Samsung is now gearing up to launch their first flagship smartphone of 2019, the Galaxy S10. While the Galaxy S9 series is all set to get a successor, the company decided to slash the prices of the Galaxy S9+ in the Indian market. As of now, the pricing is affected only in the offline market with no word as of when it will affect the online stores.
The base variant of the Samsung Galaxy S9+ with 64GB of onboard storage was earlier available for Rs. 63,900, which can now be grabbed for just Rs. 57,900. The prices of 128GB and 256GB variants have also slashed from Rs. 67,900 and Rs. 71,900 to Rs. 61,900 and Rs. 65,900 respectively.
Samsung Galaxy S9+ Specifications
Samsung Galaxy S9+ features a 6.2-inch Super AMOLED display with a resolution of 2960x1440 pixels. The smartphone is powered by the Exynos 9810 octa-core processor coupled with Mali-G72 MP18 GPU. It comes with 6GB of RAM and up to 256GB of onboard storage, which is further expandable using a microSD card. It runs on Android 9 Pie based One UI. All of this is backed by a 3,500mAh battery.
On the optics front, the Galaxy S9+ sports a 12-megapixel dual camera setup at the back. Up front, there is an 8-megapixel selfie shooter.
Meanwhile, Samsung is all set to unveil the Galaxy S10 series on February 20. Reports suggest that the company might launch a total of 5 smartphones as a part of the series. These smartphones include Samsung Galaxy S10, Galaxy S10+, Galaxy S10 Lite and more.
Recently we have witnessed enough rumours and reports suggesting that WhatsApp is bringing its own integrated app lock system. It seems that the company is now finally ready to allow users to lock the app and keep their chats even more secure. The feature is currently available on iOS and will soon make its way to Android.
The feature is currently available under the beta version of the iOS application. It was first spotted by WABetaInfo. According to the report, the feature has been added on the 2.19.20.19 beta update, which was published through TestFlight beta program recently. The feature will soon be available in the official beta program.
How to lock WhatsApp on iPhone?
Head over to WhatsApp Settings > Account > Privacy. Now configure the screen lock method in order to secure your chats. While iPhone X, iPhone XR, iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max users will take advantage of the FaceID, older iPhone users will have to settle for TouchID.
Interestingly enough, when WhatsApp screen lock is enabled you cannot see the app preview in the multitasking menu. However, you will still be able to reply to messages from the notification panel.
Additionally, the update also allows users to download specific stickers from a sticker pack, which means you no longer need to download the whole pack in order to use just one sticker. Head over to App Store and install WhatsApp stickers to test the feature out.
Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2019 is going to kick off soon and we expect to see a lot of new smartphones from various manufacturers launch at the convention. One of these smartphones is going to be Sony'supcoming flagship, Xperia XZ4.
Sony has started sending out media invites to various publications for an event it will be hosting during MWC 2019. At this event, the company is expected to reveal how the new Sony Xperia XZ4 will look like.
New details regarding the upcoming smartphone have surfaced online, revealing some key specifications. According to Sumahoinfo, the upcoming Sony Xperia XZ4 will sport a 52-megapixel primary sensor at the back. The device as per the leaked render posted by the same publication shows a triple camera setup on the back.
The report also states that the second lens will be a 16-megapixel telephoto sensor, whereas, the third sensor will be a 0.3-megapixel Time of Flight (ToF) sensor.
According to earlier leaks, the upcoming Sony Xperia XZ4 will sport a 6.5-inch OLED display with an aspect ratio of 21:9, which is the same aspect ratio in which most of the movies are shot in. This aspect ratio will make the Xperia XZ4 one of the best smartphone to consume content on.
It will be powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 processor paired with an Adreno 640 GPU. The device will come with 6GB of RAM and will be backed by a massive 4,000mAh non-removable battery. It is yet unknown, as to which all countries will Sony launch its new flagship in and when will it do so.
OnePlus 6T and Samsung Galaxy Note 9 are premium flagship smartphones from 2018
Samsung's Galaxy Note series has always been known for providing some of the best hardware coupled with a handsome look. OnePlus, on the other hand, has been more about performance and less about feature sets. However, over the years the company has evolved in such a way that it is ready to knock off some of the big guys like Samsung and Apple. So how does the latest OnePlus 6T stack up against the feature-packed Galaxy Note 9? Let's find out in our quick comparison.
