Its official: Poco X2 will succeed Poco F1, come to India on Feb 4

After more than a year of speculation, rumour-mongering and, more importantly, silence from the Xiaomi sub-brand, Poco is ready with its next smartphone after the Poco F1. The successor is officially called Poco X2 and, going by the teasers, the brand wants you to believe it will be ‘smooth AF’. C Manmohan, Poco India’s General Manager tweeted the smartphone would launch on February 4th, 2020.

The Poco X2 name itself has been doing the rounds of the rumour mill for quite sometime with its name cropping up on certification sites, benchmark websites and more. With the name and the tagline confirmed, it now seems the successor will take up the mantle of high-end performance phone. Just how affordable it will be, remains to be seen.

Looking at the smartphone landscape, especially in the high-end segment, high refresh rate displays and flagship Snapdragon processors have been adopted as a formula for success by OEMs like Realme and OnePlus. The ‘Smooth AF’  tagline may allude to a high refresh rate display on the Poco X2 as well, and the name leaves no doubts about which competitor Poco wants to target in the high-end segment.

However, the latest leak indicated the Poco X2 could very well be a rebranded variant of the Redmi K30 4G that was launched in China last month. If that is the case, the smartphone could come with a bigger battery, larger display and, more importantly, a 120Hz refresh rate screen, which is in line with the teasers that are doing the rounds.

More importantly, considering how the previous Poco F1 set an unrealistic standard of expecting flagship performance at a mid-range price, it will be interesting to see how the Poco X2 performs as a follow-up, without the latest flagship chipset in tow.

After more than a year of maintaining silence, Poco has been in the thick of the tech news cycle in India. Hot on the heels of Xiaomi’s announcement of bringing Mi-branded flagships to India this year, Poco announced it would be operating as an independent brand in India, with its own identity. We are not sure whether that means Poco will get its own supply chain, manufacturing, sales, marketing and after-sales servicing, but it remains unlikely as a year-old brand will be unable to enjoy the same economies of scale that Xiaomi currently enjoys in India.

from Latest Technology News https://ift.tt/37wyJN4

Motorola phone with stylus shown off in leaked render

Motorola could be looking forward to launch a Galaxy Note-competitor. A new Motorola phone with Stylus pen has popped up online. It is rumoured to be called Moto G Stylus. The Moto G7 series was unveiled in February last year, hence the new phone could be launched in the upcoming weeks. Moreover, the company is tipped to be working on a new flagship model called the Motorola Edge+.

The latest development comes from noted tipster Evan Blass (@evleaks) who tweeted an image of a Motorola phone with a stylus. The phone also sports a punch-hole notch at the left top corner of the screen. Also, it appears to feature a curved glass. However, no more details have been revealed about the phone. 

Looking closely at the stylus, it doesn’t seem to have a pressure-sensitive tip that exists on the S Pen of Samsung’s Galaxy Note series. Therefore, the phone could be a mid-range offering like the LG G Stylus series and not a top-end option. 

This is the first Motorola phone with a stylus. The leaked render comes after alleged Moto G Stylus with model number XT2043-4 appeared on the Radio Equipment List (REL) on the Government of Canada website. It received approval Canadian authority in early January. It also surfaced on the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) website with the same model number.

The name of the phone is unknown but Evan Blass says it is not the Motorola Edge+. The leaked phone is expected to run Android 10 out of the box. 

from Latest Technology News https://ift.tt/38DRi2f

Samsung Galaxy A21s with secondary macro camera on the cards: Report

Samsung appears to be paying special attention to its Galaxy A-series of entry-level and mid-range smartphones in this new year. Last month, it officially announced the Galaxy A51 and Galaxy A71 smartphones globally, both of which are confirmed to go live in the Indian market in the next few days. According to a new report from Sammobile, the Korean electronics manufacturer is now working on an entry-level model called Galaxy A21s with dual cameras. Other models reportedly in the works are the Galaxy A41 and possibly the Galaxy A31.

