<p dir="ltr">Huawei sub-brand Honor will launch the Honor 20i on April 17 in China. The company made the announcement by posting a video on Chinese social media site Weibo. The video suggests that the phone will have a waterdrop notch and come with an AI-powered 32MP sensor on the front camera unit. There is a possibility that this could be same camera which is found on the Huawei P30 Pro.</p> <p>The Honor 20i has already been spotted on the Geekbench website. With model number HRY-AL00Ta on the benchmarking platform, the smartphone was seen featuring an octa-core HiSilicon Kirin 710 mobile platform, coupled with 4GB of RAM. Previously, the phone was listed on TENAA with 6GB of RAM. This suggests that the device may launch in two RAM variants. When it comes to the storage, the phone is expected to be offered in 64GB and 128GB variants. On the software front, the Honor 20i may run EMUI 9.0 based on Android 9.0 Pie.</p> <p>The smartphone is expected to feature a 6.21-inch IPS LCD display offering a resolution of 1080 x 2340 pixels and an aspect ratio of 19.5:9. In the camera department, the phone is speculated to include a triple-camera setup with a 24MP primary sensor, an 8MP secondary sensor, and a 2MP depth sensor.</p> <p>The announcement comes a day after the alleged ‘Pro’ variant of the Honor 20 appeared in a new leak. The leak suggested that the phone could come with Sony’s 40MP IMX600 camera sensor, which is the same that is used in the Huawei P30 Pro. The 40MP sensor is said to come along a 20MP ultra-wide-angle camera and an 8MP telephoto lens that supports 3x optical zoom. On the front, it is said to feature the same 32MP unit. The phone could come with a 3650mAh battery with 22.5W fast charging support. It may sport a 6.1-inch OLED panel with an under-display fingerprint scanner, and tipped to be powered by a Kirin 980 SoC.</p> <p>Related Read:</p> <p>Honor 10i with 6GB RAM appears on TENAA</p> 
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<p>Qualcomm announced three new mobile platforms aimed at high-end and mid-tier devices, the Snapdragon 665, Snapdragon 730 and the Snapdragon 730G. The three new SoCs are commercially ready and will start showing up in devices from the middle of 2019. All the three chipsets encompass most of the new features that Qualcomm introduced in its flagship Snapdragon 855 including support for up to 192MP cameras in single-shot mode, along with the AI Engine and a few more.</p> <p>“With the introduction of the Snapdragon 730, 730G and 665 Mobile Platforms, we are bringing features such as sophisticated AI, exceptional gaming and advanced camera capabilities to a broad spectrum of devices at exceptional performance,” said Kedar Kondap, vice president, product management, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. “Each iteration of Snapdragon drives immense innovation that will surpass customer expectations.”</p> <p>Expanding Qualcomm's presence in the popular mid-range and high-end segment, the 7-series and 6-series, the new SoCs bring interesting new features that give an indication of how the segment is expected to evolve this year. Here’s what the new chipsets will have to offer —</p> Snapdragon 665 <p>The Snapdragon 665 will succeed the Snapdragon 660 that became the defacto mid-range chipset to opt for last year. The Xiaomi Mi A2, Realme 2 Pro and more devices launched with the Snapdragon 660 in India. Now, the Snapdragon 665 promises higher performance and support for multiple cameras.</p> <p>The Snapdragon 665 uses the same Kryo 260 cores found on the Snapdragon 636 that powered the Xiaomi Redmi Note 6 Pro and more recently, the Moto G7. The clock speed can go as high as up to 2.0GHz. However, Qualcomm has upgraded the GPU of the chipset to Adreno 610 which brings support for Vulkan 1.1 and DX12 graphics. The chipset is manufactured on an 11nm platform. There’s four performance cores based on ARM Cortex-A73 and four efficiency cores based on ARM Cortex-A53.</p> <p>Interestingly, the Snapdragon 665 brings support for a 48MP sensor in single camera mode. Otherwise, the Spectra 165 ISP is also capable of supporting a triple-camera setup where the lenses are telephoto, wide-angle and super wide-angle. It can also support a fourth camera with depth sensing capabilties. Furthermore, the Snapdragon 665 can support up to 5X optical zoom, indicating OEMs will release devices with 5X optical zoom support in the second half of 2019. The ISP also supports 4K video shooting at 30 FPS. To improve imaging, Qualcomm also collaborated with Morpho, a computer-vision firm that helped with blending AI with the camera.</p> <p>The Snapdragon 665 also brings an upgraded AI Engine. Unlike others where there’s a discrete AI core, Qualcomm’s platforms combines the abilities of the CPU, GPU and the DSP to crunch through AI tasks efficiently and with flexibility. The AI Engine on the Snapdragon 665 is 2X faster than the AI Engine on the Snapdragon 660, according to Qualcomm. This time around, the AI Engine, Qualcomm claimed, can be combined with the camera to detect lighting situations and blurred pixels, and fix them in post-processing.</p> <p>The Snapdragon 665 has the Snapdragon X12 LTE modem integrated, the same as the Snapdragon 660 and offer Wi-Fi 5 and Bluetooth 5.0 in the terms of connectivity.