Sony Beats Estimates on Gaming, Entertainment Amid Lockdown

Sony on Tuesday reported a 1.1 percent decline in first-quarter operating profit, much milder than market estimates as its gaming business thrived while consumers locked down at home looked for entertainment and downloaded more games. The electronics and entertainment firm posted April-June profit of JPY 228.4 billion ($2.15 billion), versus JPY 23...

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Four variants of the iPhone 12 will launch in two phases in 2020: Report

The ongoing coronavirus pandemic which has ravaged the supply chain and launch plans for smartphones and other gadgets may just create history for this year’s iPhone launch. Owing to delays in mass production, Apple CFO Luca Maestri had confirmed the iPhone 12 will be delayed by a few weeks.

Now, according to a report by DigiTimes citing Apple’s supply chains, the four rumoured iPhone 12 variants will launch in two phases, a first in the history of iPhones. The report claims Apple will first launch two 6.1-inch iPhone models, followed by the 5.4-inch and 6.7-inch models.

Digitimes claim the shipment of components for the 6.1-inch devices have already started while that of the other two models will start from late-August. “Apple may launch its 5G iPhones in two stages, with two 6.1-inch models in the first and another two 6.7- and 5.4-inch devices in the second, the sources said, adding that suppliers of SLP (substrate-like PCB) mainboards for the former models have recently kicked off shipments, with those for the latter to start in late August. Shipments of flexible boards for new iPhones will peak some 2-4 weeks later than usual this year,” the report states.

While Apple did admit to a delay in supply by a few weeks during the company’s earnings call, the company is yet to confirm the news of two-phased launch. The Cupertino giant usually holds the iPhone event in September, and considering components for two models will start shipping late into August, there might just be some truth to the report.

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Xiaomi Redmi 9 Prime launched in India: specifications, pricing and availability

Xiaomi Redmi 9 Prime has launched in India as a budget phone in the company’s Redmi 9 lineup which succeeds the Redmi 8 series from last year. Xiaomi aims to offer a value for money phone for people on a tight budget and the Redmi 9 Prime is similar to the Redmi 9 that was launched last month in July.

The Redmi 9 Prime comes with a quad-camera setup on the back, Full HD+ screen and high capacity battery to boot. Let’s take a brief look at the specifications, pricing and availability of the Redmi 9 Prime.

Xiaomi Redmi 9 Prime pricing and availability

Xiaomi Redmi 9 Prime is priced in India starting at Rs 9,999 for the base variant with 4GB RAM and 64GB storage and Rs 11,999 for the 4GB RAM and 128GB variant. The Redmi 9 Prime goes on sale from August 6 during the Amazon Prime Day on Amazon India.

Xiaomi Redmi 9 Prime specifications

Xiaomi Redmi 9 Prime features a 6.53-inch Full HD+ (2340 x 1080 pixels) display with a waterdrop notch cutout for the selfie camera. The screen is topped with a layer of Gorilla Glass 3 for added protection. The phone comes with a new Aura 360 design with ripple texture that makes it grippy and is 9.1mm thick and weighs at 198 grams. It comes in four colours, Space Blue, Mint Green, Sunrise Flare and Matte Black.

It is powered by MediaTek Helio G80 chipset with an octa-core CPU and Mali-G52 GPU and runs on MIUI 12 which is based on Android 10. This is paired with 4GB RAM and up to 128GB storage options to choose from. There's also an option to increase the phone's storage further by using microSD cards of up to 512GB.

The Redmi 9 features a quad-camera setup that consists of a primary 13MP camera with an f/2.2 aperture, an 8MP ultra-wide-angle camera with 118-degree field-of-view, a 5MP macro camera and a 2MP depth sensor. On the front, there is an 8MP selfie camera housed within the waterdrop notch cutout.

The phone has a fingerprint sensor on the back and comes with a 5,020mAh battery with support for 18W fast charging but users will have to buy the adapter separately as it comes with a 10W charging adapter in-the-box. Xiaomi claims that the phone can provide a two-day battery life but we will have to check on that for our full review.

 

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The next PlayStation State of Play is on August 7 1:30 AM India Time

A few days ago, we reported that a new PlayStation State of Play would be held at the beginning of August and it looks like that bit of information was true. However, it will not bring with it a lot of details about the PS5 like pricing, availability, etc. Instead, the event will focus on third party games for the PS4, PSVR and some for the PS5. The PlayStation State of Play Kicks off on August 6 1:00 PM Pacific Time which means that viewers in India can catch it at 1:30 AM August 7 (IST). 

According to the PlayStation Blog, the State of Play event will have a “focus on third-party-published games coming to PS4 and PS VR. We’ll have a few PS5 game updates on third-party and indie titles you last saw in June’s PS5 showcase”.

The blog goes on to say that the event is 40 minutes long and features “plenty of new gameplay footage” and updates. Sony is also keeping players expectations in check by highlighting that “there will be no PlayStation Studios updates in Thursday’s episode”

For those looking for some information on the PS5, should note that there will be no hardware, business, preorders, or dates announced for the upcoming console.

