PUBG Mobile Lite vs PUBG Mobile: Game Modes, Maps, Gameplay, Server Options, and More

PUBG Mobile Lite is now available in India. In this article, we will take a quick look at what exactly is different between PUBG Mobile and PUBG Mobile Lite.

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Google Pixel 3a helped company sell twice as many smartphones in Q2 YoY: Sundar Pichai

Thanks to the launch of the affordable Pixel phone, the Pixel 3A and the Pixel 3A XL, Google was able to sell twice as many smartphones in the second quarter of 2019 as compared to the corresponding quarter last year. The information was provided by Google CEO Sundar Pichai during Alphabet Inc’s Q2 earnings call, in which the company announced that its overall profits tripled on year-over-year basis to $9.9 billion (approx Rs 68,400 crores) while revenues increased 19 percent to $38.9 billion (approx Rs 2,68,000 crores).

“With the launch of Pixel 3a in May, overall Pixel unit sales in Q2 grew more than 2x year-over-year. In addition to Verizon and the Google Store, we successfully expanded our distribution to T-Mobile, Sprint, US Cellular, Spectrum Mobile, and additional partners which has greatly diversified our sales footprint in the US,” Pichai said in the earnings call. The Google mid-range series consisting the Pixel 3a and Pixel 3a XL were introduced in May this year at the company’s annual I/O developer conference.

Interestingly, Google has declared the Pixel smartphone revenue as a part of other revenues, which includes the company’s hardware business, like Google Home smart speakers, as well as its cloud computing division. “Other revenues for Google were $6.2 billion (approx Rs 42,800 crores), up 40 percent year-over-year, fuelled by Cloud with an ongoing strong contribution from Play,” Ruth Porat, Chief Financial Officer, Alphabet, added.

Pichai also revealed that Google Cloud will soon be generating a revenue of $8 billion annually, which is $2 billion per quarter. The executive also noted that YouTube channels with over one million subscribers grew by 75 percent year-over-year in the second quarter. According to Google, YouTube is still the second-biggest contributor to Alphabet's revenue growth.

“Our effort to build a more helpful Google for everyone brings countless opportunities to help users, partners, and enterprise customers every day. From improvements in core information products such as Search, Maps, and the Google Assistant, to new breakthroughs in AI and our growing Cloud and Hardware offerings, I’m incredibly excited by the momentum across Google’s businesses and the innovation that is fueling our growth,” Pichai added.

If you wish to know about all the topics that were discussed during the Alphabet Inc's Q2 earnings, you can watch the video below. To know more about the Google Pixel 3a, you can read Why should you buy Pixel 3a?.

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Nokia 82 may launch with Android Q, and have a 32MP pop-up camera

Nokia is gearing up to launch the Nokia 8.2 soon, according to recent reports. We do not have a release date yet but some of the key specifications have reportedly been leaked. Nokia 8.2 will be the successor to the Nokia 8.1 that was launched last year in India, and is selling at Rs 19,999 right now. The successor could reportedly sport a 32MP front camera, housed in a pop-up module.

The MySmartPrice report says that the Nokia 8.2 could include features such as a 32MP pop-up camera, 8GB RAM, 256GB of internal storage, and come loaded with Android Q. Hence, it is expected that the phone will be released anytime before the official roll-out of Android Q, which means we shouldn’t expect to hear anything official about Nokia 8.2 before the end of the year. Also, the rumours are very specific, with the mention of only one model - 8GB RAM and 256GB storage.

HMD Global has not followed the traditional smartphone naming strategy, instead, it has used numbers as a sliding scale. For example, the Nokia 1 and 2 are budget smartphones, Nokia 6, 7 and 8 are mid-rangers, whereas the Nokia 9 Pureview is a flagship smartphone. Their successors have been Nokia 2.1, Nokia 6.1, Nokia 7.1, and more. Hence, the Nokia 8.2 is expected to be a high-end mid-range device, and a successor to the Nokia 8.1.

There is not much information about the chipset that will power the Nokia 8.2. As reported by XDA Developers, “some say it will pick up where the Nokia 8.1 left off and opt for the Qualcomm Snapdragon 700 series (maybe even the rumored Snapdragon 735).”

The report also claims that Nokia is working on two 5G smartphones, so Nokia 8.2 could launch in a 5G variant as well. However, the information must be taken with a pinch of salt as nothing about the Nokia 8.2 is confirmed yet.

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Moto E6 with 55-inch Max Vision display, Snapdragon 435 chipset launched

Expanding its entry-level smartphone portfolio, Motorola has launched the Moto E6 in the US and Canada. The Lenovo-owned company has chosen to skip the slim-bezel/notched design and instead went ahead with the legacy phone design, that is, a considerable forehead and chin. The chin sports the Motorola branding and there is no fingerprint sensor. It ships with a 3.5mm jack and FM Radio feature.

