Player Unknown's Battlegrounds (PUBG) is available on multiple platforms
PUBG or PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds is now available on multiple platforms including PC, Xbox, PlayStation and Mobile. While things are easy for other platforms, they are quite complicated on the PC side. The battle royale game demands high specifications in order to run smoothly. The company is now aiming to solve that problem by releasing a lite version of the game.
What is PUBG Lite?
PUBG Lite is a lighter version of the battle royale game that has lower demands. According to the minimum specification, the game can even run on laptops or computers that do not feature a dedicated graphics card. Further, the game takes up less storage and uses less RAM, resulting in smoother gameplay even on budget builds.
What are the minimum and recommended specifications?
PUBG Lite can run on almost any PC
Minimum Specifications: The company suggests the user should have at least an Intel Core i3 processor coupled with a minimum of Intel HD 4000 Graphics. For storage and RAM, PUBG Lite suggests the user should have at least 4GB of each available.
Recommended Specifications: If you are looking for smoother gameplay, you should have at least an Intel Core i5 processor with a minimum clock speed of 2.8GHz. The user should have 8GB of RAM and 4GB of onboard storage. A dedicated graphics card like Nvidia GeForce GTX 660 or higher is also recommended.
How to download PUBG Lite?
As for now, the game is under an open beta stage. However, if you are willing to test it out, you can head over to PUBG's official website to download the beta version. You will also need a new PUBG account, which is separate from your Steam account or PUBG Mobile account. Once you have everything setup, you will need a VPN service to play the game as it is currently only available on Thailand servers.
OnePlus 6T features a glass and metal sandwich design, which gives it a premium look.
OnePlus has been following the tradition of launching two smartphones in a year since the time of OnePlus 3T. While the regular variant brings in the new design, its T variant is mostly about improvements. This year's T variant is the OnePlus 6T and here's our full review as to how it performs.
OnePlus 6T Review: Specifications
OnePlus 6T sports a 6.41-inch Super AMOLED display with a resolution of 2340x1080 pixels and an aspect ratio of 19.5:9. It is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 processor coupled with an Adreno 630 GPU. The dual-SIM handset packs in 8GB of RAM and 128GB of onboard storage. It runs on Google's Android 9 Pie out of the box. Under the hood, there is a 3,700mAh battery which supports the company's own Dash Charge technology.
Price: Rs. 41,999
OnePlus 6T Review: Design
Just like most other flagship smartphones of 2018, OnePlus 6T also sports a metal and glass sandwich design. While the design makes the phone look and feel more premium, it also makes it more fragile. However, the company ships the device with a pre-applied screen protector and a soft TPU case bundled inside of the box.
OnePlus 6T sports a sleek design.
OnePlus 6T looks quite similar to its predecessor, the OnePlus. Our review unit was in the Mirror Black colour, which has an extremely reflective back, which also makes taking shots of the device bit difficult. Other colour variants including Thunder Purple and Midnight Black look way more subtle.
The front panel is where you will really start to notice the differences between OnePlus 6 and OnePlus 6T. The company has decided to implement a water drop style notch this time around. It looks beautiful from the front but it also brings a compromise, which is the removal of the notification LED light. The device also doesn't feature a 3.5mm headphone jack, which according to me is a huge sacrifice.
OnePlus 6T Review: Display
OnePlus 6T features a water drop style notch up front
OnePlus 6T sports a 6.41-inch Super AMOLED display with a resolution of 2340x1080 pixels. The resolution choice here is a bit controversial, as the company since the OnePlus One has stuck with having 1080p resolution and hasn't taken the initiative to increase it. However, this does bring better battery life, which is what most people would prefer over a few extra pixels. Also, the Super AMOLED technology allows for punchier colours and deeper blacks. It also brings in Ambient Display, which shows all the notifications and time without the need for turning on the display.
OnePlus 6T Review: Software & UI
Software plays a major role in providing a good user experience, and OnePlus manages to get it quite right. OnePlus 6T runs Google's Android 9 Pie based OxygenOS 9.0.7.
OxygenOS is quite close to stock Android with a few useful features sprinkled on top of it. The lack of any sort of bloatware or a heavy skin is one of the major reasons behind such performance. Notably, the OnePlus community is quite active, which means any software related issue will get solved quicker than most of the other phones.
