Redmi K20 Pro Avengers Edition hands-on images leaked

Xiaomi announced a special variant of the Redmi K20 Pro flagship, called Redmi K20 Pro Avengers Limited Edition, in China last week. While the company is yet to announce the memory, storage and price of the phone, a few hands-on images of the handset have  leaked on the internet. The images were shared by a user on Weibo, and Xiaomishka on Twitter. Further, there is no information whether the company will launch the variant in India or not.

How is it different from the regular K20 Pro? Xiaomi has introduced a 3D design on the back panel of the Avengers Limited Edition K20 Pro handset. The panel has a honeycomb-like design on the lower part and Xiaomi has taken a cue from Google to introduce a red-coloured power button which is akin to the red colour accent used in the camera module. The colour of the back panel is mettalic grey, and the box of the phone will have a blue-coloured back panel with the Avengers logo.

The Redmi K20 Pro is powered by the Snapdragon 855 mobile platform with up to 8GB RAM and up to 256GB storage. It comes equipped with a Full HD+ 6.39-inch Super AMOLED display that sports a 1080 x 2340 pixel resolution and has Gorilla Glass 6 protection. There’s also a pop-up selfie camera module which delivers a 91.6 percent screen-to-body-ratio and a 19.5:9 aspect ratio.

In the camera department, the Redmi K20 Pro sports vertically stacked triple sensors on the top left corner of the back panel. There is a 48MP Sony IMX586 primary sensor, a 13MP secondary sensor with a wide-angle lens that offers a field-of-view of 124.89 degrees. The third is an 8MP sensor with a telephoto lens. The handset is touted to capture slow-motion videos at up to 960fps. On the front is a 20MP sensor. It is backed by a 4000mAh battery.

from Latest Technology News https://ift.tt/2XBxtCx

Telegram v59 introduces new animated stickers format, comes with smooth animations and small file sizes

Telegram doesn’t have the user volume that WhatsApp has but it does have some features which the latter doesn’t have. One of them is support for a better sticker system. Stickers were first introduced by Telegram in early 2015. Since then, “the Telegram sticker format has been adopted by other apps to reach a total of 2 billion people”, claims Telegram’s official website. Now, the UK-based instant messaging app has introduced animated stickers that are said to be high-quality while keeping the file sizes small to ensure that they don't consume a lot of bandwidth. 

Animated stickers are now rolling out for all users on the latest Telegram app v5.9. The latest animated stickers take up about 20-30 Kilobytes of space, which is less than six times the average photo. They are based on .TGS format, which means artists and users are free to develop their own stickers. Additionally, the stickers are optimised in such a way that they consume less battery than GIFs and run at a smooth 60 frames per second. 

To download the new animated stickers, users simply need to tap on a received sticker button. The full changelog for v5.9 is mentioned below:

Send ultra-lightweight high-quality animated stickers to express emotion with motion. Receive animated stickers instantly on any connection at just 20-30 KB per sticker. Enjoy smooth animations at 60 frames per second. Create new animated sets and upload them to @stickers for everybody to use. Try animated stickers from the Trending tab in your sticker panel.

The animated stickers will be reflected on the Telegram app once users update it to the latest version 5.9. The new update is being rolled out to all the mobile users. Once the app is updated, the new format for animated stickers will be shown and users can use them in their chats to spice up their conversations.   

from Latest Technology News https://ift.tt/2L81xUD

ISRO releases images of Vikram lander and Pragyan rover ahead of Chandrayaan-2 launch: Heres all you need to know

The Indian Space and Research Organisation is gearing up for the upcoming Chandrayaan-2 mission. On July 15, 2019, the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mark III (GSLV Mk-III) will lift off from ISRO’s launch facility in Sriharikota at 2:51am. This is India’s first rover-based space mission and the world's first Moon expedition to reach the south polar lunar region. Ahead of the launch, the space agency has released some images of the Vikram lander and Pragyan rover, which will be housed in the launch vehicle and will carry out some of the most important moon missions for India. There will be no human crew and the orbiter will map the moon’s surface, while the rover will be carrying out missions like analysis of lunar soil.

About the Chandrayaan-2 mission

As mentioned above, the Chandrayaan-2 mission will be carried out by the GSLV Mk-III spacecraft. It is India’s most powerful three-stage rocket that is capable of launching 4-ton class of satellites to the Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO). The rocket consists of multiple components like S200 solid rocket boosters, L110 Liquid Stage and C25 Upper Stage. The GSLV Mk-III will be carrying an orbiter, which will house the Vikram lander and Pragyan rover. The lander will try a ‘Soft Landing’ on the lunar surface, which will be the first time this manoeuvre is tried by the Indian space agency. 

