Fitbit may launch 4G smartwatch for kids later this year: Report

It looks like Fitbit is planning to launch a new wearable that is aimed at kids. According to a report by Engadget, the company plans to launch a kids smartwatch with 4G connectivity later this year. It further adds that in order to do so, the company has acquired Hong Kong-based startup, Doki Technology that made a kids smartwatch with video calling functionality.

Engadget’s report further adds that a few weeks back, Doki had notified customers that its devices, namely the dokiWatch, dokiWatch S and dokiPal would be disconnected from July 1 onwards. However, it was noted that there was no mention of Fitbit in the mail.  

It should be noted that if Fitbit does make a wearable for kids, it will not be the first time it does so. The company already offers devices for children under its Ace range. However, they aren’t exactly smartwatches. The acquisition of Doki should augment that category as it the start-up not only features a self-built platform, but also offers top of the line features like safety tracking, video calling, and voice calling. The report notes that the company’s last smartwatch, the DokiPal, came with a ‘Doki SIM’ that offered unlimited data in over 509 countries for $9.99 a month. 

If Fitbit does release a 4G smartwatch for children, it should have the market pretty much all to itself. Almost all major brands that release wearables tend to focus on adults instead of children. So there might be a market for a wearable that parents can you to track and keep in touch with their kids. However, this doesn’t mean that there aren’t attempts at making one. A few years ago, Alcatel launched the Movetime kids smartwatch that was said to offer a talk time up to two hours with charging time of nearly one hour. The smartwatch claimed to has a standby time of up to four days. The smartwatch is dustproof and supports calling function along with connectivity options like Bluetooth, WiFi and GPS. Alcatel Movetime sports a 96 x 64 pixels OLED display and weighs 40 grams.   

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PUBG Mobile confirms v0180 update to feature Mad Miramar map, canted sight and more

Tencent has finally confirmed the new features that players can expect in the PUBG Mobile’s new v0.18.0 update. The tweet pretty much confirms what we’ve already known thanks to the Beta version of the game that got the new update a while back. The company has also comfy that the new updated version of Miramar will not be called Miramar 2.0, but rather ‘Mad Miramar’. To recall, the new update is scheduled to be available from May 7.

 

A glimpse at what's to come! Mad Miramar launches on May 7th with a slew of new features and gear! Make sure you're prepared now https://t.co/Npi5O5YFbr pic.twitter.com/m1EAaLnEsx

— PUBG MOBILE (@PUBGMOBILE) May 1, 2020

 

Mad Miramar

The new Mad Miramar map will now feature new locations like ruins as well as a new area with water. It will also come with the Golden Mirado, a special gold plated version of the Mirado. Only one instance of the vehicle will spawn on the map, so it’s a pretty rare commodity. 

New Win94 with 2.7x scope

The map will also come with the new Win94 weapons with a 2.7X scope attached. The standard version of the Win94 rifle could hardly equip any attachments. So having a permanent scope attachment should definitely improve the usability of the weapon. Besides this, the map will also come with vending machines that will dispense consumables like energy drink and painkillers. 

New results screen

Players will also see a new results screen that will offer better statistics and information. This will be quite useful for players to know how well a certain strategy performed as well as their effectiveness with certain weapons.

Canted scope

The weapons in the game are also updated to equip the new canted sights. These sights are attached to the side of a weapon and give players the option of having to scopes on their gun. The primary slot can be taken by a scope with higher magnification, while the side scope is pretty much a red dot scope for close-quarters battles. 

P90 weapon for Arena Mode

Arena mode players can look forward to a new SMG called the P90. The new weapon should offer players a large magazine capacity along with a high rate of fire. These attributes should make it a very viable weapon for CQB engagements.

Cheer Park

The developers have also confirmed the addition of a Cheer Park to the game. As per the Beta, the new cheer park will come with rides and arcade games where people will be able to try those out without worrying about being shot.

