Highlights: Realme will run the ‘You and Realme Days' campaign from February 4 - 7. The company will list “exciting offers” on its devices on Flipkart, Amazon.in and Realme.com. Realme has announced its ‘You & Realme Days’ valentine days campaign, under which it will announce ‘exciting offers’ on its device Flipkart, Amazon.in and Realme.com. The ones who buy the company’s devices during the campaign period from Realme.com will get to avail a 15 percent discount when they use MobiKwik to make their purchase. The sale will go on from February 4 till February 7 and one will get to avail varying offers on differing themes, each day of the campaign. On day 1, February 4, the company will run its “Love for Selfies” campaign under which it will offer Realme Buds free to those who purchase the Realme U1 smartphone. The offer will only be valid for users who buy the phone on the said day at 12:00 PM, 3:00 PM and 6:00 PM sales. The company says that this is a limited stock offer that will be applicable till stocks last. On February 5, the company will run the “Love for Entertainment” campaign under which one will get Movie Vouchers worth Rs 500. These vouchers will be given away randomly to Realme C1 (2019) buyers via a lucky draw on February 8 and as the previous offer, this campaign will be valid when one buys the phone on February 5. The “Love for Games” campaign will be held on February 6. Select customers who purchase the Realme 2 Pro on this day will receive free Google Play Vouchers worth Rs 500. Winners of this offer will be decided via a lucky draw on February 8. The company will host a “Love for Travel” campaign on February 7, under which customers will get Realme Buds for free with the purchase of Realme Tech Backpacks. Same as the first campaign on Feb 4, one needs to buy the backpacks at 12:00 PM, 3:00 PM or 6:00 PM on February 7. This too is said to be a limited stock offer. The company is hosting some extended range of offers during this campaign on Amazon.in and Flipkart. The offers include a Rs 1,000 discount on the Realme U1 phone on Amazon. The Realme 2 is now on open sale with a 30 Days Exchange Plan at Rs 1 on Flipkart and on the same platform, one can buy the Realme 2 Pro with Rs 1,000 discount and avail Rs 1,000 extra off on exchange. The newly launched Realme C1 (2019) will go on sale on February 5 at 12 PM via Flipkart and Realme.com and the company is offering a Rs 600 off on it when one uses Axis bank credit or debit card to purchase the phone. Related Reads: Realme U1 review Realme 2 Pro running Android 9 Pie spotted on Geekbench
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Highlights: Apple will push out a fix for the 'eavesdropping' bug on Group FaceTime only next week Apple apologised to its users in a statement to 9to5Mac Apple sure has landed itself in hot water over the eavesdropping bug on FaceTime, for which a fix is expected only next week. In a statement to 9to5Mac, Apple said that it had fixed the Group FaceTime bug on its servers but would release the update to re-enable the feature only next week. The trouble all started for the Cupertino-based technology giant when a family in Tucson, Arizona discovered a bug that allowed FaceTime callers to eavesdrop on their recipients when there was no response. "We have fixed the Group FaceTime security bug on Apple’s servers and we will issue a software update to re-enable the feature for users next week. We thank the Thompson family for reporting the bug. We sincerely apologize to our customers who were affected and all who were concerned about this security issue. We appreciate everyone’s patience as we complete this process," Apple responded to 9to5Mac in a statement about the bug yesterday. Michele Thompson of the Thompson family is presently suing Apple for allowing a caller to listen in on her private conversation with a client. You can read more about the lawsuit here. Hoping to appease and reassure its customers, Apple added in its statement to 9to5Mac, "We want to assure our customers that as soon as our engineering team became aware of the details necessary to reproduce the bug, they quickly disabled Group FaceTime and began work on the fix. We are committed to improving the process by which we receive and escalate these reports, in order to get them to the right people as fast as possible. We take the security of our products extremely seriously and we are committed to continuing to earn the trust Apple customers place in us." Though Apple has promised to roll out a patch for Group FaceTime bug next week, users online feel it's already case of too little, too late. We won't be the least bit surprised if FaceTime users feel more hesitant to use the feature after getting word of Apple's recent fiasco. Apple introduced Group FaceTime in October 2018 as a feature baked into iOS 12.1 for iPhones and iPads. Using the feature, up to 32 users can join the same video call at any given time. iOS 12.1 also introduced ringless notification and seventy new emojis. Related Read: Apple FaceTime bug lets you listen in on people even if they don't pick up the call
