WhatsApp is rolling out a new feature that will enable users to reply privately to other participants in a group. The new feature is currently available for beta participants and with the app version 2.18.355. Those who have the updated version will be able to long press a message in any group and select the option from the overflow menu that’s on the upper right corner. Tapping on the Private Reply option, after selecting someone’s message in a group, takes you directly to the sender’s personal chat window. The message that was selected will open as a reply and one can go ahead to send a message. This new feature can be expected to be made available for everyone soon. WhatsApp recently also added Stickers and it is enabled with the 2.18.329 version on Android and the version 2.18.100 on iOS. One can access Stickers from beside the Gif and Emoji tab and there is also a Stickers store from where more sticker packs can be downloaded to the app. Stickers can also be starred and added to favourites for faster access and when more than one sticker is sent, they can be deleted or forwarded and similar to images, are also grouped together. WhatsApp was also reportedly working on a new security feature for its iOS app. It could soon introduce both Touch ID and Face ID to lock and unlock the messaging app. It is said to be currently in an early alpha stage of testing and needs many improvements before being made available to everyone. As per the report, some iOS users can see the new feature with the latest version of WhatsApp on their iPhones but it won’t be enabled since the feature is under development. Facebook also recently added some new features to Instagram, enabling users to video chat concurrently with six people in DMs. The video chat feature was initially rolled out for the image sharing social media platform in June this year and is available in Direct Messages inbox. There is also Picture-in-Picture (PiP) mode support that enables a user to keep using the app while on a video chat. You can learn more about video group calling on Instagram here.
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Having been a reasonably content user of BlackBerry smartphones many years ago (the popular Curve 8520 included), I feel a certain rush of nostalgia strike me when I see the new BlackBerry KEY2 LE. Wh...
Flipkart is back with its third festive sale in the span of around a month. This sale will run from November 1 to November 5. The e-commerce giant has deals and offers across all major product categories that includes smartphones, TVs, large appliances and more. Flipkart has also tied up with SBI Bank and offering up to 10% additional discount to buyers on making payment through the bank’s credit card. So, let’s take a look at the best deals that are currently live on the first day of the Flipkart Big Diwali Sale. iFFALCON Certified Android 55-inch UHD 4K LED Smart TV Price: Rs 45,999 Sale price: Rs 41,999 The iFFALCON 55-inch UHD 4K LED Smart TV offers a resolution of 3840 x 2160 pixels with a panel size of 55-inches. The TV comes with features like HDR, Dolby Audio and more. With the 10% discount applied when using a SBI Band credit card, buyers can get this TV for as low as Rs 38,000 (appx). View deal here. Mi LED Smart TV 4A Price: Rs 21,999 Sale price: Rs 19,999 (including bank discount) The Mi LED Smart TV 4A offers a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels. The smart TV allows you to download and watch movies, TV shows via apps like Hotstar, Voot and more. If you have a SBI card then you can get this TV for Rs 19,999 (appx) during the sale period. View deal here. iFFALCON F2 40-inch Full HD LED Smart TV Price: Rs 23,990 Sale price: Rs 15,990 The iFFALCON F2 40-inch FHD LED Smart TV features an A+ grade panel and comes with a Micro Dimming function, which adjusts the brightness and darkness levels in a picture separately by automatically analysing the content. During the sale, you can get this TV for as low as Rs 14,500 (appx). View deal here. Samsung On Smart 49-inch Full HD LED Smart TV Price: Rs 74,900 Sale price: Rs 45,999 The Samsung On Smart TV comes with a screen mirroring function that allows you to watch the content of your smartphone on a bigger screen. You can buy this TV for Rs 45,999 during the sale. View deal here. Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 Pro Price: Rs 14,999 Sale price: Rs 12,999 The Redmi Note 5 Pro sports a 5.99-inch FHD display that offers a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels. The device is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 636 octa-core processor, which is paired with 4GB RAM and 64GB internal memory. During the sale, one can get this smartphone for as low as Rs 11,700 (appx). View deal here. Whirlpool 245L Frost Free Double Door Refrigerator Price: Rs 20,230 Sale price: Rs 16,240 (including bank discount) The Whirlpool 245L Frost Free Double Door Refrigerator comes with the company's 6th Sense Deep Freeze technology, which and ensures that the refrigerator uses the minimal amounts of energy. It has MicroBlock technology as well that eliminates up to 99.9% bacteria. Further, users do not need to attach a separate stabilizer with the fridge. users can get this product for Rs 16,240 (appx) when availing the SBI discount. View deal here. Sennheiser PXC 550 Bluetooth Headset Price: 29,999 Sale price: 17,499 The Sennheiser PXC 550 is a wireless over-the-ear noise-cancelling headphone. The headphone comes with a touchpad for adjusting the volume and changing audio tracks. The headphone feature a swivel ear cup design that means you can fold the headphone and store it easily. View deal here. Acer Nitro 5 Price: Rs 79,999 Sale price: Rs 51,990 The Acer Nitro 5 is a gaming laptop that is powered by an AMD Ryzen 5 quad-core processor, which is paired with 8GB RAM and 1TB hard drive. During this sale, the laptop is available for Rs 51,990. View deal here.
