Realme X2 Pro 6GB RAM + 64GB storage model goes on sale in India for Rs 27,999

Realme X2 Pro was launched in India in November last year. The flagship device received a favourable reception in the country. While it was launched only in two variants, the third, 6GB RAM + 64GB storage model has been now made available to purchase in India. It is available to buy through Flipkart in two colour options

Realme X2 Pro comes equipped with a 6.5-inch full-HD+ (1080x2400 pixels) Super AMOLED display that has a refresh rate of 90Hz and a 20:9 aspect ratio panel. The smartphone is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 855+ octa-core chipset. The new model comes with 6GB RAM and 64GB storage. It packs a 4000mAh battery the supports 50W SuperVOOC Flash Charge technology.

On the optics front, Realme X2 Pro sports a quad rear camera setup: a 64MP camera with an f/1.8 aperture + a 13MP telephoto lens + an 8MP ultra-wide-angle shooter + a 2MP depth shooter. On the front lies a 32MP selfie shooter. It runs Android 9 Pie with ColorOS 6.1 on top. The smartphone comes with USB Type-C and a 3.5mm headphone jack.

The new 6GB RAM + 64GB storage Realme X2 Pro model is priced at Rs 27,999. The 8GB RAM + 128GB storage variant is priced at Rs 29,999 whereas the 12GB + 256GB model costs Rs 33,999. The new model is available to purchase in Lunar White and Neptune Blue colour options.

While the new 6GB RAM option is already on sale on Flipkart, it should soon go on on Realme.com as well.  Flipkart is offering exchange discount of up to Rs 11,850. Moreover, purchasers can avail 5 percent unlimited cashback on Flipkart Axis Bank credit card, 10 percent off on Axis Bank Buzz credit card, and no-cost EMI options starting from Rs 2,334 per month.

We did a performance comparison of the Realme X2 Pro with other flagship smartphones, which you can read here. You can read the full review here.

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Mini Electric with 233km range could land in India by 2021

It appears the Indian electric vehicle (EV) market is about to get populated quite quickly in the next couple of years. Just last year, Hyundai brought in the Kona Electric SUV while MG Motor announced the ZS EV SUV. Tata Motors, too, announced an all-electric version of its popular Nexon SUV a few days ago. Now though, we hear through the grapevine that BMW India could introduce the recently launched Mini Electric hatchback in the country sometime in 2021. The Mini Electric is expected to cost upwards of Rs 30 lakh when it goes on sale in India.

The Mini Electric, which is currently on sale in the US and UK, shares its powertrain with the BMW i3s electric hatchback. With its 32.6kWh lithium-ion battery, the Mini Electric should deliver a range of about 233 kilometres on a single charge. According to Mini’s data sheet for the UK, the Mini Electric puts out 184 horsepower and can go from 0 to 100 kilometres per hour in 7.3 seconds. The recently announced MG ZS EV, which is expected to go on sale shortly at Rs 22 lakh, claims to do the same in 8.5 seconds.

According to a recent report by Autocar India, Mini Vice President Francois Roca isn’t fully confident of bringing in electric models into the country because the public EV charging infrastructure on Indian roads is still limited, to say the least. “We need infrastructure. So when there will be very large infrastructure, it definitely makes sense to have the BEV in the Indian market. Today, I would say it can’t be that we have to be in India with the BEV to tick a box,” Roca said in a statement.

Depending on the type of charger, juicing up the Mini Electric could take between 36 minutes and 12 hours. Being a premium three-door mini-hatch, the Mini Electric is expected to come with a long list of features, including a 5.5-inch fully digital instrument cluster that displays speed and state of charge among other things. The EV is also expected to sport LED lighting all around, a 6.5-inch touchscreen unit on the centre console with support for Apple CarPlay, dual-zone climate control, multiple driving modes, two levels of power regeneration, and an electric parking brake.

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Samsung Galaxy S20 series to succeed the Galaxy S10 lineup: Report

Samsung is reportedly about to change the naming scheme of its flagship S-series. While we were expecting the Galaxy S10 successor to be named Galaxy S11, a new leak claims that Samsung may have chosen to name it Galaxy S20. The renaming makes sense since 2020 marks the beginning of a new decade after the company concluded 10 annual Galaxy S flagships. Moreover, alleged names for the Galaxy S10e and Galaxy S10+ have surfaced as well.