Moto E6 specifications:

The Moto E6 sports a 5.5-inch HD+ IPS LCD display that delivers an 18:9 aspect ratio and 1440 x 720 pixel resolution. The selfie camera is located on the left side of the earpiece on the forehead. On the back is a single camera with an LED flash and a centrally-aligned batwing logo. The back panel has a P2i nano coating which is done to repel water and sweat.

Under the hood, the phone has an Octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 435 chipset clocked at 1.4GHz, which is paired with 2GB RAM and 16GB onboard storage (expandable up to 256GB). The company says that the phone is 50 percent faster than last year’s Moto E5. The phone houses a 3000 mAh removable battery with 5W charging, and runs on Android 9.0 Pie.

Additionally, the Moto E6 has Moto Experiences that are found in other motorola devices. These include turning the flashlight on with a simple chop-chop motion, and Screenshot Editor. New experiences also include Media Controls and One Button Nav, which were previously only on higher tier devices.

In the camera department, the Moto E6 has a fast-focusing 13MP rear sensor with 1.12um pixel pitch and a lens with a f/2.0 aperture. It is capable of shooting 1080p (30fps), 720p (30fps), Timelapse and Hyperlapse videos, and support digital zoom (up to 8x), burst shot, Auto HDR, portrait mode and Google Lens integration.The 5MP front sensor has the same pixel pitch and lens aperture as the rear camera. It can also shoot Timelapse videos.

Moto E6 Price and Availability

In the US, the Moto E6 will be available starting this summer with telecom carriers and universally unlocked on Amazon.com for $149.99 (approx Rs 10,300). Just like the US, the phone will be available in Canada starting this summer.

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Vivo Y90 goes official with 4030mAh battery, Helio A22 chipset, and more

Vivo has officially announced a new smartphone, the Vivo Y90. As expected, it is an entry-level smartphone. The company has launched Vivo Y90 in Pakistan at PKR 18,999 (roughly Rs. 8,100 in India). The smartphone features a matte finish-like back panel alongside a single rear camera. The key specifications of the phone include a MediaTek Helio A22 SoC, a waterdrop notch, an 8MP rear camera, and a 5MP selfie camera. However, the phone is expected to be launched in India soon, and it could cost around Rs 6,990. 

Vivo Y90 specifications

The Vivo Y90 features a 6.22-inch HD+ display, which has a resolution of 720x1520 pixels. The phone is powered by the Helio A22 chipset, paired with 2GB RAM. It has 32GB of onboard storage along with an option to expand further (up to 512GB) using a microSD card slot. The device runs Funtouch OS 4.5 based on Android 8.1 Oreo. 

In the optics department, the Vivo Y90 sports an 8MP rear camera with an f/2.0 aperture lens. It has a 5MP front camera with an f/1.8 aperture lens, which resides in the notch. Coming to the features of rear camera, it includes Palm Capture, Face Beauty, Professional, Voice Control, Time-Lapse, Slow, Time Watermark, and Model Watermark. On the other hand, the front camera has features like Palm Capture, Voice Control, Time Watermark, Selfie Lighting, Time Watermark, and Face Beauty. 

The Vivo Y90 packs a 4030 mAh battery. As for the connectivity options, the smartphone has Wi-Fi 2.4GHz, Bluetooth 5, Micro-USB port, GPS, USB OTG, 3.5mm audio jack, and more. The device also sports ambient light sensor, digital compass, accelerometer, gyroscope sensor, and proximity sensor. 

The smartphone also supports Face Unlock. It measures 155.11x75.09x8.28mm dimensions, and weighs 163.5 grams.

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WhatsApp Pay held up over privacy concerns, Govt fears payment data may be shared with Facebook and Instagram

WhatsApp’s payment feature went live last year for a limited few users. Using the UPI platform, WhatsApp allowed users to send and receive money from other users who also had the feature activated. India was also the first country where the payment service was introduced, but the service never really went mainstream. This is despite Uber, Google and Amazon integrating UPI payments in their respective platforms. While the initial set of users still have to option to send and receive money on the platform, the feature remained in beta with pending regulatory approvals.

Now, in the middle of 2019, WhatsApp’s global head, Will Cathcart is on his maiden visit to India and meeting government officials to get the required approvals to launch the service. In a press conference on Wednesday, he said the payments service would be rolled out to all WhatsApp users later this year. Does this mean the government has approved the serivce?

Back when WhatsApp announced the beta version of the payment service, the Supreme Court of India had asked WhatsApp to comply with RBI’s data localisation norms before launch with the lawyers representing WhatsApp promising the court that the norms will be complied with before launching the full version. The case dates back to August 2018. Back then, a petition was filed in the Supreme Court to ask WhatsApp to appoint a grievance officer in India and comply with India’s data storage laws where WhatsApp had to set up offices and store payment data locally in india.