 

State of Play returns Thursday at 1:00pm Pacific! What to expect: ▪️ A focus on upcoming PS4 & PS VR games ▪️ A few quick check-ins on third-party and indie games from June’s PS5 showcase ▪️ No big PS5 announcements! Tune-in details: https://t.co/kgrDFZsHd2 pic.twitter.com/9AIPFnh3CT

— PlayStation (@PlayStation) August 3, 2020

 

It makes sense that the upcoming event is about the PS4. There are undoubtedly a lot of games still in development for the current console generation and there needs to be a platform to show them off. We could also get to see some cross-gen third party games, just like we did with the recent Xbox Showcase. 

Both Sony and Microsoft have shown us what the next-gen consoles look like and you can check out our comparison of the 2 consoles here. You can also check our comparison of the specifications of the PS5 and Xbox Series X here. Both the consoles are expected to launch towards the end of 2020. While Sony has a listing page on Amazon and Flipkart highlighting details on the console in India, there is no word on the Series X making its way to India.

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Spider-Man in Marvel’s Avengers Is Exclusive to PlayStation, Coming Early 2021

Spider-Man will be part of the upcoming Marvel’s Avengers, but only on PS4 and PS5, developer Crystal Dynamics has announced. As you can expect, this hasn’t gone down well with most of the fandom, who are upset with Sony.

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PS4 Controllers Will Work on the PS5, but Only With PS4 Games

The official PS4 controller — the DualShock 4 — won’t work with PS5 games, Sony has announced. Instead, the DualShock 4 will work on the PS5 with “supported PS4 games”. Meanwhile, all official Xbox One controllers will work on the Xbox Series X.

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Google Pixel 4a officially launched: specifications, pricing and availability

Google Pixel 4a has officially launched as the successor to the Pixel 3a budget lineup of phones, albeit without the Pixel 4a XL. The Pixel 4a aims to offer the vanilla Pixel experience with a flagship-level camera and is already looking like a great contender in the mid-range smartphone market going up against the likes of the OnePlus Nord and Apple iPhone SE 2020. The Pixel 4a is also important for the countries where Google didn’t launch the Pixel 4 last year like India, however, availability is set to vary depending on regions.

Google has indicated that the delay in the launch of the Pixel 4a was due to the outbreak of COVID-19 which impacted the supply chain, leading to several delays. Hence, some countries will just see a deferred availability of the PIxel 4a in their regions. Google also gave us a sneak peak at the Pixel 4a (5G) and Pixel 5 that will be debuting sometime this fall in the U.S., Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, France, Germany, Japan, Taiwan and Australia.

Let’s take a brief look at the specifications, pricing and availability of the Pixel 4a.

Google Pixel 4a pricing

Google Pixel 4a comes with 6GB RAM and 128GB storage and is priced at $349. It will be available in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Singapore, Spain, Taiwan, United Kingdom, United States from August 20. The Pixel 4a will be available in India sometime in October and the Indian pricing will be revealed closer to the sale date.

Google has made some new cases for the Pixel 4a with fabric design that’s made from 70 percent recycled material and comes in Basically Black, Static Grey and Blue Confetti colours to choose from.

Google Pixel 4a specifications

Google Pixel 4a has a new design with a soft-to-touch plastic back but without the dual-tone style as on the Pixel 3a. It measures 8.2 millimetres in thickness and is fairly lightweight, weighing 143 grams, due to the polycarbonate built. There is a square camera module on the back with the fingerprint reader placed in the middle for faster unlock speeds. The phone doesn’t go for an in-display sensor as is the trend these days likely to keep the price down.

The 4a features a 5.8-inch Full HD+ (2340 x 1080 pixels) resolution display that uses an OLED panel. The screen has a punch-hole cutout in the top-left corner for housing the selfie camera and has minimal bezels on the sides. This gives it a 19.5:9 aspect ratio. Additionally, the display is HDR+ certified which should enhance the video-viewing experience on the phone while the audio is expected to be decent with stereo speakers.

The Pixel 4a is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 730G with an octa-core CPU clocked at upto 2.2GHz and Adreno 618 GPU. This is paired with 6GB RAM and 128GB storage. Being a Pixel phone, Google offers unlimited photo and video storage in Google Photos in high quality for free. The Pixel 4a is a slightly toned-down version of the Pixel 4 that debuted late last year. It doesn’t come with the Soli radar chip or Pixel Neural Core but does come with the Titan M security chip which helps in keeping your data safe along with assured updates for three years. 

Google Pixel 4a comes with a single 12MP camera which uses the same Sony IMX363 sensor as the Pixel 4 with support for OIS and EIS. Google claims that the camera of the Pixel 4a is capable of producing Pixel 4-like images from its camera with features like Live HDR+, Night Sight, Astrophotography, Super Res Zoom and more. The phone’s rear camera is capable of recording in 4K at 30fps, 1080p at 30/60/120fps and 720p at up to 240fps while the selfie camera can shoot Full HD videos at 30fps. The front camera on the phone is the same as the Pixel 3a with an 8MP camera with an 84-degree field-of-view. 

The 4a does not lose out on the 3.5mm headphone jack and comes pre-loaded with Google Assistant along with a slew of new features like the new Recorder app which transcribes speech to text using AI and machine learning algorithms. In addition, the phone has accessibility features like live Transcribe and Live Caption as well.

The Pixel 4a is equipped with a 3,140mAh battery with support for 18W fast charging. Google claims that the 4a can provide a 24-hour battery backup and comes with Adaptive Battery feature that manages the battery life based on how you use your phone.

 

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