Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War PC System Requirements Revealed

Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War PC system requirements have been revealed by Activision and Treyarch, and the first thing that stands out is the game’s massive size: 175GB for all game modes, and 250GB for 4K gamers. Here are the minimum and recommended requirements for CoD Cold War.

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Apple One Launch Date Set for October 30, CEO Tim Cook Reveals

Apple One — the subscription bundle that includes Apple Music, Apple TV+, Apple Arcade, and iCloud storage — will launch Friday, October 30, Apple CEO Tim Cook has announced. Apple One costs Rs. 195 / $15 per month (for individuals) or Rs. 365 / $20 per month (for families).

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PUBG Mobile to Stop Access for Users in India from Friday, Following September Ban

PUBG Mobile will terminate its access for users in India starting Friday, October 30. The new move comes nearly two months after the government banned the highly popular battle royale game along with its lightweight PUBG Mobile Lite and other 116 apps in early September.

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Netflix raises Standard and Premium plan prices in the US, what does that mean for Indian subscribers

If you were moaning about having to shell out Rs 799 for a premium Netflix plan, there could be some bad news on the horizon for all you pocket pinchers. Netflix is now raising the prices of both the standard and premium plans in the US and since Netflix doesn’t really follow differential pricing for other markets, we’re assuming that prices in India could rise as well. Remember, this is all speculation at this point as Netflix has not made an official announcement regarding raising prices in other markets. 

The Netflix Standard plan has been raised from $13 a month to $14 a month. The Premium plan is going from $16 a month up to $18 a month. The Basic plan stays the same at $9 a month. In India, the Standard plan costs Rs 649 a month while the Premium plan costs Rs 799 a month. With this increase in the US pricing of these plans, the assumption is that we could see a Rs 100 rise in the both Standard and Premium plans, which would put them at about Rs 749 for the standard plan and Rs 899 for the premium plan. Also, remember that Netflix is available in Hindi, in India.

 New members signing up for the service in the US will be charged the updated prices from October 29 onward. In a report by CNBC, Netflix has said that it will alert existing users 30 days before the changes are made. The company has also stated, “Timing will be based on the specific member’s billing cycle and will be rolled out over the course of the next two months.”. 

Again, remember that this has not been announced in India yet so do take our assumptions with a grain of salt. As of right now, this price rise applies only to users in the US. So, for guys who want to check out the new Assassin's Creed show on Netflix, you may have to shell out a bit more cash for it. 

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Zebroniucs Zeb-Juke Bar 9700 Pro Dolby Atmos Soundbar review

What the Zebronics Zeb-Juke Bar 9700 Pro Dolby Atmos Soundbar has going for it is good connectivity options, a simple plug and play setup and support for Dolby Atmos decoding. While the Dolby Atmos performance is gimmicky, the bass heavy nature of the soundbar makes it hard to recommend for all. If you don't want the additional HDMI pass-through ports and are looking for a surround sound experience, you can check out the similarly priced Sony HT-S20R. It is a 5.1 soundbar with dedicated surround speakers and has better overall sound output. 

Budget TVs today come with a host of options like HDMI ARC, 4K HDR playback and some smart capabilities. Some budget TVs also boast of support for Dolby Atmos as well. One of the compromises made to keep the price of these TVs low is the quality of audio output. The 20W to 40 W of sound output from most budget TVs can get the job done for watching regular TVs but for an immersive experience, you need to invest in a sound system like a soundbar. 

In the past year, we have seen the launch of a bunch of budget soundbars at attractive price points that can complement your TV. These soundbars generally have a 2.1 setup, the subwoofer isn’t wireless and the build quality is average. 

Today we have with us the Zebronics Zeb-Juke Bar 9700 Pro Dolby Atmos Soundbar. Not only does the soundbar boast of Dolby Atmos support, but also has upward-firing drivers to simulate the height channels. Can it simulate a surround sound experience? Read on and find out!