Chandrayaan-2 Orbiter

The Chandrayaan 2 orbiter will be capable of communicating with Indian Deep Space Network (IDSN) at Byalalu, as well as the Vikram Lander. Weighing 2,379 Kg, its mission will is one year long and it will be placed in a 100X100 km lunar polar orbit. The orbiter has 1,000 Watts of electric power generation capabilities as well. Key payloads aboard the orbiter include Terrain Mapping Camera 2, an Orbital High-Resolution Camera (OHRC), Dual Frequency Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) and more. The OHRC will be used to conduct high-resolution observations of the landing site before the lander is separated from the orbiter.

Vikram Lander

Named after the father of the Indian Space Programme, Dr Vikram Sarabhai, the Vikram Lander will attempt to pull off a soft landing on the moon. It will function for one lunar day, which is about 14 days on earth. Vikram lander weighs 1,471 kg and can communicate with IDSN at Byalalu near Bangalore, as well as with the Orbiter and Rover. It will be carrying three Payloads, Radio Anatomy of  Moon Bound Hypersensitive ionosphere and Atmosphere (RAMBHA), Chandra’s Surface Thermo-Physical Experiment (ChaSTE) and Instrument for Lunar Seismic Activity (ILSA). 

Pragyan rover

The Pragyan rover is a six-wheeled robotic vehicle that weighs 27kg and can generate 50 Watts of power. It can travel up to 500 meters and can communicate only with the lander. It will carry the Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer (APXS) payload, which uses  X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy to detect all major elements required for rock-forming like Magnesium, Aluminium, Silica, Calcium, Sodium, Titanium, Iron, and some other trace elements like Yttrium, Strontium, and Zirconium. It will also carry Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscope (LIBS), which will be used to recognise and determine the abundance of elements near the landing site.

Key experiments that will be carried out

We now know the important payloads that will be a part of the Chandrayaan 2 mission. However, the vehicles carrying these payloads will be conducting a slew of science experiments to study and better understand the topography, thermo-physical characteristics of the top-most lunar soil, seismography, surface chemical composition, mineral identification and distribution, and composition of the lunar atmosphere. The Orbiter payloads will be placed in a 100km orbit above the moon and it will conduct remote-sensing observations. On the other hand, the Lander and Rover payloads will perform measurements near the landing site.

from Latest Technology News https://ift.tt/2XMoPFL

How to master hot drop situations in PUBG Mobile

If you have ever played PUBG Mobile, you know winning a chicken dinner in a hot drop situation is a truly exhilarating experience. But accomplishing that is no walk in the park. Hot drops give players just the right adrenaline rush to quench their thirst for top-of-the class gaming action. Going for hot drops adds to one’s experience in playing the game as it was meant to be, a Battle Royale. 

The basic reluctance to hot drop situationa are premised on certain factors, such as finding a gun before other players do, a highly levelled playing field, and volume of players jumping off at the same location.  

Taking the same factors into account, we here are some master tips to help players get their chicken dinners at hot drop locations.

The Basics: Develop skills in all quarters

Starting with the obvious, the best way to win at hot drops is to be good at the game. This includes knowing and being comfortable with all weapons, smart positioning, and the ability to choose when to play defensive and when to play offensive. It would be a rookie mistake to remain hopeful of getting your favourite gun and go in unprepared to handle other guns. Often a few milliseconds make a huge difference in survival and death. Upskilling should involve getting better at all weapons. When we talk about positioning, the most basic point is to not remain in the same position ever. Especially when a player takes a shot, the position is instantly compromised and there is an immediate need to re-position. To simplify it, if a player shoots through one window and misses or does minimal damage, it would be a smart move to shift to another window to make the kill-shot.

Hone the Landing Technique

Besides landing exactly where a player wants, landing even a second earlier to other players has huge advantages of its own. When a player lands, the first objective is simply to find a weapon and take position with enough cover. There are few ways to optimize this whole process, and it starts with the parachute jump. If a player wants to drop at a desired location and land first, then the drop needs to be precisely timed. A player should ideally make the drop at about 600 to 800 metres from the target. After the jump, the player needs to fly or drop at an optimal terminal velocity speed of 231 km/hr to 234 kms/hr up until about 100 to 120 metres from the target. A player can achieve this using the down directional button. At this point the parachute should be deployed and the drop continues to be faster by continuing to hold the directional button. Faster landing allows players to search and find weapons faster and may even aide in getting few early kills.

Land on roofs to access loot faster

Always maneuver the landing to the roofs, as it helps in looting. Landing on the rooftop helps a player access the guns with little more ease and a bit faster. The combination of fast descent and landing on the roof may give a player precious few seconds as an advantage. However, that would be enough to make a significant difference in survival. Because having any time advantage is a good factor in finding the right weapon. A weapon that helps in a hot drop location; taking us to the next tip.

