ACT Fibernet tops fixed broadband speed charts, Airtel follows suit while Jio is a wild card: Ookla report

Fixed broadband speeds have been steadily increasing in India over the course of the past few years. This isn’t surprising since there’s increasing competition in the telecom sector where broadband and mobile players are trying to best each other by strengthening their offerings and offering lucrative deals. Now, Ookla has released its new Q2-Q3, 2019 report that looks at and studies recent trends in the Indan telecom sector between April and September this year. As per the report, ACT Fibernet takes the first spot in terms of fixed broadband downloads, with speeds between 45.31 and 47.74 Mbps. 

Ookla says that fixed broadband speeds in India rose by 16.5 percent during Q2-Q3 2019 and topped 34.07 Mbps in September across operators. While Hathway managed to hang on to the second spot with a top speed of 33.69 Mbps, it was later dethroned by Airtel in September with a mean download speed of 34.43 Mbps. Jio, on the other hand, had an unusual jump in speeds where it went from a sluggish 17.52 Mbps in August to a zippy 41.99 Mbps in September, which is around the time when its new JioFiber service was commercially launched. BSNL showed marginal speed improvements of 16.00 and 18.47 Mbps while GTPL’s score slightly rose from 16.02 to 19.45 Mbps for GTPL. 

The new Ookla report also sheds some light on the availability of 4G in India, which came in at 87.9 percent in Q2-Q3, 2019. The internet speed checking service compared coverage data for over 231,274,713 samples from Speedtest Android users across Indian mobile operators. Operator wise, Jio again tops the list with an impressive 99.1 percent 4G availability and is followed by Airtel at 94.9 percent, Idea at 87.5 percent and Vodafone at 85.2 percent availability. 

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PUBG Mobile Season 10 will be available from November 9

There is a new season of PUBG Mobile headed our way. The developers have announced that season 10 of the game will be available from November 9. The Twitter post making the announcement states, “Coming November 9, Royale Pass Season 10 arrives! New theme, new items, and all new Missions, are you ready?” 

While the tweet itself doesn’t reveal too much. YouTuber, MyGhostGaming has said that the new season’s theme will be ‘Fury of the Wasteland’. A claim that can be confirmed in the Beta version of the game, which has already received the update. As before, the new season will be available with two passes, namely Elite Pass and Elite Plus Pass. The new season will also offer new skins for parachutes, the M249 and the M416 assault rifle. The Dacia vehicle is also tipped to get a new skin. Other new features include the addition of even more emotes.

The most recent update to PUBG Mobile added a new game mode called Payload mode. The new mode mixed up the PUBG’s traditional battle royale formula by adding a helicopter, as well as the ability to revive fallen teammates. There are also new weapons such as rocket launchers and grenade launchers. The new Payload mode is separate from the traditional battle royale mode. So those who prefer a game of classic PUBG can still play the game their own way. You can check out all the details about the new Payload mode here.

Coming November 9, Royale Pass Season 10 arrives! New theme, new items, and all new Missions, are you ready? pic.twitter.com/5mT0IHJUAV

— PUBG MOBILE (@PUBGMOBILE) November 4, 2019

 

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WhatsApp on iOS reportedly supports Picture in Picture for Netflix trailers

WhatsApp is one of the leading online messaging apps with over 1.5 billion monthly active users globally. Its developers constantly keep adding new features to the chat app to make it more useful and stay ahead of the competition like Telegram and WeChat. Now, the chat app has enabled a new option for iOS users, which makes it easier to view Netflix videos within the app. As per WABetaInfo, WhatsApp has enabled Picture in Picture or PiP video playback for Netflix but it is apparently available only for iOS users, as of now. One needs to have the latest version of the app installed to be able to use the feature. 

