Google Play Releases 'Best of 2018' Apps, Books, Games, Music, Movies, TV Shows

PUBG Mobile has emerged as the User's Choice game on Google Play this year, while Google Pay has become the User's Choice app in India.

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Apples discounted iPhone battery replacement program ends on December 31, 2018

Apple landed in hot water last year when it hid the fact of deliberate performance throttling on iPhones with degraded batteries. In order to make up for it, the company announced a battery replacement program, under which the degraded batteries on such handsets could be replaced at considerably lowered costs. To recall, Apple is charging Rs 2,000 instead of the usual Rs 8,200 for replacing the batteries inside the iPhone 6, iPhone 6s, iPhone SE, iPhone 7 and the iPhone 7 Plus. This discounted pricing, however, is valid only till December 31, 2018. This is probably the best time for affected users to get their iPhone battery replaced. Do note that battery service at the reduced pricing may be limited to one repair per iPhone and if you have already sent your unit for service, you could be charged.  MacRumours dropped the reminder on the soon-to-be-over discounted battery-replacement program. To recall, back in December last year, Apple received a lot of flak when iPhone users found out about the company's deliberate slowing down of older iPhones. “We've been hearing feedback from our customers about the way we handle performance for iPhones with older batteries and how we have communicated that process. We know that some of you feel Apple has let you down. We apologize,” the company wrote on its website. Apple said that it was doing so to provide a better user experience at the cost of reduced performance. You can read more about that story here.  Apple also introduced Performance Management feature with its iOS 12.1 update. The option is integrated with the software and enables users to lower the performance of their phone in case the battery has deteriorated beyond a point. This is so that users who have degraded batteries on their phone can turn the feature on and not have their phones switch off unexpectedly. Apple had earlier said that future iPhones would not need this feature, but it seems like it does not want to take any chances. The Performance Management feature was rolled out to iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus and the iPhone X.

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PUBG Mobile Arabic client, Middle East servers coming soon

There's good news for PUBG Mobile players in the Middle East as the developers of the game have announced that Arabic client of PUBG MOBILE is coming, along with Middle Eastern servers. The accompanying tweet also showed a screenshot of the game’s main menu with the Arabic language, which should be helpful for players who aren’t fluent in languages other than Arabic. The inclusion of Middle Eastern servers should also ensure that Arabic-speaking players enjoy playing with other players who speak their own language, rather than be paired with those from different parts of the world. Further, it should allow these players to enjoy better speeds. Currently, PUBG Mobile is available across five regions namely, North America, Europe, Asia, South America and Korea/Japan. It should be noted that the developers have not yet given an exact date on when the Arabic client, or the Middle East servers will go live Further, the screenshot also shows a unique clothing option, which suggests that the launch of the new Arabic client will also include clothing options associated with the region. Releasing traditional clothing options is not new with PUBG Mobile as the developers launched the Kurta Pyjama clothing option around the festival of Diwali.   PUBG Mobile also recently ended the first PUBG Mobile Star Global Challenge, which was held in Dubai. With the popularity of PUBG Mobile on the rise, it makes sense for the developers to cater more people from all across the globe.    You asked for it, we listened. Arabic client of PUBG MOBILE is coming, as well as Middle Eastern servers! pic.twitter.com/HdPCnNDoYw — PUBG MOBILE (@PUBGMOBILE) December 1, 2018    

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OnePlus announces intent to build largest global R&D facility in Hyderabad, Experience Store coming in tow

OnePlus has announced its plans of opening a Research and Development (R&D) facility in Hyderabad, India. While operations at the facility will begin sometime in Q1 2019, the company also aims to make it the biggest OnePlus R&D centre globally in three years. According to OnePlus, the new research centre will play a crucial role in developing Artificial Intelligence and Machine learning for the company’s products. Additionally, users can expect a new Experience Store to open up in Hyderabad as, according to the company, it is one of the fastest growing markets for the OnePlus. OnePlus is also in the process of further expanding its offline presence in the city as there’s already a OnePlus Exclusive Service Centre in the city, and its products are available in retail outlets like Croma and Reliance Digital.  “In three years, we plan to grow the new R&D centre in Hyderabad into our biggest globally. We plan to re-focus our R&D efforts on a large scale and drive innovations in India for the global product, especially on the software side with special emphasis on Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning,” Pete Lau, Founder and CEO of OnePlus stated in a press statement. The smartphone manufacturer states that it calculated several factors before choosing Hyderabad as the location for its R&D centre. The city being an active hub for startups is one of the primary reasons.  The new OnePlus R&D facility is said to play a crucial role for the company in its journey towards adopting the Indian market as its home ground. In a statement, OnePlus says that it is committed towards achieving long-term growth in the country and the new R&D centre is meant to aid the company in diving deeper into the ‘Make in India’ strategy. The new facility is also said to help provide job opportunities to fresh graduates as OnePlus initiates the campus hiring program at various universities this year, some of them being IIT Delhi and IIT Mumbai. OnePlus last launched its OnePlus 6T (review) smartphone in India and it’s speculated to soon announced a  McLaren Edition of the device.  A report suggests that the upcoming device might feature 10GB RAM with 256GB of internal storage. The smartphone is expected to first launch in Woking, London on December 11, followed by an Indian launch in Mumbai on December 12. If the report is to be believed, OnePlus will join the fray of smartphone companies that have tied up with automobile manufacturers for releasing special edition of their devices. Huawei also did the same with its recently announced Huawei Mate 20 Porsche Edition phone, while Oppo has a Lamborghini Edition of its Find X smartphone.

