Apple Music receives a price cut in India, now starts at Rs 99

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April 5, 2019

Apple, Apple iPhone, iPhone, iPhone X, Apple iPhone X, Apple iPhone X cheap, iPhone X cheap, iPhone 2018, iPhone 2019, new iPhone — Apple Music now gets a price cut in India

Apple launched its very own music service, Apple Music in India four years ago. Since its launch, the subscription to the music streaming service has always been quite expensive. However, as more services including Spotify and YouTube Music have entered India, Apple had to bring the price down to stay competitive.

Apple has introduced the new pricing where a monthly subscription to Apple Music will cost the user just Rs. 99 per month. A family subscription would come in at just Rs. 149 whereas students can take advantage of the music streaming service for as low as Rs. 49 per month.

Before Spotify and YouTube Music entered the Indian market, Apple Music subscription costed around Rs. 120 per month whereas the students were charged Rs. 60 per month. The family package came in for Rs. 190 per month. In comparison, Spotify Premium has a similar Rs 119 per month pricing. YouTube Premium is slightly more pricey at Rs 129 per month.

Since the introduction of Reliance Jio in India, the rates for mobile data has significantly come down. This has resulted in most people switching towards online music streaming services instead of relying on downloads.

Also Read: Google brings YouTube Premium, YouTube Music to India: Here’s how to set it up

Apple Music is available on both iOS and Android mobile platforms. However, the service does work better on an iOS device due to the seamless integration created by Apple. The streaming service currently has over 56 million subscribers globally. With the help of support for Android devices and lower rates, Apple can pitch in more users to their popular music streaming service.

PUBG and Vivo partner up for PUBG Mobile Club Open 2019

By

Tech Desk

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April 4, 2019

PUBG and vivo — PUBG and Vivo have partnered up for an upcoming gaming tournament.

Vivo has announced a partnership with PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds Mobile (PUBG Mobile) for the upcoming PUBG Mobile Club Open 2019. Vivo will now be the title sponsor for the upcoming gaming tournament, for which the players will come from around ten regions across the globe.

The players will battle all their way through the Spring & Fall Split in order to get to the prize pool of a whopping 2.5million USD. With such a partnership, Vivo will be working on smartphones that will provide ultra-smooth gaming performance for high demanding games like PUBG Mobile.

Commenting on the partnership, Mr. Nipun Marya, Director-Brand Strategy, vivo India said, “vivo thrives to be at the forefront of the eSports industry to best serve its consumers. The partnership with PUBG MOBILE is a key milestone especially given that it is a leading mobile game developed by Tencent Games and PUBG Corporation that has millions of fans globally. PUBG MOBILE Club Open 2019 is a strong opportunity to showcase vivo’s vision of ‘enjoying the extraordinary’ by bringing global players a true gaming experience like no other. This global partnership will unfold and strengthen vivo’s position in being an innovative and stylish brand that always puts our consumer experience first.”

“We are excited to partner with vivo, as they have a strong reputation in being innovative and putting the consumer’s needs first. As an innovative brand ourselves, this partnership highlights our dedication to bring the best experience possible to our players and fans around the world. This partnership is just the beginning, we want to continue building a strong portfolio of partnerships with industry-leading companies, such as vivo, to provide the best mobile gaming experience possible,” said Vincent Wang, General Manager of Global Publishing Department, Tencent Games.

Also Read: PUBG Mobile brings Prime, Prime Plus subscriptions: Here’s how they work

The qualifying round of the upcoming PUBG Mobile Club Open 2019 tournament started on March 22, 2019. The Spring Split Global Finals will be hosted in July this year followed by the Fall Split Global Finals in December.

Top 5 smartphones to buy in April 2019: Huawei P30 Pro, Samsung Galaxy S10 and more

By

Devesh Arora

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April 4, 2019

OnePlus, OnePlus 6T, OnePlus 6T launch — Most smartphones now come with a notched display

Smartphones are now becoming a necessity in everyone's life. Alongside a tool, it has also become a status symbol for many. Even smartphone manufacturers understand that and launch devices with an incredible amount of features. Here are the top 5 smartphones you can buy in India in April 2019.