Zeb-Juke Bar 9700 Pro Dolby Atmos Soundbar key specifications at a glance

Soundbar and Subwoofer Weight: 8.2 kg Subwoofer: Yes Audio Inputs: 3.5mm, Optical in, Bluetooth HDMI (ARC). Soundbar Dimension: LxWxH = 960 x 83 x 73 mm HDMI Input: 2 HDMI Output (Audio Return Channel): 1 Soundbar Speaker Driver: 2.25-inch x 4 + 2-inch x 2 Subwoofer Speaker Driver: 6.5-inch Power output: 450W Price: Rs 17,999

What’s in the box of the Zeb-Juke Bar 9700 Pro Dolby Atmos Soundbar

In the box, you get the soundbar, subwoofer, power cable and an Aux cable. You also get the remote control and manual. The subwoofer connects via a cable to the soundbar.

Zeb-Juke Bar 9700 Pro Dolby Atmos Soundbar Build and Design

The Zeb-Juke Bar 9700 Pro has a simple traditional soundbar design. It has a plastic build with the grill occupying the front and the top of the soundbar. It has a hint of silver on the sides which is nice as this will ensure people will notice it. It has 2 rubber feet which hold it well when kept on a table. The soundbar itself is relatively light but does not feel flimsy. The left of the front has the Zebronics logo and the right has the Dolby Atmos badge. At the centre, we have an LED indicator to show you the sound preset, the current source, etc. I wish this were a little dimmer or would automatically go off after some time as its constant visibility can get distracting, especially if you watch content in a pitch-dark room. The top of the soundbar has physical buttons for power, source and volume. This is nice in case you lose the remote control. The buttons have a nice clicky feel to them. The power cord is detachable on the soundbar and is user-replaceable. 

Moving over to the subwoofer, it has a rectangular form factor with the duct facing front and at the bottom half of the soundbar as we have seen on so many other subwoofers.  It has a matte finish, which I like. The subwoofer has no connectivity options except for a cable which is attached and not user-replaceable. This cable connects the subwoofer to the soundbar. 

Overall, the soundbar doesn’t feel cheap, but it isn't premium either. The subwoofer has a minimal design which is very nice. The soundbar doesn’t have bling but the prominent logos and chunky LED indicator in the centre can get distracting. The grill finish surrounding the soundbar is good.  

Zeb-Juke Bar 9700 Pro Soundbar Ports and Connectivity

Speaking of connectivity options, the speaker has one HDMI ARC port and 2 HDMI pass-through ports capable of 4K and HDR. It also has an Optical in, one USB port, Bluetooth 5.0 and one AUX-In. All the ports are neatly hidden at the back of the soundbar and easily accessible. We didn’t wall-mount the soundbar, so we can’t say for sure, but it may be a bit of trouble to manage cables when wall-mounting the soundbar. 

It’s nice to see 2 HDMI pass-through ports on the soundbar along with support for 4K and HDR.

Zeb-Juke Bar 9700 Pro Remote Control

Moving to the remote control, it is all plastic with curved edges to add to the grip. Even though the buttons are clicky, the remote does feel slightly cheap. It runs on two AAA batteries and offers playback controls for Bluetooth and USB connectivity, four different EQ presets, treble, bass and volume controls and the ability to change inputs. You can also use the remote control to put the soundbar in pairing mode for Bluetooth playback. Whatever you do on the remote control is reflected on the LED display on the soundbar. 

Zeb-Juke Bar 9700 Pro Soundbar Setup 

Setting up the soundbar is extremely easy. Place the soundbar under the TV, place the subwoofer in a corner (it should be close enough for the subwoofer cable to reach the soundbar), connect the soundbar to a power supply, connect it to your TV and you are good to go. The setup shouldn't take you more than 10 minutes. 