Also, OnePlus 6T comes with Project Treble support, which basically means it will be even faster than its predecessors in receiving Android updates and the latest security patches.
Since its introduction to the smartphone industry, OnePlus has been known for sheer performance. OnePlus 6T is no exception here. It just glides through anything thrown at it. While the Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 processor offers overwhelming performance, the 8GB RAM brings in a much better multi-tasking experience.
During the review period, I tested out some popular game titles including PUBG Mobile, Asphalt 9 and more. In PUBG Mobile thanks to the high amount of specifications getting a chicken dinner was really easy. The games ran smoothly without any hiccups even at high settings. However, long gaming sessions do tend to make the device a bit warm, however, it does not turn unusable.
Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 on the OnePlus 6T delivers good performance.
As far as benchmark scores are concerned, OnePlus 6T managed to get a respectable score of 292774 on AnTuTu. In GeekBench 4, the phone secured a score of 2346 in single core and 8702 in multi-core performance tests.
OnePlus 6T Review: Camera
Low-light
Low-light
Bookeh Mode
Outdoor Selfie
Indoor Selfie
OnePlus 6T features a 16-megapixel primary sensor with an f/1.7 aperture and a 20-megapixel secondary sensor with an f/1.7 aperture. On the front, there is a 16-megapixel selfie shooter. Notably, the camera setup is similar to what we saw on the OnePlus 6.
The OnePlus 6T manages to take great shots under good lighting conditions. Even under low-light conditions, the phone performs quite well. The rear camera setup also supports 4k at 60fps and Super Slow Motion video recordings.
OnePlus 6T Review: Battery
Backed by a 3,700mAh battery, the OnePlus 6T manages to get through a full working day on a single charge.
OnePlus just got rid of the 3.5mm headphone jack with their OnePlus 6T smartphone. The company justified this move by installing a bigger battery than its predecessor. Which according to me is only an excuse and one which cannot be forgiven.
OnePlus 6T is backed by a 3,700mAh battery, which combined with the Snapdragon 845 processor and the 6.3-inch AMOLED display performs decently. During my time with the device, it was easily able to get through a full working day on a single charge. Also, whenever I did need to charge the device, it went all the way up to 100 percent in less than 90 mins.
OnePlus 6T Review: Verdict
OnePlus just got rid of the 3.5mm headphone jack with their OnePlus 6T smartphone.
OnePlus as a brand is known to provide some of the best flagship smartphones for the money. OnePlus 6T is no exception here as it brings in an in-display fingerprint scanner, metal and glass sandwich design and flagship grade specifications.
However, the competition has become quite tough over the years with smartphones like the Asus ZenFone 5Z and Xiaomi Poco F1 entering the market.
The Xiaomi Poco F1 offers similar specifications for nearly half the price. Also, phones like the Samsung Galaxy S8 bring more features with a price tag that is similar to the OnePlus 6T.
As for the die-hard OnePlus fans, OnePlus 6T is just an incremental update over the OnePlus 6. So, if you are using a OnePlus 6 or a OnePlus 5T, you should wait for the OnePlus 7. However, if you are using something like the OnePlus 3T, it would be a worthy upgrade.
In a nutshell, if you want good performance on a device that runs nearly stock Android and brings a premium smartphone experience under Rs. 40,000, the OnePlus 6T might just be the one.
YouTube to get rid of videos that spread fake news and other conspiracies
Google's online video sharing platform YouTube has announced a very important change on the platform. YouTube has been recommending and promoting some of the ina[orpriate videos lately. The company says that it is going to change the same as it is affecting a lot of its users.
YouTube has now promised that it will stop promoting any sort of sensationalistic clips that revolve around scientifically proven falsehoods and other suspect information. The changes will affect the “borderline content” or videos that are close to violating Google's policies. It should also help in removing any sort of false news spreading across the internet.
WhatsApp, which is now owned by Facebook, also took some steps recently, which should allow curbing the fake news that usually spreads over the platform. One of the most recent changes in the limitation of forwarding messages to only 5 people at a time. They even introduced a "Forwarded" label for messages or media that have been forwarded.
Similarly, Facebook and Twitter are also trying to take the necessary steps in order to prevent the spreading of fake news and conspiracies.
In a nutshell, YouTube is only removing such videos from the recommendations list, which means you can still see such videos if you search for them.