In fact, around October 2018, WhatsApp did build a system to store data locally but it was later found out that the company was simply mirroring its databases in India, as in, it’s just storing just a copy of data in India, which the NPCI later said was not enough.

Paytm CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma also accused WhatsApp of flouting UPI rules and entering the market through unfair means and restricting the service to its own 200 million users. Later, NPCI, the regulatory body that oversees UPI transactions consented to a beta launch with 1 million users and a cap on the transaction limit.

Fast forward to July 2019, Indian authorities still haven’t approved the service for the messaging giant. According to a report by The Economic Times, the authorities are concerned that WhatsApp might share user’s payment information with its parent company Facebook and subsidiary Instagram, which will compromise user’s privacy and securuity by disclosing non-commercial information. However, a government official told ET that WhatsApp had said Facebook and other non-WhatsApp subsidiaries do not use the transaction data for any commercial purposes.

However, where it gets murkier is the fact that WhatsApp uses Facebook’s cloud service to store data and that the authorities deem it important that even non-commercial information not be collected and shared with Facebook and other platforms. With the Personal Data Protection Bill being debated, it’s important for the authorities to ensure companies don’t share user data with others or store sensitive information outside of the country’s borders.

WhatsApp’s global head is now meeting officials in PMO and Telecom and IT Ministry to convince the authorities that the data will remain secure and user privacy will be ensured. The report also states that WhatsApp officials have also told partners to remain on “high alert” for the past one month indicating that the service may be launched at any time.

As of now, WhatsApp needs a third-party auditor to validate the company’s stance that payment information will stored locally only on Indian servers, and as such, the company cannot give a definite timeline as to when the service will finally be launched in India.

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PUBG Mobile Lite launched in India, works on phones with less than 2GB RAM

After undergoing a testing period of about a year, PUBG Mobile Lite has finally been launched in India and is now available for download from the Google Play Store. The lighter version of the popular battle royale game is about 400MB in size and supports mobile devices with less than 2GB RAM. The developers, Tencent Games, claim to have designed the version keeping in mind the core idea of being able to play at any time, from anywhere, and on any device.

Built with Unreal Engine 4, PUBG Mobile Lite features a smaller map, which supports up to 60 players, as compared to the full version of the game, which supports up to 100 players. This also means faster matches, which last for about 10 minutes, while still being true to the 'PUBG-style' of play. “Keeping in mind that more than half of the smartphone users in India use an entry-level smartphone, the specifications that the LITE version of the game is designed to accommodate exactly that. New players joining in will be eligible for various rewards, in the form of new gears and vehicles,” the company said in a statement.

Key features on PUBG Mobile Lite

The lighter version of the game comes with some features that are claimed to make the mobile gaming experience similar to the original PUBG Mobile game. The features include:

Enhanced Aim Assist: There is a new auxiliary aim assist that is said to make aiming simpler and is useful when a user is playing in weak network environments. The intensity differs between the crawling and standing positions, thereby hopeing to simplify controls. 

Upgrade to ‘Winner Pass’: In the Lite version of the game, 'Winner Pass' replaces 'Royale Pass', and the company says that it will have much faster achievement unlocks. The pass will last a month, and users will be rewarded with new skins, new clothes, etc after they complete a task.

Bullet trail adjustment: PUBG Mobile Lite will feature increased bullet speed with no bullet drop effect. The developers say that this is done for taking a clearer shot, which is specially made to account for weak network environments.

Weapon recoil suppression: The adherence mechanism also suppresses the weapon recoil to a certain amount, which facilitates game control and makes for a better experience in weak networks. Different guns have different gun pressure effects, highlighting the different experience of each weapon.

Extended ‘Time to Kill’: The update will also appropriately increase the ‘Time to Kill’. This is aimed at enhancing players’ survivability during firefights and encouraging aggressive game play.

Location display: The map will expose a shooter within the mini-map’s range,. The developers say that this provides simplified battle info, thereby increasing battle speed.

Heal yourself while moving: Players will now be able to heal themselves in all stances except for when they are prone. This will be useful in high-latency conditions, where movement actions might inhibit the healing mechanic in game. The developers hope that this will help speed up the game pace and increase survivability.

Building areas/supplies optimisation: Complementing the smaller maps, building density and loot frequency has been increased to expedite the looting process and enhance the battle progression. The game will also feature optimised map quality and the parachute loading screen.

RPG and new firearm integration: With the Lite version, players will now get to experience a new weapon in selected game modes, allowing them a chance to form new attack and defense tactics.

We have tried installing the game on the Redmi Go smartphone, an Android Go-powered device with 1GB RAM. The game did manage to install and we even managed to win a Chicken Dinner. Stay tuned to know how our experience was. 

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