Huawei Vision X65 4K UHD OLED TV with 120Hz refresh rate launched in China

Huawei has taken the wraps off of its first OLED television, the Vision X65 in China. It features a huge 65-inch screen with a 120Hz refresh rate that aims to provide one of the smoothest TV viewing experience ever.

With this, Huawei joins the ranks of companies such as Sony, Samsung, LG and more with its premium Vision X65 television. Whether the TV makes it to India anytime soon is still up in the air, however, given that it’s a flagship television, expect it to burn a hole in your pocket. 

In China, the Vision X65 retails for CNY24,999 (~Rs 2,70,000 / $3,500) and is up for pre-orders with shipments commencing from April 26.

Huawei Vision X65 specifications and features

Huawei Vision X65 is made out of anodized aluminum alloy that lends it a premium look with a maximum thickness of 24.9mm. It features a 65-inch 4K OLED screen with a 120Hz high refresh rate and support for reproducing 98% of the DCI-P3 colour gamut range. The maximum HDR peak brightness is pegged at 1000 nits and the display is TUV Rheinland Eye Comfort certified.

The TV is fitted with an array of 14 speaker units distributed across its wide form-factor. Six 10W full frequency speakers with six 3W speakers and two 20W low-frequency units come together to provide an immersive audio experience. Moreover, there’s a 3.5-inch ultra-thin subwoofer unit that supports 5.1 channel surround su=ound output. The TV also makes use of Huawei’s Histen audio effects to offer accurate sound positioning.

Huawei’s latest TV also has a 24MP wide-angle camera with features like portrait tracking and portrait lock during video calls. The X65 supports 1080p video calls at 30fps and you can also control the TV via built-in Air Gestures that use this camera to offer hands-free controls.

The Vision X65 is powered by Honghu 898 chip with a quad-core CPU and runs on HarmonyOS. This is paired with 6GB RAM and 128GB storage. The in-house processor by Huawei is specially optimized for OLED screens with features like MEMC, Noise reduction algorithm, anti-burn screen technology and more.

As for the I/O ports, the X65 comes with four HDMI 2.0 ports, S/PDIF input, HDMI-ARC, two USB 3.0 and an Ethernet port. The TV weighs 30 kilograms with the base attached.

from Latest Technology News https://ift.tt/2yJNQX3

MediaTek turns benchmark cheating into a service, availed by Xiaomi, Vivo, Oppo, others

We’ve heard of individual smartphones and OEMs cheating on benchmarks, using manual overrides to remove the thermal cap and let benchmark apps run processor cores at their peak speeds, disregarding thermal constraints. But never before did a chipset vendor get caught fudging the chipset firmware to show higher benchmarks. If a report by AnandTech is to be believed, MediaTek has been up to some real shady practices with some of its chipsets that power a bunch of smartphones from Oppo, Vivo, Xiaomi, Realme and more.

The article is a long read and if you are interested in the technicalities of how MediaTek has been cheating on benchmarks, we recommend you read the full article by Andrei Frumusanu who has also worked on unmasking Huawei and Samsung when they cheated on benchmarks.  The short version of the story is that the publication noticed that the European variant of the Oppo Reno3 Pro powered by the MediaTek Helio P95 outperformed the MediaTek Dimensity 1000L chip in the Chinese variant of the Reno3 on PCMark. The Dimensity 1000L is the first high-end chipset from MediaTek after a long time and is considered a chipset that can give the Snapdragon 865 a run for its money, at least on paper.

AnandTech used a tweaked version of the PCMark app and found there was a 30 percent difference in general scores with some workloads even showing a 75% variance. Upon investigating, it was found that the device firmware files house a few lines of code that applied power management tweaks to popular benchmark apps for Android. A common name for the enhanced mode is called ‘Sports Mode’ in the code.

The investigation also led to finding the default thermal and scheduler settings (the things that control thermal throttling and assign workloads to processor cores respectively) are being altered when these benchmark apps are run. The Sports Mode basically lets the memory controller run at max frequency while the scheduler is set to be more aggressive in having CPU cores ramp up frequency for a sustained period.

