Garena Free Fires OB26 update will be available from Feb 4

Garena Free Fire’s next big update, the OB26 update, looks all set to be available from February 4. The same was confirmed via an in-game event that will reward players for updating the game and logging in. The event starts from February 2, which pretty much confirms that the update should start rolling out from the same day.

Event rewards with the OB26 update

Players can simply log in after installing the O26 update to receive two Diamond Royale Vouchers and two Weapon Royale Vouchers. Do note that in order to get the reward players will have to install and log in before February 9, 4:00 AM. Considering the fact that the new update will be a requirement to play the game, almost all regular players should be able to get this reward.

New character

Garena has also confirmed that they will be adding a new character to the game. The company has collaborated with Son Tung M-TP to create Skyler. Son Tung M-TP is a popular music artist in Vietnam. Skylar’s abilities are not yet known, but reports suggest that he will have a special ability to destroy Gloo Walls. This would make Skylar a good choice for aggressive playstyles.

Skylar will also be one of the few in-game characters that are modelled after real-world celebrities. Other examples include Jai, who is based on Bollywood actor, Hritik Roshan. One of the most recent examples is Chrono, who is based on professional footballer, Cristiano Ronaldo. You can learn more about Chrono here.

Garena has announced that it will be hosting the Free Fire South Asia Showdown: Battle of the Stars event. This will take place on February 6 and will feature notable Free Fire streamers from India, Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh. The tournament is touted as Free Fire’s first-ever esports tournament for the South Asia region. This event will be live-streamed on Free Fire’s official social media channels as well as Garena’s BOOYAH! Platform. The tournament will feature 12 teams, with three teams from each of the four regions. These teams will compete for a total prize pool of 1 million in-game diamonds.

from Latest Technology News https://ift.tt/3j7DuTW

Poco M3 with 6,000mAh battery launched in India: Price, specifications and availability

Poco M3 has officially launched in India with a large capacity battery, triple cameras on the back and a striking new design. The Poco M3 made its global debut back in November 2020 as the successor to the Poco M2 series. Both the Poco M2 Pro and M2 were launched in India in July and September respectively. 

The Poco M3 has an extended camera module with a textured back panel which looks eye-catching. This is something we have also seen OnePlus try out with the OnePlus 8T Cyberpunk 2077 edition. The Poco M3 is offered in three colours: Power black, Cool Blue and Poco Yellow. Let’s take a look at the pricing, specifications and availability of the Poco M3 in India.

Poco M3 price and availability

Poco M3 is priced starting at Rs 10,999 for the base variant with 6GB RAM and 64GB storage and Rs 11,999 for the 128GB storage option. It will be available to purchase from Flipkart from February 9.

Poco M3 specifications

The Poco M3 has a plastic build and textured back panel that the company says won't attract fingerprints and smudges along with an extended camera module. The phone measures 9.6 millimetres at its thickest point and weighs 198 grams. It is being offered in Cool Blue, Poco Yellow and Power Black colours to choose from.

It features a 6.53-inch Full HD+ (2340 x 1080 pixels) resolution display with a waterdrop notch cutout for the selfie camera. This gives the screen a 19.5:9 aspect ratio and is further topped with a layer of Gorilla Glass 3.

The Poco M3 is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 662 processor with an octa-core CPU and Adreno 610 GPU. This is paired with 6GB LPDDR4X RAM and upto 128GB storage variants. Additionally, there is an option of expanding the storage further by using a microSD card of upto 512GB. It runs on MIUI 12 based on Android 10 with the Poco Launcher.

The Poco M3 has a triple camera setup on the back that consists of a primary 48MP camera with an f/1.8 aperture, a 2MP macro camera and a 2MP depth sensor. On the front, there is an 8MP selfie camera housed within the notch cutout. The rear camera can record videos in 1080p at 30FPS. The phone has stereo speakers and a side-mounted fingerprint reader.

It is fitted with a 6,000mAh battery that supports 18W fast charging. Poco claims that the M3 is capable of lasting 40 hours on calling or 196 hours of music playback or 17 hours of video viewing.

from Latest Technology News https://ift.tt/3oEN3eu

PlayStation 5 Review: New Era, Half Jump

PlayStation 5 review: Sony’s next-gen console is eye-catching and lays the groundwork for an exciting (albeit expensive) future, but the DualSense controller might be the highlight right now. At the same time, it lacks next-gen exclusives, and has limited backward compatibility.

from Gadgets 360 https://ift.tt/2YAAlCN

God of War 2018 gets 4K 60FPS patch just in time for PS5 India launch

God of War released back in 2018 for the PS4 and is considered to be one of the best games on Sony's console. The game offers two modes for players on the PS4 - one that favours performance and one that favours resolution. The performance mode struggled to hit 60fps on the PS4 Pro while the resolution mode gave gamers a checkerboard 4K resolution with a locked 60fps. 

God of War (2018) gets a PS5 patch 

Today, developer Santa Monica Studio has announced that God of War (2018) will run at a checkerboard 4K resolution with 60FPS. The patch will release for the PS5 on February 2, the same day as the PS5 launch in India. The icing on the cake is that if you are a PlayStation Plus member, you will get God of War as a part of your subscription on the PS5, thanks to PlayStation Collection.