Any trailer videos shared directly via Netflix play directly within WhatsApp, without booting up the Netflix app. Alongside the play button, the videos also show a play icon. This is similar to how YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and some other videos are streamed directly within the chat app. Additionally, the report suggests that WhatsApp developers might be working on enabling the PiP option for other online streaming services as well, which might be a reference to services like Amazon Prime. 

In other WhatsApp news, the app’s Android version was updated with the ability to support fingerprint authentication. Users of the chat app on Android can now set up the ability to lock the app and unlock it via fingerprint authentication. The option is available in the Privacy tab in Settings, and once enabled, it locks the app so that it can’t be accessed by anyone else. Additionally, there’s another report that suggests WhatsApp could finally let its users log into multiple devices simultaneously. You can read more about this here. 

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Mi TV 5 launching tomorrow: Everything you need to know

Xiaomi is set to launch the new Mi TV 5 in China on November 5 2019. The TV is launching in China and there is no information on whether it is coming to India. The TV has a resolution of 4K and will support HDR 10+. The TV has Quantum Dot backlighting, which is likely a Samsung panel since Samsung are the biggest players in the QLED TV market. Xiaomi has said that the TV will cover 108% of the NTSC colour gamut.

Coming to the specifications under the hood, the Mi TV 5 is powered by a 12 nanometer T972 SoC, which is reportedly developed by Amlogic. The SoC has a 1.9GHz clock speed with 4 A55 cores. The new chipset is set to deliver a 63 per cent performance improvement over the previous-gen chip. The chip is also said to support 8K video playback. 8K video playback on a 4K TV might seem outrageous to some, but know that playing back higher resolution content with technologies like supersampling could lead to a crisper image on the TV.  The TV has 4GB RAM and 64GB storage, which is a lot when compared to the specs on offer on most budget and mid-range Android TVs.

The TV will undoubtedly run on Xiaomi’s PatchWall UI which places content above streaming services and givers users a smooth UI. The TV will also support MEMC (Motion Estimation and Motion Compensation) for smoother motion on the Mi TV 5. There is no information on the screen size or Indian launch date and price of the TV. When it comes to QLED TVs in India, Samsung, TCL, iFFALCON and more have been selling QLED TVs in the market for quite some time now. 

In India, Xiaomi has TVs ranging from 32-inch screen sizes all the way to a 65-inch screen size. The TVs run on the Android TV platform and gives users the option of using Xiaomi’s own PatchWall UI or Stock Android TV UI. Support for streaming apps like Netflix and Prime Videos are also available on Xiaomi’s TV's in India. As per Xiaomi’s website, customers have 10 models to choose from in different screen sizes. 

Coming back to the November 5 event, Xiaomi is expected to announce a bunch of other devices apart from TV. This includes the Xiaomi Watch and Mi CC 9 Pro smartphone. We wouldn’t be surprised if Xiaomi has a “one more device” to reveal at the event. 

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Xiaomi Mi Note 10 with 108MP penta camera setup launching on November 6

Xiaomi has confirmed the launch date of its upcoming 108MP camera smartphone, Mi Note 10. The company will launch the device in Madrid, Spain at 11:30 AM CEST (3 PM IST) on November 6. The highlight of Mi Note 10 is its 108MP primary camera. It is worth noting that Mi Note series hasn’t been updated after the launch of Mi Note 3 in 2017. The Mi Note 3 was launched with an octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 SoC and dual rear cameras.

Xiaomi took to Twitter to announce the launch date of Mi Note 10. The company has also confirmed many specifications of the phone, especially the rear cameras. Mi Note 10 will sport a 108MP primary sensor + 12MP sensor for portrait shots + 5MP telephoto lens with 50x digital zoom, 5x optical zoom and 10x hybrid zoom + 20MP ultra wide-angle sensor + a 2MP sensor for macro shots. Further, the Mi Note 10 will come equipped with a 32MP selfie camera that will support 12 special filters to enhance your self-portrait shots.

The specifications match with Mi CC9 Pro that is launching in China on November 5. Hence, Mi Note 10 is likely to be a rebranded version of the Mi CC9 Pro.

