Here are the devices that will receive GPU driver updates from Qualcomm via Google Play Store

Alongside the Snapdragon 865 and a few other smartphone chips, Qualcomm also announced that it will update GPU drivers through the Google Play Store. At the Google for Games Developer summit yesterday, Qualcomm listed out the first few smartphones that will receive these updates. But what do these updates bring?

Smartphone GPUs have traditionally been quite locked down, unlike its PC components that receive regular updates with optimisations in place to run various games smoothly without taking up too much power. Similarly, Google announced the Android GPU Inspector which makes building and optimising games on the Android platform much easier.

The Inspector tool offers detailed insights into how the game is rendered and the GPU counter that was previously not available for developers. This information can be used to improve frame rates and lower power usage to improve battery life in smartphones.

To drive the point home, Google said it worked with an unnamed game developer to see how the GPU Inspector helps. It used a Pixel 4 XL powered by the Snapdragon 855 to discover a way to save 40% utilisation in GPU.

Using the Inspector tool, developers can also suggest changes they want to see at the chip-level for Qualcomm to incorporate in its Adreno family of GPUs via driver updates. Qualcomm makes these updates available to developers first to allow for faster testing of these optimisations.

These improvements will be compiled and released as driver updates via the Google Play Store. You can expect performance and feature upgrades from them and the user experience, especially while gaming should see an improvement in devices that do tend to drop a few frames or consume too much power.

For now, only the Google Pixel 4 series, the Galaxy S10 series and the Galaxy Note 10 series (Qualcomm powered) will be supported with GPU driver updates via the Google Play Store with more devices to be added to the roster sometime later.

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Coronavirus effect: Netflix reduces load on telecom networks by 25 but maintains streaming quality

Due to the Coronavirus outbreak, the entire nation has taken to working from home wherever possible. This has led to a lot of telecom and broadband service providers increasing their data caps and providing special work from home plans. However, with the increase in the number of people staying at home, recreation has led to a rise in content consumption from OTT platforms and people playing video games. While the latter can happen offline as well, content consumption from OTT platforms requires you to be online and consuming bandwidth. In a fight to keep the network’s congestion-free and data caps intact, OTT platforms have been requested to reduce their streaming quality. Netflix has announced that it has made the decision to reduce traffic on telecom networks in India by 25% while we maintain the quality of service for our members. 

Ken Florance, VP Content Delivery, Netflix says, “Given the crisis, we’ve developed a way to reduce Netflix’s traffic on telecommunications networks by 25% while also maintaining the quality of our service. So consumers should continue to get the quality that comes with their plan - whether it’s Ultra-High, High or Standard Definition. We believe that this will provide significant relief to congested networks and will be deploying it in India for the next 30 days”.

From the above statement, we can understand that if you have the top of the line Netflix plan offering content in 4K and HDR, including Dolby Vision, you will continue to get content in that quality. However, the question still remains, how many people in India are subscribed to that plan? Compared to other local OTT platforms, Netflix has a small market share in the country. 

Speaking of plans, Netflix has the following available in India. 

Mobile: This plan lets you watch on 1 mobile phone or tablet at a time in Standard Definition. It also lets you download content for offline viewing. The plan is priced at Rs 199 per month.

Basic: This plan lets you watch content on 1 screen at a time in Standard Definition. It also lets you download content for offline viewing. This plan is priced at Rs 499 per month.

Standard (HD): This plan lets you watch content on 2 screens at a time. Full HD (1080p) is available in this plan. It also lets you download content for offline viewing. It is priced at Rs 649 per month.

Premium (Ultra HD): This plan lets you watch content on 4 screens at a time. Full HD along with Ultra HD content and HDR is available in this plan, including Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos. It also lets you download content for offline viewing. This plan is priced at Rs 799 per month.

To understand how Netflix delivers content to you, know that it does something called adaptive streaming. This adjusts the video and sound quality based on your bandwidth. This not only gives the best possible quality at your available bandwidth but also ensures a buffer-free streaming experience. Netflix also has cached servers all over the world and depending on where you are, Netflix connects you to the server closest to you. This also helps give you a smoother streaming experience. 

If you are one that likes watching content on your state of the art home theatre, then the screenshot below should be of some relief to you.

(Above) Bandwidth Consumption For Streaming Altered Carbon, Season 2, in 4K and Dolby Vision

 

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2020 iPad Pro benchmarks reveal near identical performance to 2018 iPad Pro

A user on Reddit managed to get his delivery of the 2020 iPad Pro (11-inch model) two days ahead of Apple’s schedule, and its early benchmark numbers are in. Turns out, the A12Z Bionic is not all that much faster than the existing A12X Bionic chip found in the 2018 iPad Pro model.