Samsung Galaxy Note 9 vs OnePlus 6T: Design & Display
Samsung Galaxy Note 9 flaunts a premium look with a 6.4-inch Super AMOLED display with a resolution of 2960x1440 pixels. Unlike the OnePlus 6T, the Galaxy Note 9 does not have a notch up front. However, that allows Samsung to fit in a better selfie camera, an IRIS scanner and a couple of other sensors that OnePlus devices lack.
Both the smartphones feature a glass sandwich design
OnePlus 6T, on the other hand, brings a more modern look with the water drop style notch up front. Unlike previous OnePlus devices including the OnePlus 5T, the OnePlus 6T looks more premium. It also has a clean design at the back as there is no physical fingerprint scanner.
Both the smartphones look quite good and feel premium in hand. However, they will appeal different set of audiences as not everyone prefers a notch. Notably, the OnePlus 6T also lacks a 3.5mm headphone jack, which is still present on the Galaxy Note 9.
Samsung Galaxy Note 9 vs OnePlus 6T: Software
Both the Samsung Galaxy Note 9 and OnePlus 6T run on Android 9 Pie. The difference here is the UI. While the Galaxy Note 9 has received Samsung's new One UI interface update, the OnePlus 6T runs on Oxygen OS 9.0.11.
In terms of software, Samsung has come a long way and they have improved drastically. Samsung's older TouchWiz UI or Samsung Experience UI, though looked pretty on the eyes, had a lot of performance issues. The newer One UI looks cleaner and brings major performance improvements.
OnePlus offers OxygenOS, which is basically stock Android with a couple of useful features sprinkled on top. It is, hands down, one of the best Android user interfaces. The performance is flawless and the animations are smoother than any other Android phone out in the market.
Where Samsung's One UI offers more customizability and features like Samsung Pay, OxygenOS shines with its performance with a minimal user interface.
Samsung Galaxy Note 9 vs OnePlus 6T: Performance
While the Galaxy Note 9 is powered by the Exynos 9810 octa-core chipset, the OnePlus 6T comes with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 845. Both the smartphones chew through any task thrown at them. When numbers come into considerations, OnePlus 6T scores higher than the Galaxy Note 9 at 2,92,774 on AnTuTu, where Note 9 gets a score of just 2,25,209.
Is the S Pen enough to justify that extra price?
OnePlus 6T does perform better while performing day to day tasks like opening and closing apps as it has better software with faster animations. However, Note 9 isn't far behind and you should not notice much difference until you keep them side by side.
Samsung Galaxy Note 9 vs OnePlus 6T: Battery
Samsung Galaxy Note 9 packs a 4,000mAh battery while the OnePlus 6T settles for a 3,700mAh battery. In our daily usage, the battery life of both the smartphone was almost equal. Both phones easily lasted one full working day without much hesitation. However, Dash Charge one the OnePlus 6T is quicker than Samsung's Adaptive fast charging.
Conclusion
OnePlus 6T feels more futuristic with the in-display fingerprint scanner
OnePlus 6T starts at Rs. 37,990 while the Galaxy Note 9 charges a premium of Rs. 67,999. OnePlus 6T offers great performance for the price and brings in decent camera setup. Samsung Galaxy Note 9, on the other hand, justifies every penny it asks extra by delivering good performance, tons of features, great cameras and not to forget the beloved S-Pen.
Mobile World Congress or MWC 2019 is just around the corner. It is the world's largest exhibition for the mobile industry and smartphone companies come there to show off their latest technologies. It takes place in Barcelona, Spain. This year the show will kick off on February 25 and will go on until February 28.
Huawei P30 and P30 Pro
Huawei P30 Pro will have a total of 4 camera sensors at the back (Image: SlashLeaks)
Huawei P30 series will be a successor to the last year's P20 series. The flagship Huawei P30 Pro was one of the best camera smartphones of 2018. Now this year, the company is planning to go with a triple camera setup and a TOF 3D camera. The smartphone is expected to sport a 6.1-inch OLED display with minimal bezels. It will be powered by Huawei's latest Kirin 980 chipset.
LG G8 ThinQ
LG G8 looks quite similar to its predecessor
LG G8 ThinQ is going to be the South Korean giant's first flagship smartphone of 2019. The smartphone will feature a 6.1-inch IPS LCD display. It will be powered by the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 processor coupled with Adreno 640 GPU. It is said to come with up to 8GB of RAM and 256GB of onboard storage.
Moto Razr is an iconic name in the mobile industry
There are reports surfing around the internet that Motorola is planning to bring back the iconic Moto Razr mobile phone. However, this time it will be a smartphone powered by Android. It is said to have a foldable display and it will also feature an OLED display on the outside to show time and notifications. Even if the company does not launch that at the MWC 2019, they will surely unveil the Moto G7 series.