Zeb-Juke Bar 9700 Pro Soundbar Performance

Bass-heavy is the first thing that will come to your mind when you hear this soundbar. Be it for movies, TV shows or music, the soundbar has an overemphasis on bass. The soundbar can get really loud too, if bringing the house down is something you want. We connected the Xbox One X to the soundbar via an HDMI cable to check the pass-through and it works. If you connect a Dolby Atmos enabled source to the soundbar and connect the soundbar to your TV via ARC, you will be able to enjoy the Atmos encoding from the source even if your TV doesn’t support it, which is good. The fact that it has 2 HDMI pass-through ports is a very handy touch, especially since most budget TVs come with 3 HDMI ports, one of which is ARC, leaving you with only 2 HDMI ports at the back of the TV. With this soundbar, you effectively get 2 more HDMI ports to connect devices to. 

Let’s get the Dolby Atmos performance out of the way. While the soundbar has decent channel separation, don't expect the sound to come from above you. It has a decently wide soundstage but gimmicky Atmos performance.

Coming to the sound quality itself, we connected it to the TV using HDMI ARC and Optical and both inputs worked fine. However, for a more seamless experience, we recommend using the HDMI ARC port. 

At about 30 to 40 percent volume the soundbar can get pretty loud but what it lacks is clarity and that is again because of the bass-heavy signature of the bar. Watching news or TV shows like Young Sheldon or Big Bang Theory where dialogue is most important, you still get a bass-heavy sound output. The only picture preset that worked to reduce this was the news preset and I ended up using this preset most of the time. You can control the bass and treble separately from the remote control, but it kinda muddies the sound output. 

When in the “News” sound preset, the bass is low and we can focus on all the other aspects. Vocals in the news preset are clear so daily TV shows and documentaries can be enjoyed. 

Moving over to movies, once again you expect the bass to kick in when an action sequence starts or the background score demands it. The same thing for gaming, especially in a game like Doom Eternal where you need to feel the thump of the shotgun, you end up feeling everything. 

Resorting to the news preset was the only way to ensure some normalcy to the sound and in this preset, the bass just doesn’t feel right.

Overall, even though the sound output from this soundbar can get really loud, its bass-heavy nature leaves a lot to be desired to have an enjoyable experience. Some of you that want a lot of bass at every turn may enjoy the sound output.

Bottom line

What the Zebronics Zeb-Juke Bar 9700 Pro Dolby Atmos Soundbar has going for it is good connectivity options, a simple plug and play setup and support for Dolby Atmos decoding. While the Dolby Atmos performance is gimmicky, the bass heavy nature of the soundbar makes it hard to recommend for all. If you don't want the additional HDMI pass-through ports and are looking for a surround sound experience, you can check out the similarly priced Sony HT-S20R (review). It is a 5.1 soundbar with dedicated surround speakers and has better overall sound output.

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Xiaomi Mi NoteBook 14 with Core i3 processor confirmed to launch soon in India

Xiaomi Mi NoteBook 14 with 10th generation Intel Core i3 processor is confirmed to launch soon in India. After the launch of the Mi NoteBook 14 (Core i5) and Mi NoteBook 14 Horizon Edition earlier in June this year, this will be the third laptop from the company to make it to the country in the affordable laptop range. The company has teased the key specifications along with a picture of its upcoming laptop.

Manu Kumar Jain, MD at Xiaomi India took to Twitter to announce that the company is preparing to expand its laptop portfolio and will launch the Mi NoteBook 14 powered by the 10th generation Intel Core i3 processor soon. The tweet was accompanied by an image of the laptop teasing the key feature-set. 

Going by the image, the upcoming Mi NoteBook 14 is powered by the 10th gen Intel Core i3 processor with 256GB SSD storage. The laptop is expected to be thin and lightweight, weighing in at 1.5 kilograms. Moreover, unlike its existing laptops in the Mi NoteBook 14 range, the Core i3 variant also features an in-built webcam on top. 

While the company has not revealed the actual launch date of the Core i3 variant of the Mi NoteBook 14, it is expected to launch in the coming weeks with some “festive offers” as stated in Jain’s tweet. Currently, laptops with the similar configuration-set such as the ones in Lenovo IdeaPad or Dell Inspiron series are priced between Rs 30,000 to Rs 40,000 and it will be interesting to see whether Xiaomi is able to undercut these or offer better features in the range.

