Highlights: SpaceX Crew Dragon successfully docks with the ISS Needs no robotic arm to dock The only crew aboard Crew Dragon was Ripley, a dummy astronaut The Crew Dragon spacecraft that was launched by SpaceX on March 2 successfully docked with the International Space Station (ISS) yesterday early in the morning, thereby delivering its dummy crew member “Ripley” on board and marking a major milestone in American space history. The demonstration showed that Crew Dragon was able to reach space safely and dock with the ISS autonomously. It also proved as a potential means of ferrying astronauts to space in future US space missions. US has been relying on Russian spacecrafts ever since it retired its space shuttles in 2011. Once the spacecraft docked with the ISS without the assistance of a robotic arm, astronauts aboard the space station ran a list of tests before entering the new spacecraft. They then brought the new dummy astronaut on board with a welcome selfie. Ripley was sent from Earth wearing the new SpaceX space suit that’s under test. SpaceX’s space suit is a custom suit designed to protect its wearer from rapid cabin depressurisation. The one fitted on Ripley was covered in sensors for data collection. According to a recent report by Space.com, Crew Dragon will remain attached to the ISS for a period of five days before returning to Earth using a parachute-enabled splashdown in Atlantic Ocean. Unlike its cargo-carrying counterpart Cargo Dragon, Crew Dragon needed no robotic arm to help it dock with the ISS. The uncrewed spacecraft parked itself using a new docking system called the International Docking Adapter. Roscosmos, which operates the ISS along with the US, was initially apprehensive about the new docking procedure but approved the Crew Dragon’s dock two days before its launch from Earth. NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine congratulated SpaceX and NASA on the new Crew Dragon trial in a tweet. “This first launch of a space system designed for humans built and operated by a commercial company through a public-private partnership is a revolutionary step on our path to get humans to the Moon, Mars and beyond,” he wrote in his congratulatory message, while Roscosmos tweeted, “Roscosmos sends its sincere compliments to the colleagues from @NASA in connection with the successful trial docking of the new spacecraft.” Related Read: NASA recreates ingredients for life on ocean floor SpaceX Crew Dragon has docked with International @Space_Station pic.twitter.com/CccsItLLvJ — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) 3 March 2019 
from Latest Technology News https://ift.tt/2Heky5h
Highlights: Apple AirPods 2 may wirelessly charge fully in 15 mins The case is expected to be thicker and heavier than its predecessor It may use Qi charging Rumours surrounding Apple’s AirPods are now coming more frequently than ever before. In the latest one, it is being claimed that the AirPods 2 will have a fast charging functionality that will fully juice up the hearable in just 15 minutes. However, the case of the the earphones could be bigger in one direction and heavier as compared to its predecessor. Further, the AirPods “will probably use Qi charging.” Tweeted by XDA writer and TV host Max Weinbach, the information reads, “So the Apple news. AirPods wireless charging will happen. It will be VERY fast (0-100 in 15 minutes.) That speed is for the AirPods AND the case. It will probably use Qi charging. There will be a downside though, the case will be bigger in one direction and heavier.” In comparison, the current generation of AirPods are claimed to give three hours of battery life in 15 min of charging. The news comes a few days after a report claimed that the iPhone-maker could launch the AirPods 2 by March 29. The report detailed that Apple is expected announce a new pair on March 25 in a keynote at an unconfirmed location and follow it up with the official release on March 29. The report also claimed that the outgoing AirPods are reaching the end of their life cycle on March 28. We can’t confirm the claims, hence, it is advised to take this information with a pinch of salt. As per analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, the next generation of AirPods are expected to feature handsfree Siri access, which means Apple’s virtual assistant can be awakened for voice commands without having to press a button on the buds. There’s a chance they'll even come with water resistance. There’s hardly any word on the price and availability of the second-generation AirPods. The outgoing model is selling for Rs 11,999 on Flipkart. Related Read: Apple AirPods 2 seem to have cleared Bluetooth SIG certification So the Apple news. AirPods wireless charging will happen. It will be VERY fast (0-100 in 15 minutes.) That speed is for the AirPods AND the case. It will probably use Qi charging. There will be a downside though, the case will be bigger in one direction and heavier. — Max Weinbach (@mweinbachXDA) 3 March 2019
