Highlights: Samsung Galaxy M10 could sports 6-inch display It is expected to have 3400mAh battery May have an option of choosing between 16GB and 32GB storage It’s January, and according to a previous report, Samsung will launch its new Galaxy M smartphone series this month. This claim is now further strengthened as one of the phones belonging to this series, the Galaxy M10 with model number SM-M105F/DS, has received FCC approval. It is understood that once a device gets the FCC certification, it is a given that it will launch in the US. The listing also reaffirms the details that are already known from rumours and reports. As per the listing, the Samsung Galaxy M10 has the 155.7 mm x 75.8 mm dimensions. The display size diagonal size is 153.2 mm, which roughly translates to 6.02 inches, and the overall screen size will be 165.5 mm, which corresponds to 6.5 inches. This could imply that the phone will come with bezel on top and a chin. According to the listing, the smartphone bears the model number SM-M105F, which is the same as the one found on Geekbench previously. The Nashville Chatter reports that the Samsung Galaxy M10 may have Exynos 7870 processor, coupled with a 3GB RAM and an option of choosing from two internal storage 16GB and 32GB. It is expected that the internal storage may be expanded to up to 64GB via a micro-SD slot. The phone is reported to run Android Oreo version 8.1. The same information was revealed by the Geekbench listing mentioning that the processor is clocked at 1.59GHz. The Galaxy M10 is also said to sport a Lithium-ion battery with the model number EB-BA750ABN. Reportedly, this is the same battery that was used in the recently released Samsung Galaxy A8s and its capacity could be 3,400 mAh. The phone is seen supporting Bluetooth 4.2 version and could come in Blue and Dark Grey hues. There is no information on the number and hardware of the cameras. It is expected that the Galaxy M10 will have a 13MP rear shooter and a 5MP selfie camera. The physical fingerprint sensor is expected to be on the back panel. A previous report suggested that Samsung is dissolving the J, On and the C series into one consolidated series. Another previous report said that Samsung could launch four phones under this new Galaxy M-Series: the Galaxy M10, M20, M30 and M40. These smartphones are expected to have large batteries, which could be the largest ever on any Samsung smartphone. “The launch of the M series in India, following months of R&D carried out by Samsung India, would be in line with the company's strategy to consolidate its position among the country's millennials,” a report said. These smartphones are said to sport Infinity-V displays up to 6.4 inches in size. Related Read: Samsung Galaxy M20 to use waterdrop notch Galaxy M30 spotted on Geekbench
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Key Highlights: NASA's OSIRIS-REx has reached its destination, asteroid Bennu OSIRIS-REx is currently orbiting the asteroid at an altitude of 1.75 kilometres Remember OSIRIS-REx? It’s NASA’s spacecraft that left Earth two years ago to explore Bennu, an asteroid believed to hold crucial information regarding our origin. When we checked its status in August last year, the spacecraft had begun taking its first photos of the asteroid when it was 2 million kilometres away. Now, OSIRIS-REx is closely orbiting the asteroid after a record-breaking manoeuvre. In the following months, we’ll learn more about the asteroid’s physical details. About an hour after we rung in the new year in India (December 31 at 2:43 PM EST), OSIRIS-REx executed a single, eight-second burn of its thrusters to put itself into a close orbit around Bennu. As it did that, OSIRIS-REx broke a space exploration record and made Bennu the smallest object ever to be orbited by a spacecraft. Currently circling the asteroid at a slow but steady pace, OSIRIS-REx finished its first orbit around the asteroid and marked “a leap for humankind”, remarks NASA in its news release. OSIRIS-REx will maintain a tight altitude of 1.75 kilometres from the asteroid’s centre, which is the closest any spacecraft has been to a celestial body since May 2016, when the Rosetta spacecraft orbited 7 kilometres from the centre of the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. According to NASA, this distance from Bennu is necessary to remain locked in orbit as the asteroid has a gravitational force only 5-millionths as strong as Earth’s. OSIRIS-REx is scheduled to orbit Bennu till mid-February at a relaxed 62 hours per orbit. “Our orbit design is highly dependent on Bennu’s physical properties, such as its mass and gravity field, which we didn’t know before we arrived,” commented Mike Moreau, OSIRIS-REx’s Flight Dynamics System Manager. With OSIRIS-REx closely orbiting the asteroid that’s 110 million kilometres away from us, NASA intends to improve its detailed models for Bennu’s gravity field, thermal properties, spin rate, and orientation using the information it can get. OSIRIS-REx is scheduled to bring back a sample of the asteroid back to Earth sometime in 2023. Cover image courtesy: NASA Related Read: All you need to know about Hayabusa 2 and OSIRIS-REx