Find SMGs and reload magazines before they hit zero

The Sub-Machine Guns (SMGs) are very advantageous in a hot drop location. Though you should ideally go for any gun, if you end up with a SMG it could be the best thing to happen. Also, it would be a smart move to upgrade if you end up with a different gun. The magazine loading makes these guns so desirable in such a dire situation. Another important point to remember is to always find cover and change magazines before maxing out. This way you don’t end up in a position where you must change the magazine in the middle of an engagement. That could be a fatal mistake.

Using game cues and being aware of surroundings

There are a couple of features within the game that are primarily designed to help players. These would be the audio and visual cues that the players receive to intimate them of enemies in the vicinity. Having a keen eye on the mini map and closely listening to sounds greatly helps players get an edge over their enemies. The mini map displays footsteps when other players are within 20 mts of your perimeter. Furthermore, the directional footsteps that can be heard with a good headset, tell a player where to go for a kill. Being aware of the surroundings is beyond just knowing the place well, it is being adaptable to situations. Choosing correctly, which corner to clear or even which building is worth a sweep at that moment, makes for a brilliant game strategy which evolves.

To summarise, when going for a hot drop location, it helps to be equipped with the right skill set and to utilize all the features of the game that aide a successful mission. The skills with respect to aim and shoot are developed over time through practice. However, the game features are available to all. And the player who uses it optimally gets an advantage over the rest to secure a chicken dinner even in an unnerving situation. To simplify it further, focus is the key.

from Latest Technology News https://ift.tt/2G1D9zS

Fortnite Player Who Livestreamed Attack on Partner Pleads Guilty

A gamer who inadvertently broadcast audio of himself striking his pregnant partner while playing the online video game Fortnite pleaded guilty to assault in a Sydney court Monday.

from RSS Feeds | GAMES - RSS Feed - NDTV Gadgets360.com https://ift.tt/2XUT6lu

Redmi K20, K20 Pro Pre-launch Alpha Sale announced, pre-bookings start July 12 at Rs 855

Xiaomi has announced a 'Pre-launch Alpha Sale’ for the upcoming Redmi K20 Series of smartphones, under which, interested customers can pre-book a Redmi K20 or Redmi K20 Pro five days ahead of the launch date. The company has already announced that it will unveil the devices on July 17 in India, and the phones will retail on Flipkart as well as on the company’s online store Mi.com. 

Participants in the Redmi K20 series ‘Alpha Sale’ will be able to reserve a unit for themselves starting July 12 noon for a token amount of Rs 855 on Mi.com and Flipkart, after which a final check-out for the purchase will be announced on July 17. The ‘Alpha Sale’ amount, if not redeemed, will automatically be refunded to the respective Mi.com account, while Flipkart users will be able to use the coupon for any other purchase on the platform, Xiaomi has announced.

Redmi, a sub-brand of Xiaomi Corporation, has already launched the K20 series of phones in China and Europe. While the K20 Pro is the flagship variant, the K20 falls in the mid-segment range of smartphones. Both phones sport a 6.39-inch Super AMOLED display which is protected by Gorilla Glass 6. The display offers 91.6 percent screen-to-body-ratio and a 19.5:9 aspect ratio. Both handsets have a triple camera setup on the back and a single shooter on the front.

Under the hood, the K20 Pro houses the Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 processor. There is info about the RAM and storage variants, but in China, the phone was launched with up to 8GB RAM and 256GB storage. Redmi India has claimed that the Redmi K20 Pro is the fastest phone in the market with the highest AnTuTu score of 388,803. Further, the K20 Pro ships with Game Turbo 2.0 that is claimed to deliver an enhanced gaming experience.

In the camera department, the phone has a primary 48MP Sony IMX 586 sensor with a lens that features an aperture of f/1.75. The 13MP secondary sensor has a wide-angle lens with an aperture of f/2.4 and a field-of-view of 124.89 degrees. An 8MP sensor with a lens sporting an aperture of f/2.4, and an LED flash completes the camera module. On the front, the phone has a 20MP sensor in the pop-up mechanism.

The Redmi K20, on the other hand, has the Qualcomm Snapdragon 730 chipset under the hood. As mentioned above, the camera setup on the phone is similar to what it is in the Pro variant, however, the 48MP camera used in the K20 has a Sony IMX582 sensor instead of the IMX586. The phones will directly compete with other devices like OnePlus 7 and Asus 6z.

from Latest Technology News https://ift.tt/2XtWTXP

Amazon Prime Day 2019: How to get the best deals and crack the 48-hour sale

Amazon is all set to host its third Prime Day sale in India. The Amazon Prime Day 2019 sale will run from July 15 to July 16. Last year, the sale ran for 36 hours but this time around, Amazon is looking to extend it to 48 hours. The annual sale has a promising number of deals across all the major categories along with new releases on Prime Video and Prime Music. Additionally, Amazon will be launching 1,000+ products from top brands like OnePlus, LG, Samsung, Sennheiser, etc in the sale.