The Mi NoteBook 14 powered by the 10th generation Intel Core i5 processor with NVIDIA GeForce MX250 graphics and paired with 8GB RAM and 512GB SSD is currently priced starting at Rs 41,999. It features a 14-inch Full HD display and is sleek and lightweight.

The Mi NoteBook 14 Horizon Edition, on the other hand, features a 1080p anti-glare display and is powered by the 10th generation Intel Core i7 processor with NVIDIA GeForce MX350 graphics. This is paired with 8GB RAM and 512GB SSD storage making it lightweight at 1.35 kilograms. The Horizon Edition is priced starting at Rs 51,999 in India. You can read our extensive review here or watch the review video below.

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OnePlus 8T Review

The OnePlus 8T doesn't really bring anything new to the table, but polishes and refines the previous lineup to reach a middle point. The OnePlus 8T is basically the OnePlus 8 that adds the 120Hz refresh rate from the OnePlus 8 Pro, and adds 65W fast charging, to create what is easily one of the best Android experiences out there.

With the Pro Model largely absent from this year’s fall lineup for OnePlus, all eyes are on the OnePlus 8T, which seems to sit cozily between the OnePlus 8 and the OnePlus 8 Pro. It borrows quite a few features from the OnePlus 8 Pro, including the primary camera sensor and the display, but also adds new things like 65W fast charging and UFS 3.1 storage. Like OnePlus has stated over the years, the T series was brought in to capitalise on the new developments that break in the second half of the year.  Hardware like the chipset and other components also tend to become cheaper by the second half of the year, and the overall offering gives a lot more value for money than the products launched in the first half of the year. The OnePlus 7T did more or less the same thing by imbibing the high refresh rate display from its Pro sibling, and becoming one of the best value flagships of 2019. With the OnePlus 8T Pro not seeing the light of the day, the onus on the OnePlus 8T to prove itself in the market is a lot higher. Can it succeed? Let’s find out —

Performance

With OnePlus opting out of the speed-binned variant of the Snapdragon 865, the benchmark scores of the OnePlus 8T remain largely the same as its predecessor. Interestingly, the OnePlus 8T goes back to using LPDDR4X RAM, instead of LPDDR5 used on both the OnePlus 8 and 8 Pro earlier this year. This after a detailed forum post on how the latest RAM module improves operating speed, definitely feels like a compromise on paper, and the benchmark scores also reflect that when compared to the OnePlus 8. That certainly feels odd, but might disappoint the speed enthusiasts who buy a OnePlus flagship thinking that it’s the latest and the best.

Thankfully, the real world performance is reassuring, and is actually a testament to the fact that benchmark scores and real world usage are poles apart. The lower scores should ideally indicate that the OnePlus 8 should feel faster than the OnePlus 8T, but set the refresh rate to 90Hz on the 8T, and we guarantee you won’t see any difference in the speed at which the phone boots up, unlocks and launches apps. It’s definitely a good thing as the OnePlus 8 was already plenty fast and gets the job done effortlessly. The 120Hz refresh rate is the only thing that seems to separate the experience of using the phone. It’s ever so slightly smoother, like how the 8 Pro was as compared to the OnePlus 8.

The dual stereo speakers are loud, with audible sound separation, making watching episodes on the pot a lot more immersive. The on-screen fingerprint sensor works just as fast as the 8 Pro, but if you have face unlock enabled, you won’t even need to use it. The storage is also blazing fast. All the photos I clicked on the phone got transferred in less than 5 minutes. That was around 4GB of data.