Today, Paytm Mall is offering up to Rs 20,000 cash back on TVs and other large appliances. In this lister, we have added the best deals Paytm Mall has on TVs from brands like Sony, LG, Vu and more. Sony 43-inch Full HD Smart LED TV Price: Rs 56,900 Deal price: Rs 42,547 (inclusive of cashback) The Sony 43-inch Full HD Smart LED TV offers a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels. The TV also gives users the option to give commands using their voice. View deal here. LG 43-inch Ultra HD LED Smart TV Price: Rs 66,990 Deal price: Rs 42,492 (inclusive of cashback) The LG 43-inch UHD LED Smart TV offers a resolution of 3840 x 2160 pixels. It has built-in Wi-Fi and offers Bluetooth connectivity, letting users connect a speaker or headphone to the TV directly. View deal here. CloudWalker 55-inch FHD Smart TV Price: Rs 61,990 Deal price: Rs 33,471 (inclusive of cashback) The CloudWalker 55-inch FHD Smart TV offers a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels. As it is a smart TV, one can also download and watch content from apps like Netflix, Youtube, and more. View deal here. Vu 43-inch 4K Ultra HD Smart LED TV Price: Rs 41,000 Deal price: Rs 28,923 (inclusive of cashback) The Vu 43-inch 4K UHD Smart LED TV has built-in Wi-Fi for streaming music & videos from apps like Youtube, Hotstar, Voot and more. It is equipped with multiple HDMI and USB ports as well to connect external devices. View deal here. Kodak 32-inch HD Ready Smart LED TV Price: Rs 20,990 Deal price: Rs 14,275 (inclusive of cashback) The Kodak 32-inch HD Ready Smart LED TV offers a resolution of 1366 x 768 pixels. The smart TV features built-in Wi-Fi, that allows you to access and download apps on TV such as Netflix, Hotstar and more. View deal here. TCL 55-inch 4K Ultra HD Smart LED TV Price: Rs 89,990 Deal price: Rs 58,773 (inclusive of cashback) The TCL 55-inch 4K UHD Smart LED TV offers a resolution of 3840 x 2160 pixels and comes with a panel size of 55-inches. With built-in Wi-Fi, one can also download apps and stream movies, TV shows and video on TV. View deal here. LG 43-inch Full HD Smart LED TV Price: Rs 54,990 Deal price: Rs 39,248 (inclusive of cashback) The LG 43-inch Full HD Smart LED TV comes with a full HD display that offers a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels. This smart TV allows you to watch videos and movies of your smartphone on the bigger screen via Miracast. You can also download apps and stream movies, shows on the TV. View deal here. Sony 49-inch Full HD Smart LED TV Price: Rs 89,990 Deal price: Rs 61,519 (inclusive of cashback) The Sony 49-inch Full HD Smart LED TV offers the same features as the Sony 43-inch TV that I have mentioned earlier in the list. It comes with a panel size of 49-inches and offers a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels. View deal here.
