical or digital.

The launch date for China has been revealed. However, the company has not revealed when it will be launching the products globally including the Indian market.

Also Read: Xiaomi Mi Band 3 vs Mi Band 3i: Which one should you go for?

To recall, the company has already launched the Redmi K20 in India, rebranded as the Poco X2. We can expect the Redmi K30 Pro to be rebranded as the Poco F2, which is expected to launch later this year.

Vodafone Idea launches new Rs 218, Rs 248 prepaid plans; here's what they offer

By
Tech Desk
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Vodafone and Idea Merge
Vodafone Idea launches new plans.

Vodafone has launched two new prepaid plans in India, priced at Rs. 218 and Rs. 248. The plans come with additional benefits like Zee5 subscription and Vodafone Play subscription. They are only available in Delhi and Haryana circles for now and can be activated via the company's website and app.

Under its Rs. 218 plan, the company provides customers with unlimited calls to any networks without any FUP, a total of 6GB of data and 100 complimentary SMSes. It comes with a validity of 28 days.

And under its Rs. 248 plan, the company offers 8GB of total data. Other benefits of the plan remain the same as the Rs. 218 plan. It also has a validity of 28 days just like the Rs. 218 plan.

The same plans are listed on the Idea website. However, the Zee5 and Vodafone Play services are not available to Idea customers.

Airtel

The best plan Airtel has to offer that can counter both of the new plans from Vodafone Idea, is its Rs. 219 prepaid plan. Under this plan, the company offers 1GB of daily data along with unlimited calls to any network and 100 daily complimentary SMSes.

Also Read: Reliance Jio targets Airtel, Vodafone Idea subscribers: Here's how

The company also provides customers with free Hellotunes with unlimited changes, access to its Wynk Music service and free access to its Xstream app. This plan is valid for 28 days.

Reliance Jio

Reliance Jio offers a similar plan to Airtel for Rs 199. This plan also comes with 28 days of validity. Under this plan, the company offers 1.5GB of daily data. However, unlike Airtel and Vodafone Idea, Jio does not provide customers with unlimited calls to networks other than Jio. It has a non-Jio call FUP of 1,000 minutes. Apart from this, the company provides customers with free 100 daily SMSes and access to Jio apps

Motorola RAZR launched in India at Rs 1,24,999; will go on sale starting April 2

By
Tech Desk
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Motorola Razr 2019 price in India, Motorola Razr 2019 specifications, Motorola Razr 2019, Motorola Razr, Motorola India, Motorola
Motorola RAZR sports a 6.2-inch flexible OLED HD+ display paired with a 2.7-inch Quick View panel on the outside, which can be used to capture selfies, view notifications and control music playback.

Motorola RAZR after months of waiting has finally been launched in India. It is priced at Rs 1,24,999 for the sole 6GB RAM/128GB storage variant in the Noir Black colour option. The device will be made available on Flipkart and in the offline market. Pre-bookings for the device are now live, with it going on sale starting April 2.

Launch offers include a 10,000 cashback for consumers purchasing the device using Citibank debit or credit cards. Reliance Jio customers will be offered double data and validity on its Rs 4,999, under which it will offer 1.4TB of data and two years of validity.

MotoCare Accident Damage Protection Plan can also be purchased within 30 days of buying the smartphone at a discounted price. One time free screen replacement is also being offered under launch offers.

Motorola RAZR specifications

Motorola RAZR sports a 6.2-inch flexible OLED HD+ display paired with a 2.7-inch Quick View panel on the outside, which can be used to capture selfies, view notifications and control music playback. It is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 710 processor paired with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of internal storage.

Also Read: Top 5 features of the all-new Motorola Razr

The device runs Google's Android 9 Pie operating system. All of this is backed by a 2,510mAh battery with support for 15W fast charging. For security, the company has provided customers with an optical fingerprint sensor on the chin.

It comes with a single camera module on the back consisting of a 16-megapixel sensor with an f/1.7 aperture lens. On the front, the device features a 5-megapixel sensor for taking selfies.

Lava Pay app will let you make payments without the internet, here's how

By
Tech Desk
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lava, lava pay
The new app is currently only available to customers using Lava feature phones.

Lava, the Indian mobile phone brand has launched a new digital payments application for feature phones, called Lava Pay. The most interesting thing about this app is that it does not require any internet connectivity to work.

The company has claimed that the app comes with the highest security standards and helps feature phone users perform digital transactions easily from their phones.

The new app is currently only available to customers using Lava feature phones. It has said that the Lava Pay app will come preloaded with all of its feature phones from now on. Existing users can head to one of the company's service centres to get it installed in their feature phones.

Lava Pay will require users to enter the mobile number of the receiver, the amount they want to transfer and an authentication password, to make a payment via the app.