Meanwhile, the company recently released its annual YouTube: Rewind video which featured popular YouTubers like MKBHD, Bhuvan Bam and more. However, the video, later on, became the most disliked video on the platform of all time.
While the MWC 2019 is just around the corner, Google has also announced its upcoming event. One of the most important events in the smartphone industry, the Google I/O developers conference is set to kick off on May 7. The event details were shared by Google Developer's official twitter handle.
When and where?
Google I/O 2019 is is a three-day event and it is set to begin on May 7 and will go on until May 9. The event is taking place at Shoreline Amphitheater in Mountain View, California. Just like every time, the company will live stream the event via YouTube so that the fans can watch the event from anywhere around the globe.
Google might unveil a couple of things alongside some of the major announcements. Here's what you can expect from the upcoming event.
Google Duplex
Google announced the Google Duplex back in May 2018 at their developer's conference. While the service has been made available at few parts of the globe, it has still not reached the masses. So, the company might make announcements related to the future of Duplex and when consumers can expect the service in their part of the world.
One of the major announcements at the upcoming developer's conference will be the next version of Android. Android Q or Android 10.0 and its features will be unveiled at the event. The new operating system will also be made available under a Beta program so that the developers can start making apps compatible and more.
Fuchsia OS
We have all heard reports stating that Google is working on another mobile operating system called Fuchsia OS. The operating system is developed on top of an all-new kernel keeping in mind of smart devices. The company might release the operating system or at least talk about it in the Google I/O.
We have even heard rumours about Google launching a cheaper variant of the Pixel 3 devices. The cheaper alternative is said to be called the Pixel 3 Lite and there are very high chances that the company might take the upcoming developer's conference as an opportunity to launch the smartphone.
While Chinese smartphone manufacturer Meizu recently unveiled their Meizu Zero smartphone in China, Vivo also showcased something similar. With the Meizu Zero, the company is looking forward to a portless and buttonless design on a smartphone. Vivo Apex (2019) brings something similar to the table.
With these new smartphones, the companies are eliminating the needs of basic things like a charging port, SIM tray, 3.5mm audio jack, buttons on the sides and more. This will help the phones get a better water resistance and will bring a much cleaner design. It is interesting to see what solutions the companies are bringing in order to make such changes.
Meizu Zero comes with an almost bezel-less display up front
Meizu Zero does not come with a 3.5mm headphone jack just like most flagships nowadays. It does not even have a USB Type-C port for charging, which is why it supports Qi Wireless charging and the company is expected to bundle 18W wireless charger right inside the box. Further, the phone does not have any physical buttons. The volume keys and the power button have been replaced by capacitive keys just like the HTC U12 Plus.
Meizu Zero also eliminates the need of any speaker grill or earpiece as the phone uses a piezoelectric transducer under the display to create sound. While the same tech was used on the Xiaomi Mi Mix for the earpiece, here it will be used for the main speakers as well. As for the SIM tray, the company is replacing traditional SIM card options with eSIM, which is now popular due to the latest Apple iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max and iPhone XR. There is also an in-display fingerprint scanner on the phone.
Vivo Apex (2019) is more of a concept phone and the company is looking forward to showcasing it at the MWC 2019. The company showed off a Vivo Apex back in MWC 2018, with a popup selfie camera, which later on became the Vivo Nex.
As for the design of the Vivo Apex (2019), it comes with a "Super Unibody" design, which allows phone itself to act as a speaker with the help of the Body SoundCasting technology and vibrating the glass. For charging and data syncing, the phone uses magnetic connectors at the back. They will also be safer as they can act more like the MagSafe on Apple's older MacBooks.
In the renders, the Vivo Apex seems to not have a camera up front. The company might solve this issue by throwing in a popup selfie camera like the Vivo Nex.
As for the specifications, the Vivo Apex (2019) comes with the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 SoC whereas the Meizu Zero gets last year's Snapdragon 845 chip. Both the smartphones are expected to come with up to 12GB of RAM and 256GB of onboard storage. The Apex (2019) will also be 5G ready as the phone is powered by the latest Qualcomm processor.
Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) on the occasion of India's Republic Day has introduced a new prepaid tariff plan for its customers in India. The new Rs. 269 prepaid tariff plan offers its customers 2.6GB of data along with 2,600 minutes of free calls and 260 free SMSes for 26 days.
The plan is limited to users who get their recharges done from January 26 to January 31. This new plan is being called as the BSNL Combo STV 269 and has been made available across India.