</p> Snapdragon 730 <p>The 7-series platform was introduced last year and Qualcomm has only released two SoC in the series so far. The Snapdragon 730, and the 730G are the new entrants that is expected to be more prevalent in the market. The Snapdragon 730 brings the Snapdragon 855’s CV-ISP as well as a Tensor Accelerator to improve AI efficiency. It’s also the first SoC in the 7-series to support HDR output.</p> <p>The Qualcomm Snapdragon 730 is based on an 8nm platform, making it first 7-series SoC to be based on the smaller node. The CPU has Kryo 470 Cores that claims a max clock speed up to 2.2GHz. On the graphics side, there’s an Adreno 618 GPU that supports Vulkan 1.1 and DX12 graphics along with HDR10 4K with 10bit colour-depth.</p> <p>More interestingly, it’s the ISP on the Snapdragon 730 that makes it a highly anticipating. It’s Qualcomm’s first computer-vision based ISP for the 7-series and that brings support for 4K HDR video recording with portrait mode, high-res depth sensing, 3D face unlock and more.</p> <p>The ISP supports camera sensors up to 192MP in snapshot while 48MP sensors work with zero shutter lag and multi-frame noise reduction. There’s also support for multi-camera systems and HEIF file capture and playback.</p> <p>The Snapdragon 730 also brings a Tensor Accelerator which along with the Hexagon 688 DSP is used to deliver 2X faster AI processor as compared to the Snapdragon 710, according to Qualcomm. The AI Engine now also supports enhanced voice assistants with multiple keyword support, enhanced voice recognition and more.</p> <p>For connectivity, the Snapdragon 730 brings Snapdragon X15 LTE modem along with Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.0.</p> Snapdragon 730G <p>The Snapdragon 730G, as the name suggests, is quite similar to the Snapdragon 730. Only it’s tuned for smartphone gaming, as denoted by the G in the name. The chipset is part of Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Elite Gaming program, which the company had announced at the Snapdragon 855 launch. The Snapdragon 730G has more or less the same internals but with support for HDR gaming. Qualcomm claimed a 35 percent increase in performance and 25 percent faster graphics processing.</p> <p>The SoC can support 10-bit Colour Depth, Rec 202 Colour Gamut and 64x more shades of colour as compared to non-HDR games.</p> <p>Between the standard Snapdragon 730 and the Snapdragon 730G, the differnce is the presence of an overclocked Adreno 618 GPU that Qualcomm claims delviers 15 percent faster graphics processing as compared to the Snapdragon 730.</p> <p>Furthermore, the gaming platform is sprinkled with Qualcomm’s proprietary gaming features like jank reduction by up to 90 percent in games running at 30 fps, anti-cheating extensions and Wi-Fi latency manager to help optimse network settings while gaming.</p> <p>Moreover, there are addition in the camera department like support for Cinemagraph, low power voice activation and HD Super Slo-Mo at 960 fps.</p> When do we expect devices to launch with the new chipsets? <p>The Snapdragon 665’s positioning is a mystery presently considering the Snapdragon 675 has been chosen as a worthy successor to the Snapdragon 660 so far, by OEMs. It remains to be seen where OEMs use the mid-range chipset.</p> <p>As for the Snapdragon 730 and the 730G, we have already heard reports that the Samsung Galaxy A90 could debut a new Qualcomm chipset. The Galaxy A90 recently surfaced online with an unreleased Qualcomm chipset named Snapdragon 7150. Now, back when the Snapdragon 855 was about to launch, many thought the Snapdragon 8150 leaking out online was the flagship chipset. Going by that naming convention, the Snapdragon 730 might debut with the Samsung Galaxy A90 which is expected to launch on April 10th globally.</p> <p>Related Read:</p> <p>Snapdragon 855 with 5G and AI will be the flagship Qualcomm chipset to power Android smartphones in 2019</p> 
<p>The Facebook-owned online messaging app WhatsApp was recently updated with new features and it seems like the app developers are hard at work to bring more new additions to the app. WABetaInfo, the well-known reporter of upcoming WhatsApp updates says that the company is working on adding a new feature to the app so that it’s convenient to send multiple audio files at once. Additionally, WhatsApp could finally be made available on Apple iPads and that too with new features for scaling the app on a bigger display and maybe with Touch ID support. </p> <p>Starting with news of WhatsApp finally being made available for the iPad, WABetaInfo reports that the company is working on it from some few weeks now. As per the report, the app is scaled for the iPad’s bigger display and boots up into the main menu with an interface that resembles WhatsApp for Web. The same interface adjusts appropriately when the device is held in landscape mode, which can be observed in the image below. There’s a menu bar on the bottom that houses the Status, Calls, Chats and Settings tabs. There’s a split screen view for the settings and almost all the tabs, except the Status tab but it could be made available by the time the app is released. </p> <p style="text-align: center;"></p> <p>Additionally, the app is also said to support Touch ID for authentication support. However, the Camera tab that is available on WhatsApp for iPhones is said to be not available on the iPad version of the app but then again, some features could be added when the app enters beta testing. Moving onto the second feature, the beta version 2.19.89 of the app features a new audio picker with a revamped UI. It enables playback of audio files before sending them and also lets one send up to 30 audio files at once. </p> <p style="text-align: center;"></p> <p>Related Reads:</p> <p>WhatsApp group admins can now restrict participants from sending Frequently Forwarded messages</p> <p>WhatsApp Business now available for download on iOS</p> 
