Google announces best apps and games of 2021

Google has revealed its list of best apps and games of 2021 in India. This has become an annual tradition of sorts for the company. The only criteria is that the app and game in question has to be available on the Google Play Store. There were multiple categories, with two sections. One was awarded by Google while the other was a User’s Choice Award.

“In India, once again, we saw a diverse range of apps help people across the country with relevant – and often unique – solutions to their daily needs. This year, we saw a distinctive rise in e-learning, with many winners finding creative ways to help India learn a range of skills online, be it mastering a passion through celebrity-led virtual classes with FrontRow, or using AI to scale student learning outcomes with EMBIBE,” Google noted in its blog.

Google Play Store: Best App of 2021

Google’s pick for best app of the year was Bitclass. This app is a live learning platform that gives users free classes on a range of topics. This includes anything from baking, dance, and more. It also adds to the digital learning culture that popped up during the pandemic-enforced lockdown. 

The User’s Choice Award was won by Clubhouse. The app saw a spike in popularity this year and it gave people a platform to get together and discuss pretty much everything under the Sun. 

Google Play Store: Best Game of 2021

Google gave its award for the best game of the year to Battlegrounds Mobile India. The game was launched earlier this year and is a version of PUBG: Mobile that was specifically designed for India. 

The User’s Choice Award for the best games won by Garena Free Fire Max. This is a more graphically intensive version of the standard version of the game and is designed for more powerful hardware that is available to players these days. 

Aside from this, Google also awarded apps and games in more specific categories. You can check out the whole list here. 

Also read: How To Download Battlegrounds Mobile India On Android

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Cricket 22 Release Date, Download, Pre-Order, Review, Gameplay, Price, and More

Cricket 22 is the latest iteration in the popular cricket video game franchise by Big Ant Studios. It is said to have been designed with the next-generation consoles in mind. It will be available on PC, PS4, PS5, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series S/X. Here’s everything you need to know about Cricket 22.

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How Indian Games Ludo Star, Parchisi Star Built an Audience of Six Million Players Every Day

With startup culture thriving in India and the need for ‘going local’ becoming increasingly popular, we take a look at all the hottest tech startups grabbing headlines in the country. Gadgets 360 talks to Afsar Ahmad, co-founder, Gameberry Labs to know about the company’s history, growth, and future plans.

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Samsung Galaxy S22+ and Galaxy S22 to include 50MP Primary Camera: Report

Samsung’s Galaxy S22 series phones are likely to go official in February 2022 and reliable leaks regarding these flagships have expectedly begun to surface. The camera on the S22 Ultra was recently detailed and now we have word on the camera hardware used on the Galaxy S22+ and the base Galaxy S22 model from the same source. 

Samsung Galaxy S22 and Galaxy S22 Plus Camera Details

Leakster Ice Universe claims that the camera hardware will be the same on both of these models. The main camera has a 50MP sensor that’s 1/1.57” in size with 1.0 µm pixels and has an f/1.8 aperture lens. Samsung could be using its new GN5 sensor that integrates Dual Pixel Pro technology for relatively faster auto-focus and Samsung’s proprietary FDTI (Front Deep Trench Isolation) technology that helps gather more light. 

The upgraded telephoto camera brandishes 3x optical zoom. The sensor used has a 10MP resolution, measures 1/3.94”, and has 1.0 µm pixels. The wide-angle camera remains similar to the Galaxy S21/S21+, at least on paper. This is a 12MP sensor, 1/3.44” in size, and with an f/2.2 aperture lens. On the front, both of these phones are said to include a 10MP sensor with an f/2.2 aperture. 

According to the previous report from the same tipster, Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra will include a 108MP primary sensor, which will allegedly be an improved version of HM3. The phone will reportedly include three more Sony sensors on the rear- a 12MP ultra-wide, a 10MP periscope zoom camera for 10x zoom and a 10MP 3x telephoto camera. The front camera will remain a 40MP sensor as on the last generation Ultra.  

We have also seen a few renders of the upcoming Samsung flagship phones, and many sources corroborate that Samsung is taking an Apple-iPhone-like flat approach for the Galaxy S21+ and the vanilla Galaxy S21. The display, back and side edges are reportedly all flat. Allegedly the S22 Ultra still retains those display curves. 

Going by Samsung’s customary product launch timeline, we still have a few weeks before the official unveiling and we expect the leaks to keep pouring in meanwhile. Let’s wait and watch.

Also Read: Qualcomm and Microsoft’s exclusivity deal set to expire soon: Here’s what it means for Windows on ARM

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Amazon Prime: All the New TV Shows & Movies You Can Binge This Week

Amazon Prime Video has crafted a schedule that allows it to release a spate of new content every week. This week, we’re going to see a new drama TV series, a documentary and a few thrillers to kick off December 2021 with a bang! Here’s what you can expect to see during the week starting November 29th. 

29th November: Burning

Burning is a documentary that will take a look at the deadly bushfires that ravaged Australia throughout 2019 and 2020. The documentary intends to take viewers through the ramifications of climate change and how these disastrous fires led to a widespread loss of life (both human and animals) and impacted Australians. With Emmy-award-winning filmmaker Eva Orner at the helm of this project, we can expect a powerful deep dive into Australia’s Black Summer.

3 December: Spiral

The latest installment of the Saw franchise, Spiral (also known as Spiral: From the Book of Saw) takes us through the journey of Detective Ezekiel Banks as he solves the mystery of Jiggsaw’s CopyCat Killer. It stars Chris Rock and it will be interesting to see this comedy legend act his heart out in a horror film.

3 December: Wrath of Man

Wrath of Man is a heist thriller that is broken down into four parts, with each part showing a relevant part of the heist as a whole, and coming together to create one phenomenal movie. The film saw a theatrical release in the United States on 7 May, and you can check out reviews online to know whether it's worth your time. 

3 December: Harlem (Season 1)

Harlem is an Amazon Original series and we’ll see the first season drop on 3rd December 2021. The series follows a group of four women living in Harlem as they navigate their lives in New York, build their careers and forge new relationships.

Movies Releasing on Amazon Prime Video on 1st December

In addition to the shows and movies mentioned above, new movies will be made available on Amazon Prime Video on 1st December. These are: 

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (2012) Alex Cross (2013) All Is Lost (2013) Seuss' The Cat In The Hat (2003) Edward Scissorhands (1990) End Of Days (1999) Guess Who (2005) Halloween II (1981) Halloween III: Season Of The Witch (1982) Jennifer's Body (2009) Joe Bell (2020) – December 3 Little Women (1994) Mistletoe Mixup (2021) Popper's Penguins (2011) Pineapple Express (2008) Pineapple Express (Unrated) (2008) Ronin (1998) Sleepless In Seattle (1993) Soul Surfer (2011) Talladega Nights: The Ballad Of Ricky Bobby (2006) The Hunt For Red October (1990) The Proposal (2009) The Royal Tenenbaums (2002) The Thin Red Line (1998) The Usual Suspects (1995) The Waterboy (1998) Tyler Perry's The Family That Preys (2008) Under The Tuscan Sun (2003) We Are X (2016) – December 3 What's Love Got To Do With It (1993) White As Snow (2021) New TV Shows on Amazon Prime Video

Amazon Prime Video will also be releasing new TV Shows on 1st December. These are:

A Discovery of Witches: Season 1 (AMC+) A House Divided: Season 1 (ALLBLK) Believe (2016) (UP Faith & Family) Bonanza: Season 1 (Best Westerns Ever) Brad Meltzer’s Decoded: Season 1 (HISTORY Vault) Christmas Everlasting (2020) (Hallmark Movies Now) Hallmark Drama’s Christmas Cookie Matchup: Season 1 (Hallmark Movies Now) Hostages: Season 1 (Topic) My Crazy Ex: Season 1 (A&E Crime Central) Roadkill: Season 1 (MotorTrend) Sanford: Seasons 1-2 Sanford And Son: Seasons 1-6 Signed, Sealed, Delivered for Christmas (2014) (Hallmark Movies Now) The Gulf: Season 1 (Acorn TV) The Jeffersons: Seasons 1-11 The Perfect Wedding Match (2021) (UP Faith & Family) The Tom & Jerry Show: Season 1 (Boomerang)

When Calls the Heart: Home for Christmas: Season 7 (Hallmark Movies Now)

Keep an eye on this space for our official reviews of these TV Shows and Movies. Wondering what to Binge Next? Click here to know whether Hawkeye is worth your time.

Also Read: Amazon finally announces dedicated Prime Video app for macOS

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Sony Working on PlayStation DualShock-Like Controller for Smartphones, Alleged Patent Suggests

Sony is reportedly working on a PlayStation DualShock-like controller for smartphones. A patent shows two controller grips attached to a device. Apart from this, nothing is known about it as of now.

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Bye-Bye Spotify Car View feature, hello, TikTok-inspired video feed

Spotify’s car view feature is created to make the app easier to use while driving. However, the brand is retiring this feature and is “exploring new ways to deliver the best in-car listening experience”, according to a spokesperson. Additionally, Spotify is also working on a feature that will ape TikTok’s short video feature, presumably to allow artists and users to share short clips. 