The guys behind PUBG Mobile decided to celebrate Halloween in a very special way by holding a special event at New York City’s Times Square. The event saw a giant mockup of an airdrop crate as well as a car decked out in the new Halloween themed livery. There was also a small contest running. People were invited to come over and scream at their mobile devices in order to kill zombies. The person who got the high score won a Samsung Galaxy S9 smartphone, where everyone who participated also got to win a prize, which could be collected from the giant airdrop crate. Considering how popular PUBG Mobile is in India, it would be quite cool if something similar would happen somewhere in India as well, especially considering the fact that the festival of Diwali is just around the corner. The developers of the game have already acknowledged Indian fans in a way by adding a kurta pyjama clothing item and holding a Diwali Dhamaka Sale on in-game items. However, it should be noted that the items can only be purchased using the in-game currency, UC, which itself can only be bought using real-world money. There was also a PUBG Mobile Campus Championship 2018 tournament held in India that concluded a couple of weeks back. The tournament was open to students from over 1,000 colleges across 30 cities. The developer of the game, Tencent, also claimed that it received 250,000 registrations over the span of a month. The finals were held in Bangalore, and at the end, it was team ‘The Terrifying Nightmares’ that won the tournament and took home a cash prize of Rs 15,00,000. Considering the fact that the Indian cricket team was possibly playing PUBG Mobile while waiting for departure. It wouldn’t be a too much of a leap to say that the game has become a bit off a phenomenon in India. Hopefully, Tencent heed this and continue to cater to its fans in the country. This is what happens when we airdrop into Times Square in New York City for one day only! #airdrop4life #HappyHalloween #playpubgmobile pic.twitter.com/oUkbnYaW6A — PUBG MOBILE (@PUBGMOBILE) October 31, 2018 As we wait for the departure announcement from Mumbai, some of them are playing a very popular multiplayer game. #TeamIndia Any guesses? pic.twitter.com/Y1n8AdHxhn — BCCI (@BCCI) October 30, 2018 
Huawei’s sub-brand Honor has launched its second smartphone in the Magic series, the Honor Magic 2, in China. The smartphone houses three cameras cameras on the front and three cameras on the back, making a total of six cameras on a smartphone. The smartphone has a sliding mechanism and the front cameras are revealed by sliding the display down. The same mechanism has been seen in the Mi Mix 3 smartphone. The smartphone also gets the company’s own Artificial Intelligence-powered digital assistant Yoyo. The smartphone is launched in three variants. The 6GB RAM + 128GB variant is priced at 3799 yuan (approx Rs 40,300), the 6GB RAM + 128GB variant will be available for 4299 yuan (approx Rs 45,600) and the 8GB RAM + 128GB variant will cost 4799 yuan (approx Rs 51,000). It will be available in three colours Gradient Red, Gradient Blue and Gradient Black. Honor Magic 2 specs and features Honor Magic 2 sports a 6.39-inch AMOLED display with a screen-to-body ratio of 91.5 percent and a 2140×1080 pixel resolution. The smartphone runs on Kirin 980 chipset which its parent company Huawei launched at 2018 IFA and with that, the Honor Magic 2 becomes the second phone with the flagship SoC. As mentioned above, the smartphone is offered in three configurations, which are, 6GB RAM + 128GB, 6GB RAM + 128GB and 8GB RAM + 128GB variants. The security options include an in-display fingerprint scanner and an infrared 3D face unlock. The handset comes with a total of six cameras with three cameras each on the front and the back. On the back panel, the cameras are vertically aligned in the Huawei P20 Pro fashion with a 16MP RGB lens with f/1.8 aperture, a 24MP Monochrome lens with f/1.8 aperture, and a 16MP super wide-angle lens with f/2.2 aperture. The front horizontal front camera module has a 16MP selfie camera with f/2.0 aperture, and two 2MP depth-sensing lenses with f/2.4 aperture each. The smartphone runs on Magic UI 2.0 which is built on top of Android Pie 9.0 and is backed by a 3400mAh battery. Honor Magic 2 supports 40W fast charging, called ‘Magic Charge’ and the company claims that it can charge the device from zero to 85 percent in 30 minutes. Apart from the smartphone, the company also launched Honor Waterplay 8 tablet, Honor Watch Magic and a two Honor FlyPods models. Honor Waterplay 8 The Honor Waterplay 8 tablet sports. It sports an 8-inch full-HD display with 1200x1920 pixels resolution and 74.13 percent screen-to-body ratio. Under the hood, the tablet is powered by the Kirin 659 processor, paired with Mali T830-MP2 GPU and 4GB RAM with up to 128GB local storage. In the camera department, the Honor Waterplay 8 features a dual-rear camera setup with 13MP and 5MP sensors and on the front, it has an 8MP camera with f/2.0 aperture. The tablet runs on Android 8.0 Oreo-based EMUI 8.0 and packs a 5,100mAh battery with 9V/2A fast charging support. When it comes to the price, the 4GB+64GB Wi-Fi is priced at Rs 1,499 yuan (approx Rs 16,000), 4GB+64GB LTE variant will be available for 1,799 yuan (approx Rs 19,000), and the 4GB+128GB Wi-Fi variant will cost 1,899 yuan (approx Rs. 20,000),. Honor Watch Magic The Honor Watch Magic ships with a 1.2-inch AMOLED display with 390x390 pixels resolution. The smartwatch has a heart rate sensor, packs a 178mAh battery and supports devices with Android (version 4.4 or above) and iOS (version 9 or later). The Honor Watch Magic comes in two colours: Lava Black and Midnight Silver. The Lava Black model will cost customers 899 yuan (approx Rs 9,500) and the Midnight Silver variant is priced at 999 yuan (approx Rs 10,500). Honor FlyPods Honor has also launched new a pair of FlyPods and the FlyPods Pro -- company’s wireless earbuds that look similar to Apple's AirPods. Both come with touch controls and have a 420mAh battery and can either be charged via a USB-C port or wirelessly, but only the FlyPods Pro comes with Honor's BoneID technology which the company claims can allow users to use voice recognition and 'bone sound pattern' recognition as biometric authentication to unlock the smartphone. The FlyPods are currently available for preorder in China. The FlyPods cost 799 yuan (approx Rs 8,400) and the FlyPods Pro are priced at 999 yuan (approx Rs 10,500) and will go on sale from November 6 three colours: Charm Red, Lily of the Valley and Robin Blue.