According to the report, the Galaxy A21s is not preceded by a ‘non-s’ Galaxy A21, as has been the case with many Galaxy A-series models in the past. Rather, it’s possible Samsung will market the same phone in the US as the Galaxy A21 and in other markets as the Galaxy A21s. Not much about the Galaxy A21s is known at this point. It is expected to come in two storage variants, namely 32GB and 64GB. It will also come in a number of colour options, namely blue, red, black, and white.

The Samsung Galaxy A21s, whose model number is most likely SM-A217F, is expected to sport a dual camera setup on its back panel even though it’s an entry-level device. Though the report doesn’t shed light on the resolution of the primary sensor, it does confirm the presence of a 2MP macro sensor. A macro sensor (of unknown resolution) is also expected to do duty on the more mysterious Galaxy A41. The information we have on hand so far suggests that Samsung is betting big on macro photography even on entry-level models.

The Samsung Galaxy A51 and Galaxy A71, which were announced globally last month, are expected to become available on Samsung’s online store in the next few days. The Galaxy A51 features an Exynos 9611 chip with up to 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. The slightly larger Galaxy A71 features the same maximum RAM and storage options but gets a Qualcomm Snapdragon 730 chip. The Galaxy A51 is expected to be priced at Rs 22,990, while the Galaxy A71 is expected to be priced at Rs 29,990. You can read more about them here.

Note: Cover image represents outgoing model Samsung Galaxy A20s

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

Sony to Launch PlayStation Now Service in India This Year: Report

As per a new report, Sony is reportedly planning to launch the PlayStation Now cloud-based game streaming service in India later this year.

from RSS Feeds | GAMES - RSS Feed - NDTV Gadgets360.com https://ift.tt/2GlteF3

Lenovo ThinkPad E14 quietly introduced in India, configurable from Rs 42,836

In early December 2019, we reported that Lenovo would switch to a simpler format of model numbers on its popular ThinkPad line of business laptops. We noted that two of the models in the E-series—the ThinkPad E490 and ThinkPad E495—were running out of numbers in the ‘400’ series and that they would be succeeded by the ThinkPad E14, which was already spotted in some Asian markets. And now, it appears Lenovo has quietly brought the ThinkPad E14 to India as well. According to the Lenovo India website, the ThinkPad E14 starts at Rs 42,836.

The ThinkPad E-series has always consisted of entry-level business laptops and the latest ThinkPad E14 is no different. When compared with its predecessors, it is slightly slimmer. New features include stereo speakers by Harman Kardon and the proprietary ThinkShutter webcam privacy slider. Though it succeeds the Intel-powered ThinkPad E490 and the AMD-powered ThinkPad E495 in terms of generation, the ThinkPad E14 comes with only Intel CPU options at the moment. In fact, Lenovo has not listed any readily shippable variants for the ThinkPad E14 on its official website. Instead, it has made the model fully configurable using Lenovo’s recently launched ‘Build your own’ online model configurator.

The ThinkPad E14 can be configured with up to an Intel 10th Gen Core i7 CPU with four cores. System RAM ranges from 4GB to 16GB. Internal storage options include a 2.5-inch hard drive with up to 2TB capacity and a PCIe NVMe solid-state drive with up to 512GB capacity. Because the laptop features dual storage, you can have a hard drive and a solid-state drive. One of the solid-state drive options included is an Opal-compliant self-encrypting unit. Though the 14-inch screen has Full HD resolution as standard, you’ll have to pay more for the IPS panel with 250 nits of brightness. There’s a single discrete graphics option, namely the AMD Radeon RX 640 card with up to 2GB of GDDR5 video RAM.

Apart from the aforementioned options, there are a few more configurable elements on the ThinkPad E14 online configurator. For example, you could throw in a backlit keyboard (something the previous models didn’t have) and a fingerprint reader (integrated into the power button now). You can also upgrade to Intel Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.0. By default, the laptop comes with no operating system; Windows 10 is an optional purchase. A fully kitted-out ThinkPad E14 with Windows 10 Pro will set you back Rs 97,164, while the most basic trim with no Windows OS at all will cost you Rs 42,836.