Samsung Galaxy S10

Samsung recently launched their new line-up of smartphones, the Galaxy S10, Galaxy S10+ and the Galaxy S10e. While the Galaxy S10+ would be an obvious choice for anyone looking for the best, the Galaxy S10 would fit better for someone with small hands. Samsung Galaxy S10e, on the other hand, aims to bring flagship experience on a more affordable side. These devices bring tons of features like a punch hole camera design, reverse wireless charging, flagship grade specifications and much more.

Apple iPhone XS

apple, iphone, iphone xs — Apple iPhone XS Max is a popular choice among iOS lovers.

While Android users will have tons of choices in almost every price segment, iOS users will have to stick to the latest offering by Apple. Currently, the two best smartphones offered by the company are the iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max. The both bring unbeatable performance along with an impressive set of cameras. Apple iPhone XS is available in India at a starting price of Rs. 99,900.

OnePlus 6T

OnePlus has now become a premium smartphone brand and produces one of the best smartphones. The OnePlus 6T comes with a water drop style notch and comes with flagship grade hardware including a Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 chipset. It packs in up to 8GB of RAM and 256GB of onboard storage. OnePlus 6T is available for a starting price of Rs. 37,999.

Also Read: OnePlus 6T Review: The mid-range flagship just got better

Huawei P30 Pro

Huawei recently launched their new flagship smartphone, the Huawei P30 Pro at an event in Paris. The Chinese smartphone manufacturer is now launching the smartphone in India on April 9. Huawei P30 Pro comes with the company's own Kirin 980 processor and features a 6.47-inch OLED display with a waterdrop style notch.

Google Pixel 3 XL

google, pixel, pixel 3 — Google Pixel 3 XL sports a bathtub style notch.

Google Pixel smartphones are known to deliver one of the best software experiences alongside one of the best cameras. The Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL are powered by the last year's Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 chipset and run on stock Android out of the box. These will be one of the first smartphones to get the Android Q update.

Apple iPhone XR now available for as low as Rs 53,900: But there is a catch

By

Tech Desk

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April 4, 2019

Apple has partnered up with HDFC Bank in order to bring a special discounted price to its recently launched Apple iPhone XR. The special discount is for a limited period only and the sale begins starting April 5. With the help of such an offer, you can pick an iPhone XR for as low as Rs. 53,900. Here's the catch.

Apple iPhone XR (64GB) will now be available at a special price of Rs. 59,900. After the added discount by HDFC, the smartphone will be available for just Rs. 53,900. However, to get the HDFC discount, the customers will need to complete the transaction using an HDFC debit or credit card. Notably, the 64GB variant is listed for Rs. 76,900 and Rs. 69,999 on Apple and Flipkart's websites respectively.

Apple iPhone XR (128GB), which is listed for Rs. 81,900 on Apple's website, will be available for a special price of Rs. 64,900. With the help of an HDFC debit or credit card, the buyer will be able to get it effectively for just Rs. 58,400. The variant is available on Flipkart for a price of Rs. 74,999.

Also Read: Twitter for iOS gets true dark mode: Here’s how it works

There is an offer on the top of the line 256GB variant of the iPhone XR as well. It is listed on Apple's website for a price of Rs. 91,900 whereas Flipkart is selling it for Rs. 84,999. During the offer period, the customers can purchase it for a special price of Rs. 74,900 and with the help of an HDFC card, it will come down to Rs. 67,400.

Additionally, buyers can opt-in for No Cost EMI options using their HDFC credit card. Those who do not have an HDFC card can still avail No Cost EMI using Bajaj Finance.

WhatsApp updates its privacy settings: Finally brings group invite permission

By

Tech Desk

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April 3, 2019

WhatsApp is now rolling out a new update where it has improved the privacy settings. The Facebook-owned company is now giving users more control over which groups they want to join. This means now the user will need to approve an invitation from a group in order to join it.