Also Read: WhatsApp Dark Mode: How to enable on Android, iOS; supported phones

Even though the app can function without the internet, they still require a UPI ID to make payments. Lava has said, customers can reach out to their banks to set up their UPI IDs.

After the payment is made, both the sender and the receiver will get a confirmation message on their phones. Lava states that Lava Pay is the "first solution for digital financial transactions without the requirement of Internet connectivity."

Also Read: Samsung shuts down South Korea plant due to coronavirus, might cause delays in smartphone shipments

The app will also allow users to check their account balance with a single tap.

According to data from the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), UPI transactions touched Rs. 132.32 crores in February this year. The total amount of transactions have totalled Rs. 2,20,000 crores. And with the introduction of apps like Lava Pay, these numbers are expected to go up by high margins.

Huawei P40 series with 5G show up on Thailand’s NTBC certification website

By
Tech Desk
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huawei, huawei p40
Huawei P40 and P40 Pro have received 5G certification from Thailand's NTBC certification website.

Huawei P40 series will launch globally on March 26. Thanks to all of the leaks and rumours we pretty much know how the upcoming devices will look like and what all specifications they will have. The P40 lineup will include the Huawei P40, P40 Pro and P40 Premium Edition.

Now, the Huawei P40 and P40 Pro have received 5G certification from Thailand's NTBC certification website according to a report by MySmartPrice. The listings state the device model numbers as ANA-NX9 and ELS-NX9.

Now that, these devices have received 5G certification, we can assume that they will be powered by the company's own Kirin 990 5G processor, which is the most powerful processor that the company has to offer.

Thanks to this report, we can safely assume that the Kirin 990 5G will be powering all of the three smartphones of the P40 lineup.

Also Read: 5G phones priced around Rs 10,500 to launch by end 2020 says Huawei President

To recall, the company has already launched its Huawei P40 Lite smartphone in Spain back in February. We expect the company to showcase this alongside the premium P40 lineup smartphones on March 26. Key features of Huawei P40 Lite include a hole-punch display, quad-camera setup at the back, Kirin 810 processor and EMUI 10 based on Android 10.

With the new P40 series smartphones, it is being expected that the company will raise the bar for smartphone photography. We have seen a number of leaks that support this thought. One of the recent leaks stated that the device will come with a custom RYYB sensor along with a second-generation Periscope Zoom Camera.

WhatsApp Dark Mode: How to enable on Android, iOS; supported phones

By
Brahmjot Singh
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whatsapp down in india, WhatsApp down reason, whatsapp down, whatsapp down news, whatsapp down today, whatsapp down worldwide, whatsapp down in india, whatsapp down reason, whatsapp down issue
Here's how you can enable the WhatsApp Dark Mode feature on your Android phone or iPhone.

WhatsApp recently rolled out one of its most requested features, the Dark Mode for both Android and iOS users. The company has rolled out the update globally and it is currently available on both Android and iOS respective app stores. Today we take a look at how you can enable the WhatsApp Dark Mode feature on your device:

How to enable WhatsApp Dark Mode on Android

  • Head over to the Google Play Store and download the latest update for WhatsApp.
  • After downloading wait for the update to install and then open the app.
  • Press the three dots present on the top right corner of the home screen.
  • Press the Settings option.
  • Now open the 'Chats' tab.
  • Inside of the 'Chats' tab, press the 'Theme' option.
  • You can set it to default on Android 10, which will make it follow the system-wide theme.
  • Or you can click on Dark, to change the app's theme to follow only the Dark theme and not follow whatever, theme you have applied on your smartphone.
  • Note, sometimes the app does not pick the default theme. Just clear it off once from the recents menu, if it still doesn't change the theme to system default then just go into the settings and enforce the dark theme.

Also Read: Facebook owns WhatsApp, Instagram and they want everyone to know that: Here's how

All Android versions that WhatsApp currently runs on, support this new feature.

How to enable WhatsApp Dark Mode on iPhone

WhatsApp on iPhone has only brought support for its Dark Mode feature to devices running iOS 13 or above. So before you try and activate the mode update your iPhone first.

  • Download and install the latest version of WhatsApp from the App Store.
  • Now open your device's Settings panel and scroll down to the 'Display & Brightness option'
  • Inside of the setting, enable Dark Mode.
  • This will enable a system-wide Dark Mode, which will turn the toggle to active WhatsApp's Dark Mode automatically.

WhatsApp Dark Mode: Supported smartphones

All Android phones run WhatsApp have gotten support for the new feature and can toggle the settings by following the steps given above.

Also Read: How to setup fingerprint lock on WhatsApp?

For iPhones, only the phones running iOS 13 or above support this new feature. The supported devices include iPhone 6S, iPhone 6S Plus, iPhone SE, iPhone 7, iPhone 7 Plus, iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, iPhone X, iPhone XS, iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, iPhone XR, iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro and the iPhone 11 Pro Max.

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