When did Spotify confirm that it’s retiring the Car View feature?

Recently, Spotify users noticed that the Car View feature was missing from the app. The Car View feature basically displays the app with a simplified interface and large buttons, allowing people to use the app easily while driving. Users who saw that the same was missing pointed it out on the Spotify Community threat. A moderator representing the brand then responded with, “Think of retiring [the] car-view as something that needs to happen in an effort to make way for new innovations coming down the track,” the moderator posted.

Spotify is also reportedly working on an in-car accessory with touch controls. So, removing the Car View feature may be a strategic move to drive user adoption for the new accessory.

Spotify is also working on a TikTok-like feature

In other news, Spotify is also working on a video sharing feature that will work like TikTok. Based on Chris Messina’s tweet, Spotify may soon have a fourth icon displayed in the toolbar called Discover. This is meant to work as a “pared down version of a TikTok-style feed of vertical music videos” that can be liked or skipped.

Messina also said in his tweet that the new feature is  likely to use the company's Canvas feature. The Canvas feature allows users or artists to turn static song/ album art into eight-second visual loops.

Also Read: Spotify Greenroom is the latest interactive audio chat app like Clubhouse to connect fans with music creators

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Sony could be working on a PlayStation mobile controller, according to a new patent

Sony has been riding high on the wave of the launch of the PS5 (review). It’s been a full year since the launch of the PS5 and Sony is now looking at developing a new controller for mobile hardware. First reported by VGC, a new patent has emerged on the internet and it shows off a controller that looks suspiciously like a DualShock 4 but modified for mobile devices like phones. In the image presented below, you can take a look at how the Sony controller will look when connected to a mobile phone or such. It does resemble regular mobile controllers in that the right and left sides of the controller has been split. 

In the design above, you can also see that the touchpad is essentially replaced by the mobile screen. It’s actually an ingenious design but it’s a relatively competitive market, so we will have to wait and see if the controller actually sees the light of day. As of right now, users can actually connect the DualShock 4 to a mobile device through Bluetooth but this new controller looks to be specifically built for mobile devices. It seems that a lot of companies are looking at jumping into the mobile gaming market. Netflix has already launched a mobile games division and now Sony is following suit with a new controller. 

Back in May, reports emerged that Sony was planning an expansion into the mobile market. Sony Interactive Entertainment CEO, Jim Ryan stated that even first-party IPs could even make their way to the small screen. He stated that “We have been thinking about how players enjoy our content, and have had some early success with experimenting with mobile games and apps to provide more choice to gamers and PlayStation’s roster of first-party IP can transition to smartphone gaming and complement our AAA games or live service games.” 

Also Read: Sony Reveals Indian Prices For PS5 DualSense Cosmic Red And Midnight Black Controllers

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Switch to HUAWEI MateView GT 27-inch Gaming Display for an Immersive Experience

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Microsoft Clarity Boost Feature for Xbox Cloud Gaming Now Available on Edge Browser

Microsoft’s Clarity Boost optimisation for Xbox Cloud Gaming (aka xCloud), which provides an improved visual quality of the video stream, is now available on Microsoft Edge browser.

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Battlegrounds Mobile India Series 2021: 32 Top Teams to Battle It Out in ‘The Grind’ From December 2

Battlegrounds Mobile India Series 2021 is set to kick off on December 16, and Krafton has announced that it has invited 32 of the top-flight teams to participate in The Grind, a two-week tournament that takes place starting December 2 before the main tournament. These teams will battle it out before participating in the upcoming Battlegrounds Mobile India Series 2021,...

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Jio Tablet and Jio Smart TV rumored to launch next year

Reliance Jio will reportedly launch a new Tablet and a Smart TV in 2022. The company earlier introduced its first Android phone, JioPhone Next, which is an affordable phone developed for first-time smartphone users.  

Jio Smart TV and Jio Tablet: What to Expect

A report from 91Mobiles cites Jio’s expanding into more hardware verticals next year. While the exact price, specifications or availability details aren’t available yet, these new products are also likely to be competitively priced to help masses transition to Jio’s smart connected ecosystem. 

The upcoming tablet could use the same PragatiOS software as the JioPhone Next, which has been co-developed in partnership with Google and is optimized to run smoothly on low-end hardware. 

We already have JioFiber plans that successfully club popular OTT services under one banner. Jio could club the upcoming Smart TV in the bundle, absorbing the hardware cost within long term prepaid plans. The smart TV should also be integral to Reliance Jio’s efforts of developing an ecosystem of smart home devices. 

Apart from a Smart TV and Android Tablet, Jio is also reportedly working on JioBook, an affordable laptop with an HD display. JioBook was previously rumoured to be powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 665 processor, paired with a Snapdragon X12 4G modem. A new Geekbench listing, however, revealed MediaTek MT8788 SoC paired with 2GB RAM. The laptop is also rumoured to run an Android-based software with support for Jio and Microsoft apps including JioStore, JioMeet, and JioPages, Microsoft Teams, Microsoft Edge, and Office.

Also Read: Vivo's first tablet tipped to include Snapdragon 870 and 8'040 mAh battery

These are all still rumours and we don’t have anything concrete to go by just yet. However, with the service ecosystem in place, providing access to masses with low-end hardware surely seems to be the plausible next step for Jio. We are guessing that more details will leak as we move closer to the official unveiling, which could happen at Reliance AGM next year.

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Redmi Note 11T 5G with Dimensity 810, 50MP dual camera launched in India: Price, specs and availability

The Redmi Note 11T 5G has officially launched in India as the successor to the Redmi Note 10T which launched back in July. At the time of its launch, the Redmi Note 10T was the first 5G phone in the Redmi Note lineup and was priced starting at Rs 13,999. The Redmi Note 11T 5G brings upgrades like a faster octa-core SoC, high-resolution primary and selfie camera, stereo speakers and support for fast charging out-of-the-box.

Ready Set SPEEEED.  #RedmiNote11T5G - The FASTEST G Smartphone from the house of #Redmi. Our #NextGenRacer is all set to carry it's #FastAndFuturistic legacy ahead. DON'S MISS THE ACTION! Click  https://t.co/6MM4wdLHr7 pic.twitter.com/674AALo4jX

— Redmi India - #RedmiNote11T5G (@RedmiIndia) November 30, 2021 Redmi Note 11T 5G pricing and availability

The Redmi Note 11T 5G is priced starting at Rs 16,999 for the base variant with 6GB RAM and 64GB storage, Rs 17,999 for the 128GB storage option and Rs 19,999 for the 8GB and 128GB storage variant.

The Redmi Note 11T 5G goes on its first sale from December 7 on Amazon India, Mi India store and in offline stores.

Redmi Note 11T 5G specifications

The Redmi Note 11T supports dual-SIM 5G and features a 6.6-inch Full HD+ (2400x1080 pixels) resolution display. The screen supports upto a 90Hz refresh rate and is topped with a layer of Gorilla Glass. It measures 8.8mm in thickness and weighs 195 grams. It is also IP53 rated which makes it dust and splash-proof. It is being offered in three colourways: Matte Black, Stardust White and Aquamarine Blue.

It is powered by the MediaTek Dimensity 810 chipset which has an octa-core CPU with Mali-G57 GPU. This is paired with 6GB/8GB RAM and upto 128GB storage options to choose from. It runs on MIUI 12.5 which is based on Android 11 out-of-the-box.

The Note 11T has dual cameras on the back that consists of a 50MP primary camera with an f/1.8 aperture along with an 8MP ultra-wide camera with 119-degree FOV. The rear camera can record in 1080p at upto 60FPS and we also get a 16MP selfie camera on the front, housed within the punch-hole notch cutout.

The Redmi Note 11T is also equipped with stereo speakers and supports Hi-Res audio playback via a 3.5mm headphone jack. The power button doubles up as a fingerprint reader and the Redmi Note 11T is equipped with a 5,000mAh battery that supports 33W fast charging. Xiaomi claims that the fast charger can top-up the battery fully in around an hour.

Also Read: Redmi Smart Band Pro, Redmi Watch 2 Lite unveiled, features colour displays, 5ATM water resistance and more

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Jack Dorsey quits Twitter, heres who replaces him as CEO

Twitter founder Jack Dorsey has quit the micro-blogging platform, he announced via a tweet. Twitter was launched back in 2006 and throughout its 15-year run, has become one of the most popular social media platforms that people use today. Last evening, Jack announced that he is resigning as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and CTO Parag Agrawal has been unanimously appointed by the Twitter board to helm the company.

not sure anyone has heard but, I resigned from Twitter pic.twitter.com/G5tUkSSxkl

— jack (@jack) November 29, 2021

Jack will stay onboard until the end of his term and after May 2022 he plans on leaving the board. Talking about his decision to leave Twitter, Jack wants the company to “break away” from its founders. “Ultimately I believe that’s severely limiting and a single point of failure. I’ve worked hard to ensure this company can break away from its founding and founders,” he wrote in his address to the company.