As mentioned before, the new features have already been added to the beta version. You can check out all the features here.

 

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Vivo S1 receives Rs 1000 price cut across all offline stores

Vivo has slashed the price of the Vivo S1 smartphone in India. The smartphone was launched last year in August at Rs 17,990 for the 4GB RAM variant. The price drop is of Rs 1000, which brings down the price to Rs 16,990 for the 4GB +128GB variant. A 6GB RAM variant of the phone was also introduced at Rs 19,990 but is now discontinued by the company.

The Vivo S1 is aimed at the offline market, and it's available at retail stores across the country. 91Mobiles has learnt from its retail sources that the new price comes in effect starting May and customers can buy the phone offline once the lockdown lifts and retail stores start operating. 

Vivo S1 Specifications

The Vivo S1 comes with a MediaTek Helio P65 SoC with 4GB RAM and 128GB storage. Its display is the key highlight of the phone as it has a 6.38-inch Super AMOLED display with FHD+ resolution.

For photos, it has a triple camera setup, combining a 16MP primary sensor, an 8MP ultra-wide-angle lens and a 2MP depth sensor. For selfies, it has a 32MP camera. 

It runs FunTouch OS based on Android 9 Pie. It has a 4500mAh battery and supports fast charging as well. Connectivity options include 4G, dual-band Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.0, micro-USB port, and 3.5mm headphone jack.

Is it a good buy?

The Vivo S1 was one of the better phones to buy offline when it was launched. Its USP is still its screen, battery and camera, which are among the key buying points of the offline consumer. But if you have access to buying the Poco X2, Redmi Note 9 Pro or Realme 6 Pro, then the S1 is clearly out of the league when it comes to performance and cameras. 

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NVIDIA Chief Scientist developed an open-source ventilator that can be made under 100

NVIDIA Chief Scientist Bill Dally has created an open-source design of a low-cost, ventilator that is also easy to assemble, as a contribution to the global fight against the Novel Coronavirus pandemic. Dally has developed the ventilator in just a few weeks and made it around readily available components.

The ventilator that Dally has designed needs a proportional solenoid valve and a microcontroller. The scientist believes the ventilators can be assembled for a few hundred dollars.

The ventilator can also be assembled in a few minutes. It can be attached to a simple display and packed into a Pelican carrying case. The prototype that Dally built was made using off-the-shelf components for $400 (roughly Rs 30,000). When produced at bulk, Dally believes manufacturers can shave off another $100. If 3D-print parts are used, the whole can be manufactured for under $100, which is quite impressive. According to NVIDIA, the cost of a traditional ventilator is around $20,000.

Dally has tested the open-source ventilator on a lung simulator, and he has used the same route that NASA recently used to get its own ventilator design approved by the FDA. However, even if the design is approved, finding a manufacturer ready to invest in assembling the parts will be challenging in the current scenario.

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MediaTek Helio G85 gaming SoC announced, debuted on the Xiaomi Redmi Note 9

MediaTek entered the mobile gaming space last year with a dedicated lineup of chipsets aimed at mobile gamers. The MediaTek Helio G90T was the flagship in the lineup and debuted with the Xiaomi Redmi Note 8 Pro, followed by the Helio G80 and the Helio G70 SoCs. Now, the fabless chip-maker has announced the Helio G85, which debuted on the Xiaomi Redmi Note 9 announced on Thursday.

The Helio G85 may sound like a step down from the HelioG90, but according to Xiaomi, the chipset is “Made for everyday gamers”, and sits between the Helio G80 and the Helio G90. The Helio G85 is an octa-core SoC with 2+6 core arrangement. There are two performance-centric ARM Cortex-A5 cores clocked at up to 2.0GHz and six Cortex A55 cores for efficiency. The clockspeeds of the efficiency cores were not revealed at the launch event.

The spec sheet of the Xiaomi Redmi Note 9 reveals the Helio G85 rocks a 1000MHz ARM Mali G52 GPU, which is ever so slightly more powerful than the Helio G80. However, the CPU configuration and clock-speeds remain the same.