Under the plan, consumers will get 2,600 minutes of free talk time across India, 260 free SMSes and a total data limit of 2.6GB for 26 days. As this plan has been specially released on the occasion of India's Republic Day so the number 26 is evident everywhere across the plan.
BSNL recently revised its Rs. 99 prepaid recharge plan, which is the company's calling only plan, to provide 24 days of validity instead of 26 days.
The company also introduced a new prepaid plan of Rs. 899, under which the consumers get 1.5GB of daily data along with 50 daily free SMSes and unlimited voice calls for 180 days. This new prepaid tariff plan is available pan India, with the exceptions of Delhi and Mumbai.
According to a TelecomTalk report, the company has also increased the SIM replacement fee from Rs. 10 to Rs. 100 and it is offering customers in a few select areas 4G SIM card replacements at Rs. 19.
Lastly, the company has launched its own Fiber network in India to take on Reliance Jio's, Jio GigaFiber. The plans being offered by the company are affordable and have fast data speeds.
Nexstgo's sub-brand Avita recently launched their Liber laptops in India. These laptops focus on providing looks and specifications to the users at an affordable price. The laptops start at Rs. 24,990 and will go all the way up to Rs. 64,490 and comes with processors starting from Pentium N4200 and go all the way up to 7th Generation Intel Core i5 processors.
Avita Liber first impressions: Design
Avita Liber Laptops are focused at people who want thin and light laptops with good looks and decent internal specifications to get work done on the go. Coming in at 5mm thinness at its thinnest point and weighing only 1.37 kg for the base model, they have achieved what they wanted. The laptop comes with 5 different patterns and in 14 colour options to choose from.
The Design patterns are more of a fashion statement
The laptop comes packaged in a metal body with fancy a paint job. However, the feel of it is not up to the mark. It feels like the laptop is built out of a cheap plastic when you use it. That is probably due to the paint coatings used on the device. The display sports slim bezels along with a massive trackpad that looks and feels good.
The large trackpad and metal body aids its cause.
The laptop looks good and serves it's thin and light purpose. Overall, the feel of the laptop is a bit disappointing. The looks of this laptop make it feel more like a fashion statement than a laptop, which is what the company might be aiming it to be. The laptop is geared at people who want it to use it more for more than just completing their computing work. Which is both a good and a bad thing depending on your taste. Like I personally would prefer using a designer laptop, however, another member of my team hated the same.
Avita Liber first impressions: Performance
The laptop comes in two configurations - 13.3-inch 1920x1080 pixel full HD display and a 14-inch 1920 x 1080 pixel full HD display. The laptops come with either a Pentium N4200 or 7th Generation Intel Core i5 generation processor coupled with 4GB/8GB of DDR3 RAM depending on your variant. The laptop can be bought with 256GB/512GB SSD.
The Laptop is not designed for gaming
We didn’t get to test out the performance on this laptop, however, the 7th Generation Intel Core i5 should perform well enough for daily use scenarios. If you are looking to do some gaming, the Avita Liber laptops might not be a good choice. The keyboard has decent key travel. The trackpad is as smooth as one would like and its massive size helps a lot.
Avita Liber first impressions: Conclusion
Overall, the Avita Liber Laptops are great for people that want great looking portable laptops
Considering the price and specifications of the Avita Liber laptops, I personally feel that there is a lot of competition in this area and that these might not be a good deal to purchase. However, bring in the looks of the laptop, its 5mm thinness and its only 1.37Kg weight, the price starts to make a bit of sense. So if you want a good looking laptop that's thin and light for a decent amount, the Avita Liber Laptops are a good fit for your daily usage.
Microsoft's all-new Office 365 also supports the touch-bar on newer MacBook models
Microsoft Office is one of the most powerful and popular tools for computers. The latest suite of Office 365 applications has only been available on Microsofts Windows operating system lately for PCs. That seems to change now as the company announces the availability of the applications on Apple's Mac App Store.
Now even Macbook or generally MacOS users can take advantage of the latest version of Microsoft Office. However, the software has also been available on Apple's iOS operating system for quite some time now, which means that iPhone and iPad users were already enjoying the services.
In order to start using Office 365 on your MacOS powered computer, you can head over to the App Store and find Office 365. Once downloaded and installed, open up the application to sign in with your Microsoft account. Note, you will need to purchase a subscription for the service before you can start making use of the software's full potential.