Parag Agrawal is the new Twitter CEO

Parag was born in Mumbai and graduated from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay. He later moved to the US and holds a PhD from Stanford University. He joined Twitter as a software engineer in 2011 and has been the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) at Twitter since 2017. He has also been in charge of the Bluesky project which is an initiative by Twitter to create a decentralized social network.

Speaking about Parag, Jack said, “The board ran a rigorous process considering all options and unanimously appointed Parag. He's been my choice for some time given how deeply he understands the company and its needs. Parag has been behind every critical decision that helped turn this company around. He's curious, probing, rational, creative, demanding, self-aware, and humble. He leads with heart and soul and is someone I learn from daily. My trust in him as our CEO is bone deep.”

Also Read: Twitter has now fixed the issue of the disappearing tweets

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Rocket League Sideswipe Game Now Available to Download for Free on Android, iOS Globally

Rocket League Sideswipe is a popular PC and console game. It has now been released for Android and iOS users. The game is free to download on Google Play store and Apple’s App Store. There are some notable changes between the mobile game and PC game like 1v1 and 2v2 matches.

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Cyberpunk 2077 Next-Gen Version, Major Update Scheduled for Q1 2022: CD Projekt

Cyberpunk 2077 next-gen version and a major update for all platforms is scheduled for release in the first quarter of 2022, President and Joint CEO of CD Projekt Group Adam Kiciński has said. He also said that the group is expanding the teams responsible for developing major expansion for Cyberpunk.

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Google Announces Best Android Apps, Games of 2021 in India; BGMI, Clubhouse Among Top Titles

Google on Tuesday announced the winners of the Google Play Best of 2021 awards in India and declared e-learning app Bitclass as the ‘Best App of 2021’ and Krafton’s Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI) as the ‘Best Game of 2021’.

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Krafton announces iQOO Battlegrounds Mobile India Series 2021 Grind tournament

Krafton has announced a new invitational tournament called the iQOO Battlegrounds Mobile India Series 2021 Grind. The tournament is scheduled to kick off on December 2, 2021 and will feature 32 invited teams. These teams will then battle it out to see if they have what it takes to compete in the iQOO Battleground Mobile India Series, Additional details about the tournament were not announced, but the developers note that this would be revealed soon.

Krafton recently announced a new campaign to drive its ‘Game Responsibly‘ initiative for BGMI. The campaign will not only include a series of films to encourage gamers to consider their mental health. It will also promote responsible gaming habits among players. This also means that Krafton will start implementing more stringent control over players under 18.

Every under-18 player that wants to play BGMI will now need to register a parent or guardian before they can play. An OTP will first be sent to the parent or guardian’s phone number, and only then can the minor start playing. Further, minors will also not be able to play for over three hours a day. Further, all players will not be allowed to spend over Rs 7,000 per day.

Other steps taken by Krafton include a ‘Virtual World Warning Message’ that will include in-game text and in-game audio that reinforces the message. Further, all players will get timely reminders to take a break when playing the game. Finally, the developers have reduced violence and bloodshed in the game and have set parameters to keep language in check.

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Vivos first tablet tipped to include Snapdragon 870 and 8040 mAh battery

Vivo trademarked "Vivo Pad" with the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) earlier this year and, as was confirmed by the company VP, will foray into the tablet segment in the first half of 2022. While official details are yet to materialize, a new leak claims that this upcoming tablet from Vivo will be powered by a Qualcomm chipset.

Vivo Pad Specifications 

Tipster Digital Chat Station reveals that the tablet will employ Snapdragon 870, which is the same SoC Vivo earlier used on quite a few popular phones like X60 Pro and iQOO 7. The octa-core chipset is basically an enhanced version of Snapdragon 865+. It includes one Cortex-A77 prime core, three Cortex-A77 performance cores, and four Cortex-A55 efficiency cores. 

The same device was reportedly spotted on the TÜV Rheinland certification website and the listing revealed an 8040mAh battery.

More tablets are on their way

Apart from Vivo, other BBK brands have also been eyeing the tablet segment. Realme introduced the Realme Pad earlier this year with MediaTek Helio G80, 4GB RAM, 64GB storage and a 7100mAh battery. OnePlus Pad was trademarked with EUIPO in July, and Oppo is expected to launch its Pad early next year.

According to Digital Chat Station, the Oppo tablet will use the same Snapdragon 870 chipset paired with 6GB RAM and 256GB storage. This tablet is expected to include an 11-inch LCD display (2,560x1,600 pixels) with a 120Hz refresh rate, a 13MP rear camera and an 8MP front camera. This software is unsurprisingly touted to be Android 11-based Color OS. It is expected to be priced at CNY 2000 in China which converts to approximately $315 or roughly INR 23,500.

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PlayStation End of Year Deals Sale: Big Discounts on Marvel's Spider-Man, F1 2021, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla

PlayStation End of Year Deals sale has kicked off, giving gamers another chance to pick up their favourite games at a discounted price before the year ends. The PlayStation Store currently has discounts on over 700 games, including titles like Marvel’s Spider-Man, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, Alien: Isolation, and several others that are discounted until December 22...

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A huge asteroid is moving toward Earths orbital path

NASA is known for tracking dangerous space objects to ascertain whether any are heading towards Earth, and whether they have the potential to cause major damage. The agency recently warned that a huge asteroid is moving towards Earth’s orbital path. This asteroid is said to be twice the size of Big Ben, with the potential to cause damage akin to a nuclear explosion. Thankfully, that’s not actually going to happen as the agency says it’s not colliding with Earth. 

What kinds of damage can an asteroid this size cause?

According to NASA, this asteroid has the potential of producing 77 megatons of TNT, and is comparable to some of the largest nuclear explosions tested by man. In fact, NASA believes that the energy an asteroid like this can release will be 1.5 times that of the biggest nuclear weapon ever tested, Tsar Bomba. The Tsar Bomba was a bomb tested by the Russians, and the force was 3,333 times that of the atom bomb dropped on Hiroshima during the Second World War. So, you can imagine the level of damage that this asteroid can cause if it hits Earth.

How likely is it for asteroids to hit Earth?

Asteroids can hit Earth in the future, if they happen to be on the right collision course. Sometimes, smaller asteroids break into smaller pieces when they enter the Earth’s atmosphere (this happens because of the friction with the air) and hardly make an impact when they hit earth. Some dissolve entirely. However, the likelihood of a large asteroid hitting earth and causing widespread damage is not something NASA can rule out. It is believed that a large asteroid hit Earth millions of years ago, killing dinosaurs. 

NASA is preparing for the eventuality. One of the experiments the agency is working on is called the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART). The idea is to crash a spacecraft into an asteroid with enough force to knock it off its path. 

Also Read: NASA releases awe-inspiring image of a spiral galaxy taken by the Hubble Telescope

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Indian Parliament summons Facebook India officials to discuss citizens rights and Womens safety

Last year, former Facebook data scientist, Sophie Zhang, published a memo detailing the way Facebook is used to influence global politics. She spoke about sophisticated systems in place in India that were used to try and influence the 2020 Delhi Elections, along with similar systems in other developing countries throughout the world. Now, on the heels of her memo and a recent controversy surrounding Facebook’s policies and impact on politics, the Parliament has summoned officials representing Facebook India to discuss citizens’ rights and womens’ safety. 

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology (IT) will be held on November 29, with Congress leader Shashi Tharoor appointed as the Chairman of the same. 

"To hear the views of representatives Of Facebook India on the subject safeguarding citizens rights and prevention of misuse of social/online news media platforms including special emphasis on women security in the digital space," the committee agenda read.

Treating Social Media as Publishers

Currently, our laws treat social media platforms as intermediaries of content, and this approach has not done much to regulate the kind of content that is published and distributed. With hate speech and fake news being credited for countless communals incidents across the country, the Parliamentary Panel set up last week to examine the ramifications of such platforms concluded that they need a separate regulatory body, similar to the Press Council of India.

Doing so will make the platforms more liable for user-generated content - something that companies like Facebook and Twitter refuse to take any responsibility for. Additionally, with more and more consumers across tier-2 and tier-3 cities adopting smartphones and setting up social media accounts, data protection itself has become a widespread concern for the government. With this in mind, the Personal Data Protection Bill, 2019, may be revised to protect non-personal data from being misused by such companies.

What about the Metaverse?

While the Indian government is moving in the right direction as far as protecting its citizens goes, there is certainly a much larger threat on the horizon - the Metaverse. With people entering virtual realities and building lives there, the data protection and privacy laws of today may end up holding no meaning. Imagine curating actual experiences that sway public opinion, transforming people from subscribers to one political ideology to completely opposing ones. Now imagine this happening so subtly, that you barely have time to reassess your values. 

If companies like Meta are to make virtual worlds accessible to Indian citizens, they need to offer transparency regarding how they will use customer data. 

Also Read: Facebook to Protect Famous People, While Stomping on the Masses

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Steam Sets New Record With Over 27 Million Concurrent Active Users; Cyberpunk 2077 Becomes Global Top Seller

Steam has broken another record with 27 million concurrent active users. Out of these, 7.8 million accounts were playing a game at the time. Separately, Cyberpunk 2077 became the global top seller with around 23,300 very positive reviews by players on Steam.