According to Reddit user Zindexed, his iPad Pro clocked a score of 1114 and 4654 on Geekbench 5’s single and multi-core tests, respectively. In comparison, the existing 2018 iPad Pro that we have scored 1115 and 4713 respectively on the same tests. The difference in score is well within the margin on error, and thus, can be said that the CPU computing power on the two iPad models is identical. Where things get different is the Metal score, which relies on the GPU. The new iPad Pro scored 9894 while our 2018 model scored 8990, a minute bump in performance. On AnTuTu, the new iPad Pro clocked a score of 187648 for the CPU, 348519 for the GPU and 71476 for Memory.  Our 2018 iPad Pro scored 163337 on CPU, 342982 on GPU and 89983 on memory. We ran the benchmarks on our 2018 iPad Pro for this story, making sure it was updated to iPadOS 13.4.

AnTuTu scores for iPad Pro 2018 vs. iPad Pro 2020

GeekBench 5 scores for iPad Pro 2018 vs. iPad Pro 2020

The two tablets are powered by a very similar SoC, the only key difference between them being that the A12Z Bionic has an extra core in its GPU cluster. At least that’s all Apple has shared up until now. The new iPad Pro also comes with 6GB of RAM, a feature that was limited to the 1TB variant of the 2018 iPad Pro only. In case you’re wondering what’s changed and what’s remained the same between the two iPad models, you can check out our thorough comparison here.

Apple had been long rumoured to be working on a new iPad Pro model, however, the model announced by Apple recently seems to feel rather out of place. The iPad Pro has always been the flagship Apple tablet, with the most top-end features, yet Apple has used an older SoC. The latest SoC from Apple is the A13 Bionic, powering the current iPhone 11 series of smartphones, so we would have thought that the company would use an A13X Bionic chip for the new iPad Pro. Additionally, once the company announces the new iPhone later this year, the A12Z would be two generations old. The 2020 iPad Pro feels like a product misplaced in time. Rumours do persist that the company may be working on another iPad Pro model, one with a mini-LED display to be launched later this year.

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Redmi K30 Pro 5G, Zoom Edition launched in China: Specs, price and more

Redmi K30 Pro has been launched in China alongside a Zoom Edition. The phones are powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 chipset. As teased before, they feature LPDDR5 RAM, UFS 3.1 storage system and a front-facing pop-up camera. The Redmi K30 Pro features a  6.67-inch 1080p AMOLED display. It supports  HDR10+ and a refresh rate of 60Hz. 

On the optics front, the Redmi K30 Pro sports a quad rear camera setup in a circular module: a 64-megapixel primary sensor + a 13-megapixel ultrawide lens +  a 2-megapixel macro camera + a 5-megapixel telephoto lens with macro capabilities. As for the Zoom Edition, it gets OIS on the 64-megapixel sensor and an 8-megapixel sensor instead of a 5-megapixel camera with OIS support. Both the phones support zoom up to 30x digitally and different formats such as RAW as well. On the front lies a 20-megapixel pop-up selfie shooter. 

Other specs include 8K video recording, a headphone jack, IP53 water resistance, NFC, IR Blaster, and Wi-Fi 6. It packs a 4700mAh battery that supports 33W fast charging over USB-C. The company says that Redi K30 Pro has a much better haptic feedback system powered by a linear motor. The phone also has an IP53 rating, which makes it water-resistant to some extent. 

While the Xiaomi Redmi K30 Pro comes in three variants: 6GB+128GB, 8GB+128GB and 8GB+256GB capacities that are priced at 2999 Yuan (~ Rs 32,300), 3399 Yuan (~ Rs 36,600) and 3699 Yuan (~ Rs 39,800) respectively. The Redmi K30 Pro Zoom Edition will be made available in 8GB+128GB and 8GB+256GB models that cost 3799 Yuan (~ Rs 40,900) and 3999 Yuan (~ Rs 43,000) respectively.

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Coronavirus effect: JioFiber to provide 10 Mbps broadband speeds with no service charges to new users, double data across all plans for existing ones

With the spread of the Coronavirus in India, it is advised to work from home if possible. Business, educational institutions and more are shut leading to a work from home situation for most that can do it. Working from home means connecting to the internet more and consuming more data. As a part of the #CoronaHaaregaIndiaJeetega campaign, Reliance Jio is offering new customers a base plan of 10Mbps without charging any service charge. For existing JioFiber users, the broadband provider is doubling the data which is a part of the plan. 

In a released statement, Jio says, “Through JioFiber, JioFi and its mobility service, Jio will enable access to world-class and dependable Internet services. To ensure that everyone stays connected while at home, Jio will provide Basic JioFiber broadband connectivity (10 Mbps), wherever it is geographically feasible, without any service charges, for this period. Jio will also provide home gateway routers with a minimum refundable deposit. For all existing JioFiber subscribers, Jio will provide double data across all plans”.