WhatsApp also offers an invite system where the group admin can send a dedicated link following which users can join the group. However, before this update, group admins could add any of the people in their contact list without even seeking for permission. With the new update, however, users can choose to be added to only groups for which an invite has been sent by their contact. It will give the user an option to either accept or decline the invitation.

Notably, the group invite will come with its own validity giving users only around three days to accept or reject it. After the three-day period, the invite will expire and the user will not be able to join the group. Also, it is worth mentioning that the invite will consist of details like the group name, its description and group members.

Also Read: WhatsApp vs Telegram: Which instant messaging app deserves a spot on your smartphone

In order to enable this feature, the users will first need to update the app on their iOS or Android devices. Once the app is updated, the users can head over to WhatsApp settings and navigate to Account > Privacy > Groups. Here, the user can choose from three of the given options Nobody, My Contacts, and Everyone.

Top five Xposed Modules for Android in 2019: GravityBox, Greenify and more

By

Lalit Wadhwa

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April 3, 2019

Xposed Framewok — The Xposed Framework is extremely popular and is the reason some people still aren't updating their devices to Android 9.0 Pie.

The Xposed framework is not the latest and greatest in the Android world. Still, it is hugely popular. It is popular to an extent that many users still haven't updated to Android 9.0 Pie because of the fear of losing the Xposed Framework, as it has a lot of issues on Android 9.0 Pie. Xposed Framework opens up your phone to a massive selection of customisations that can help users completely change the look of their device. The Xposed Framework repository is still much larger than that of Magisk, which by the way works much more smoothly on Android 9.0 Pie.

Here's a list of the top five Xposed Framework modules we think you should check out right now.

AdAway

If you have used anything that's remotely related to the internet and is available free of cost, you will have encountered those pesky and annoying ads that keep on popping up on your and spoil your gaming, video watching or web browsing experience.

With AdAway you can block all those ads systemwide with just a single click. This makes using your phone much more enjoyable.

GravityBox

GravityBox is a one-stop place for customising your lock screen, status bar, navigation bar, fingerprint sensor and many other things with a dozen of options to make your smartphone completely unique and suit your needs in any way you want.

Greenify

Things like battery leeching, memory hogging, and apps that have services running in the background that you do not want, can eat away on your device's battery and also affect battery performance in a long run degrading battery performance with time.

With Greenify you can stop these apps from doing any of the unwanted things when you turn off your device's display. You can always select, which apps you want to still consume resources in the background so you can get notified of things like when we upload a new article or your significant other sends you a snap.

Xprivacy

There are many occasions when applications send information back to its servers like device information, IMEI numbers, location information, and other things, then use it to send you targetted ads via the app. This doesn't stop there, these apps also sell the information to anyone willing to pay.

Xprivacy stops that by providing no or false data to the application when it demands data. This could result in fake location going to an app when it requires your location which may cause the app to misbehave, so use this mod with caution.

No Device Check

No Device Check is a simple module that returns true to any app trying to run a safety net API to check whether the device is rooted or not. This will let you run apps that don't run when your phone is rooted.

Disclaimer: Beetel Bite won’t be responsible for any damages that occur during the process, so please do it at your own risk. There might be data loss during the process.

PUBG is working on a new map, content: The Moon, Stretch Limousine and more

By

Tech Desk

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April 3, 2019

PUBG moon — PUBG's upcoming Moon map to bring plenty of new features

PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds is now working on a new map called The Moon. The map will be added in an upcoming update alongside some new features and added content. While the new set of features are currently available only on the PC version of the game, they are expected to come to PlayStation, Xbox and other platforms as well.

New Map: The Moon

PUBG currently has four maps namely, Erangel, Miramar, Sanhok and the recently launched Vikendi. Now, the company is planning to add another map called The Moon. The idea pitched in after the Moonlight weather setting on Vikendi started gaining more popularity. So, in order to bring that beauty to a new map, PUBG Corp. decided to go in with the moon itself.

PUBG touts The Moon as the biggest map ever created for the game with a total coverage of 3,476 square kilometres. The map comes with a new feature called Zero G and it is also worth noting that the jump height and duration are increased by 10x on the Moon, in order to simulate the lack of gravity. Just like Vikendi, players on The Moon will leave footprints as they walk.