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Spider-Man: No Way Home India release pushed up a day earlier, will now hit theatres on December 16

Marvel fans in India have some good news coming their way as Spider-Man: No Way Home is set to hit theatres on December 16. Even though this is just one day earlier than the previous release date, it means the world for fans of the MCU and Spider-Man. There is no official reason as to why the film has been bumped up to December 16. The film marks Sony’s long collaboration with Marvel in the Spider-Man franchise as the rights to the character are still owned by Sony. 

Spider-Man: No Way Home to hit Indian theatres on December 16

For fans of Spider-Man, No Way Home concludes the Sony Spider-Man trilogy with Homecoming, Far from Home being the first two films The first instalment saw a new Spider-Man in Tom Holland take up the mantle of the wallcrawler. The new Sony films have been a hit with fans and critics alike who praise Holland as a younger, greener hero who is essentially mentored by Tony Stark. With the events of Endgame throwing a wrench in the MCU, we’ll just have to wait to see how Peter deals with the loss of a mentor. 

The new film will also feature Dr Strange as the Sorceror Supreme, who like Tony Stark, is sort of a new kind of mentor for the young Parker. The film will also see the full-on launch of the Multiverse as we’re supposed to see all the three actors who’ve played Spider-Man together for the first time. Spider-Man: No Way Home will hit Indian theatres on December 16. The film stars Tom Holland, Benedict Cumberbatch and a few other surprises that we don’t want to ruin here. 

Also Read: Hawkeye review: A hollow, lifeless show that is emblematic of the sinking MCU ship

 

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OnePlus 10 Pro will be one of the first Snapdragon 8 Gen1 powered phones: Report

OnePlus 10 Pro will be one of the first phones to be powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen1 chip. Qualcomm is all set to introduce the Snapdragon 8 Gen1 chip as the successor to Snapdragon 888 during the Snapdragon Tech Summit that begins on November 30. The chip-maker is seemingly changing its SoC nomenclature and instead of the Snapdragon 898, it could release as the Snapdragon 8 Gen1.

According to a report by MyDrivers, there will be several Snapdragon 8 Gen1 powered phones in the market shortly after the SoC debuts. Apart from the OnePlus 10 Pro, Xiaomi is also rumoured to launch the Xiaomi 12 which could be one of the first phones to be powered by the flagship Qualcomm SoC. 

As for the release date, it is rumoured that the company may launch the OnePlus 10 Pro in January in China and in global markets after some months.

OnePlus 10 Pro leaked specifications

The OnePlus 10 Pro features a 6.7-inch AMOLED display that offers QHD+ (3216x1440 pixels) resolution and likely supports a high refresh rate of 120Hz or more.

The phone has a thickness of 8.7mm as per OnLeaks, and the full dimensions are 163.2 mm x 73.6 mm x 8.7 mm, which is the same as the OnePlus 9 Pro. 

The OnePlus 10 Pro is said to feature three cameras on the back which consists of a 50MP main camera with OIS and laser autofocus, a 48MP ultra-wide camera and an 8MP ultra-wide camera with 3x optical zoom. On the front, there is a 32MP selfie camera.

The OnePlus 10 Pro will come equipped with a 5,000mAh battery and likely supports fast charging of 65W or more. The phone is expected to arrive with 128GB storage and 256GB storage.

Also Read: OnePlus RT could launch on December 16 in India: Report

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Reliance Jio hikes prices for unlimited prepaid plans New tarrifs applicable starting December 1

Reliance Jio, India’s biggest telecom operator with a 36.43 per cent market share, has hiked the prices of its popular unlimited pre-paid plans by around 20 per cent or higher. The new unlimited plans will be applicable starting 1st December 2021. 

If you recharge your Jio prepaid number in advance before December 1, you can still avail of the old tariffs. In fact, Reliance Jio is offering an additional 20 per cent JioMart Cashback to consumers who do advance prepaid recharges worth above Rs. 200. 

Reliance Jio hasn’t revealed the hiked prices of all current plans, but benefits across most of the popular plans remain the same. The yearly plan with 2GB/ day data sees the steepest hike of Rs 480 and will now cost Rs 2879. Here are the new tariffs and their comparison with old ones. 

New Reliance Jio Prepaid Plan Prices  2GB/month, unlimited voice, 300 SMS (28 days)  -  Rs. 155 (old price - Rs. 129) 1GB/ day, unlimited voice, 100 SMS/ day (24 days)  -  Rs. 179 (old price - Rs. 149) 1.5GB/ day, unlimited voice,100 SMS/ day (28 days)  -  Rs. 239 (old price - Rs. 199) 2GB/ day, unlimited voice, 100 SMS/ day (28 days)  -  Rs. 299 (old price - Rs. 249) 1.5GB/ day, unlimited voice, 100 SMS/ day (56 days)  -  Rs. 479 (old price - Rs. 399) 2GB/ day, unlimited voice, 100 SMS/ day (56 days)  -  Rs. 533 (old price - Rs. 444) 6GB, unlimited voice, 1,000 SMS (84 days)  -  Rs. 395 (old price - Rs. 329) 1.5GB/ day, unlimited voice, 100 SMS/ day (84 days)  -  Rs. 666 (old price - Rs. 555) 2GB/ day, unlimited voice, 100 SMS/ day (84 days)  -  Rs. 719 (old price - Rs. 599) 24GB, unlimited voice, 3600 SMS (336 days)  -  Rs. 1559 (old price - Rs. 1299) 2GB/ day, unlimited voice,100 SMS/ day (365 days)  -  Rs. 2879 (old price - Rs. 2399)

Also Check: How to know Jio mobile number in 5 easy ways

New Reliance Jio Tariffs: JioPhone Plan and Data Add-ons  JioPhone Plan - 3GB/month, unlimited voice, 50 SMS (28 days) - Rs. 91 (old price: 75) 6GB Data - Rs. 61 (old price - Rs. 51) 12GB Data - Rs. 121 (old price - Rs. 101) 50GB Data - Rs. 301 (old price - Rs. 251)

The announcement follows closely the hike announced by Airtel and Vodafone. Jio tariffs continue to be relatively cheaper for the popular plans. 

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Elon Musks Starlink too fast for Indian bureaucracy, will need a license to operate in the country

As internet technologies grow to encompass the entire globe, Elon Musk’s Starlink aims to beam accessible internet all over the world. But, it looks like the company may have hit a bit of a snag when it comes to India. Starlink, as a subsidiary of SpaceX, has registered as a business in India. This took place earlier this month. The company has started pre-orders but according to the Indian government, has no permission to actually start running the service in the country. The Indian government has also asked people to stop placing pre-orders and signing up for the service. 

Elon Musk's Starlink will need a license to operate in India

India is currently hovering at around the 65th to 70th place in terms of internet speed rankings. It also only has about 41% of the population connected to the internet. Even though that is a large number globally, it means that more than half of the Indian population does not have easy access to the internet. Elon Musk's Starlink could change all of that but the Indian government wants the company to play by its archaic rules in order to do business in the country. 

In a report on Reuters, the Indian government has asked, sorry, told users to, “stop booking/rendering the satellite internet services in India with immediate effect.”. Maybe the government is looking at Starlink being a disruptive technology and thus wants to control it. Although India is a lucrative market for any company, the amount of bureaucratic red tape and corruption in India could turn the company away, and it wouldn’t be the first time nor will it be a surprise. 

Also Read: Elon Musk reveals why Dogecoin isn’t as popular as it should be

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Garena Free Fire nerfs abilities of Cristiano Ronaldo-based character, Chrono

Garena has announced that it will be making some major changes to the abilities of Chrono, the in-game character that was released around this time last year. The character is based on footballer, Cristiano Ronaldo and comes with an active ability that creates a force field around the user. Called Time Warp, this lets players fire out from inside the field, while any attack would be absorbed for a limited time. With the new update, the characters will be nerfed to a very high degree.

Chrono nerfed in Garena Free Fire

Garena will be nerfing the active ability of Chrono. After the update, players on the inside of the force field will no longer be able to fire through the shield. To counter this, the HP of the shield has been increased to make it more durable. As one might expect, these changes haven’t gone well with players, especially considering the fact that this isn’t the first nerf made to the character.

Nerfing in multiplayer games is usually done to ensure a fair and balanced game. Garena obviously thought that Chrono was slightly overpowered and gave players using him a bit of an edge in competitive play. 

Cristiano Ronaldo isn’t the only real-world celebrity to feature as an in-game character. A notable inclusion in this list was Hritik Roshan who had a character called Jai who was modelled after him. Jai is described as a decorated SWAT commander. As one might expect from such a backstory, the character is well versed with weapons and his ability reflects that. Jai has a passive ability called Raging Reload. This ability automatically reloads Jai’s weapon by up to 30% of its capacity when he takes down an opponent. However, this is limited to assault rifles, pistols, SMG, and shotguns. This makes Jai quite a good choice for players who are almost constantly pushing opponents and taking on enemies. However, the character was removed from the game in July this year.