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

Astronauts bake cookies in space for first time using special space oven

In what will go down in history as one of the many firsts in space, astronauts aboard the International Space Station successfully baked food using a special oven designed to work specifically in microgravity. Astronauts Luca Parmitano and Christina Koch baked five chocolate chip cookies in separate batches during Christmastime as part of a food science experiment to explore cooking options in long-haul space voyages. While the space station was filled with the aroma of fresh cookies during the experiment, the astronauts got to eat none of them. Three of them were returned to Earth earlier this month for testing.

The special space oven the astronauts used to bake cookies was designed and built by a New York-based duo called Zero G Kitchen. The oven was installed by space station services provider Nanoracks. The oven looks slightly larger than a regular microwave unit and consists of a long, tubular section for baking food. Since convection can’t be achieved in space, the oven relies on electric heating elements in the same way a typical kitchen toaster does. Designed to draw small amounts of power from the space station’s internal power grid, the plug-and-play oven can heat food up to 177 degrees Celsius.

The dough for baking cookies in space was provided by DoubleTree by Hilton, a large American hotel chain that’s known for its cookies. According to a report by CNN, the astronauts baked the first four cookies at 148.8 degrees Celsius for 25 minutes, 75 minutes, and 120 minutes, respectively. They baked the fifth cookie at a slightly higher 162.7 degrees Celsius for 130 minutes before letting it cool for about ten minutes. The fourth and fifth cookies were considered to be the most successful because of their extended baking times.

“While we have initial visual and scent feedback from the crew aboard the ISS, we're excited to dive into fully understanding the baking results -- including breaking down why the bake time and temperature in space varies from what we are used to seeing on Earth, as well as if the baking tray, which was designed specifically for microgravity, impacted the final shape of the baked cookies,” commented Mary Murphy, Senior Internal Payloads Manager at Nanoracks. Meanwhile, NASA astronaut Christina Koch tweeted an image of the baked cookies in space a day after Christmas.

 

We made space cookies and milk for Santa this year. Happy holidays from the @Space_Station! pic.twitter.com/sZS4KdPmhj

— Christina H Koch (@Astro_Christina) December 26, 2019

 

from Latest Technology News https://ift.tt/3aGq5Oe

OnePlus reveals Concept One prototype in original all-black leather finish

Whether you like the OnePlus Concept One prototype or not, it’s safe to say it turned heads when the popular Chinese electronics manufacturer showcased it at CES earlier this month. If you’re a fan of it, here’s a fun fact for you: the OnePlus Concept One prototype originally donned a plain black leather finish before it took on McLaren’s signature papaya orange look for the CES demoes. OnePlus recently published photos of the prototype smartphone in its original black trim on the OnePlus Community while sharing a bit more information on its conception.

Renowned automaker McLaren started using the papaya orange colour in 1968 for Formula One races, beginning with the McLaren M7A. Today, it’s seen on the 720S sports car as well. OnePlus, which has often collaborated with McLaren to create McLaren-inspired OnePlus models, says it drew inspiration from the 720S when it styled the Concept One prototype. “We worked with McLaren on applying the same premium leather that is used on the 720s,” comments Kevin Tao from the OnePlus Industrial Design team.

According to Tao, it took OnePlus three months to optimise that famous ‘invisible cameras’ technology on the Concept One prototype for speed and power consumption. OnePlus new technology, which uses electrochromic glass, can electronically hide or show the camera stack on the rear panel of the Concept One prototype in 0.7 seconds. Talking about mainstream availability of the technology in the market, Tao adds, “A new technology application requires user and market feedback, and when the time is ripe we will introduce it to the market.”

Tao also believes OnePlus is stepping into a new design territory that reflects the marriage of traditional design elements (colours, material, finish) on a smartphone with electronic components, as seen on the Concept One prototype. “We are now working with materials that have dynamic properties, properties we can control and tune however we like, and that then become part of the functionality of a device,” he adds. It’s entirely possible that the ‘invisible cameras’ technology we saw on the Concept One prototype will make it to the market in a OnePlus model someday soon.

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