2018’s smartphone story can be divided in two parts. The first part where OEMs worked to put the notch on top of the display and then the sequel where they worked to remove it. In the second half of this year, we’ve seen efforts from Vivo, Oppo, Xiaomi and Honor to remove the notch they so gladly put in phones that launched in the first half. The workaround all of them chose is to make the front camera mechanical. Now Nubia, another Chinese smartphone maker has come up another ingenious way to remove the notch — Add another display at the back to take see your selfies in action. The Nubia X that launched Wednesday in China comes with two touchscreen displays, one at the back and another up front. The flagship phone from Nubia is essentially a selfie smartphone, but without a front camera. It houses two sensors at the back — A f/1.8 aperture 16-megapixel sensor and another 1/.7 aperture 24-megapixel camera. The two cameras work in tandem to capture portrait shots and has AI scene recognition, dual pixel PDAF and 240 fps slow-motion video capture. There’s also a dual-tone LED flash and another soft-light LED flash for selfies. The rear display doubles up as a viewfinder when taking selfies. It’s a 5.1-inch OLED display with a resolution of 1520x720 pixels that sits flushed to the body. On the front, there’s a 6.26-inch FHD+ LCD panel that stretches almost to the edges. The phone is powered by the flagship Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 SoC coupled with up to 8GB RAM and 256GB storage. There are lower RAM and storage variants as well, and will be available in Deep Gray, Black Gold and Sea Blue colours. The second display at the back can also work as your primary screen. There are two capacitive fingerprint sensors on each side bezel that double up as your home and back button. Needless to say, using this phone will require new muscle memory. You’ll need to tap on each fingerprint sensor to switch screens, or let the phone’s behaviour recognition software to do it for you automatically. The rear panel can also be used as additional buttons while playing a game. Although how practical that will be remains to be seen. Remember the PS Vita also had touch-based controls at the back, but it never really took off. The Nubia X also has a software-based three-level blue light filter which is certified by TUV Rheinland on the OLED panel which could be a primary reason to switch to the panel at the back. The blue colour variants of the smartphone also come with a physical blue light filter integrated in the rear display and are a little more expensive. When not using the display at the back, it can be set to be an always-on panel and you can either have a clock, or a live wallpaper at the back. All in all, the implementation, on paper, looks neat, perhaps a tad over-engineered. All that screen will surely need a lot of juice to last the day. Nubia installed a 3,800mAh battery with Quick Charge 3.0 that tops up the battery with a bundled 18W fast charger. Nubia claims the phone has a ultra-low power mode that kicks in when the battery is at 5 percent and can last the phone for 3 hours more. The phone will only be available in China for now with no plans whatsoever for a global launch. It also comes with Android 8.1 Oreo even when phones are already releasing with Android 9.0 Pie out of the box. The base 6GB+128GB variant will retail for 3,299 Yuan (Rs 35,000 approx) while the 8GB+128GB variant will be available for 3,699 Yuan (Rs 39,000 approx). The top of the line 8GB+256GB variant will be sold for 4,199 Yuan (Rs 44,500 approx). All the variants are offered in blue colours that will cost 100 Yuan more because of the physical blue-light filter. Now that’s a smartphone I’d like to review.