Phil Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing said in a press statement, “We are excited to welcome Microsoft Office 365 to the all-new Mac App Store in macOS Mojave. Apple and Microsoft have worked together to bring great Office productivity to Mac users from the very beginning. Now, with Office 365 on the Mac App Store, it’s easier than ever to get the latest and best version of Office 365 for Mac, iPad and iPhone."
Microsoft's new Office 365 is developed for MacOS in such a way that it can support all the latest features of new MacBooks and the new MacOS Mojave. For instance, the application can make use of software features like Dark Mode and Continuity Camera. Further, MacBook with Touchbar owners can even take advantage of the touch bar while working on any of the Office 365v applications.
Samsung Galaxy A9 Pro is the company's second smartphone to sport an Infinity-O display
Samsung has launched yet another smartphone with their new Infinity-O display. The new Samsung Galaxy A9 Pro sports a hole punch design up front for the selfie camera. It has launched in South Korea for a price of KRW 599,500, which roughly converts to Rs. 38,000. Here are some of the alternatives to consider.
OnePlus 6T
OnePlus 6T looks quite similar to the OnePlus 6
While the Samsung Galaxy A9 Pro brings the all-new hole punch design, OnePlus 6T brings in an in-display fingerprint scanner on board. It even has a water drop style notch, which looks quite better than the likes of iPhone XR and more. Moreover, OnePlus 6T 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.
Honor View 20 comes with a stunning design at the back
Honor has recently launched the Honor View 20 and it is one of the first smartphones to come with a hole punch display. The new smartphone from Honor also brings their new flagship Kirin 980 chipset, which is based on a 7nm process. It also comes with a 48-megapixel camera at the back. The smartphone is launching in India next week and it is expected to be priced under Rs. 40,000.
Xiaomi Poco F1
Xiaomi Poco F1 comes with flagship grade hardware at a relatively lower price
If you want to save some money and you don't care much about the looks of your phone, the Poco F1 will deliver way better performance than the Galaxy A9 Pro. Poco F1 comes with flagship Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 SoC paired with up to 8GB of RAM. Under the hood, it has a 4,000mAh battery. Poco F1 is available at a starting price of Rs. 19,999.
If you are willing to go back a generation, the flagship Samsung Galaxy Note 8 is selling for around Rs. 42,000 in India. The smartphone brings in tons of features like Samsung Pay, QHD+ Super AMOLED display and much more. The phone has also started receiving the latest Android Pie based One UI update.
Vivo Nex
Vivo Nex comes with a pop-up selfie camera
In case you want a smartphone with a distinguishing feature, the Vivo Nex might just be the right phone for you. It comes with an almost bezel-less design, a pop-up selfie camera and an in-display fingerprint scanner. It is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 SoC coupled with Adreno 630 GPU. Vivo Nex is available for a price of Rs. 44,990
PUBG Lite will run smoothly even on low-end computers
PUBG or PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds has become quite popular due to its availability on multiple platforms. Being a survival game where aiming and shooting matters a lot, the game is much preferred to be played on a PC. However, the PC version of the game requires high-end hardware. Not anymore, as PUBG introduces PUBG Lite for PC.
PUBG, which was initially made available on Steam at a price of Rs. 999 requires some serious hardware for smooth gameplay. The minimum requirements for the game include an Intel Core i5-4430 or AMD FX-6300 processor. At least 8GB of RAM and 30GB of storage is required to run the game. Further, for the graphics needs, PUBG recommends at least NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960 2GB or an AMD Radeon R7 370 2GB. However, even with these minimum specifications, the game would not even give a playable 60fps.
Enter PUBG Lite, which is built to solve this problem. The minimum requirements of the game include an Intel i3 with 2.4GHz clock speed, 4GB of RAM, 4GB storage and Intel Graphics 4000. Even the recommended specifications are an Intel Core i5 at 2.8Ghz, 8GB of RAM and 4GB of onboard storage. Graphics cards like Nvidia GTX 660 or AMD Radeon HD 7870 should be enough.
PUBG fans who were willing to play the game on their low-end computers had to install PUBG Mobile emulator. This created an advantage for these players over the ones who were using a mobile phone touchscreen to play the game. Now that PUBG Lite is out in beta, we can expect a full version to roll out soon.