Unlike the other maps, The Moon will not have any weather cycles. However, it will either be lit or in complete darkness depending on your spawn. In order to bring a more space-like feel to it, PUBG has replaced boost gauge and boost items with oxygen tanks. Notably, the players will need to keep these oxygen tanks handy to avoid suffocation. Also, the map will have moon rover and players will need it in order to cover such long distances.

New Content: Party Bus, Level 4 Helmets

PUBG now has a revenge bomb that will be available as loot in all the maps. It stays in your inventory and blasts when an enemy tries to open your deathbox. In order to make it fun, players can even add a pre-recorded message to play after the bomb goes off.

Also Read: PUBG Mobile brings Prime, Prime Plus subscriptions: Here’s how they work

There is also a new Vikendi exclusive weapon, the Squirt Gun. The damage from the gun would not be immediate but it will affect the enemy over time as they gain stacks of frostbite. The game has also increased the squad size to a maximum of 20 now. Further, there is the new Stretch Limousine and Party Bus as new squad transport vehicles. Also, there is a Level 4 helmet in the game now. However, it does reduce screen visibility in order to make it completely resistant to bullets.

However, it is to be noted that the above-mentioned map and features are a part of the patch notes that PUBG released as an April Fool's prank.

Top 5 smartphones under Rs. 30,000 in March 2019: Oppo F11 Pro, Vivo V15 Pro and more

By

Devesh Arora

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April 2, 2019

Vivo, Vivo V15 Pro, Vivo V15 Pro price, Vivo V15 Pro review, Vivo V15 Pro price in India, Vivo V15 Pro specifications, Vivo V15 Pro features — Smartphones under Rs. 30,000 bring tons of features

There was a time where features like pop-up selfie camera, flagship processor and in-display fingerprint scanner were only found on the flagships. Now companies are trying to drag those features down to the smartphones costing well below Rs. 30,000. Here are the top 5 phones you can pick in March 2019.

Poco F1

Though we even included Poco F1 in the under Rs. 20,000 category, it still makes a good option for people looking for phones under Rs. 30,000. The top-end variant of the Poco F1, which comes with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of onboard storage is available with a price tag of Rs. 27,999. The device is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 SoC coupled with Adreno 630 GPU.

Asus ZenFone 5Z

Asus is currently offering its flagship smartphone, ZenFone 5Z for a starting price of Rs. 24,999. It makes a great deal considering the phone comes with the flagship Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 SoC coupled with up to 8GB of RAM. It also sports a glass sandwich design with a notched display up front.

Also Read: Asus ZenFone 5Z Review: The 2018 flagship killer?

Vivo V15 Pro

Vivo recently launched the Vivo V15 Pro in India, which comes with a 32-megapixel pop-up selfie camera and an in-display fingerprint scanner. The device is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 675 coupled with 6GB of RAM. All of this comes in at a price of Rs. 28,999. If you are on a tighter budget, you can even consider their recently launched Vivo V15 smartphone.

Also Read: Vivo V15 Pro Review: One step closer to the future

Oppo F11 Pro

Oppo F11 Pro is slightly cheaper than the Vivo V15 Pro and it still brings a pop-up camera and a FullView display. It is powered by the MediaTek Helio P70 processor coupled with 6GB of RAM. The key feature of the phone is the 48-megapixel rear-facing camera. Oppo F11 Pro is available at a price of Rs. 24,990.

Samsung Galaxy S8

Samsung launched the Galaxy S8 back in 2017 and it still holds up well even in 2019. The smartphone has received a significant amount of price drops and is now available for a price of Rs. 30,990. The Galaxy S8 is IP68 rated which makes it dust and water resistant. Other features include the Infinity Display, Always-on-Display, Samsung Pay and much more.