Highlights: Realme 3 launched in India. The smartphone runs on Android 9 Pie with the new ColourOS 6 UI. The company will announce the Realme 3 Pro in April. Realme 3 is finally official as the company announced the new smartphone at an event in New Delhi. While some specifications of the device were already known, the company today revealed its price, camera specs and more details. Along with the new handset, the company also announced the new ColourOS 6 UI, which is based on Android 9 Pie and announced that it will be made available on all Realme devices by the first half of 2019. Realme 3 Specifications The Realme 3 sports a gradient colour design for the rear panel. It comes equipped with a 6.3-inch HD+ screen with a 19:9 display aspect ratio and a dewdrop notch design. It runs on the 12nm MediaTek Helio P70 SoC that can clock up to 2.1GHz speeds. AI being the buzzword these days, the handset makes use of it in app management, scene recognition, capturing images in low light and in enabling AI beautification. The smartphone is backed by a 4230 mAh battery that the company claims can deliver up to 13.9 hours of continuous video playback. Realme has also integrated Content Adaptive Brightness Control (CABC) feature that is said to deliver up to 10 percent of battery optimisation. In terms of optics, the Realme 3 comes equipped with a 13MP + 2MP dual rear camera setup. The 13MP main camera has a 1.12µm pixel pitch with 5P lens and an f/1.8 aperture. The 2MP secondary sensor has a pixel pitch of 1.75µm and f/2.4 aperture lens. The phone’s camera supports PDAF and bokeh images, along with Hybrid HDR support. The company is also adding a Chroma Boost mode in its camera app that is touted to improve an image’s dynamic range and colours. There is also a Nightscape mode for enabling better low-light images, but we will surely test the company’s claims in our review. On the front, the smartphone features a 13MP sensor with 1.12µm pixel pitch and f/2.0 aperture lens. The handset will also support accessibility to Camera2 API for camera customisation and come with unlocked bootloader. It will be running on the new ColorOS 6 UI, which is based on Android 9 Pie. The new UI will feature ‘Borderless design’ and introduces an app drawer. It will also get Android Pie navigation gestures. Additionally, Realme has announced that all of its phones will be updated to Android Pie with ColorOS 6.0 in the first half of this year. While we were also expecting the Realme 3 Pro, the company says it will be unveiled later in April. Realme 3 Price, Launch Offers and Availability The 3GB RAM/32GB storage version of the Realme 3 is priced at Rs 8,999, while the 4GB RAM, 64GB storage variant will cost Rs 10,999. However, these prices will only be applicable on the first 1 million units of the phone. The device will be available in Dynamic Black and Radiant Blue colour models. The first sale of the Realme 3 is at 12 PM on March 12 and it will be available via Flipkart and Realme.com. Launch offers on the phone includes a Rs 500 instant discount for HDFC bank card users, along with benefits of upto Rs 5,300 for Jio users. The company also announced the Realme 3 Iconic Case, which will be available in Yellow, Grey and Diamond Blue colours for Rs 599. 
Highlights: Huawei teases Watch GT India launch The company posted a video clip on Twitter saying the watch is “coming soon” It was launched in October along with Huawei Mate 20 series of phones Huawei has teased the the launch of its Watch GT smartwatch in India. The Chinese company sent out a tweet from its official India handle that contained a short teaser video. The tweet, however, has not revealed the date of the launch. The Huawei Watch GT is the company's latest smartwatch, which runs on the company’s proprietary software called LightOS. Aimed at fitness enthusiasts, the smartwatch comes with features like GPS tracking, heart rate monitor, water resistance up to 50m, barometer, compass, altimeter, sleep tracker and among others. Huawei Watch GT Specifications The Huawei Watch GT runs on the Cortex-M4 chipset that comes with low-power and high-power cores. The device runs on the company’s own LightOS and is claimed to deliver a two-week battery life with heart-rate monitoring turned on. The battery life can be extend up to 30 days if the watch is used only to receive notifications. When going all out with continuous exercise tracking, heart rate monitoring and GPS, the Watch GT is said to last for up to 22 hours. The Huawei Watch GT was launched in Sport and Classic variants and both are built using 316L stainless steel with ceramic bezels. There is no information on whether the company will bring both the variants. Both the smartwatches are rated 5ATM water resistant, which means that the watch is water resistant to up to 50 metres of depth for 10 minutes. The device features a 1.39-inch AMOLED display with 454x454 pixel resolution. Huawei uses it proprietary “Huawei TruSeen 3.0” heart rate monitoring technology, which, in tandem with the six LEDs on its bottom, is said to measure accurate heart rate by using a self-learning algorithm. There’s also the “Huawei TruSleep 2.0” feature that is claimed to identify common sleep-related issues and provide more than 200 potential suggestions to help the user sleep better. Related Read: Huawei axed Samsung Galaxy Fold-like design for its foldable phone as "It was bad" An incredible battery life, that keeps up with your activities. #ComingSoon #OneChargeTwoWeeks pic.twitter.com/i4eK2zW8p8 — Huawei India (@HuaweiIndia) 2 March 2019