What is Amazon Prime Day sale?

If you are new to the e-commerce world and unaware of what Amazon Prime Day sale is, it's time that you get clued up on it. To put it in simple terms, Amazon Prime Day sale is a global annual sale event for Amazon Prime members. Amazon introduced the Prime Day sale to India in 2016. Since then, this is the 3rd consecutive year when the event is going to be hosted. 

During the sale period, products will be available at heavily discounted rates. So, if you are not an Amazon Prime member yet, you might miss out on some great deals during this sale period. To recall, Amazon Prime membership costs Rs 999 annually and Rs 129 on a monthly basis. The membership includes free fast delivery, access to Prime Video, Prime Music, Prime Reading, as well as early access to deals.  

Here are some tips to help you make the most of Amazon Prime Day 2019:

No need to pay full price for multiple Prime accounts

Amazon does not have any rules when it comes to the usage of a single prime account on multiple devices. Hence, if someone in your family has a Prime account, you too, have access to the sale. You’ll share the same benefits, like free next-day or two-day shipping. 

This is the right time to use your 30-day free trial

If you are not a member of Amazon Prime yet, this is the right time to start your 30-day free trial. You'll gain access to all the deals without any strings attached. If you're unhappy with your membership. you can always cancel after the two-day sale is over to avoid future membership charges. 

Add items you’d like to buy in your wishlist

It’s natural for a popular product to sell out within minutes during a sale. Hence, it is recommended to add the items you are looking forward to buying in your wishlist. It is also recommended to get on the waitlist. 

Grab the Blockbuster Deals

Amazon offers some great deals under the sections 'Today’s Deals', 'Great Saving', 'Lightning Deals', and 'Deal of the Day'. Always look out for these sections while browsing through Amazon on the sale day. All you need to do to get timely updates is sign up for Amazon Prime Day deals notifications section and you shall never miss out on any deal.

Amazon Prime Day Sale 2019 offers

Apart for the huge discounts, Amazon will be offering some additional offers to help you save more during the sale. Here are some of the additional offers:

Additional savings for HDFC Bank debit/credit card users

If you are an HDFC bank customer, you are eligible for some extra savings during the Prime Day sale. Amazon is offering up to 10 percent instant cashback on purchases made through HDFC Bank cards. The minimum transaction amount needed to avail this cashback is Rs 3,000, whereas the maximum cashback one can receive is Rs 10,000.

Save on your next domestic flight booking travel

Amazon will be offering up to Rs 2,000 cashback on booking of flight tickets using Amazon Pay. Breaking it down, buyers can save up to Rs 400 on tickets costing Rs 4,999, and Rs 2,000 on tickets costing Rs 20,000+. Once you make the purchase, the cashback will be credited to your Amazon Pay balance within 3 working days.

Additional 10 percent discount on using Amazon Pay

You can avail an extra 10 percent discount if you make transactions using Amazon Pay during the sale. Add a minimum of Rs 1,000 and you’ll be eligible for a maximum cashback of Rs 200. You will receive the cashback as Amazon Pay balance by July 20. Remember to verify KYC on your Amazon Pay account to avoid any disruptions.

The best time to buy Amazon devices

If you have eyes on Amazon devices, like the Kindle or the Echo smart speakers, Prime Days are the best time to make a purchase. During the sale days, the discount on Amazon brands and devices is going to be up to 65 percent.

Exclusive products launching on Prime Day

Amazon is also planning to launch about 1,000+ products during the two-day sale. The launches include a range of products from big brands like OnePlus, Samsung, Honor, IFB, etc. Mostly, the new launches in mobile category include a new colour variant of an already-existing  smartphone. Here are some of the to-be launched products:  

OnePlus 7 Mirror Blue variant

Samsung Galaxy M40 in Cocktail Orange

LG W30 Aurora Green

Amazfit BIP Lite smartwatch

New Intel-powered laptops 

You can check the new product launches on this page.

Participate in Amazon App Quiz Contest to win rewards

Amazon Prime Day Quiz offers contestants a chance to win Rs 9,999 as Amazon Pay balance. However, the contest is app-only. To be an eligible contestant, log in to your account in the Amazon app and participate in the contest. A lucky draw for the Amazon App Quiz will be held across the entire Contest Period and 20 lucky participants will emerge as winners through a random draw of lots.

Prime Video

While the Prime Day 2019 sale is still a week away, Amazon has already kicked off things with new releases on Amazon Prime Video. From July 1 to July 14, Prime Video will feature one major 'blockbuster' release every day. Prime Video is a free online streaming service for Prime subscribers.

Amazon will also offer celebrity curated playlists during the days leading up to the Prime Day 2019 sale, and stream its Prime Day concert on July 11 on Prime Video.

from Latest Technology News https://ift.tt/30rCakx