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The Elder Scrolls Blades for iOS and Android Delayed to 2019

The Elder Scrolls: Blades release date has been pushed back to 2019. Bethesda announced the news of a delay on Twitter late last week.

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Oppo R17 alleged to be the fasted charging phone ahead of December 4 India launch, achieves 92 charge in 30 minutes

Bundling a fast charger and/or fast charging technology is one of the stand-out features that smartphone manufacturers are offering to people who are always on the move. Carrying a power bank is slowly becoming obsolete because people now have a technology with which they can charge their phones enough to get going. But if you have the Oppo R17, you may feel that you are ahead of the curve because a test has showed that Oppo’s SuperVOOC 50W fast charging tech can charge the Oppo r17 Pro to 92 percent in just 30 minutes, making it the fastest charging phone in the market. According to a report in Gizmochina, the Oppo R17 was pitted against 59 other smartphones and came out on top beating the second best by nine percentage points. The second runner-up is the Honor Magic 2 with 83 percent of battery charge in the same time. The Honor Magic 2 is equipped with a 3500 mAh battery with 40W of fast charging. The Meizu Pro 7 Plus and the Oppo R11 stood at the third and fourth positions respectively, with 66 percent charge.  Generally, most of the fast charging is done in the first half an hour, and then the charging speed dips. Oppo’s sister companies Vivo (VOOC) and OnePlus (Dash Charging) couldn’t grab any of the first five spots but one phone from each made it to the top 10 list. While, Vivo’s X21 that ships with a 3200mAh battery, listed on the sixth spot. The OnePlus 5T with a 3300mAh battery pack grabbed the 8th place in the list. The Mi Mix 3 is the only device from Xiaomi which managed to gain the 15th spot with 56 percent charge. Overall, the list shows that Chinese manufacturers are way ahead of other OEMs in providing fast charging solutions. Oppo R17 Pro coming to India on December 4 Oppo has already announced that it will unveil the R17 Pro on December 4 in India. The phone was first launched in China back in August. The R17 Pro features a new Fog Gradient design on the back that shifts from Deep Blue to Purple in the Radiant Mist colour option. There is also an Emerald Green colour variant of the phone, however it is unclear if both colours will make their way to the country. In terms of specs, the Oppo R17 Pro features a 6.4-inch Full HD+ AMOLED display with a 2340X1080p resolution and a 19:9 aspect ratio. There is a “Waterdrop” notch on the display which allows the device to achieve a 91.5 percent screen-to-body ratio. The display is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 6. There is an in-display fingerprint sensor on the phone and Oppo claims it can unlock the smartphone in just 0.41 seconds. The R17 Pro is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 710 SoC (Dual 2.2GHz Kryo 360 + Hexa 1.7GHz Kryo 360 CPUs) with Adreno 616 GPU. It is available internationally in a single 8GB RAM + 128GB storage variant and it runs on ColorOS 5.2 based on Android 8.1 (Oreo). Oppo R17 Pro incorporates a dual-camera system on the back and a single shooter in the front. The primary 12MP rear camera comes with variable aperture (f/1.5 and f/2.4) that switches depending on the light. The secondary 20MP camera helps in capturing depth information in portrait shots.

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Google Hangouts wont shut down, users will be upgraded to Hangouts Chat and Meet

A recent report by 9to5Google suggested that Google could soon shut shop for its Hangouts service by 2020. This has been deemed incorrect by Google Real Time Communications' Product Lead Scott Johnston on Twitter. Hangouts, in a sense, is not going away as users will be getting an upgrade to Hangouts Chat and Hangouts Meet. Additionally, Johnston says that no decisions have been made about when Hangouts will be shut down. In a reply to his tweet, Johnston also said that since Google Hangout users will be migrated to Chat and Meet, the current service will eventually be shut down. “It doesn't imply we are ending support for the use case supported by the product: messaging and meetings,” Johnston added. Hangouts Chat and Meet services are available only for G Suite enterprise users and it remains to be seen how the company will transition regular Google account holders that are using Hangouts. To recall, Hangouts was introduced by Google back in 2014 and it took over the company's previous messaging services like Talk and Messenger. In 2015, Google introduced a standalone website for the service, which negated the need for installation of any additional plugin.  2/ So while that will result in the eventual shut down of Hangouts classic (as we now call it), it doesn't imply we are ending support for the use case supported by the product: messaging and meetings. — Scott Johnston (@happyinwater) December 1, 2018 Earlier this year, Google announced that it's Smart Reply feature will soon be rolled out for Hangouts. The feature generates automated replies by analysing the context of a conversation. Alongside the announcement, Google said that the Smart Reply feature powers more than 10 percent of email replies. The news of Hangouts evolving into Meet and Chat comes just a couple of months after the company announced it's shutting down Google+ for consumers following security concerns. The Mountain View-based company found a bug that granted developers access to users’ Profile data, and the public Profile information of their friends. Additionally, it found limited engagement on the platform and as a result of these findings, the company has decided to shut down Google+ for consumers.

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