Also read: Here's A Look At Cristiano Ronaldo’s In-Game Chrono Character

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PUBG: New State crosses 40 million downloads, celebrates by giving players the chance to earn in-game rewards

Krafton has announced that PUBG: New State has officially recorded more than 40 million downloads. As such, the developers will be marking the occasion with an in-game celebration. As part of the celebration, players can earn rewards by simply logging in each day. Every day, they will get a new in-game item for free and they will have to log in every day to get all seven items. The event kicks off on November 26 and will go on till December 6.

PUBG: New State - 40 million downloads celebration rewards.

Day 1: Chicken Medal x 3 Day 2: Troi 150% BP Card x 1 Day 3: BP Random Box (M) x 1 Day 4: Chicken Medal x 3 Day 5: BP Random Box (M) x 1 Day 6: Erangel 150% BP Card x 1 Day 7: Chicken Medal x  3

This number should not be too surprising to anyone following the game. The game received 40 million pre-registrations ahead of its global launch on November 11. Further, a few days after launch, the game got over 10 million downloads just on the Google Play Store.

Krafton recently announced that PUBG: New State received an emergency update on November 25. As one might expect, the situation was quite serious. According to the developers, there was an issue wherein in-game items could mistakenly be claimed by certain accounts.

Thankfully, it seems like the issue did not affect a majority of the accounts. The developers note that the particular accounts that were affected by the issue have been temporarily restricted from accessing the game till the time the developers retrieve the items and rectify the issue. Krafton notes that the blocked accounts will be restored once the process is complete. Further, these players will also receive compensation that will be sent via in-game mail.

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OnePlus RT spotted on the OnePlus care app

A new listing on the OnePlus Care app by the name of OnePlus RT indicates that the smartphone could be launching soon in India. The smartphone was launched in October in China, and rumours stating that it will launch in December in India have been doing the rounds ever since. This listing heightens the sense that the launch may happen very soon.

OnePlus RT Specifications

The OnePlus RT model for India is expected to have the same specifications as the Chinese variant. The smartphone may have a 6.62-inch full-HD+ (1,080x2,400 pixels) Samsung E4 AMOLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate. It may also come with an under-display fingerprint sensor. Based on the model launched in China, the smartphone may feature a Snapdragon 888 SoC, paired with 12 GB of RAM and 256GB of storage.

Additionally, we may see a triple camera setup featuring a 50MP primary sensor, a 16MP ultra-wide camera, and a 2MP macro camera. It may also have a 16MP front camera. 

OnePlus RT Launch Date

The company has not confirmed a launch date for the OnePlus RT in India yet. However, it is rumoured to enter the Indian market in December 2021. There is also no indication regarding whether the brand will change the name of the phone for the Indian market. 

Does it make more sense to wait for the OnePlus 10 Pro?

WIth the OnePlus 10 Pro expected to launch within the first quarter of 2022, it might just make more sense to wait for the same as it’s rumoured to have a Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 SoC processor, and a better camera setup. Of course, one can also expect a higher price tag for the OnePlus 10 Pro, however, it’s up to you to decide whether the extra bucks are worth it. 

Also Read: OnePlus RT could launch on December 16 in India: Report

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Youll soon be able to react to Whatsapp messages

Earlier this year, Wabetainfo revealed that Whatsapp is working on a feature that lets you react to specific messages. Now, new code has been spotted indicating that the messaging app is tweaking the same feature, and that it may be close to releasing the same. There seems to be a reaction info tab that is being developed, and this will allow people to see who has reacted to a message that’s been sent.

Where can you see the new Whatsapp update?

According to Wabetainfo, this feature is still under development and even those who have the Beta version of Whatsapp cannot see it at the moment. The company is still making a few tweaks to the feature itself and its functionality, which is why it has not begun a Beta test for the same. 

Once the feature is released, you will be able to see reactions under the message, the same way one can see reactions to Instagram messages in the DMs. On long-pressing the message, you will be able to see the specific people who have reacted to the message, along with the reaction that they have sent.

According to Wabetainfo, the reactions are limited to six emojis as of now. There’s no news on whether Whatsapp will expand the number of reactions you can send, or will keep it simple. 

Other Whatsapp Updates

In other news, Whatsapp is also working on an update that will let you change the playback speed of voice notes sent on the app. Users will be able to increase the speed by 1.5x and 2x based on their needs so that they can get to the important information quickly. Whatsapp is also reportedly working on an update that allows voice notes to continue playing even after you exit the chat. This will let users scroll through their messages while listening to the note. 

Also Read: 5 Whatsapp updates and features to look out for

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PUBG: New State Getting New Update With Enhanced Anti-Cheating Mechanism, Crosses 40 Million Downloads

PUBG: New State is getting a new update next week that will enhance its anti-cheating mechanism with a function to restrict third-party programs in real time. The battle royale game has also surpassed the milestone of 40 million downloads worldwide and is now celebrating the success with a virtual event.

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Krafton issues emergency update to fix major PUBG: New State in-game issue

Krafton has just announced that PUBG: New State received an emergency update yesterday, November 25. As one might expect, the situation was quite serious. According to the developers, there was an issue wherein in-game items could mistakenly be claimed by certain accounts.

Hello Survivors, The game had an urgent maintenance to stabilize the game service. The issue is now fixed and players can log in again. We apologize for the inconvenience. Please check your mail for the compensation rewards. See link for more details: https://t.co/qzQcxtmenG pic.twitter.com/EQc468ogPi

— PUBG: NEW STATE (@PUBG_NEWSTATE) November 25, 2021

Of course, an issue like this is pretty severe. After all, players spend their hard-earned money and time on in-game items and for those to be claimed by the wrong account is not fair. 

Thankfully, it seemed like the issue did not affect a majority of the accounts. The developers note that the particular accounts that were affected by the issue have been temporarily restricted from accessing the game till the time the developers retrieve the items and rectify the issue. Krafton notes that the blocked accounts will be restored once the process is complete. Further, these players will also receive compensation that will be sent via in-game mail.

“We sincerely apologize to all Survivors affected by this issue and to those whose accounts have been blocked in particular,” Krafton noted in a post on its official website.

This is the second time Krafton has had to suspend the game for maintenance this week alone. Earlier this week, the game was down so that the developers could stop hackers and cheaters from using third-party software. These changes included enhanced measures to detect the use of third-party programs. This would be able to do so in real-time. Not only that, but the developers also secured potential weaknesses that could be exploited. This could lead to the creation of unauthorized third-party programs. 

Krafton also noted that it increased the severity of restrictions imposed on users of such programs. The developers further noted that additional updates will be added next week to detect and restrict the use of unauthorised programs. 

Also Read: PUBG New State: Minimum Requirements, Gameplay And Everything Else You Need To Know

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BGMI announces Game Responsibly campaign, adds time limits and OTP confirmation for minors

Krafton has announced a new campaign to drive its ‘Game Responsibly‘ initiative for BGMI. The campaign will not only include a series of films to encourage gamers to consider their mental health. It will also promote responsible gaming habits among players. This also means that Krafton will start implementing more stringent control over players under 18.

“We care deeply for our gamers, hence we acted. These changes have been made to ensure responsible gaming practices are adopted by gaming enthusiasts; specially minors. It also asserts the integrity and fairness of our business practices of putting community first. Yes, we aim to offer the best entertainment and experiences to our gamers, but at the same time mental and physical health of our players remains one of our top priorities” said Mr. Wooyol Lim, Head of Battlegrounds Mobile Division at Krafton.

BGMI: New stringent methods

The developers noted in their press release, “BATTLEGROUNDS launched with an array of efforts to make sure that while players have a fun time playing BGMI, they take adequate care of their physical and mental health, and parents are also equipped adequately with tools to impart healthy checks and balances while playing BGMI.”

Every under-18 player that wants to play BGMI will now need to register a parent or guardian before they can play. An OTP will first be sent to the parent or guardian’s phone number, and only then can the minor start playing. Further, minors will also not be able to play for over three hours a day. On top of this, all players will not be allowed to spend over Rs 7,000 per day.

Other steps taken by Krafton include a ‘Virtual World Warning Message’ that will include in-game text and in-game audio that reinforces the message. Further, all players will get timely reminders to take a break when playing the game. Finally, the developers have reduced violence and bloodshed in the game and have set parameters to keep language in check.

Also read: BGMI Lite Could Be Launching In India Sooner Rather Than Later

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PUBG: New State to Get Exclusive Music and Web Series in India: Krafton

PUBG: New State will get exclusive content including music and Web series in India, Krafton announced on Friday. The South Korean publisher has also launched a dance challenge for Indian PUBG fans and tied up with Sony Music India to feature the song ‘Bad Boy x Bad Girl’ by pop singer Badshah.

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Steam Autumn Sale: Best Deals for PC Including Cyberpunk 2077, Red Dead Redemption 2, FIFA 22, More

Steam Autumn Sale has kicked off with notable discounts on several popular titles such as It Takes Two, Cyberpunk 2077, Forza Horizon 4, FIFA 22, Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy, Borderlands 3, F1 2021, Wasteland 3, and several others. The sale ends on December 1 at 11:30pm IST, and gamers can also nominate their favourite games for The Steam Awards in ten categori...