Key Highlights: Three XIaomi Mi TV 4 variants have received permanent price cuts The 32-inch variants received a price cut thanks to a reduction in GST rates, effectively bringing down the price by up to Rs 2,000. Reduction in US Dollar exchange rate is also attributed as the reason for the price drop Xiaomi Mi TVs have received a price cut, making the smart TVs more affordable for buyers. The Mi LED Smart TV 4A 32-inch has received a Rs 1,500 price cut and will now be sold at Rs 12,499. The original price of the TV was Rs 13,999. Similarly, the Mi LED TV 4C PRO 32-inch got a Rs 2,000 price cut and will be sold at Rs 13,999, down from Rs 15,999. Also, the larger Mi LED TV 4A PRO 49-inch (review) will now retail at Rs 30,999 after a Rs 1,000 price cut from Rs 31,999. The price cuts have already gone into effect. Consumers will be able to buy the Mi TVs at the reduced prices across all platforms, including offline and online. The products have been updated with the new prices on mi.com. The company claimed that the exchange rate for the US Dollar coming down allowed Xiaomi to get a higher profit margin at a lower retail price. The drop in the recent GST rates from 28 percent to 18 percent is also attributed as the reason for the price drop. However, only TVs up to 32-inches got the GST rate cut. “We are thrilled to share this wonderful news with our Mi Fans. Mi TVs have gained massive love and popularity among Mi Fans and customers in India. Redefining smart TV experience, Mi TVs deliver high quality with great specs comprising of the customized PatchWall which integrates the best of content,” Raghu Reddy, head of categories and online sales, Xiaomi India said in a statement. Xiaomi also claimed that the competitive pricing of the smart TVs introduced in early 2018 was the reason for the company’s success in the TV market. According to the company, Xiaomi sold over a million Mi TVs in India ever since its launch. The company claims it’s now the number 1 smart TV brand in India. Related Links: Xiaomi India has shipped more than one million Mi TVs in last nine months Mi TV 4A Pro 49-inch Review Xiaomi Mi TV 4 Review
Highlights Microsoft Surface Go now available for Rs 38,995 on Flipkart Runs on Intel Pentium Gold 4415Y CPU Configurable with up to 8GB RAM and 128GB storage The Microsoft Surface Go is now available in India exclusively via Flipkart. The 2-in-1 computing device was originally launched in July of 2018, with a consequent announcement for the Indian market in December 2018. On January 2, the product finally went up for purchase and its starting price tag for the Windows tablet/computer in India is Rs 38,599. Flipkart had been accepting pre-bookings for the Surface Go for the last 2 weeks. The device is supposed to be Microsoft’s cheapest computing device, powered by an Intel Pentium Gold 4415Y CPU. It comes in multiple configurations, with up to 8GB RAM and up to 128GB of onboard storage. The 10-inch PixelSense display features a 3:2 aspect ratio with a resolution of 1800x1200 with support for 10-finger multi-touch. The display is protected by Gorilla Glass 3. Related Reads: Microsoft Surface Go First Impressions The base variant of the Surface Go, which costs Rs 38,599, comes with the same Intel Pentium Gold processor, but with 4GB RAM and 64GB of onboard storage. This configuration costs $399 (roughly Rs 28,000) in the U.S. but has a slight markup in India. This is most likely due to the import duties levied on the device, which is not manufactured here. The top-end configuration will cost you Rs 49,999 (8GB RAM, 128GB storage), while the same tablet will cost you $549 in the U.S. The Surface Go runs on Windows S, a much-locked down version of Windows. Microsoft offers a one-time upgrade to Windows 10 Pro, a one-way upgrade, free of cost for those who buy the tablet. Once upgraded to Windows 10 Pro, you will not be able to downgrade to Windows S. The Surface Go comes with support for Microsoft’s specially designed keyboard, Surface Connect and even the Surface Dial.