The latest leak comes from tipster @IceUnivers who took to Twitter to share that Galaxy S20 could succeed the Galaxy S10e, and that there is no Galaxy S20e. According to the tweet, the names of the wider range of Galaxy S20 devices could be:

The Galaxy S20 which succeeds the Galaxy S10e The Galaxy S20+ succeeds the Galaxy S10 The Galaxy S0 Ultra could be the name of the Galaxy S11+ successor

Further, the tipster retweeted a post with expected screen sizes of the Galaxy S20 lineup. The Samsung Galaxy S20 will reportedly pack a 6.2-inch display, while the Galaxy S20+ might come with a 6.7-inch screen. Moreover, Galaxy S20 Ultra is rumoured to come equipped with a 6.9-inch panel. The Galaxy S20 series could feature a 120Hz display refresh rate.

According to previous leaks, Samsung could launch the next S-series flagship on February 11, instead of February 18, as was reported earlier. The company is also expected to launch the Galaxy Fold 2 at the same event. The Samsung Galaxy S20 trio is said to feature a telephoto lens with 48MP. It is rumoured that the Galaxy S11+ will sport a new, custom 108MP sensor. 

On the other hand, the Galaxy Fold 2 could turn out to be a clamshell foldable phone like the Motorola Razr (2019). Samsung is rumoured to turn to ultra-thin glass as the covering for the Samsung Galaxy Fold 2 instead of the current plastic-based cover.

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PUBG Mobile Season 11 leaked, new emotes, new skins for M416, and more: Report

It looks like Season 11 for PUBG Mobile is just around the corner. According to notable tipster, Mr. Ghost Gaming, the Season 11 update will be included with the version 0.16.5 update for the game. The new season rewards include outfits, avatar frames, skins, emotes and more.

The videos posted by the YouTuber suggests that that the new Royale Pass rewards will include skins the M416, Pan, Level 3 Helmet, and backpack. The AMW and the DP also get upgradable skins. There are also a few new emotes that user’s can have. 

The Elite Upgrade Plus version of the Royale Pass get the Ice Sculpture Snowmobile skin, Unsleeping City Grenade skin, Roaring Magna Avatar frame. This version of the Elite pass will cost Rs 2,100. The standard version of the Elite Pass is priced at Rs 850 and does not feature the skins. However, it does offer Elite Missions and up to 100 rewards.

You can check out the videos posted by Mr. Ghost Gaming below:

It is not yet known when the new season will be available. However, considering the fact that Season 10 was rolled out in November, and that PUBG Mobile’s seasons tend to last about two months, Season 11 should roll out sooner, rather than later.

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Apple granted patent for virtual sound, hints at AR on MacBooks

Apple has been granted a patent for virtual speakers that can simulate sound from any point in the room. The patent was originally filed by Apple in 2018 and covers the ability to virtual positioning of audio. Apple has already been using Augmented Reality focus for audio on the iPhone and iPad, but the patent that has been granted seems to include the MacBook Pro, headphones and even the HomePod.

The newly granted patent outlines how Apple will enable virtual surround sound on the MacBook Pro. The technique Apple is employing is very similar technique to how noise cancellation is performed, by cancelling cross-talk. The patent details the ways in which Apple will enable virtualization, allowing sound to appear like its coming from a point other than the loudspeaker itself. The idea behind the technique is that for sounds that should originate on the left, the right speaker would turn off so as to make the sound appear to come only from the left.

As per the patent, “A virtual acoustic system is one that gives the user the illusion that sound is emanating from elsewhere in an indoor or outdoor space than directly from a loudspeaker (e.g., one that is placed in a room, one that is built into a laptop computer, etc. Audio signal processing for virtual acoustics can greatly enhance a movie, a sports even, a videogame or other screen viewing experience, adding to the feeling of "being there". Various known audio processing algorithms, executed by digital processors, modify one or more recorded, synthesized, mixed or otherwise produced digital audio signals in such a way as to position a virtual source according to modeling that is based on human perception of sound, including the role of ear acoustics, other reflecting and absorbing surfaces, distance and angle of source, and other factors. In the case of headphones, specially processed audio signals (binaural rendering) are sent to left and right ears of a listener without the crosstalk that is inevitably received by the ears when listening to stereo loudspeakers. For viewers and listeners that prefer loudspeakers, for example those that may be built into a laptop computer, a crosstalk canceler is employed in some virtual acoustic systems to produce sounds from multiple loudspeakers in such a way that for example a "left" audio signal is predominantly heard only at the left ear of the listener, and a "right" audio signal is predominantly heard only at the right ear of the listener (by virtue of sound wave cancellation in the air surrounding the listener.) This allows the left and right audio signals to contain spatial cues that enable a virtual sound to be "positioned" at a desired location between the loudspeakers.”