PUBG Mobile brings Prime, Prime Plus subscriptions: Here's how they work

By

Tech Desk

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April 2, 2019

Honor, Honor Play, Honor Play Smartphone, Honor Play while Gaming — PUBG Mobile brings new subscriptions based service

PlayerUnknown's Battleground or PUBG Mobile brings new subscription-based services. The company offers two subscriptions, Prime and Prime Plus. They offer daily Unknown Cash (UC), Battle Points (BP), discounts on crates, ability to purchase outfits and weapon skins with BP, daily RP points and much more. The service is now available in India on both iOS and Android platforms.

As far as the pricing is concerned, the PUBG Mobile Prime subscription comes in at a price of Rs. 85 per month whereas Prime Plus subscribers will need to pay Rs. 400 per month on their Android devices. iOS users, on the other hand, will need to pay Rs. 79 and Rs. 419 per month for Prime and Prime Plus subscriptions respectively. Notably, the Prime Plus charges mentioned above are only for the first month and they will be Rs. 850 and Rs. 799 for Android and iOS users respectively after the first month.

The PUBG Mobile Prime Plus Subscription offers 20 UC daily for a total of 600 UC, the ability to purchase items with BP, 10 RP points per day, daily discounts on different items, 50 percent discount on the first classic crate lottery daily and immediate rewards including 300 UC and more.

Also Read: PUBG Mobile 0.12.0 Beta update is here: Brings Companion System, Mugen Space and more

Interested users can subscribe to the above-mentioned services starting today. Notably, the game has recently been updated to 0.12.0 under the beta program. The new update brings a new mode called Darkest Night alongside making the Zombies smarter. The game is also expected to introduce Zombie dogs soon. The update is available on both Android and iOS right now.

Top five MIUI features you should know about in 2019: Gestures, System-Wide PiP Mode and more

By

Lalit Wadhwa

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April 2, 2019

MIUI 10 is Xiaomi's latest software iteration

Xiaomi's MIUI is one of the most hated as well as loved operating system in the market. Some users love its customisation control and look while others hate it for taking control over their operating system, deviating from the stock Android look and completely changing how Android should look and feel. However, there are some features of MIUI that you should know about.

Gestures

Apple with the iPhone X re-popularised the gestures that were first introduced on devices running Palm OS and Blackberry OS 10 smartphones. Since then smartphone manufacturers are trying to seamlessly integrate gestures into their smartphones. Xiaomi seems to has hit gold as MIUI offers one of the smoothest gesture navigation across the system.

AI Preload

Xiaomi's AI Preload feature on MIUI 10 learns your app usage and then preloads the apps it thinks you will use at that time. This makes apps load a bit faster and provides a better user experience. It also makes the smartphone feel much faster than it really is.

AI Portrait Mode

Xiaomi's AI Portrait Mode mode enables the company's smartphones, even the ones with a single camera on the back or the front to take amazing bokeh shots. The company has been able to achieve this by studying and analyzing millions of photos and has trained its software to detect the background and blur it.

System-Wide PiP Mode

MIUI offers a system-wide Picture-in-Picture mode for all videos played through any platform on their device. Unlike Google's PiP mode, which doesn't work in all of the apps that a user is able to get his hands on. Google's PiP mode only works with devices running Android Oreo and above. Xiaomi's service works on all their smartphones without any restriction.

Recent apps Screen

MIUI 10 Recent Apps — The recent apps are optimized in MIUI 10

The Recent Apps Screen on MIUI is card based with two cards shown in the width of the smartphone. That enables them to show a full-screen preview of up to 6 apps in one screen offering complete utilization of the display even on the recent apps menu.

Beetel BiteTech News, Reviews, PC Mobile Phones, Tablets and more

Samsung Galaxy S10

Apple iPhone XS

OnePlus 6T

Huawei P30 Pro

Google Pixel 3 XL

AdAway

GravityBox

Greenify

Xprivacy

No Device Check

New Map: The Moon

New Content: Party Bus, Level 4 Helmets

Poco F1

Asus ZenFone 5Z

Vivo V15 Pro

Oppo F11 Pro

Samsung Galaxy S8

Gestures

AI Preload

AI Portrait Mode

System-Wide PiP Mode

Recent apps Screen