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Sony 65-inch A80J OLED TV Review: For the cinephile

The Sony A80J is a TV for the cinephile. It has fantastic picture performance in terms of its colours, good brightness for HDR content and ample settings to tinker with to get the best experience, based on the content you are watching. The most impressive feature of Sony’s XR processor is how it represents SD and SDR content with minimal blur in edges and extremely good colours making it a very good option for those that will watch set-top-box content or have a library of good old DVDs. The sound output from the TV is good too. While the picture performance for gaming is fantastic, the A80J loses out to the LG C1 with gaming-related features and the number of HDMI 2.1 ports on offer. If gaming is not a priority or you only have one next-gen console, then you could consider the A80J. It is definitely one of the best OLED TVs money can buy.

Sony’s 2021 lineup of flagship TVs are powered by the company's all-new BRAVIA XR processor bringing with them some fantastic picture quality and performance. The first XR powered TV we reviewed was the Sony X90J (review) and today we have Sony’s OLED TV offering for 2021 - the A80J. The A80J runs on the Google TV UI. It has some design elements similar to its predecessor, the A8H (review) and some new tricks up its sleeves. Put simply, if you are looking for one of the best TVs for content consumption, then the A80J can be at the top of your list. But how does it stack up against the competition? Let's find out!

Sony A80J Specs at a glance

Panel Size: 65-inch (also available in 55 and 77-inch as well) Panel Type: OLED Panel Resolution: 3840 x 2160 - 4K Panel Refresh Rate: 120Hz HDR 10 support: Yes Dolby Vision Support: Yes Weight (with stand): Approx. 22.3kgs HDMI Ports: 4 USB Ports: 3 Bluetooth: Yes Wi-Fi: Yes Ethernet: Yes Speakers: 30W (Acoustic Surface Audio+) Built-in storage: 16GB Price: MRP: 3,39,990. Best Price: Rs 2,79,990

Sony A80J Display and picture quality

Kicking things off with the display, this is an OLED panel with self-emitting pixels giving the TV true blacks and an infinite contrast ratio. You also get very good viewing angles from the TV. In SDR we measured a peak brightness slightly below 300 nits using our Calman and in HDR we recorded a peak brightness slightly higher than 750 nits making the TV really bright. The TV is fairly colour accurate out of the box with the cinema preset and we recorded a delta error of 2.7 out of the box and the custom preset gave us an average delta error of 2.5. The Custom for Pro profile gives you more accuracy and the ability to tinker with more settings than the other presets. Overall, in our analysis, the TV has a fantastic display for content consumption. Let's see how this translates to real-world usage.

Above: Peak brightness for SDR content. 

Above: HDR brightness readings. 

Above: Saturation accuracy.

Sony A80J: 4K and HDR performance

The Sony A80J supports HDR 10 and Dolby Vision and we consumed a lot of content from streaming services and Blu-rays in HDR. The one thing to note is that the TV can get really bright and the beauty of its performance is that it can maintain specular highlight details quite well in HDR content. Watch a movie like Wonder Woman or Ready Player One that are filled with stunning bright sequences, be it the fight at the end of Wonder Woman or the race at the 12-minute mark in Ready Player One and we have one of the best-performing TVs we’ve tested. 

Above: Control for HDR tone mapping to prefer brightness. 

The surprising thing is that the TV is bright enough for content consumption in a relatively lit room, although dark sequences suffer a bit. There are some ways for you to enjoy this TV in a well-lit room. Leaving the light sensor on not only adjusts the backlighting but also the contrast to try and highlight dark details on the TV. You also have control over settings like peak luminance (we left it on high throughout the testing process of the TV) and you can also change the HDR tone mapping to ‘Brightness Preferred’. This helps enhance the performance of the TV and surprisingly there was no issue of banding. These new settings don't play well with our Calman numbers but in real-world performance, it does help give you a better viewing experience in a well-lit room. These settings also work well in a dark room if you would like to get some retina-burning brightness when consuming HDR content (which can be a treat if you have the right content). Also, there was almost no issue with gradation or banding with the HDR tone mapping set to brightness preferred which is very good. 

We do have the standard slew of presets, like Dolby Vision Bright and Dolby Vision Dark and HDR 10 content can be consumed in the standard slew of presets like Standard, Vivid, Cinema, etc. and for the most part, I found myself using Dolby Vision Bright and Cinema respectively for the content to get the most accurate colour experience. Needless to say, consuming HDR content on this TV is a treat because you get some of the best colours and natural-looking skin tones on a TV.

Sony A80J FHD performance

FHD, HD and SDR performance is surprisingly better than expected and I think this is where the XR processor is flexing its muscles. When you consume SD content on a 4K TV, there will be some level of noise or blurriness around the edges but the performance of SD content on this TV was surprisingly good. It's not something we mention in our TV reviews often as SD content does suffer on some of the high-end TVs but here it was a treat to the point that someone in my house asked if this was a 4K image. While it wasn't really that clear, the clarity and reproduction of colours in SD and SDR are better than most TVs we’ve tested. Safe to say, if you use this TV with a set-top-box or your good old collection of DVD's, you will have a good time. 

The rest of our standard slew of SDR content in FHD was fun to consume as well. The skin tones in Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation look natural despite using the Standard picture preset. Spider-Man’s suit in Spider-Man: Homecoming has the perfect shades of red and blue without looking oversaturated in both the Standard and Cinema preset. While the Cinema preset adds a warm tone to the content, the Standard preset has a cool bias, but not one that looks too blue. So, for those of you that leave the TV in the Standard preset and forget about it, know that you are still getting a fairly decent experience.   

In a show like Young Sheldon, switch the TV to the Vivid profile and you get really popping colours that will appeal to the eye and make the show look vibrant. Sticking to the Standard and Cinema preset works better for colours, but most may prefer the Vivid preset for a show like this.  

Sony A80J Gaming performance

As much as I love the picture performance of the Sony A80J, it's gaming where the TV falls short when compared to the competition. Not in terms of the display’s performance but in the overall offering. So, let’s break it down. 

When it comes to the performance of the panel, it is extremely good. In all the games we played we got very good HDR performance and the colours looked rich with deep blacks. Ghost of Tsushima’s (review) watercolour-like art style shines, especially when you are riding your horse into the sun. In Spider-Man Miles Morales (review), the details in Spider-Man’s suit were easily visible despite there being bright light via the in-game sun when swinging through the city. One more thing to note is that Sony has released an update for its BRAVIA XR TVs where the PS5’s (review) peak brightness and black luminance is automatically calibrated and you don't need to go through the calibration settings manually which is very good. A great example to check this calibration is Dirt 5 (review) and we did not notice any abnormal clipping of highlights by going with the TV's auto-calibration for the PS5. 

While the picture performance of the TV is great for gaming, there are niggles that one would expect Sony to have addressed by 2021. To begin with, VRR support is still missing on the TV and there are only two HDMI 2.1 ports of the four HDMI ports, one of which is eARC enabled. These are the two ports that support 4K at 120Hz. This means if you have a PS5, an Xbox Series X (review) and a soundbar, you will have to sacrifice one of the console's performances with HDMI 2.1 features. This is a big con in 2021 especially considering LG TVs launched in 2019, 2020 and 2021 like the C9 (review), CX (review) and C1 (review) respectively come with all four HDMI 2.1 enabled ports. Also, the LG TVs mentioned come with support for VRR. The cherry on the cake is that the LG C1 comes with a bunch of gaming-specific settings enhancing the experience including settings specific to certain game genres. So, despite the fantastic panel performance of the A80J, the LG C1 is a much better option if gaming is a priority.  

Sony A80J: Audio performance

Sony’s Acoustic Surface Audio+ technology is one of the better setups of speakers on a TV. The TV comes with two​​ Actuators and two Subwoofers and the entire screen works as a speaker as the Actuators vibrate the display to produce sound. The biggest advantage of Sony’s Acoustic Surface Audio+ is channel separation. So, when the cars whizz across the screen in the race at the 12-minute mark in Ready Player One, you can actually feel the audio move from right to left adding a sense of immersion. The speakers can get quite loud for the average-sized living room. Even in a game like Ghost of Tsushima you get the sense of the position of an archer off-screen and the sound of their arrows firing across the screen is very immersive. The A80J has also received an update to support 360-degree audio and while it's early to comment on its performance, it should help with the overall sound output of the TV. 

Sony A80J: User Interface

Sony has been helming Android TV OS since the beginning of Smart TVs and now the brand is shifting to Google TV. In 2021 we reviewed the Sony X90J, X80J (review) and X85J (review) all of which sport the Google TV UI and the performance of the UI is no different here. The UI is easy to set up and has a content-first approach, something we’ve seen in the past on Xiaomi’s PatchWall UI. The UI on the X80J is very fluid and we found no instance of lag or stutter on the TV. The voice assistant worked fluidly as well. Sony has a good track record of updating their TVs so you shouldn't be worried about getting the necessary UI updates. 