The year 2018 was completely jam-packed as there were a lot of mid-range, flagship and budget smartphones have been launched in India. It was a great year for smartphones enthusiasts as companies have done some major upgrades in their respective smartphones. We have seen premium features in the budget segment devices and powerful hardware in the mid-range segment smartphones. Display notch and a dual/triple rear cameras are something you would find almost in every other phone in the market even, which are under Rs 10,000. The expectations are high for the year 2019 as people are expecting something more or what they have never seen before. A lot of smartphones has already been confirmed by companies that are going to launch in January 2019, while some smartphones are rumored to come this month. Let’s take a look at some of the smartphones that are expected to appear in January 2019. Honor View 20 The Honor has been teasing it's “View 20” for a quite some time and said that it will be the world’s first smartphone to feature a 48MP sensor at the back accompanied with two other sensors. It is expected to sport a 6.4-inch full view display that will have a punch hole cut out at the front for a 25MP camera. The smartphone is expected to be powered by Huawei’s own Kirin 980 octa-core processor. The other features that would probably come in this smartphone are TOF 3D camera, 4000mAH battery with fast charging support. Huawei Nova 4 The Huawei Nova 4 has already been launched in China in December 2018. It is the first smartphone by the Chinese company that comes with an in-display front camera. The phone has a 48MP camera at the back with a 25MP sensor on the front. The device is powered by a Kirin 970 processor, which is coupled with 8GB RAM. The phone is launched in China at a price of 3,399 Yuan. The Lenovo Z5 Pro GT The Lenovo has already announced last month that the Z5 Pro GT will get launched in January 2019. However, it is not sure whether the phone will get released in India or not but it is expected to appear here very soon. The phone will be the world’s first device that will come with 12GB RAM. It will be powered by the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 processor as well. Xiaomi Redmi Pro 2 The company has promised to launch a phone with a 48MP sensor at the back early in the year 2019. The phone that has been teased by the company could be the Xiaomi Redmi Pro 2. However, it is not sure whether it is true or not? But if it is, then it can appear in January. Nokia 9 HMD’s Global upcoming smartphone “Nokia 9” is going to sport a Penta camera lens setup at the back in a Hexagon shape. It will the world’s first device to come with six sensors on the back. The phone may also feature an in-display fingerprint sensor.
In tandem with TRAI’s new regulatory framework for TV channels, major DTH operators have released new channel pack pricing and also the prices of individual channels. DIsh TV and Airtel Digital TV have published their revised rate list and cable TV distributors and multi-system operators (MSO) like Hathaway Cable, Siti Cable and Den Networks have also updated their channel packs. TRAI’s new framework for channel pricing is implemented to allow the subscriber to save money on channels they don’t watch. To that effect, channel broadcasters like Star, Viacom and Zee had announced the prices of their respective channels as well as channel groups. Taking it further, Airtel Digital TV and Dish TV have announced their channel prices. Dish TV has a list showing the price of every individual channel. The list contains a large number of free-to-watch channels, and also quite a few paid ones. TRAI had mandated that the Doordarshan channels be free-to-air, but it seems Dish TV is offering even some news and regional channels free of cost as well. Notably, the sports channels seem to fetch the highest premium followed by popular soap-opera channels. Furthermore, Dish TV also has different channel packs grouping popular channels from broadcasters. Packs like Times Bouquet 2 HD, Hindi HD Premium, Happy India HD, etc. are offered where every pack is from a specific broadcaster where earlier a 'bouquet' would have channels from multiple broadcasters. Airtel Digital TV too have an updated list of channel prices. Interestingly, there are fewer free channels on offer, or Airtel might not be listing them explicitly. Nevertheless, popular channels like Colors HD, Sony HD, Star Plus HD are priced at Rs 22.42, while sports channels like Star Sports 1 HD, Sony Ten 2 HD are priced at Rs 22.42 and Rs 20.06 respectively. While there doesn’t seem to be an option to buy channels in packs, Airtel might introduce them later. Hathaway Cable also listed various channels packs like “Mana Telegu” for Rs 275 and “Namma Kannada” for Rs 272 and more. Den Networks’ monthly plans lists channels from multiple broadcasters like SunTV Network, Disney and Discovery. Packs start from as low as Rs 4 and go up to Rs 145. Siti Cable's plans range from Rs 52 to Rs 166 for various channel packs. As per TRAI’s new rules, channel providers will have to charge Rs 130 to air over 100 free-to-air channels and the channels themselves will be chosen by the subscribers. Users have time till January 31 to select the channels they choose to watch. Till then, no service provider can disconnect any signal or feed to cable operators, according to a statement by TRAI.