Highlights: Energizer to unveil 26 new phones at MWC 2019. The company is also working on a handset with foldable display, one with 18000mAh battery and pop-up cameras. The smartphone brand Energizer is known for making devices with humongous batteries. Last year at MWC, it unveiled a phone with 16000mAh battery and it now says that during the upcoming Mobile World Congress 2019, it will showcase 26 new smartphones. Yes, you read that right. The company will unveil 26 new phones and among them will be handsets with pop-up cameras, 18000mAh battery and foldable displays. As per GizChina, the company will debut phones from its Ultimate, Energy, Hardcase and Power Max series. While the Energy branded phones by the company are said to be meant for everyday use, Hardcase phones would be rugged, waterproof handsets. The Power Max line will feature phones with high battery capacity, over 4000mAh, while the Ultimate series of phones will consist of the company’s premium lineup. “By offering high-performance, quality phones at affordable prices, we are responding to the growing demand for entry-level and mid-range smartphones. In particular, this market positioning lets us focus on catering to regions of the world experiencing rapid growth, where demand for these kinds of products is high, and which represent a strategic path for our development” says Jean-Daniel Beurnier, CEO of Avenir Telecom. “The release of a fourth line of elegant, innovative and reasonably-priced smartphones broadens the catalogue of products that we can offer our partners, which in turn will allow them to satisfy the demands of consumers in their local regions.” While the company has not unveiled the specifications of all of its upcoming handsets, in a media release, it did give out some details on the Energizer Ultimate lineup. The Ultimate U620S smartphone will feature four cameras, three on the back with 16MP + 2MP + 0.2MP sensor configuration and a 16 MP sensor on the front. The Ultimate U570S and the U650S will feature 16 MP + 2 MP cameras on the back that will support Live Focus, Filters, Panorama and Beauty Face modes. The phones get a 16 MP front camera. The new range of Energizer Ultimate phones will feature different models that will come equipped with batteries ranging from 3000 to 4000 mAh, along with a USB-C port for charging. The phones will be powered by MediaTek processors, run on Android 9 Pie and will sport 4GB RAM with 32GB to 128GB of internal storage. GSMArena previously reported that the companyy will also announce Energizer Ultimate U620S Pop and U630S Pop in the same series, which are powered by the MediaTek Helio P70 and P22 chipsets respectively. The two phones are said to feature motorised dual cameras with a 16MP main sensor and a 2MP secondary camera. The U620S Pop would feature a triple camera setup on the back with 16MP + 5MP + 2MP configuration. It could be released in July with 6GB RAM, coupled with 128GB storage. The U630S Pop will feature 4GB RAM and 64GB of storage and is slated for a June launch. Related reads: Exclusive: Energizer to launch eight phones in India in 2018, starting May 2018 
Highlights: The Vivo V15 Pro leaks ahead of February 20 launch. The smartphone is shown off with a pop-up front camera and triple rear cameras. It could be priced at around Rs 25,000. Vivo is expected to announce its V15 Pro smartphone on February 20 but ahead of the official unveiling, the handset has leaked almost entirely. Details of the upcoming device have leaked twice in recent days, and while the first one gave a look at the phone’s design, the fresh report reveals details about its camera setup. As per a report by Sohu.com, via GSMArena, Vivo will introduce a pop-up camera on the V15 Pro, which will help get rid of the notch. The phone can be seen sporting an almost bezel-less design but there is a slight chin on the bottom. In terms of hardware, the Vivo V15 could feature a triple rear camera setup on the back. The device might come equipped with a 48MP main camera on the back that is said to utilise a Samsung Sensor and this module will support 12MP pixel binning for capturing better low light images. The other two cameras might feature 8MP and 5MP sensors but there is no additional information on what they could be employed for. The pop-up front-camera is said to feature a 32MP sensor, which was first reported by 91Mobiles. The Vivo V15 Pro is speculated to launch running on the Qualcomm Snapdragon 675 SoC, coupled with 6GB RAM and 128GB of internal storage. If this turns out to be true, it could be amongst the first devices to be powered by the Snapdragon 675 chipset. The device might sport a Super AMOLED display that comes with an in-display fingerprint sensor. There is no information on the display size and its resolution. There is also no concrete info on what the handset could be priced at. However, going by the specifications and features, it is rumoured to cost around Rs 25,000. Related Reads: Vivo NEX Dual Display: How far would you go for a bezel-less display? Vivo V15 Pro with pop-up selfie camera launching in India on February 20 Vivo V15 Pro leaked case hints at a triple rear camera setup and pop-up front camera 