Gaming

OnePlus flagships have always offered the best gaming experience without the extra buttons and triggers found in a typical gaming phone. And the OnePlus 8T is no different, and unlike the OnePlus 8 Pro, doesn’t heat up excessively. I tried my hand on a few rounds of Call of Duty: Mobile’s Team Deathmatch, and it’s really the best it can get right now. Having built a habit of playing COD on the ROG Phone 3, I didn’t feel a big difference in gameplay, except for missing the AirTriggers. The touch sensitivity and the large surface area is perfect for quickly moving around and aiming, and the response times are near accurate on a good Wi-Fi connection.

The game ran at 60 FPS at 100% stability, and it only got slightly warm after three matches. Now, despite having a 120Hz display, none of the mainstream Android games will run at 120FPS. 90FPS on Fortnite has been promised, but that’s likely going to be at the cost of low quality graphics.

Software

The OnePlus 8T did give me a chance to explore the new OxygenOS 11 to its fullest, and that’s the real charm of using the device. Not the flagship hardware as such, because now that I’ve had a taste of the same experience on mid-range hardware, there are reasons to believe spending upwards of Rs 40,000 will not make much of a difference in the overall experience, when it comes to OnePlus smartphones.

Nevertheless, OxygenOS 11 is still eluding the Nord, with the 8 series being the only one with it for now. There are improvements across the board, some incremental and some game-changing, like the Always-on display. That is one big missing piece that makes OxygenOS the best Android skin in my books. It disappeared from the OnePlus 6, and returned with more powers on the OnePlus 8T. It’s called Ambient Display and it’s always-on, and now shows the number of times you have unlocked the phone throughout the day in a minimalist visual.

OnePlus has removed the OnePlus Slate Font and replaced it with Sans, which did take a little time for me to get used to. Menu titles are big and bold, sub-menus have rounded corners; you can also customise the icon shapes, the colour accents and

There’s also a pull-out game bar you can use to toggle settings on the fly, quick access to Google Home devices and more. It’s not a major visual upgrade as such, and the UI still feels just as smooth, slick and fast. I doubt there’s anything more OnePlus can do here.

Camera

With the OnePlus 8T in place, we now have three OnePlus smartphones using the same 48MP camera sensor, including the OnePlus 8 and the OnePlus Nord. This, when the competition has already moved on to larger sensors seems quite ‘unsettling’ for OnePlus. The performance I felt was being held back for this reason. The ultrawide camera is also the same as before, but there’s now a larger macro camera and a 2MP monochrome lens.

The camera performance, as a result of the hardware, isn’t anything groundbreaking. The output is ever so slightly better than the OnePlus Nord, but nowhere close to the results from the OnePlus 8 Pro. Both the OnePlus Nord and the OnePlus 8 Pro also carry a warm tinge in photos shot in the day, which the 8T gets right. The colours are nicely balanced, and even with a dominance of green in the frame, the white balance is not off.

OnePlus 8T

OnePlus Nord

OnePlus 8 Pro

The level of details in photos shot from the primary 48MP camera is similar to the OnePlus 8 and the OnePlus Nord. You can crop by at least 2x without losing the details too much. The overall sharpness, including the center and the edges are uniformly good, and the dynamic range is just shy of what the 8 Pro can produce with its larger sensor.

 

The ultrawide lens too outputs sharp, clean photos given the source of light is ample and not directly in the frame. In the day, the 16MP shooter produces sharp details in the center, with very little distortion in the corners. The colours are also quite consistent moving from the primary to the ultrawide lens.

The good thing is that the ultrawide lens now works with the Nightscape mode, and there’s a definite improvement in using the lens in lowlight. Don’t think iPhone standards, but at least you are now able to get a lot more light in through the small aperture, details be damned.

The Nightscape mode using the primary lens, is now faster than before, and pushes the brightness of the frame to make it look like it’s morning. I’m guessing there are admirers of this effect, but personally, I like to keep my photos natural, and the Nightscape mode by default doesn’t allow it. You need to dial down the exposure level to reduce the brightness, at the cost of darker shadows.

OnePlus 8T

OnePlus Nord

OnePlus 8 Pro

The OnePlus 8T also brings a larger macro lens, even as the 8 Pro simply uses the primary camera to take macro shots. The macro camera seens to have focus issues. It hardly got the details from the flower I was trying to capture.