Like we’ve said in our review of the X85J and the X90J, to make the most of HDMI 3 and 4 ports, you should switch on the Enhanced format. To do this go to Settings - Channel & Inputs - External Inputs - HDMI Signal Format. Here select the Enhanced format for the HDMI input. Remember, HDMI 2.1 is only available in HDMI 3 and 4. 

Sony A80J Remote control

The remote control you get with the A80J is the same we’ve seen on the other 2021 Sony TVs and it is ergonomic and gets the job done quite well. It does not have the pointer-like features found on LG’s remotes but then again, the UI doesn't need that feature for navigation. While I miss the lack of playback controls on the LG C1 remote control, I find the placement of playback controls on Sony’s remote perfectly placed - at the bottom. While I would like to see more shortcuts for popular OTT platforms, it's ok as navigating the TV with the remote in its current state is a very smooth affair. 

Sony A80J Build and design

The A80J has design elements similar to the Sony A8H and that's not a bad thing as the A8H was a well-designed TV albeit with a few hiccups. The panel of the Sony A80J itself is very thin with a thick rectangle chunk at the back that houses the ports and components. The connectivity options are broken up into facing outwards on one side with the rest of them facing down at the back. There are four HDMI ports one faces out on the side and the other three are at the back. The side facing ports also include the AV port, 3.5mm headphones port, two USB ports and the mic on/off switch. Facing back, we have one USB port, the aforementioned three HDMI ports, optical port, LAN port and antenna port. 

The TV rests on a table on two feet which can be adjusted to let the TV sit flush with the table or slightly elevated. The feet hold the TV in place quite well with minimal wobble. The only downside I see is that the feet protrude in the front a little which may be a hindrance to those that have a really long soundbar sitting below the TV. 

Sony A80J: Bottom Line

The Sony A80J is a TV for the cinephile. It has fantastic picture performance in terms of its colours, good brightness for HDR content and ample settings to tinker with to get the best experience, based on the content you are watching. The most impressive feature of Sony’s XR processor is how it represents SD and SDR content with minimal blur in edges and extremely good colours, making it a very good option for those that will watch set-top-box content or have a library of good old DVDs. The sound output from the TV is good too. While the picture performance for gaming is fantastic, the A80J loses out to the LG C1 with gaming-related features and the number of HDMI 2.1 ports on offer. If gaming is not a priority or you only have one next-gen console, then you can consider the A80J. It is definitely one of the best OLED TVs money can buy.

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PUBG: New State Bug Allowed In-Game Items to Be Mistakenly Claimed, Affected Accounts Blocked

PUBG: New State recently underwent an emergency maintenance on Thursday to remove a bug that allowed in-game items to be mistakenly claimed by some accounts. Krafton has mentioned that it has restricted the accounts that gained in-game items due to the bug but will get compensation once the process of rectifying the bug is complete.

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Black Friday 2021 Sales Go Live: Best Offers on Nintendo Switch, AirPods 3, VPN Subscriptions, and More Deals

Black Friday 2021 sales are live now. We've handpicked the best tech deals you can grab from India during this year's Black Friday sales. Our top picks include Nintendo Switch, AirPods 3, Kindle Paperwhite 2021, and more.

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Whatsapp is testing new Playback features for audio files

If you frequently use Whatsapp’s voice note feature, then here’s some good news for you. The messaging app is testing new features that will allow users to change the playback speed of the voice notes to suit their needs. Currently, there’s no way to speed up a voice note - you have to manually drag the marker forward to reach different parts of the message.

What will this new Whatsapp feature do?

According to Wabetainfo, one of the most reliable tipsters when it comes to news related to Whatsapp, the messaging app is testing a feature that allows you to increase the playback speed of the message by 1.5x and 2x the speed. However, there is no way to slow down the message. That is something that may come along with a future update. 

In May, Whatsapp had introduced a feature that allows people to speed through extremely long messages so that one could get to the meat faster. However, the functionality is not available for every single message. For those who have friends who send long-winded messages quite frequently, this can end up being a boon.

Other Whatsapp Updates

Whatsapp is working on a host of other updates to improve user experience. Some of these include a new communities feature that will work like Discord, new icons and emojis, and more. As far as voice messages goes, Whatsapp is also working on a few updates that will allow users to exit the chat while listening to voice messages so that they can scroll through their other messages while the same is playing. Currently, if you exit the chat while listening to a voice note, the voice stops playing and you have to start listening to it from the beginning. You can manually forward the marker to listen from a different spot, but it’s still tedious. 

Also Read: 5 Whatsapp updates and features to look out for

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Twitter has now fixed the disappearing tweets Issue

Twitter announced that it has rolled out a fix for its iOS app to take care of the disappearing tweets issue that most users were facing. Earlier, when users would scroll through their feed, tweets would randomly disappear while they tried to stop and read them. Now, the tweets should stay in place. The fix for the iOS smartphone app was rolled out on November 15, and now users on iPads and other devices will also be able to upgrade the app and avoid the issue.

Why were tweets disappearing?

According to a spokesperson from Twitter, the tweets were disappearing because of the new replies that Twitter was adding to conversations. The changes caused a bug to develop and as a result, the tweets would randomly disappear.

"Now when you pause your timeline scrolling to look at a Tweet, it should stay put!" the company tweeted.

Is the Twitter Android App facing the same issue?

Yes, the disappearing tweets issue is there on the Android app for Twitter and is experienced by users on smartphones, tablets and other devices. The company has not revealed when it would be rolling out the fixes for the Android version of the apps. 

Other Twitter Updates

Twitter is making its way into the ecommerce market by offering an experience that allows people to purchase items during live streams. The first event that will preview this feature will be hosted by WalMart and Jason Derulo. People will be able to buy items while Walmart hosts the livestream and shows its new products. 

This new feature should make it easier for people who buy something after verifying what it looks like in real life. 

Stay tuned to know more about what we think of Twitter’s new updates. 

Also Read: Now everyone can create Spaces on Twitter

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PUBG New State Review: Worth Switching From Battlegrounds Mobile India?

PUBG New State review: the Krafton developed game now feels and looks a lot like PUBG PC, but what else does it bring to the table? Download PUBG New State on Android and iOS.

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Apple iPhone 13 Pro Review: A pricey affair

Despite being a stellar piece of technology, the iPhone 13 Pro is not the most forward-looking phone that you can buy right now. That crown this year is reserved for the foldables from Samsung -- two phones that are high on innovation but are still not recommended because of their shortcomings. However, that does not mean it's still not the phone for the here and now. In fact, as a sum of all its moving parts, the iPhone 13 Pro is arguably the best smartphone in the market right now. It offers great cameras, powerful performance, a brilliant display, and a big battery. These combined make the iPhone 13 Pro a brilliant buy. The only catch here is, is it affordable?

Starting at Rs 1,19,900, the iPhone 13 Pro does not come cheap. In fact, this price point makes it much more expensive than pretty much all premium segment phones in the market right now. This honestly makes it difficult to recommend as there are multiple phones in the market right now which offer slightly lesser overall value but are available at a much affordable price point. 

There are smartphones, and there is the iPhone! 

It's something that I've been told over and over again, to a point where I feel it has become part of my conditioning as a gadget reviewer. Yet, I stand here, holding the iPhone 13 Pro in my hands, asking myself the same question that I asked while holding the iPhone 12 Pro last year -- is the latest iPhone just that much better than the best that Android flagships have to offer today?

Well, if I'm being completely honest, over the past few years, I've felt my answer leaning progressively towards a no. But will that progression be followed this year with the iPhone 13 Pro, or will I finally feel it's time for me to accept that there are smartphones, and then there is the iPhone? 

Through this review, I'll try and answer this question for myself, and in the process, hopefully, help you understand if the iPhone 13 Pro is indeed the phone for you. So without wasting any time, let's get to the review of the iPhone 13 Pro. 

iPhone 13 Pro review: Display 

Let's start with what I believe is the most striking thing about the iPhone 13 Pro -- It's big, bold and beautiful display!

The iPhone 13 Pro comes with the same 6.1-inch display that's also found on the iPhone 13. Both of these are Super Retina OLED panels running at the same resolution (1170 x 2532 pixels). In fact, the aspect ratio of the two panels as well as their pixel density is also exactly the same at 460ppi. Apart from this, both the iPhone 13 and the iPhone 13 Pro displays come with support for wide colour gamuts and also True-tone, a lighting feature on iPhones that adjusts brightness and colour based on your surroundings. 

But the similarities end there. 

While both support HDR10 and DolbyVision, the iPhone 13 promises a brightness of 800 nits of high brightness and 1200 nits of peak localised brightness. In comparison, the iPhone 13 Pro promises 1000 nits in the High Brightness Mode and 1200 nits of localised peak brightness. 

However, the biggest difference between the two displays this year is that the iPhone 13 Pro gets what Apple is calling the Pro Motion Display. This is essentially Apple's take on high-refresh-rate technology which has now finally made its way to iPhones with the iPhone 13 Pro models. This enables the phone to dynamically switch between multiple refresh stops between 10Hz and 120Hz depending on the content the phone's display is handling. 