This wouldn’t have been that big of an issue if MediaTek was transparent about including this unshackled state of existence, but the company chose to hide it in plain sight for years. AnandTech went back to a Sony Xperia device from 2016 and found the same code lying in the firmware. The same was found across devices from Oppo, Vivo, Xiaomi, Realme, iVoomi and Sony.

In the process of reporting this menace, AnandTech also found Oppo changing the firmware around through an update, and making the suspicious code disappear. The boosted scores are still there, however, even after the update which means Oppo has just moved the code somewhere else.

Upon reaching out to MediaTek, AnandTech was told that this follows ‘accepted industry standards’. MediaTek’s response was along the lines of vendors having the flexibility to configure their own devices, and that they routinely design devices to “run on the highest possible performance levels when benchmark tests are running.” Furthermore, it maintained that MediaTek chipsets are capable of dynamically scaling up the performance basis of the app that’s running or the tasks that’s been assigned. You can read MediaTek's justification in a blog post posted on its website.

That’s how today’s smartphones offer Gaming Modes which prioritises performance for one game at a time. Most smartphones also ship with a dedicated High-Performance mode that tweaks the scheduler to make processor cores run at higher frequencies for better performance. But this is something that the user may benefit directly from while playing a game or running an app. 

What is the benefit in showing benchmark scores that may not be the best representation of real-life scenarios? If someone is buying a smartphone based on the higher benchmark scores a MediaTek device has received and ends up being disappointed with it later, it’s doing more harm than good for MediaTek, especially at a time when the Taiwan-based chipmaker finally has a product that can compete with high-end Qualcomm mobile chipsets. We hope MediaTek learns from this and disables the artificial boosting of benchmark scores.

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

Google Gifts Two-Months Access to Stadia Pro as Gamers Stay at Home

Google said on Wednesday it would give two months of free access to the paid version of its cloud-based game streaming platform Stadia as people are confined to their homes due to the coronavirus outbreak.

from RSS Feeds | GAMES - RSS Feed - NDTV Gadgets360.com https://ift.tt/3b7eaIQ

Disney+ tops 50 million paid subscribers globally, 8 million from Disney+ Hotstar India

Disney+ has surpassed 50 million paid subscribers since its launch back in November 2019. An OTT service by The Walt Disney Company, Disney+ recently made it to India via Star India as Disney+ Hotstar. In India, the service has garnered more than 8 million paid subscribers, which is a great deal because there are 30+ options of streaming services to choose from in the country.

Apart from India, Disney+ has also been rolled out to eight European countries including the UK, France, Germany, Spain and more. This has largely helped the service gain more subscribers especially when many countries are going through a period of lockdown due to the Coronavirus outbreak.

“We’re truly humbled that Disney+ is resonating with millions around the globe, and believe this bodes well for our continued expansion throughout Western Europe and into Japan and all of Latin America later this year,” said Kevin Mayer, Chairman of Walt Disney Direct-to-Consumer & International.

Should Netflix be worried?

Disney+ debuted on November 12 in the US, Canada and the Netherlands and was able to amass 10 million subscribers in the next 24 hours. Fast forward to February 2020, CEO Bob Iger revealed that the service had grown to 28.6 million users and now, in April 2020, it has crossed the 50 million milestone.

In comparison, even after being in existence for more than a decade, Netflix was only able to cross the 50 million mark in 2014. It currently boasts of more than 169 million subscribers worldwide and is considered to be one of the most premium OTT services.

While Disney+ is home to titles both old and new from the house of Pixar, Star Wars, Marvel Studios and more, Netflix has doubled down on commissioning original titles, especially in India.