Xiaomi Mi Note 10 is said to feature a 6.47-inch (2340×1080 pixels) Full HD+ AMOLED display. The company has already confirmed that the Mi Note 10 will be powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 730G Mobile Platform, paired with Adreno 618 GPU. It will pack a 5,260mAh battery with support for 30W fast charging.

The Mi Note 10 is expected to be made available in 6GB, 8GB, and 12GB RAM options and 64GB, 128GB, and 256GB onboard storage variants. It may run MIUI based on Android 9.0 Pie. Further, the smartphone is likely to sport an in-display fingerprint sensor.

Welcome to the new era of smartphone cameras! Join our event to reveal the world's first 108MP Penta camera. Live stream available, stay tuned!#DareToDiscover with #MiNote10 pic.twitter.com/BiUXHH4Xdp

— Xiaomi #First108MPPentaCam (@Xiaomi) November 3, 2019

 

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Huawei could be allowed to do with business with US very shortly

Huawei has been banned from doing business with U.S-based companies thanks to a de facto blacklisting of Huawei by the U.S. Commerce Department. However, the company might soon get to do business once again after a Bloomberg report claimed Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said licenses will be issued ‘very shortly’.

There have been 260 requests for licenses to do business with Huawei, or more than what the Commerce Department would’ve expected, according to the report. And while Ross cautioned against thinking all the requests will be rubber stamped, few expections can be made.

While the report doesn’t mention which companies applied for the licenses, Google is one company that has been adversely affected by the trade ban. Huawei is not allowed use Google apps in its smartphones as long as the ban is in effect. It will also lose the ability to push out updates to its existing smartphones once the temporary license expires. We can assume that a permanent license will let the two companies resume business.

Telecom companies in the US might not be given a license, though. The major reason stated by the US for banning Huawei is on account of the company snooping on US citizens on behalf of the Chinese government using cellular equipment. It seems the companies that will eventually get the license will have little to do with cellular or telecom infrastructure.

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Amazon India partners with BookMyShow to sell movie tickets on the e-commerce website

Amazon India and bookmyshow have entered into a partnership where customers can now book movie tickets on the e-commerce website. The announcement was made on November 2 and customers that book tickets before November 14 will receive a cashback of up to Rs 200 on each ticket. Users will be offered a cashback of up to Rs 200 on each ticket purchased until November 14. Using the Amazon app or website, customers can pay using their debit or credit card, net banking, Amazon Pay balance, Amazon Pay ICICI Credit Card, Amazon Pay UPI or other methods. To access the movie ticket booking page, users should click on the “movie tickets” category under “shop by category” on the website or the app. One could simply search for book movie tickets in the search bar as well to get to the page. 

The partnership with BookMyShow means that Amazon.in has access to BookMyShow’s infrastructure in the country. Currently, BookMyShow is present in over 650 towns and cities, with over 6,000 screens.

The partnership could be a win-win for both parties. Amazon is leveraging BookMyShow’s existing infrastructure and BookMyShow could possibly get access to Amazon’s infrastructure in cities where BookMyShow is yet to establish a presence. Details of the partnership are officially not known. 

Amazon has now become another option for consumers to book tickets. In cities where PVR is present, one can use the PVR app to book tickets. Customers can also use PayTM, JusTickets, TicketNew and more options based on their location and preferences. 

The online booking of movie tickets is just another way for Amazon to keep you hooked to its ecosystem. Apart from ordering anything under the sun, including groceries, Amazon.in customers have access to Prime Videos for streaming movies and TV shows, Prime Music for music streaming and also Alexa devices for a virtual assistant. Customers can also make their TVs a smart TV by using Amazon’s Fire TV stick. Amazon’s catalogue and portfolio of devices and services are pretty strong in India and it looks like the movie ticket booking feature is just another reason for you to save the website as one of your favourite bookmarks. 

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