<p>PUBG Mobile is uber famous and a new tournament announced by the game developers is already going on called the PUBG Mobile Club Open 2019 tournament. Additionally, there’s a separate event called the On My Way Cover challenge, where not only gamers, but everyone with a penchant for performance can shine. As one would expect, there are a slew of prizes to be won by those who participate and win in any of the two events. Here’s a breakdown of what the two competitions are about and what you should know about in case you are thinking of participating. </p> PUBG Mobile Club Open 2019 <p>The PUBG Mobile Club Open 2019 is a global esports tournament for PUBG Mobile players. It’s a year-long event that was announced with a prize pool of $2 million (Rs 13.89 crores approx). However, Vivo announced that it will be sponsoring the event and along with supplying phones that will be used during the tournament, it has raised the total prize pool from $2 million to $2.5 million (Rs 17.3 crores approx). With such a big prize pool, one can expect both, professional and semi-professionals players competing for the prize money.</p> <p>The new PUBG Mobile Club Open 2019 challenge will happen over the span of a year and in two sessions of Spring Split and Fall Split. To be eligible for participating in the event, one needs to have obtained Platinum rank in the last season and must be over 18 years of age. At least three players in each team need to be from the region they are representing. You can check out the rules in detail here.</p> <p style="text-align: center;"></p> <p>The registrations for Spring Split ended on March 18 and online qualification rounds happened in the last week of March. The online Regional Group rounds will take place between 26 April and may 5 and will be followed by Regional Semifinals from May 10 till May 19. Regional Finals will take place between May 20 and June 14, and between 16 crews. Since the Regional Finals could be either online or offline, a team should be ready to travel for this round. The Spring Split Global Finals will happen offline and will take place sometime in July. </p> <p>The same sequence of qualification rounds will happen for the Fall Split schedule, for which the registration will commence in August. The online qualification and the Regional Group rounds will take place in the same month. Regional Semifinals will be held in October and will be followed by the Regional Finals in November. The Fall Split Global Finals will again be an offline-only event and is slated to happen sometime in December.</p> On My Way Cover challenge <p>If you are a fan of progressive house music, or electro house music, you’ve probably heard songs by Alan Walker. PUBG Mobile has partnered with the Norwegian music composer and announced the On My Way Cover challenge. Participants of the events will have a chance to win two round-trip flight tickets to attend a live Alan Walker concert, along with two tickets to the PUBG MOBILE Club Open Global final tournament. Under the challenge, one needs to create their own cover of Alan Walker's "On My Way" using the official PUBG Mobile logos and upload the video to either YouTube or Twitter with the hashtag #PUBGMONMYWAYCOVER. One can do so on the PUBG Mobile microsite here.</p> <p style="text-align: center;"></p> <p>As per PUBG Mobile, Alan Walker will choose one winner from the top 5 most voted contestants. One should also note that entries using only gameplay footage without the participant performing and/or using instruments will not be ineligible for the contest. Voting for the event starts from April 16 and will go on till April 22. Everyone who votes will also have a chance to receive Alan Walker permanent skin.</p> <p> </p> <p>Related Reads:</p> <p>Vivo announced as title partner of PUBG Mobile Club Open 2019, prize pool increased to $2.5 million</p> <p>PUBG Mobile Club Open 2019 tournament announced, offers total prize pool of Rs 13.89 crores</p> <p> </p> 
<p>Let's face it, smart TVs aren’t new. We have smart TVs in all price brackets now, but the entry-level smart TVs offer a very cumbersome “smart TV” experience. Mostly because they run on AOSP which, well, isn't ideal. While we haven't reviewed any of the Samsung budget smart TVs, at an event in Delhi, Samsung showed us some interesting features that it is bringing to its entire TV portfolio. This ranges from their entry level 32-inch TV all the way up to the flagship 82-inch TV. The underlying OS is the Tizen OS and these features are in addition to the OS running on the TV. So let's break down the 5 features that are coming to the Samsung’s 2019 TVs</p> 1. Personal Computer <p>You can use your TV as a personal computer. Actually, before we make that statement, let's understand what the feature does. The remote access feature gives you three PC things that you can do with the TV. You can remotely access content from your PC, share your PC screen to the big screen and use Office 365 without connecting a PC to the TV. Let's explore these in detail.