As an end-user, the ability of the iPhone 13 Pro to display content at fast refresh rates, is something I appreciate. To explain why I'd simply urge you to look outside and see just how fast refresh rate displays are taking over the world of displays. On smartphones, fast refresh rate displays offer a lot of benefits, including improving gaming and the day-to-day experience of using the device. But unlike a lot of its Android counterparts, Apple's decision to make this completely dynamic in nature gives the iPhone 13 Pro a unique advantage over its competitors. 

But away from the competition, how does the iPhone 13 Pro's display perform in day-to-day life and benchmarks?

Well,  the answer to the first part of the question is not at all complicated. In our time with the phone, we found the iPhone 13 Pro's panel to be one of the best we've used in a long time. It looks vibrant, the colours pop and it also gets plenty bright, all without losing colour accuracy. The iPhone 13 Pro in this respect lives up to Apple's claims of providing great visual experiences at all times and in all conditions. 

However, things did get a little confusing when we tested the phone's display using Calman Ultimate paired with Spectracal C6 colourimeter. In the ColorChecker Analysis, the iPhone 13 Pro threw up good results for sRGB content with an average DeltaE of 2.6 and max within acceptable levels -- DeltaE of 4.4. Results were a little less impressive for HDR content as the phone threw up an average DeltaE 4.1 and a maximum of 6. 

iPhone 13 Pro's display is also very well-calibrated and works very close to the average correlated colour temperature value of 6500. However, the iPhone 13 Pro did show some error in RGB balance, with blue and red shades not given almost equal preference. This is because the tests showed the iPhone 13 Pro has a very slight bias for reds -- something we feel affects the colour accuracy of the phone when playing HDR content. As far as gamut coverage goes, the iPhone 13 Pro offers good coverage across the sRGB and DCI-P3 space, with all of these things coming together to create good visual experiences. 

iPhone 13 Pro review: Design 

Apart from the display, there's a lot to the iPhone 13 Pro in terms of visual appeal. This is because, for the iPhone 13 Pro, Apple decided to not mess with what appears to be a winning formula. Despite having taken its design cues from the iPhone 12, the iPhone 13 Pro manages to look desirable and even slips in a few points of differentiation that iPhone fanboys will be able to spot. The first is a smaller notch, and the other big change is the arrangement of the lenses in the camera module.

For the former, we have a what is a notch that's about 20% smaller than before. This does not make itself visible at all times, but it definitely contributes to creating a more immersive experience on the phone while watching movies or playing games. The latter doesn't have such an impact on the aesthetics of the phone, however, it still remains the major design upgrade on the iPhone 13 Pro over last year's iPhone 12 Pro. There are other changes too in terms of design, but they don't add to the visual appeal of the phone. 

For example, the iPhone 13 Pro comes with Ceramic Shield on top of the display, which according to Apple is more resistant than other screen security solutions. There's also IP68 water and dust protection to help protect it from a lot of unwanted damages. 

iPhone 13 Pro: Performance and battery life

The iPhone 13 Pro also offers a lot when it comes to performance. This is because the new phone offers an upgrade on the already powerful chipset found on the iPhone 12 Pro last year. Yes, the iPhone 13 Pro gets Apple's new A15 Bionic SoC that promises some serious upgrades over its predecessor, and more importantly, its biggest competitor, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 SoC. But, that's not it. 

The biggest performance upgrade this new chipset brings is in the GPU department, with the A15 Bionic claimed to bring improved performance over its predecessor. However, what's more interesting, is the fact that the A15 Bionic used on the iPhone 13 Pro is also an upgrade on the chip used on the non-pro models of the iPhone 13 series this year. Or at least that's the case when it comes to pure processing power. 

The reason for this is the addition of an extra GPU core on the iPhone 13 Pro's A15 Bionic, over the four core GPU on the A15 Bionic on the iPhone 13. But does this translate to better performance on the iPhone 13 Pro when it comes to benchmarks and real-world performance? 

In real-world usage, the performance was comparable to the iPhone 13, with games running like a charm on the device. We ran Call of Duty Mobile and Asphalt 9 Legends on the phone, and with Gamebench powering on the background only to realise both the games ran flawlessly on the phone. The same was the case for other GPU benchmarks such as GFXBench and 3D Mark WildLife. The two benchmarks appeared to utilise the extra GPU core on the iPhone 13 Pro as the scores for both of them were better on the iPhone 13 Pro than on the iPhone 13. 

However, when we moved to other benchmarks such as AnTuTu and Geekbench, the iPhone 13 Pro for some reason threw up slightly lesser scores than the iPhone 13. While we're not sure what made this happen, our best guess is that the A15 Bionic on the iPhone 13 is possibly better optimised than the extra GPU totting the A15 Bionic chip on the iPhone 13 Pro. 

Our performance testing also saw us examine the battery prowess of the iPhone 13 Pro. Here the results were as expected, with the iPhone 13 Pro proving to be an absolute winner in this department. In our time with it, we achieved stellar standby times on the iPhone 13 Pro, with the phone also lasting well over a day on moderate usage. This performance is the result of multiple factors, including a well-optimised chipset in the A15 Bionic, and an LTPO panel on the phone which allows for variable refresh rates, and subsequently improved battery life. The phone also comes with a big 3,095mAh pack, that's again an upgrade over the one found on the iPhone 12 Pro, thereby helping the newer device establish its superiority in the battery department. The only gripe we have here is that the phone does not support true modern-day fast charging as it caps out at 20W. 

iPhone 13 Pro: Cameras

Coming to the cameras, we have three 12-megapixel lenses on the back of the phone, and all three are upgrades on the ones on the iPhone 12 Pro. The configuration is also the same, with the iPhone 13 Pro getting a primary, an ultrawide angle and a telephoto lens -- a 3x lens that's also an upgrade in terms of numbers over the 2x lens on the iPhone 12 Pro. 

In terms of performance, all three leave you with very little to desire. Both the primary and the ultrawide lenses offer some of the best shots that any smartphone can click today. The iPhone 13 Pro's lenses working in tandem with the new A15 Bionic chip's computational photography algorithms produce fantastic results. The resultant shots capture a lot of detail and accurate colours. 

Both the lenses are backed by the efforts of the 3D LiDAR scanner, which makes them quick to focus on subjects. These lenses are also very light-sensitive, making them great for use in all lighting conditions. The iPhone 13 Pro also comes with a dedicated night mode which gets the job done in darker scenes, all while producing photos that are sharper and less prone to handshaking than what could be captured on the iPhone 12 Pro last year. This is particularly the case with the ultrawide camera on the new iPhone. 

Behind the improved stabilization is the sensor-shift optical image stabilization that's been introduced on the Pro models this year. As a stabilization technology, this works a lot better than the optical stabilization on iPhone 12 Pro, and also the iPhone 13. 

Apart from this, the new telephoto lens offers 3x optical zoom that's better than the magnification on the iPhone 12 Pro. However, it's still not in the same league as Android flagships such as the Galaxy S21 Ultra which comes with a mind-boggling 10x optical zoom lens. Yet, despite this, the phone can still do really good telephoto shots, that'll be more than good enough for most users. 

Last, but not least, we now also have support for macro shots on the iPhone 13 Pro. For anyone who loves taking macro shots, this is a big upgrade that can help you click striking pictures. Suffice to say, it's something we've loved on Android phones in the past, and we're glad that it's now on iPhones as well. 

Talking about the selfie lens, we have another 12-megapixel camera on the front of the phone, which can capture a good amount of detail and accurate colour tones. There's no oversharpening of textures as well, thereby making it good for clicking selfies in well-lit situations. 

iPhone 13 Pro: Should you buy it?

There are many reasons to buy Apple's latest iPhones. But, the biggest in my opinion is the iPhone's ability to serve as a window into the future of smartphones. Sadly, however, that's not really the case with the iPhone 13 Pro. 

Despite being a stellar piece of technology, the iPhone 13 Pro is not the most forward-looking phone that you can buy right now. That crown this year is reserved for the foldables from Samsung -- two phones that are high on innovation but are still not recommended because of their shortcomings. 

But that does not mean, it's still not the phone for the here and now. In fact, as a sum of all its moving parts, the iPhone 13 Pro is arguably the best smartphone in the market right now. It offers great cameras, powerful performance, a brilliant display and a big battery. These combined make the iPhone 13 Pro a brilliant buy. The only catch here is, is it affordable?. 

Starting at Rs 1,19,900, the iPhone 13 Pro does not come cheap. In fact, this price point makes it much more expensive than pretty much all premium segment phones in the market right now. This honestly makes it difficult to recommend as there are multiple phones in the market right now which offer slightly lesser overall value but at a much affordable price point. 

But then again, an iPhone is an iPhone. As I've found out over the years, for someone who really just wants to buy an iPhone, dissecting the cost of premium services serves no purpose. For such buyers, the iPhone 13 Pro comes highly recommended. It is a definite upgrade over the iPhone 12 Pro, is also the best iPhone this year, and to top it off, also a better buy than all that the world of Android smartphones has to offer at the moment. 

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