Apple is launching a suite of more than 50 dedicated companion playlists on Apple Music. (Image: Apple)
Apple today announced a new feature for its Apple Music streaming service, which will be arriving "later this month." The new feature is dubbed, Apple Music Sing, which will basically be the company's take on karaoke. The feature will be made available to all Apple Music subscribers globally, on iPhone, iPad, and the new Apple TV 4K.
Apple Music Sing will be an expansion of lyrics, which will let users sing along to their favourite songs. Users will be able to adjust the song's vocal levels so that they can sing along to their favourite artist or even take the lead by silencing them.
Also, the vocal lines that the users sing, will animate independently from the main vocals, so the users can keep the backing vocals to make it easier to follow the tune. The lyrics will be displayed in real-time. The company also revealed that there will be a Duet view, which will show multiple vocalists in a song on opposite sides of the screen, to allow friends and family to join in on the fun.
Apart from this, Apple also announced that it is launching a suite of more than 50 dedicated companion playlists on Apple Music. The companion playlists will feature "all the epic songs, duets, choruses, and anthems that have been compelling people all around the world to sing," the company said in its press release. It further stated that all of these companion playlists will be fully optimised for Apple Music Sing.
The ongoing buyout deal has already been cleared out unconditionally in Brazil, Saudi Arabia and Serbia. (Image: Activision Blizzard)
Microsoft back in January announced that it was acquiring Activision Blizzard. While the deal is still under scrutiny by various authorities checking for anti-competitive practices, Microsoft seems to have offered Sony a 10-year contract for Call of Duty games.
According to an opinion piece published in the Wall Street Journal by a Microsoft executive, the company has offered Sony a 10-year contract to make each new Call of Duty game release available on the PlayStation the same day it releases on Xbox.
Sony gaming chief, Jim Ryan back in September revealed that Microsoft had offered Sony a three year contract keep the game series on PlayStation after the current agreement expires. Sony at the time refused the agreement saying that it was inadequate.
This new 10-year contract offer has been made to Sony, after Microsoft has been facing increased regulatory scrutiny over its $69 billion buyout for Activision Blizzard. Sony has been publically criticising the deal and has been calling for a regulatory veto.
EU regulators have stated that "the transaction may significantly reduce competition on the markets for the distribution of console and PC video games, including multigame subscription services and/or cloud game streaming services, and for PC operating systems." The deadline for the EU proceedings is in January, and Microsoft offering remedies for anti-competitive practices could shorten the process.
The ongoing buyout deal has already been cleared out unconditionally in Brazil, Saudi Arabia and Serbia.
"The main supposed potential anticompetitive risk Sony raises is that Microsoft would stop making Call of Duty available on the PlayStation. But that would be economically irrational," Microsoft President Brad Smith said in the WSJ opinion piece.
In other news, Microsoft announced that it is raising prices of new Xbox games from $60 (approximately A$90; Rs 4,000) to $70 (approximately A$105; Rs 5,000), starting in 2023, according to a company spokesperson.
There is some chatter in the market, that the company could also be looking to launch its first tablet. (Image: Nothing)
Nothing back in July launched its first smartphone, dubbed Nothing Phone (1). The device has managed to be coined as one of the best mid-range handsets of the year. But not everyone in the global markets got to enjoy the device. One of the major markets that missed on the launch of the device was the US.
It's never too late, Nothing founder Carl Pei in an interview with CNBC said that "Now we are in discussions with some carriers in the US to potentially launch a future product there."
While he said that the company is going to launch a future "product", carriers mostly only sell phones and tablets. This hints that the company could soon launch a smartphone in the US market or going out of the way could launch a new tablet.
People got excited and read this as a confirmation to the launch of the Nothing Phone (2). However, Pei shot down the rumours by tweeting that the Phone (2) will not launch anytime soon.