According to a KPMG report, India is slated to have close to 550 million OTT subscribers by 2023 from over 300 million in 2019. An average Indian user spends at least 70 minutes every day on streaming services and with more than 30+ platforms to choose from, people are just spoilt for choices.

from Latest Technology News https://ift.tt/3e7irht

Zomato to deliver groceries and essential goods in 80+ cities across India amidst lockdown

Food delivery service Zomato has decided to supply groceries and other essential goods to its customers straight from its app to more than 80 cities across India. Due to the on-going nationwide lockdown that’s in effect till April 14 to contain the spread of Coronavirus, many businesses have been affected drastically. As such, restaurants and the food industry at large is amongst the worst hit services during this health crisis.

This has forced Zomato to circumvent around the issue by adopting several measures such as contactless delivery of food items and keeping a check on the hygiene maintained by both restauranters and riders. In a blog post, Zomato CEO Deepinder Goyal revealed all that the company was doing in the face of the ongoing COVID-19 crisis.

Grocery delivery has been deployed in 80+ cities across India via Zomato Market where the company is making use of its vast delivery fleet. For this, Zomato has also partnered with government authorities, FMGC companies, grocery stores and more to ensure that the customers don’t step out of their respective houses to shop for essential supplies. 

Moreover, Zomato is also extending the duration of the Zomato Gold subscription by two months without any additional charges. A dedicated Zomato Gold Support Fund has also been set up for lending financial assistance to restaurant workers. The company has announced that all the proceeds from its Gold tier subscription for April 2020 will go directly to restaurant workers in need.

Following social-distancing norms, the food delivery service has also restricted cash on delivery (COD) orders in order to avoid physical contact between the customer and the Zomato rider.

“At Zomato, we are doing everything we can to support our community – our customers, delivery partners, restaurant partners, and the daily wage workers who have been impacted the most in these times,” wrote Goyal.

“We have received overwhelming support towards all the initiatives we have taken and we would like to thank everyone from the bottom of our heart for the courage and resilience they have shown to help out those in need. Your love and support keeps us going,” he added.

On-demand ride-hailing service Uber recently partnered with Flipkart to deliver essential supplies across six cities. It also launched a dedicated cab service for medical workers called UberMedic. Apart from this, Amazon Prime Now is also delivering groceries to its customers across India.

from Latest Technology News https://ift.tt/3c2z9g9

Facebooks new Tunes app is specifically aimed at couples

Facebook’s New Product Experimentation (NPE) team has created a new app that has been specifically designed for couples. Called Tunes, the app aims to encourage coupes to create a private space where couples can be themselves. Tunes features a scrapbook-style feed that is just shared between the two. It also connected to their Spotify account, letting them share songs and playlists. Further, users can set a mood and allows them to see how their partner is feeling. Other features include the ability to send photo snapshots, notes, cards, voice memos and more, as well as the option to use custom stickers and reactions. The app is currently only available on the Apple App Store in the United States and Canada.

It is not yet known if this app will be pushed any further by Facebook. Currently, the NPE teal also offers another app called Hobbi. This app is pretty similar to Pinterest and is aimed at helping users document their hobbies and activities. Users can organise their photos into collections so that they can see the progress they have made over time. They also have the option to create highlight videos and share them with friends and family.  

It is not yet known if Facebook will wholeheartedly accept these two apps. However, it seems like the company has much bigger concerns right now. According to a recent report, the Indian Government has requested social media platforms like Facebook and TikTok to remove those users who were responsible for the spread of misinformation on their respective platforms. Given the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic, many users have reportedly started creating and sharing videos that show people of a particular sect in a bad light. Such content is both harmful and misleading for people, especially when the whole world is going through a health crisis.

from Latest Technology News https://ift.tt/2wnWD02

Forza Street Coming to Android and iOS on May 5, Early Adopters Will Get Founder’s Pack

Forza Street, an upcoming mobile racing game based on the popular Forza franchise, will reach Android and iOS devices on May 5. Announced on the Xbox website by developer Turn 10 Studios, Forza Street has been available for free on the Microsoft Store for Windows PCs since April last year.

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