Xiaomi did share some benchmarks at the launch event which pegged the Helio G85-powered Redmi Note 9 beat the Snapdragon 665 and the Exynos 9611, both of which power devices in the Rs 10000-15000 price range in India.

However, owing to the recent controversy around boosting benchmark scores which MediaTek has found itself in, synthetic benchmarks scores should be taken with a pinch of salt.

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Resuming smartphone manufacturing is up to the State Governments during extended lockdown

In a recent development, the Indian Ministry of Home Affairs has allowed the manufacturing of IT hardware in the country. The latest government notice gave some hope to the mobile phone manufacturers. However, the final decision will still await for state government's approval, says India Cellular and Electronics Association (ICEA), as per PTI.

For those unaware, the Indian Cellular and Electronics Association (ICEA) is an industry body of mobile and electronics manufacturers, brand owners, technology providers, VAS application & solution providers, distributors, and retail chains of mobile handsets and electronics devices.

Like most businesses, the thriving Indian mobile phone market is hit massively by the nationwide lockdown, and the industry has been requesting to allow the sale of non-essential items like mobile phones. The PTI report quotes ICEA Chairman, Pankaj Mahindroo praising the decisions of the MHA where he sys the notification undertakes necessary measures whereby economic and manufacturing activities are resumed with an alert system in place that doesn't involve risk of virus infection.

Mr Mahindroo, in his statement, said " "The latest notification gives clarity on opening of retail shops and e-commerce sales for non-essential items. We support the decision and agree that there should be minimal activity in red zones. MHA has already clarified on movements of trucks that serve as lifeline of industry. Now restoration of mobile device production will depend on d action of state governments."

The latest MHA notice, also mentions the sale and delivery of essential items in the green zones (areas with less or no Covid-19 impact) and orange zones ( recovering areas). However, the restrictions on non-essential items like mobile phones, laptops, and tablets are still an ongoing concern. It is being said that work from home and shutting down of schools and colleges is leading to increased demand for products like laptops and tablets.

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OnePlus working on five new feature ideas for OxygenOS suggested by its community

OnePlus is working on five new feature ideas as suggested by members of its community in the IDEAS program that aims to gather as much feedback from users of OnePlus’ smartphones. The company has amassed a large following with which it interacts regularly by hosting open forums in order to hear out thoughts and issues faced by customers.

The company announced it’s IDEAS program back in March with an aim to gather users feedback on OxygenOS and suggestions for features that can be added to the OS to make it more efficient. In a span of eight weeks, the folks over at OnePlus have decided to work on five features suggested by its users. The selected ideas or as OnePlus calls it “adopted ideas” have been included in the company’s roadmap and users whose feature ideas got selected will be joining the team of developers to further build upon the idea and help the company flesh out the final feature.

Here’s a list of the five features OnePlus is set to develop in the coming months and has included in the roadmap for OxygesOS updates.

OxygenOS new features

OnePlus had started working on an Always-on display functionality for its smartphones and development could be finished by June with beta trails commencing from August. 

Another feature suggested by a user to enable pass protection for hidden pictures in the gallery is also being worked on. This will practically allow users to set fingerprint security for accessing hidden pictures on the phone. 

The developers are also working on a feature that will play a sound clip every time the battery is fully charged to 100%.

OxygenOS could soon support folders in the app drawer as currently it’s restricted to home screen only. The feature will allow users to group apps in folders and place them inside the app drawer.

Additionally, the devs are also working on adding more essential features to the Zen Mode and has included it in the update roadmap.

Notably, some of the features that OnePlus didn’t adopt for its OxygenOS update roadmap include edge notification light, Samsung DeX-like mode for OnePlus, API support for GCam, custom fingerprint animations and more. 

We could see these features being rolled out via the latest version of the OxygenOS as and when they’re ready for a public release.

 

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