Sony also takes advantage of the MWC in order to showcase its latest flagship smartphone offering. This year, the company is gearing up to unveil their latest Sony Xperia XZ4 smartphone. It will come with flagship specifications like a Snapdragon 855 processor, 6GB of RAM and more.
Oppo 10X camera phone
Oppo has unveiled a camera sensor with 10x zoom capabilities
Chinese smartphone manufacturer, Oppo, might as well unveil a new smartphone at the MWC 2019. The company recently showcased how they can fit in a 10X camera sensor on a smartphone without needing something big to stick out of the phone. Oppo might include that sensor in a smartphone and showcase it at the MWC 2019.
Metro Exodus is one of the more popular games launching this month
Console and PC gaming has become so popular that we are seeing new launches every now and then. From FPS games to strategy games, the competition in the market is getting tougher as the players lean on to the newly arrived ones. Here are the top 5 games launching in the month of February 2019.
Metro Exodus
Metro Exodus is a first-person shooter game developed by 4A Games and published by Deep Silver. It will be available on Xbox One, PC and PlayStation 4 starting February 15, 2019. The game is already available for pre-orders via Amazon for USD 59.99. For PC gamers, the game is not very high demanding, which means you will be able to play the game on medium to high settings on decent hardware.
Crackdown 3
Crackdown 3 is an action-adventure game, which is being developed by British developer Sumo Digital and will be published by Microsoft Studios. The game will be exclusively available for Microsoft platforms, Windows and Xbox. Just like Metro Exodus, this one will also be available to play starting February 15 and interested people can pre-order the game via Amazon for USD 59.99.
Far Cry series is quite popular and now the company is introducing a successor to last year's Far Cry 5. The new Far Cry: New Dawn is a first-person shooter developed by Ubisoft Montreal and published by Ubisoft. It is releasing on February 15 and it will be available on Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One platforms.
Jump Force
Jump Force is a fighting game developed by Spike Chunsoft and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment. It features characters from various manga series featured in the Weekly Shonen Jump anthology in celebration of the magazine's 50th anniversary. The game will be available on Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC starting February 12. It is currently available for pre-orders for USD 59.99.
Anno 1800 is a city building game with a real-time strategy. It is developed by Blue Byte and will be published by Ubisoft. The game is said to be available on February 26. On contradictory, a few reports suggest that the release might be pushed to April 2019. It will be available only on the PC.
Xiaomi Mi Band 3 is a smart band with a lot of features. Is it worth the asking price? Find out in our review.
Xiaomi, a few months ago, launched the Mi Band 3 in India, which is one of the most affordable fitness trackers currently available in the country. It offers a ton of features for the price. Let's check out if the Xiaomi Mi Band 3 is worth it, in our review:
Xiaomi Mi Band 3 Review: Specifications
Xiaomi Mi Band 3 sports a 0.78-inch OLED panel with a resolution of 128x80 pixels and a pixel density of 193ppi. It comes with a tri-axial sensor and a PPG heart-rate sensor. The device is water resistant up to 50 meters and weighs approximately 20 grams. All of this is backed by a 110mAh battery.
Price: Rs. 1,999
Xiaomi Mi Band 3 Review: Design & Display
Xiaomi Mi Band 3 features a curved 0.78-inch OLED touch screen display. Compared to its predecessor, Mi Band 3 looks much better. The larger display accommodates touchscreen, which was largely something missing in Mi Band 2. The touchscreen makes it much easier to navigate the UI and operate the smart band.
Xiaomi Mi Band 3 comes with a couple of watch faces, which help change things a bit from time to time.
Unlike the Mi Band 2, the third generation does not have a metal touch sensitive button at the bottom of the display. The new style button on the Mi Band 3 looks much better and blends in perfectly with the design. However, the whole glossy finish of the tracker invites a lot of fingerprints and is also quite prone to scratches.
Flipping the device reveals its heart rate sensor, which is the same one we saw on the Mi Band 2. Below the heart rate sensor, there is the company's branding and rest of the device looks pretty clean. The band is made out of rubber and is quite comfortable to wear in most conditions.
Xiaomi Mi Band 3 Review: Features
Xiaomi's new Mi Band 3 is packed with dozens of features. It comes with all the basics that we got to see on the Mi Band 2 including the notifications, step count, sleep tracking, heart rate tracking, alarms, timer and much more. The new smart band even gets specific modes for exercises and treadmill.