Highlights: Samsung Galaxy M20 now receiving a new software update. The update brings the March Android security patch and adds stability to the phone’s camera. Unfortunately, Samsung is pushing the Amazon Shopping app with the update. The Samsung Galaxy M20 is one of the many mid-range phones that the company offers in India. It was launched in late January and received the first update on the day it went on sale in the country. The smartphone maker is now pushing out a new update for the device that, while improving the stability and security of the handset, increases bloatware by adding the Amazon Shopping app. There is no change to the Android version as it doesn’t bring the Pie update to the phone. The new patch is around 368MB in size and, as mentioned, brings stability to the phone, more specifically, in the camera department. However, there are no details on what exactly the patch does to improve the Galaxy M20’s camera stability. Additionally, the phone’s security patch is now updated to March, 2019. Google is yet to publish what new fixes this month’s security patch brings. The M20 is one of the first handset to be updated with the new security patch. As mentioned earlier, the update also adds the Amazon Shopping app to the handset, which can be considered bloatware since not all users might want to install the app or shop from Amazon.in. However, the app is not integrated as a system app and can be uninstalled if required. The notification for updating the phone should pop up automatically by default but one can also check for it by heading over to the Software Update tab in Settings and tapping on the Download Updates Manually option. As for the specifications, the handset is powered by the Exynos 7904 SoC and comes in 3GB/4GB RAM variants. It features a 6.3-inch full-HD+ Infinity-V display and sports a rear-mounted fingerprint sensor. There are 32GB and 64GB of internal storage options on the device with the option of expanding it to 512GB using a microSD card. The Galaxy M30 sports a dual 13MP + 5MP camera setup on the back and comes equipped with an 8MP sensor on the front. The phone is backed by a 5,000mAh battery and runs Android 8.1 Oreo, which is based on Samsung Experience 9.5 UX. Related Reads: Samsung Galaxy M20, Galaxy M10 updated with January 2019 security patch on the day of first sale
Highlights Apple and Google allegedly receive foldable AMOLED display sample No word on whether either company will produce foldable smartphones Samsung unveiled its foldable smartphone, the Galaxy Fold, to the world at an event in San Francisco. At the very heart of the Samsung Galaxy Fold lies the flexible AMOLED display, which allows the smartphone to be foldable while having a single display panel. Now, there’s a report saying that Samsung Display has shipped samples of its flexible OLED panel to both Apple and Google. The sample shared with Apple and Google is allegedly a 7.2-inch panel, while the Fold sports a 7.3-inch display. Both Apple and Google are currently struggling with their smartphones albeit for different reasons. While Apple has received flak for not doing much with the design of the new iPhones, and Steve Wozniak himself has said that Apple should get into foldable smartphones, Google’s struggle is very different. Ever since the original Pixel, Google has continued to play safe in terms of design and form factor. The company is struggling to make the Pixel as popular a device as the Samsung and Apple flagships, and the only way to do that would be to innovate on the hardware front as well. Whether Apple and Google (or anyone else) go ahead with the foldable form factor is still completely up in the air. Google did work with Samsung on customizing Android for the Galaxy Fold and the company is readying Android to accommodate the foldable form factor. Either way, foldable smartphones are going to be the next big push from manufacturers. We have already seen one from both Samsung and Huawei, while TCL has pledged to release the first of their budget-friendly foldable smartphones by 2020. Related Reads: All the foldable smartphones announced so far at MWC 2019
Highlights: Honor 20 leaked spec sheet shows triple camera setup on the back It may come in three RAM and storage variants The device may feature a 6.1-inch OLED display and 3,650mAh battery Apart from a 48MP sensor and 5G, the triple camera system is expected to be the new trending featyre that smartphone manufacturers will be looking forward to offering in 2019. Started by P20 Pro from Huawei, the three rear camera lens system trend now seems to be on its way to become a new standard. The Honor 20 could be the next offering from the Chinese smartphone manufacturer that could sport three cameras on the rear panel. According to an alleged spec sheet leaked by SlashLeaks, Honor 20 could feature a 48MP Sony or Samsung primary sensor, a 20MP sensor that is expected to be a wide-angle lens and an 8MP lens with 3X zoom support. The spec sheet also has a DxOMark score of 108, which is strange given that this is probably one of a few initial leaks about this phone. The front camera is seen sporting a 32MP sensor. Under the hood, the smartphone is expected to have the company’s flagship Kirin 980 SoC coupled with several RAM and storage options. The spec sheet shows that the phone could be offered in 6GB RAM + 128GB storage, 8GB RAM + 128GB local storage and 8GB RAM + 256GB storage variants. These variants are seen having retail prices of RMB 2,999 (approx Rs 32,000), RMB 3,399 (approx Rs 36,000) and RMB 3,799 (approx Rs 40,000) respectively. The phone may draw power from a 3,650mAh battery, which is mentioned to come bundled with a 22.5W fast charge. The alleged Honor 20 may sport a 6.1-inch OLED panel and may come with features that enhance gaming on the phone. The spec sheet also shows that the device will have the company’s proprietary Link Turbo, and CPU and GPU Turbo enhancements, along with some AI-powered features. Related Read: Honor View 20 with 48MP camera, punch-hole design launched in India starting at Rs 37,999