While the tweet shot down the rumours, it does not mean the company will not launch a sequel, it just states, it is not launching anytime soon. The tweet could also be interpreted as downplaying the talk about Phone (2) so that it does not hamper with the sales momentum of the Phone (1).
There is some chatter in the market, that the company could also be looking to launch its first tablet, to take on the rejuvenated and competitive market. However, until we hear anything come from the official channels, we recommend that you take this news with a pinch of salt.
In the tweet, Pei confirmed that the Nothing Phone (1) will be getting the Android 13 update soon. He also mentioned that the company is currently heavily focussing on software to provide its users with a higher level of satisfaction.
Mechanical keyboards have a very strong enthusiast community, and was the category chosen by the OnePlus community members as a future product category. (Representational Image: OnePlus)
OnePlus just announced its new co-creation platform, called 'OnePlus Featuring'. On this platform, the company will work with its partners to launch new products in the market. The first partner for the platform is Keychron, which OnePlus is collaborating with to launch a new mechanical keyboard.
This will be the company's first keyboard, which will feature a mechanical key switch design, and will come with the ability for the users to customise its keys. The keyboard will be made available globally in early 2023. Apart from this, the company did not reveal any additional details about the upcoming product.
This will be the company's first keyboard, which will feature a mechanical key switch design. (Representational Image: Keychron)
Keychron is one of the most popular names in the industry, and has been in business since 2017. Mechanical keyboards have a very strong enthusiast community, and was the category chosen by the OnePlus community members as a future product category via a poll on the company's official forums.
Besides this, the company has announced that it is looking to launch two new PC monitors soon. Both these products suggest that the company is highly interested in getting into the PC market. Incidentally, Xiaomi is also looking to enter the PC market, and is soon expected to launch two mini PCs in its home country of China. But unlike Xiaomi, the company does not have any laptop or tablet offerings, so it will be interesting to see how the company decides to compete in the PC market.
The company has announced that it is looking to launch two new PC monitors soon. (Representational Image: Keychron)
In other news, OnePlus is celebrating its 9th anniversary this month, with multiple sales on its products going on globally. The company has been continuously growing, with 43.8 percent and 104.6 percent year-over-year growth in Asia Pacific and India, respectively, in the first three quarters of 2022.
The company has also released a claim that it now has 30 million Red Cable Club members. Apart from this, the company has stated that it has a number of new products, which are slated for a global launch in the coming months.
Both the PCs will first be launched in the company's home market of China, and will then slowly be launched in the international markets. (Image: Weibo)
Xiaomi could soon be looking to enter the PC market. The company already sells laptops and entering the PC market just seems like the right next move. The company was reportedly going to showcase their first PCs at its December 1 event in China, which has now been postponed due to the passing of Jiang Zemin - the former General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party.
Xiaomi is yet to announce a new date for the event. However, it seems as if it did showcase its two PC designs to a select number of people.
Xiaomi Host Mini PC
The first design is called the Xiaomi Host Mini PC with a small form factor (SFF) design. The leaked images from Weibo showcase the device in a barebones state with a 100W XM22AL5X PSU. We don't know the hardware that will be going into the box.
(Image: Weibo)
(Image: Weibo)
(Image: Weibo)
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(Image: Weibo)
In the photos we can see that the Xiaomi Host Mini PC includes support for a low-profile, half-height up to dual slot dedicated GPUs on a Mini-ITX motherboard. There is also a mechanical switch at the back of the device. We do not know what is the function of that switch. One of the photos does show a keycap for the button included in the accessory package.
Xiaomi Mini PC
The Mini PC is rumoured to be priced at Yuan 3,999. (Image: Weibo)
The Xiaomi Mini PC resembles the Intel NUC and the Apple Mac Mini. We do know a lot more about this device. It will apparently be powered by the AMD Ryzen 7 6800H APU paired with the Radeon 680M RDNA2 GPU. It will come with 512GB of SSD storage along with 16GB of RAM.