If Apple does manage to implement this on the MacBook Pro, it would take the audio experience from Apple’s laptops to a whole new level. Currently, the MacBooks are regarded as having the best audio experience, and then adding sound virtualization to the mix should make watching movies on the MacBook Pro an even better experience than it is right now.

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ISRO says Chandrayaan-3 is in the works, eyes early 2021 launch

Shining a bright ray of hope on Indian space fans, ISRO Chairman K Sivan announced on New Year’s Day that the Indian space agency is currently working on a number of new projects, including Chandrayaan-3 and Gaganyaan. According to him, the successor to the partially successful Chandrayaan-2 has already received a green light from the government and will take off for the moon either towards the end of the year or in early 2021. Gaganyaan, on the other hand, will take as many as four Indian astronauts to the moon sometime in 2022.

According to a news report filed by The Times of India, the estimated cost of India’s third uncrewed lunar mission stands at Rs 615 crore. “Chandrayaan-3 will have a lander, rover and a propulsion module given that the Chandrayaan-2 oribiter is fully functional. The government has approved the project and we have formed the project team,” said Sivan in a statement to The Times. Chandrayaan-3’s mission parameters will be carried over from its predecessor. It will go where its predecessor failed to, which means we can expect the lander to make it to the lunar surface this time around. You can read more about that here.

Sivan added that Gaganyaan, which is India’s first crewed lunar mission, is also in its initial stages. According to a report filed by The Hindu, the space agency has identified four pilots from the Indian Air Force as astronauts for the Rs 10,000-crore mission. While these pilots will be sent to the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Centre in Moscow for training in the third week of this month, the Gaganyaan flight mission is scheduled for 2022. Sivan confirms that the activities for this mission are going according to the original timeline.

Sivan is confident that ISRO can undertake as many as 25 space missions in 2020, including Chandrayaan-3. In a press note, ISRO states that its other projects include the commissioning of a new launch port in Thoothukudi, Tamil Nadu. It will be used exclusively with the space agency’s upcoming SSLV (Small Satellite Launch Vehicle). The SSLV can carry a payload of 500 kilogrammes to Low Earth Orbit, which makes it ideal for launching small satellites. It is expected to fly for the first time in the next few months. ISRO says it’s also going to make efforts to teach school children basic space science as part of its special school programme called YUVIKA (Yuva VIgyani KAryakram).

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After Xiaomi, Realme will also show ads on its smartphones but theres an easy way to turn it off

Realme raised a big issue with Xiaomi users having to deal with ads on their smartphones, essentially using it to amass more followers for the brand. But now, as it turns out, Realme smartphones will also show ads on phones running ColorOS 6 and above, after the company published a detailed blog post. That’s essentially the entire portfolio of Realme devices launched in the past one year.

But instead of ads, Realme is calling it ‘commercial content reccommendation’, which is nothing but jargon for recommending apps and content within system apps. Users will see commercial links and promoted apps in their smartphones, which will primarily appear in the Phone Manager app and the Security Check page.

Realme said it will ensure protection of privacy while serving ads and they will comply with relevant laws and regulations. Furthermore, the company justified showing ads to “continue offering more surprises for you and maintain a healthy and sustainable business model”.

Thankfully, these ads can be turned off easily which is something Xiaomi did not offer initially after it started serving ads. To disable them, you head to Settings → Additional Settings → Get recommendations and turn it off.

Interestingly, the company is not using the word ‘ads’ anywhere, so searching with the same in the Settings menu will surface nothing, making it more difficult to turn them off. Realme will also keep the ads turned on by default.

However, this is not the first time Realme was caught showing ads on its smartphones. In October 2019, a bunch of tweets pointed out to a beta version of ColorOS 6 surfacing ads on Realme smartphones. The ads showed up in the download manager, and even as pop-ups on the home screen. The update also added the ‘Get Reccomendation’ options in the Settings app which was quickly taken down.

Later, Realme CMO had replied to a tweet claiming the ads were a system error from a beta software version. Back then, we had speculated if this was a move for a wider rollout of ads on Realme smartphones, and as it turns out, it really is.

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