Overall, the camera performance is sort of disappointing. Not that the photos aren't sharp and detailed. But the camera performance in OnePlus smartphones seems to have hit a plateau. The 8T camera could have done better with a larger sensor, and we’re unsure whether it was cost-cutting or, using up stock of older sensors that made OnePlus stick to a camera sensor launched two years back, even as smartphones like the Mi 10 and the Vivo X50 Pro innovated on using larger sensors and newer stabilisation methods. OnePlus' flagship lineup this year lacks that lustre. So if you are planning to get the OnePlus 8T for its camera performance, there are better options in the same price range.

Battery

The battery is where the OnePlus 8T will put all other OnePlus flagships to shame. After sticking to 30W fast charging for years, the 8T embraces hyperfast 65W fast charging, and what an impact it makes! It’s not the first time we are seeing 65W fast charging on a smartphone before. OnePlus’ BBK sibling Realme and Oppo have already outed smartphones with the technology, and you can avail that speed for as low as Rs 14,999. On the OnePlus 8T, the 65W only adds on to the long list of flagship features and makes this one even more compelling amidst competition. You will anyway have trouble draining the 4500mAh battery on the 8T. The optimisations in place keeps the battery drain extremely conservative when you are doing simple tasks like texting, browsing Twitter or even video calling. That’s usually how my morning goes, and from 100%, the battery drained only to 93% after the usual morning routine.

Even with heavy usage sprinkled with gaming, streaming content on Netflix and taking plenty of photos and videos, the OnePlus 8T lasts till the evening. And the moment the charge hits 15%, you can just plug it for 10 minutes to bring the battery level up to 50%. The total time it takes to charge the phone to full capacity is just over 30 minutes. Trust me, it’s a game-changer.

Design and Display

Another place that saw big changes is the design. The OnePlus 8T is now more in line with the OnePlus Nord’s design philosophy. OnePlus switched to a glossy glass finish and used a broader camera module in the top corner, housing four cameras and two flash modules. The frame is built out of aluminum and feels quite resilient. The phone is also as heavy as the OnePlus 8 Pro, and putting it in a cover makes it even heavier. The punch-hole camera, the speaker arrangement and the alert slider has been retained from its predecessor, and thankfully, the screen is now flat, and shows no glare or colour shift along the edges. Sadly, the OnePlus 8T is not water resistant and IP68 certified like the OnePlus 8 Pro.

Speaking of the display, this really feels like the best panel we have seen on a OnePlus device. The 6.55-inch AMOLED display is tuned to produce bright and saturated colours with deep blacks and high contrast. Using the phone in Dark Mode is a charm, and watching HDR videos on YouTube is just as charming. Netflix still hasn’t certified the 8T yet, but that won’t take long. The panel is also ideal for gaming as the touch sampling rate can hit a claimed 240Hz. But here’s what’s missing — While the panel does sport 120Hz refresh, there’s no MEMC chip inside in the 8T to upscale videos to up to 120 fps, like the OnePlus 8 Pro. The resolution is also lower on the 8T’s panel. As a result, the OnePlus 8 Pro’s display visually remains the best, but I just prefer the flat screen more than the sharply curved edges.

Bottomline

With one of the smoothest displays, hyperfast charging, and a premium design, the OnePlus 8T offers almost everything one wants from a smartphone in 2020. Only the camera holds it back from challenging the stalwarts in the market, even its own Pro sibling. What it does offer is one of the best value for money devices out there. The 8+128GB variant launched at Rs 42,999 and goes up to Rs 45,999 for the 12+256GB variant, in line with the Xiaomi Mi 10 and the OnePlus 8. The OnePlus 8T is perfect if the camera is not the highest priority, but gaming, watching movies and speedy usage, is. It’s not as ergonomic as the Mi 10 or the OnePlus 8, because of its weight and thickness, but boy is it fast!

Photos by Prateek Khatri

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