On the mobile front as well, Jio has doubled the data available via its 4G data add on packs. The statement reads, “Jio will provide double-data across its 4G data add-on vouchers. It will also bundle non-Jio voice calling minutes in these vouchers at no additional cost, to meet the increased need of these services. As its ongoing commitment, Jio is ensuring that its mobility services are up and running at all times with the deployment of essential teams on rotation round the clock across the country.” You can read more about the mobile 4G add on plans and the amount of data they provide here. 

Jio is not the only one working to ensure smooth internet services at home. MTNL has doubled the data on all broadband plans for a month in Delhi and Mumbai. You can read more about the MTNL plans here. BSNL too has provided a broadband plan for those working from home. The ‘Work@Home’ broadband plan from BSNL will give users 5GB of daily data. It will provide speed up to 10Mbps. The new plans are applicable across all networks in India, including the Andaman and Nicobar region. You can read more about the BSNL plan here.

In the midst of all the Coronavirus fear, it is important to stay safe online. Cybersecurity firms have seen a rise in phishing, malware and ransomware attacks online. These hackers are feeding and exploiting the fear in people to get their data. You can read how to be safe online here.

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Coronavirus outbreak: Facebook Messenger offers free developer tools to government health agencies

As the Coronavirus outbreak only gets worse, the best we can do is keep ourselves safe and to stay home. As more and more districts and states go under lockdown, tech companies around the world are doing their best to try and stop the proliferation of fake news among the unsuspecting public, preventing massive chaos and uproar. Google, Apple, Nvidia, Microsoft and Twitter have provided users with tools to determine authentic information about the virus and its effects. In fact, the Indian government has already asked companies like Facebook and Tiktok to stop the spread of fake news and has launched chatbots on WhatsApp to create awareness about the virus. After all that, Facebook is now opening up its Messenger app to government and medical agencies. 

Facebook released an announcement on their blog and said that free developer tools were going to be provided to WHO health organizations and government agencies to allow them to use the Messenger app to effectively share timely and accurate information about the virus. The tools would also help agencies speed up their responses to concerned citizens. The post reads, “Our developer partners have offered to provide their services free of charge to these organizations during this crisis.“

The release also went on to say, “Today, Argentina’s Ministry of Health is launching a Messenger experience, with support from Botmaker.com, to answer questions from the public about the coronavirus, and to provide fast, reliable and official advice 24 hours a day.”

Facebook has also launched a virtual hackathon to see if developers can find more compact and easier messaging solutions to promote social distancing and deliver correct and verified information. The company said, “Developers will help with things like automating responses to commonly asked questions, which can take some of the burden off of overwhelmed staff. They’ll also show these organizations how to share updates with their audience most effectively and how to seamlessly transition from automated conversations to chatting with a live person when necessary.”

As the virus makes its way through the entire world, it’s important to stay safe and stay home at this moment. 

 

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WhatsApp is testing a feature to verify authenticity of frequently forwarded messages: Report

Amidst rampant misinformation around the Covid-19 outbreak, WhatsApp is testing a feature that will help users verify the authenticity of forwarded messages. The feature has been long overdue and according to WABetaInfo, WhatsApp will offer an option to search a forwarded message to see if it’s real or fake.

The WhatsApp fake forward chain starts with one person creating a fake message with malicious intention with the aim to make it go viral through multiple forwards. WhatsApp did introduce a limit to the number of people you can share a message with at one time, and now it has reportedly stepped up its efforts even further.

The WABetaInfo report states WhatsApp is already working to “introduce some options to launch the feature for Frequently Forwarded Messages”. WhatsApp was previously working on a feature that could verify whether a forwarded image is authentic or fake, but the feature never made it to the masses.

How can you verify the authenticity of WhatsApp forwards?

Forwarded messages already come with the ‘Forwarded’ tag on top of them. Now, you will also see a small search icon next to the text. Tap the icon and WhatsApp will ask if you wish to search the message on Google to verify its authenticity. Allowing WhatsApp to query the message will take you to a Google search results page. You may also choose to cancel the search.

The feature is currently under testing and the only confirmation we have of its existence is via a screenshot shared by WABetaInfo. It’s likely that the feature will roll out to Android users first and subsequently be made available for iOS users as well.

Searching messages for authenticity on Google is something fact-checkers have been doing all this while. Now, instead of the verification result going up on their individual websites or on other social media platforms, it will be displayed right next to the forward itself. The tool can be an effective measure to tackle fake news, especially in times like this when a lot of forwards are propagating superstitions and fake science to tackle the coronavirus outbreak.

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