</p> <p>Office 365: This is simply an Office 365 app for the Tizen OS and you need your own subscription to the service to work it. The TV is compatible with most wired and wireless keyboard-mouse setups and in the demo we got, it was a seamless experience to make word docs, PPTs and spreadsheets from the comfort of the couch. You do need an internet connection for this function to work.</p> <p style="text-align: center;"></p> <p>Screen sharing: As the name suggests, you can share the display of your laptop or computer with the TV wirelessly. We have seen this feature in action on the Samsung Flip (check it out here), and if you want to share content from your PC to the big screen, you no longer need to find that HDMI cable. Samsung says that the screen sharing is seamless and even your heavy video files should playback without any hiccups. We would definitely like to take this feature for a spin when we get our hands on the TV.</p> <p>Remote PC: This is an interesting feature as it allows you to connect to your PC no matter where it is. All you need is for the PC to be on and connected to the internet. The way you access your PC remotely is based on the internet speed at your disposal, so keep that in mind. This is an interesting feature for professionals that want to access work files from home but don't want to lug a laptop around. The login process for this feature is secured with a username and password.</p> 2. Music System <p>With the Music system feature, you can convert your Samsung TV into your personal jukebox. The app is a skin that gives you a visual representation of the music content you are streaming either locally through a USB drive or via Bluetooth to the TV. if you like, you can switch the display off and use the speakers of the TV to enjoy music. Mostly, TVs have average speakers so I do question why someone would do this. Nonetheless, it is an interesting feature to have. Mind you, this isn't a new feature. Remove the fancy skin Samsung is providing with this TV and you have a feature that has existed on TVs since 2016.</p> <p style="text-align: center;"></p> 3. Live cast <p>Put simply, this feature lets you broadcast live to one or more Samsung TVs. When the user goes live with his/her smartphone, a notification pops up on the TV and clicking a button on the remote control brings up the live feed. This is especially good if you are attending family functions and want to broadcast it back to those who couldn't make it. Remember, this is a one-way feed, so you can't sit on your couch and talk back. You may want to revert to a video chat app if you want to participate. Think of live cast as your personal FB live without the interactivity. In our experience at the Samsung event, there was an 18 second lag between performing an activity in front of the smartphone camera and it appearing on screen.</p> <p style="text-align: center;"></p> 4. Home Cloud <p>This is one feature I find quite interesting. With home cloud you backup your photos and videos from your smartphone to the TV. All you need to do is a one-time setup process and plug in a storage device to the TV. Samsung says you can connect a whopping 1TB drive to the TV for this without any problem. So, when the smartphone that is synced with the TV enters the proximity of the TV, the new pictures clicked are automatically backed up to the storage device connected to the TV. Since this works with Wi-Fi direct, you don't need a fancy internet connection to transfer the images. Even if you delete the photos from your phone, they still exist on the drive connected to your TV. I think this is a really cool way to not only back up your photos but have precious memories instantly available at the click of a button.</p> <p style="text-align: center;"></p> 5. Two-way sharing <p>Last but not least, we have a function called 2-way sharing. As the name suggests, you can share audio and video (or audio only or video only if you want) between the smartphone and the TV. Let's say I want to enjoy the latest IPL match and my family is having a gathering at home. I can sneak into the bathroom, share the content from the TV to my smartphone with the simple click of a button and enjoy the match from my set top box connection while the TV in the room remains off. This also works with WiFi direct so you don't need to resort to the internet for streaming. </p> <p style="text-align: center;"></p> <p>Even though smart TVs are getting smarter they aren't doing so at affordable price points. WIth the above 5 features, it looks like Samsung is looking to distinguish itself by giving features that have real-world usage potential. How well these features work and the utility value they bring to customers is something we will know when the feature is publically available. We would also like to delve deep into them and will bring you an in-depth look once we get a TV boasting of these features in for review.</p> <p>Also Read:</p> <p>Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K now supports Miracast: Report</p> <p>Thomson 4K 40 inch TV Review</p> <p>Netflix removes AirPlay feature support from iOS app: Report</p> 