One feature which I absolutely adore about the tracker is its long-lasting battery life. In my review period, I went for a two, one-week trips to New Delhi and UAE, in which I decided not to carry the Mi Band's charger. I almost had around 70 percent battery at the start of my trip and when I came back home after a week, I still had more than 30 percent juice left.
Xiaomi Mi Band 3's heart rate sensor is useful for people wanting to take care of their health.
Even with notifications showering all day long, the Mi Band manages to pull off at least 2.5 weeks of usage before it needs to be charged. Also, if you turn off a few features, you can expect to get around 30 days of battery life.
Another thing, which I liked a lot was its alarm feature. The Mi Band 3 vibrates in order to wake you up, and the vibrations are quite hard, which help in waking up faster. With this I wouldn't stay in bed for long.
As for step counting and other fitness features are concerned, the Mi Band 3 isn't as accurate as other smart bands like Fitbit Charge 2 and Honor Band 4.
Xiaomi Mi Band 3 Review: Verdict
Battery life is one of the strongest points of the Mi Band 3.
Xiaomi Mi Band 3 looks quite good and has a lot of good features. However, the relatively inaccurate fitness data tracking leaves a bit of room for us to complaint.
The inaccurate fitness data tracking can be forgiven as the data does not have a lot of variances and the price of the band is much lower than most other smart bands.
Airtel, TataSky, Videocon and other DTH operators have online portals to select channels
Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has announced a new framework for DTH cable televisions in the country. DTH users are now allowed to choose whatever channels they want. This means that if you want only Sony channels, you need to pay only accordingly and do not have to buy custom packs set up by different operators.
How to choose the channels?
Go to your DTH operators official website
The website will show off the TRAI's new rules or it will give a pop-up. Click on that to proceed further.
Log-in using your credentials or your registered mobile number
Once you are logged, select the channels you want to watch and make the payment
It sounds quite interesting when you think that you need to pay only Rs. 30 if you want to watch only Sony channels. However, there is a catch. The user needs to select at least 100 Standard Definition (SD) channels or 50 High Definition (HD) channels. This might help reducing or instead increase your monthly rental depending on what type of plan you go for.
DTH users had a deadline for February 1 to select their beloved set of channels, which has now already crossed. So, if you have not done it yet and you are not able to watch anything on your TV, get the new pack as soon as possible.
Asus has started rolling out the beta version of Android 9 Pie
Asus has finally announced the Android 9 Pie update under a new open beta program for the ever so popular ZenFone Max Pro M2. The mid-range smartphone owners can simply head over to the beta testing page and sign up for it in order to try and test the latest version of Android right away.
Go through the instructions, check the box next to agree and tap on Enroll.
Again read the next set of instructions carefully and tap on proceed
Now fill in the form with all the details like your personal details and your phone's serial number.
Once you have submitted the form, you will receive an email from Asus. The mail will carry beta firmware link and an SOP document, which Asus recommends you to read carefully.
We highly recommend not installing the software on your primary device as it is currently in a beta stage, which means there might be a lot of bugs and issues. However, if you are testing out the software and do run into any bugs, you can always report them to Asus and they will be solved in future updates.
Asus ZenFone Max Pro M2 features 6.26-inch IPS LCD display with a resolution of 1080x2280 pixels. It is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 SoC coupled with the Adreno 512 GPU. It comes with up to 6GB of RAM and 64GB of onboard storage, which is further expandable using a microSD card. All of this is backed by a 5,000mAh battery.
PUBG or PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds is constantly offering something new in order to keep the hype alive. Tencent Games, who is looking after the Mobile version of the game, recently announced the availability of the Cricket Jersey. It provides with a fresh look and gives players more customisation options.
In order to get the jersey, you need to head over to the Events box that sits at the bottom right corner of the PUBG Mobile home screen. There will be a new option, which will bring the Cricket Jersey along with the helmet. It is currently available with a price tag of Rs. 400, which comes after a discount of 66 percent. However, the purchase is available for a limited time so you should head over the game right away if you are really interested.
These skins and clothing options do come at a premium but allow players to show off. It also helps the company to generate some revenue, since the game itself is free to play on the platform. Last year, the company showed off a special Kurta Pyjama clothing setup to celebrate the popular Indian festival, Diwali.
Meanwhile, the company has just announced that its PUBG Mobile India Series tournament has received well over 5,75,000 registrations. The company feels its an overwhelming response by the player as it is their first mobile Esports tournament in India. Interested players can still register at the PUBG Mobile India Series 2019 registration page.