The God of War (2018) Enhanced Performance Experience for the PS5 is coming tomorrow! Syncs to 60 FPS 4K Checkerboard Resolution 2160p Free Update for PS5 Users Check out our blog for more info https://t.co/CXTyfHFyvN pic.twitter.com/psSLo63ReF

— Santa Monica Studio Is Hiring (@SonySantaMonica) February 1, 2021

Prior to the patch, gamers who had the disc of God of War could play the game at 4K 60FPS on the PS5. This would only happen if you didn't install any patch. Digital owners of the game were limited to 1080p 60 FPS.

God of War (2018) joins a list of PS4 games that have received a patch to run at a higher resolution and framerate on the PS5. Some other games include Days Gone and Ghost of Tsushima (review) both of which now run at 60FPS at a higher resolution. 

Sony has teased a sequel to God of War which is expected to launch in 2021. There is no release window or trailer for the game. All we have is a logo for the upcoming sequel.

The PS5 launches in India today, and you can check out our review of the console here. If you are wondering whether to get the PS5 or Xbox Series X, you can check out our comparison of the 2 consoles here. If you were fortunate enough to secure a PS5 pre-order then you can check out how to transfer data from your PS4 to PS5 here. You can also check out the PlayStation Plus games of February 2021 here. 

Source

from Latest Technology News https://ift.tt/3ri33EX

Google to Shut Down Internal Stadia Game Development Studios Due to High Costs

Alphabet's Google said it would stop internal development of games for Stadia, making the cloud-based game-streaming service entirely dependent on titles from other game developers and publishers.

from Gadgets 360 https://ift.tt/2NOZ7Ni

Apple could bring back Touch ID on the next iPhone with an unusual twist

The next Apple iPhone could bring back Touch ID after around four years, but this time it could be located underneath the display. Apple has reportedly started testing an in-display fingerprint sensor for this year’s iPhone lineup and the upcoming iPhones could feature both Touch ID and Face ID. The opportunity for bringing back the fingerprint sensor on iPhones could not have happened at a better time since the Coronavirus has ensured that everyone is masked up at all times. 

According to a report by The Wall Street Journal that cites two former Apple employees, the Cupertino giant is working on including an in-screen fingerprint sensor in addition to the facial recognition Face ID system. Apple abandoned Touch ID from iPhones following the launch of iPhone X in 2017. However, the company has filed patents for in-screen fingerprint sensors going as far back as 2014. The report also cites a recent patent Apple filed for recognizing a fingerprint from any part of the screen.

Apple's Touch ID could make a comeback this year

The in-display fingerprint technology isn’t anything new and Android smartphones have now widely adopted optical readers and even ultrasonic fingerprint sensor. However, Apple got done with it after the debut of Face ID on the iPhone X but continued equipping it on other products like MacBooks and even modified it to work in tandem with the power button on the iPad Air 4. 

In 2020, Apple released the iPhone SE 2020 with the Touch ID sensor, making it the only phone in production to offer that security feature. There is no clarity on whether Apple will use an optical fingerprint reader or an ultrasonic sensor on the next iPhone just yet. 

Apart from the in-screen fingerprint reader, the next iPhone could also feature a high refresh rate that could go up to 120Hz along with camera improvements. Having said that, this year’s iPhones won’t feature major upgrades and instead are speculated to be incremental updates

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

Budget 2021: Imposing 25 duty on local mobile phone manufacturing might increase smartphone prices in India

The Finance Minister of India, Nirmala Sitharaman presented the union budget for the year 2021 earlier today. While there was only a little announced in the tech sector, she did mention that the government has revised the manufacturing duty on "some parts" for mobile manufacturing. 

She mentioned that local manufacturing of electronics has grown exponentially in the country, and India is now exporting mobile phones and chargers to other markets. The sector, until Budget 2021, was exempted from taxation, but it will now have a 2.5% duty. 

While Sitharaman did not share the details of the "parts" in her speech, it could include sub-parts like a circuit board, camera module, connectors and others. These specialised components require specific sub-parts which are imported from other nations by manufacturers. From now on, the manufacturers will now face a 2.5% customs duty on them. 

The government has also increased taxation for circuit boards and plastic moulding of mobile phone chargers from 10% to 15% in duty. Other parts used in mobile chargers which were exempted earlier will now face 10% of duty in India. Not just chargers, parts and sub-parts required to make Lithium-ion batteries will lose the exemption and face the 2.5% fees.

Does this mean a rise in mobile phone prices?

It is too early to estimate the impact of the increase in manufacturing duty on the final price of mobile phones. Since mobile phone manufacturers keep the margins thin to keep the cost low, they are quite likely to find it tricky to adjust the added cost to keep the retail price consistent. A feasible way for mobile manufacturers to cut costs could follow Apple's footsteps, and removing the charger from the box. 

Is the revision only for the mobile manufacturing sector?

The mobile manufacturing sector is not alone in facing the revision in taxation. The electronics sector in India is also set to face a 2.5% hike in customs, including components like compressors of refrigerators and air conditioners, insulated wires and transformer components.

Also, parts required for manufacturing LED lights and LED fixtures will see a jump from 5% to 10%. The biggest hike, however, will be for solar inverters and lamps, rising from 5% to 20% and 15%, respectively. 

Government of India's schemes to promote local manufacturing has brought major manufacturing companies like Foxconn, Pegatron and Wistron to set their shops in the country. The government announced PLI (Production Linked Incentive) schemes to invite smartphone manufacturers to the country, which worked in the favour of many big companies like Xiaomi, Apple, Oppo and Samsung, who shifted their manufacturing force to India. Now all that's left is to see how the manufacturing industry reacts to the new rates announced in Budget 2021 speech.

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