The first phase of the update rollout includes five smartphones. (Representational Image: HMD Global)
HMD Global recently announced that it completed its migration to Android 12 for all of its eligible Nokia smartphones. It has stated that if a smartphone did not get the operating system update will not be getting it in the future. The company has now announced its first phase for the Android 13 update rollout.
The first phase of the update rollout includes five smartphones, all of which are affordable and have been launched a while ago. The list of devices receiving the update is below:
Nokia X10
Nokia X20
Nokia XR20
Nokia G50
Nokia G11 Plus
Take note, the company has not revealed the exact timeframe as to when these devices will be receiving the update.
Interestingly, the list does not include the Nokia C31, the Nokia G60 5G, and the Nokia X30 5G, all of which were announced at IFA 2022 back in September. This could be because the G60 5G and the X30 5G aren't even available in the market. However, rest assured, Nokia at the unveil did confirm that these phones will be getting the Android 13 update.
All of the phones in the company's first update phase meet the Android Enterprise Recommended requirements, including bulk deployment with zero-touch enrollment, quick Android security updates (within 90 days of release from Google), physical availability of enough units, and “consistent application experience”.
HMD Global has also confirmed it will soon be releasing a longer list of its phase 1 with timeframes. The list will include a number of more Nokia smartphones that will be receiving the update.
The live transcription feature has been available on the web and the desktop apps since last year. (Image: Microsoft)
The Covid-19 pandemic changed a lot of aspects of how we live our lives. One of the significant shifts we saw was the increased popularity of video conferencing tools. Zoom, Google Meet and Microsoft Teams at the time became household names, especially for people in the enterprise and education markets.
Microsoft Teams is one of the most popular video conferencing platforms right now. However, a list of its smart features has been absent from its mobile apps. Now with its latest update for the Android platform, the company is bringing one of its niftiest features, live transcription to its Android app.
The live transcription feature has been available on the web and the desktop apps since last year. The feature will now be made available to over 100 million Android users that have the app installed on their smartphones.
How to use the live transcription feature on the Microsoft Teams Android app
After updating the app to the latest version, Android users during an ongoing meeting can simply tap on the "More actions" option, and then start or stop live transcription for the speakers.
After you turn on the live transcription feature, it will automatically start appearing in the meeting chat with appropriate speaker labels. Users will also be able to access the entire transcript after the meeting has ended from inside of the "Files" section of the app.
The new option is available for both one-to-one and group chats.
Besides the live transcription feature, Microsoft has also bringing a list of other features to Teams. These features include instant polls during calls, schedule send for messages, and improved web experience for Teams with this big update.
Motorola Edge 30 Fusion US variant comes with the same specifications as its global counterpart. (Image: Motorola)
Motorola Edge 30 Fusion is finally making its debut in the US market. The device will be made available in the country on December 12 in a new colourway that the company is calling Viva Purple. This new colour is the Pantone Color of the Year 2023.
Pantone each year picks a colour of the year, "by analyzing global trends and themes throughout the year", considering "all aspects of society from fashion to marketing, social media and even politics."
The company in its press release claims that it has a "globally-exclusive partnership with Pantone in the smartphone category." It also stated that Viva Magenta is a "a fearless hue that writes a new narrative", it "conveys what it means to blend the virtual and the physical with enthusiasm", it's "inspired by nature and explored through technology, revealing multiple dimensions and a new way of creating."
Motorola Edge 30 Fusion Viva Magenta: Price
Motorola Edge 30 Fusion Viva Magenta colourway is priced at $799.99 (approximately A$ 1,177.15; Rs 65,149.19). The new colourway comes bundled with a pair of Moto Buds 600 ANC TWS earbuds in the Winetasting colour.
If you don't want the new colourway, you can opt for the Neptune Blue colour, which is priced at $699.99 (approximately A$ 1,030; Rs 57,005.44). However, this colourway does not come with the earbuds.
The company has claimed that this is just an approximate timeline. (Representational image: Oppo)
Oppo has announced that it will be updating a number of its smartphones to ColorOS 13 this month. This includes both the stable and the beta version updates.