Highlights: A smaller version of the Nintendo Switch is on the way, say reports Nintendo saw profits last year during Christmas but reported it expected better You remember Nintendo Switch, right? It's the modular gaming console Nintendo launched back in 2017 with hopes of redefining the way games are played on the go. If the new information from a recent Nikkei report is to be believed, Nintendo is currently working on a smaller version of the Switch, which is expected to have a smaller, cheaper display and integrated controllers. That means it won't sport the Joy-Cons or come with a dock. If rumours are true, the smaller Nintendo Switch may launch this very year. According to Nikkei's report, the Japanese electronics company revised its annual target sales volume of the Switch by 20 percent, that is from 17 million to 15 million units on January 31. This is despite reporting strong sales of the console and a 26-percent year-on-year increase in company revenue during last year's Christmas season. The company expects to counter the dip in projection by launching a smaller and cheaper version of the Nintendo Switch. Despite the positive indications around late 2018, Nintendo's president Shuntaro Furukawa told The Associated Press on January 31, "It was not the pace we had aimed for, but sales are going at a good pace." The company has reportedly been expanding its business outside gaming consoles. It plans to create its own theme park facility at Universal Studios in Osaka, Japan before the start of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. The Nintendo Switch currently sells in India for a price of Rs 25,999 on Amazon.in. For that price, the console comes bundled with two Joy-Cons (or Joy-Controllers), one in red, and one in blue. The Switch comes with a 6.2-inch LCD display with a maximum resolution of 1280 x 720 pixels. The two Joy-Cons can be detached from the screen to be used as a standalone gamepad or be used with the screen to become a mobile gaming console. Related Read: NINTENDO SWITCH: WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
Highlights: Rock layers in Gale Crater are more porous than anticipated Scientists, including an ASU graduate student, discover this Martian rover Curiosity will soon ascend Mount Sharp A team of researchers, including a graduate student from Arizona State University, has measured and studied the density of rock layers in the 154-kilometre-wide Gale Crater on Mars using non-science engineering data from NASA's Martian rover, Curiosity. The findings, which were published yesterday in the online journal, Science, reveal that the layers are more porous than expected. The discovery also gives scientists a new technique (involving the use of an accelerometer) to use in future studies as the rover makes its way up to its next destination, Mount Sharp. "What we were able to do is measure the bulk density of the material in Gale Crater," commented Travis Gabriel, a graudate student in ASU's School of Earth and Space Exploration. Gabriel was successful in computing the ideal grain density of rocks and ancient lakebed sediments around the rover. "Working from the rocks' mineral abundances as determined by the chemistry and mineralogy instrument, we estimated a grain density of 2,810 kilograms per cubic meter," he added. "However, the bulk density that came out of our study is a lot less — 1,680 kilograms per cubic meter." What the smaller figure means is that the rocks have been compressed a lot less than scientists expected. According to a recent report by ASU Now, the team used engineering data from the last five years of the mission to measure the gravitational pull of the Red Planet at 700 points along the rover's tracks. "The lower levels of Mount Sharp are surprisingly porous," commented Kevin Lewis of John Hopkins University. "We know the bottom layers of the mountain were buried over time. That compacts them, making them denser. But this finding suggests they weren't buried by as much material as we thought." The origins of Mount Sharp have been debated by scientists for a long time now. The recent findings suggest that the mountain's lower layers have been compacted by one or two kilometres of material, which is a lot less than expected. If the mountain were once completely covered in sediments, as previously hypothesised, they would have weighed more heavily on the materials in the base, thereby compacting them. Scientists will now continue to study the upper layers of Mount Sharp. Related Read: NASA's Curiosity shares a selfie before setting off on new adventure