While the company has listed all of the devices getting the update, it states that the timeline is approximate. It claims that there might be unforeseen delays for specific models in some countries for certain carriers. It also claims that the update schedule for carrier-exclusive models will be given by the carriers themselves.
According to the released list, all of the high-end models launched recently will first get the update over the next couple of weeks, after which the company will start focussing on the older and lower-end models.
Also make note that some of the updates will be released globally, while some of them will be released on a country by country basis.
Honor Magic Vs is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 chipset. (Image: Honor)
Honor has finally launched its new foldable flagship, named the Honor Magic Vs. This time along, the company has managed to slim down the device and make it lighter compared to the last generation. The company claims that it has been able to reduce the weight of the device with the help of a brand-new hinge design that allows the phone to close without a gap.
The new Honor Magic Vs is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 chipset paired with 8GB/12GB of RAM and 256GB/512GB of internal storage. The company has also announced that it will be launching an Ultimate version of the device later, which will come with 16GB of RAM and with support for the newly introduced stylus called Magic Pen, which will connect via Bluetooth.
Honor Magic Vs: Price
Honor Magic Vs has been launched in three colour options: Orange, Cyan and Black. The Black and Gold colour variants will only be made available for the highest memory combo.
Honor Magic Vs sports a 6.45-inch external OLED display with support for 120Hz refresh rate and HDR10+. (Image: Honor)
The 8GB RAM/256GB storage variant is priced at Yuan 7,499 (approximately A$1,548; or Rs 85,485), the 12GB RAM/256GB storage variant is priced at Yuan 7,999 (approximately A$1,652; or Rs 91,185), and the highest spec version with 12GB RAM/512GB internal storage is priced at Yuan 8,999 (approximately A$1,858; or Rs 1,02,584). The yet to be released Ultimate version will be priced at Yuan 10,888 (approximately A$2,248; or Rs 1,24,118).
The company has already started taking pre-orders for the device in China, with the first sale scheduled for November 30. The company has confirmed to us that it will be launching the Honor Magic Vs in global markets in Q1 2023. However, it did not confirm which markets will get the new foldable.
Honor Magic Vs: Display
Honor Magic Vs sports a 6.45-inch external OLED display with support for 120Hz refresh rate and HDR10+. The resolution for the outer display is 2560x1080 pixels. Inside the phone, you will find a 7.9-inch foldable OLED display with a 90Hz refresh rate and a 2272x1984 pixel resolution. Both the foldable and the outer display use 10-bit panels.
The device is backed by a 5,000mAh battery with 66W fast charging. (Image: Honor)
The foldable display on paper is the same as its predecessor, the Magic V. However, this time along, the company claims that the foldable panel is "practically creaseless." It has been able to achieve this thanks to a new hinge, which is "carefully crafted with a single-piece processing technology." The company has used only four elements instead of 92, all while maintaining the durability and sturdiness.
The company claims that the hinge was able to withstand 400,000 folds at its Honor Labs, which comes out to more than ten years of use with 100 folds per day.
Cameras
Honor Magic Vs gets a new triple-camera setup consisting of a 54-megapixel Sony IMX800 primary sensor with an F/1.9 lens. Along with the primary camera, the device gets a 50-megapixel ultrawide-angle camera, which also acts as a macro lens, and an 8-megapixel telephoto camera with 3x optical zoom.
The company claims that the hinge was able to withstand 400,000 folds at its Honor Labs. (Image: Honor)
At the front, the device gets a 16-megapixel sensor on the cover display for taking selfies. The company did not elaborate on the camera specifications inside of the fold.
Battery
The device is backed by a 5,000mAh battery with 66W fast charging. The company claims that the device can charge from 0 to 100 percent within 46 minutes.
Operating system
Honor Magic Vs runs Google's Android 12 operating system with the company's own MagicOS 7.0 skin on top.
